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Over the many years that I have been on SDN, I have seen several threads that give pointers and plans for getting an MCAT score in the 30's. If this is your plan, this thread is not for you. This thread is for those of us that have taken it before and have not been able to get a score that is acceptable for a chance at med school. It's for the pre-meds that just want to get a score that will get their foot in the door and at least get them some interviews. I have been getting tons of messages this past year, and I think I have finally made a decent pep talk for people who need hope and want some guidance in overcoming their poor MCAT score. Hopefully my story and mistakes will help and motivate you. 
The MCAT is one of the hardest things I have ever had to overcome. It was not easy, there are no quick fixes. My biggest problem was not knowing the material well enough, and it actually took me a very long time to realize that I didn't really know it as well as I thought I did. I was in the midst of getting my Masters degree when I realized that I knew biology very well, but wasn't applying it the correct way to do well on the MCAT. Plus being years out from taking chemistry and physics, I had forgotten all of the basic rules of the subject that are heavily needed (although not really directly tested) for the MCAT.
Although looking at my first 3 MCAT scores (16, 19, 17) it would look like I didn't really study for the test, I was actually studying a lot. However, I wasn't studying correctly. I wasn't organized in my studying, I just kept going through things very superficially. You need to focus on only the MCAT, you can't be taking classes and thinking that you can do it all. Sometimes just focusing on one thing is way more powerful than you would think. I graduated, took a semester off from everything and just studied each day as if it was my full time job. I'm talking like 8-12 hours a day, even on Saturday and Sunday. I know that most people don't have that type of focus for such a long period of time, but when you get to med school you will be studying this way, and when I was in grad school I had to do the same thing or I would have flunked out. So I was already used to it. But also, thinking that this is your last chance to get into med school is something that fueled me a lot. And this may very well be your last chance to prove yourself... Do everything that you can, if you don't you will regret it.
The thing about people that score in the teens to very low 20s is that none of them are stupid, they just don't get how to study for this test. It's a crazy thing to ask someone to learn 8 semesters worth of material and retain it, but then they don't even ask them direct questions about it! I used to study with only MCAT prep books, but I never made it past the 20 mark on practice tests. The key to beating this test for me was to relearn the material from scratch. I know, it sounds like a very hard thing to do, and it takes time, but if you are making low scores, there is NO way you will beat this test if you don't.
Many people that took undergrad really learned the information, they have those tiny bits of gold from each subject burned into their mind. In my personal experience, I have found that the MCAT tests your knowledge of concepts, but without the foundation of information for each subject you can't do well on this test. When I took a Kaplan prep course I remember this girl that was making 30+ on all of her practice tests. Every time we would go to class and go over the questions on the practice MCAT that we had problems with, she would always say something like "well of course it's this answer, because blah blah." And I would ask, "well how do you know that??" She knew it because it was a small piece of background information she learned in her chem I or phys I course that I never retained. The rules of the subject need to be learned, and these rules are not in the MCAT prep books.
So where do you start then? You need to first make a list of all of the sections of physics, chemistry, biology and organic. I used the EK and TPR book chapters as my guide. For instance, Physics and Chemistry each have 10 tested subjects. Biology has like 13 if I remember correctly. Then you need to learn each of these sections in a real text book. Even if your MCAT book says it's not on the test, you need to have this background information to actually attempt the tested information. It's not easy teaching yourself all of this material, but you need to read it, and most importantly understand and retain it. Learn the subjects like you are taking a class, then go to the MCAT books and expand your knowledge, then do practice tests. Don't do practice tests until you learn the background information because that will just be too frustrating. You need to know this background information as if you will be teaching a class to a bunch of students that don't own a book!
Most importantly, don't let this test make you think that you are stupid. You are smart, and you need to be a studying machine in order to beat this test. Focus only on the MCAT for about 5 months before taking it. Don't make the mistake I did by taking it hastily so that I could just apply. As you know, a bad score will HAUNT you. Most people do not make over their average practice scores on the real thing. So don't think that maybe if you take it without much studying, you may get a 25 if your practice scores are a 19... It's not going to happen. If you want this bad enough you will do what it takes to get there. If it means you put your life on hold for 6 months, then that's what you have to do. If you don't then you will never be a doctor. Once you realize that, the motivation that comes with it is endless.
