I got my score back yesterday, and I was shocked. My real score was 10 points lower than my practice exam (AAMC 3~6) I think the reason was that the science sections on the practice exams were a lot easier than the real one. I usually got 12~ 15 on science sections and I got BS 9 and 11 PS on the real one. Im planning to retake on July 2nd, and I was wondering does anyone have any suggestions for me?
Thanks
if you got a 30 already and 10+ on PS and VR, i wouldn't advise a retake if only one section is 9. Unless you're going for MD PhD I suppose.
nerves do factor into it a lot. but so does overconfidence. I felt SO good after walking out of my first MCAT - I think it was b/c I picked all the distracting answer choices and didn't think as critically as the MCAT requires.
best way is to forget you practice scores (no need for a false sense of security, anyone can do worse based on that one test day) - and just go in and do your best.
if you've done your best preparing, there's nothing more you can do
remembering that fact always helps me when i get nervous for tests (which is just about every one of them, so my technique is tried and proven).
as long as i've done whatever i could to prepare, then i just take the test and assure myself that i'll be happy regardless of the results (yea in an ideal world - i'd be happy with effort even if i failed the exam. but usually if i've prepared well enough, then i do just fine.)
also - don't assess how you're doing while you take the test and try to tally up how many you may have missed, etc. Just take it to take it. And don't think about what score you might end up with while reading a passage... haha (I had to catch myself from doing that multiple times)