I actually never planned on taking the MCAT 5 times. I was set on taking it for the fourth time after I studied very hard for it. I know that I would have made the 27 on my fourth MCAT, but my computer froze and AAMC would not acknowledge that this hindered my score. Well, it did, and the timer was running while my computer was frozen so I lost a lot of time. Although they agreed that this happened, they said that they could not prove that my timer was running for very long. Regardless, they had to get me a new computer because my computer would not work even after the proctor tried to fix it. I ended up with a crappy 22.
The fifth time I took the MCAT I was more than burned out because I never wanted to take it this many times. Also, by then I had been studying for 8 months straight!!! The month before my final MCAT, I lost all focus and started slacking on my studies for a few weeks. I had also started working since I had already received a job because I thought I would not be taking the MCAT again. For me, my pivotal moment came a few weeks before the exam... My boss, a surgeon in the medical school I work at, took me to a 4th year surgery exam on a cadaver with some med students. While I was there, he mentioned to everyone that I was pre med, and then the barrage of advice started coming from the med students... Well, soon after this, one of the students said something about taking the MCAT back when it was the last test on paper, and he had applied in 2006 and got into medical school. I realized that these students were the exact same age as me! I had also taken the last MCAT on paper and applied in 2006... It was the worst realization in my life. I had realized that I had wasted years off of my life by not beating this test once and for all. I would have been a graduating medical student last year. But because of my MCAT score, because I wasn't living up to my true potential, I had given this opportunity away. From that day forward, I worked from 6am-2pm, left for the library and studied until 11pm. I finally had the drive to finish what I started, and I got the score I wanted, a 27!
YOU have to sit down and realize that without this score, you are giving up your seat in medical school, and ultimately years of your life. Just tell yourself that you need to do this, you have to do this, and you will do this the right way.
You need to take a lot of time and become confident in the material, and study it deeply. Do not retake the MCAT until you are absolutely ready, until you have made at least consistently high 20's MCAT scores in practice. If you can't apply this year, that is ok. Taking your time and not rushing into taking the MCAT will make a huge difference in your score. Take this year off and fix your MCAT, then apply next year. I know that is not what you want to hear, but I truly feel that making another poor score will not be beneficial to you.
My many poor MCAT scores have hindered my ability to get interviews greatly. And even though I now have an ok score, I am sure that my past scores are still being looked at and they make a big difference in what the adcoms think of me. Sure, I pulled up my score 10 points from the time I took it 2 years ago, but it doesn't matter. I still made those bad scores, and even though they are now very old, they show my past poor ability and poor judgment of retaking when I wasn't ready. It makes me a risk for any medical school I apply to.
If this is really what you want to do, you CAN do it. You just have to make a plan and stick with it. I don't have a backup plan at all, in fact I never did have one. Even with 3 below 20 MCAT scores and two failed application cycles with no interviews, I always told myself that this was what I was meant to do. You either want to be a doctor or you don't. If you really want to, then do it. Only you are standing in your way of getting into medical school.
MCAT courses are useless. You need to do some heavy self studying, but use a textbook like I said before, and then go on to the MCAT prep. If even a small part of you feels that you will regret not going full force towards medical school and becoming a physician, then you need to stop being your own worst enemy and just bite the bullet and do the hard work that is needed to do well on this test. If you are willing to do anything to get into med school... Well, first start with admitting that you need to start at the most basic level of Biology, Chemistry and Physics. I mean, I had a masters degree in immunology, and going back to undergrad level studies was really difficult for me. But I want to be a doctor, so I was willing to do whatever it took, and I knew that even though I have a higher education than most people studying for the MCAT, I sucked at the material that was tested. Just start at the beginning and move slowly towards your goal. Don't leave any subject untouched. Push yourself and become a studying maniac. If I can do it, I am confident that you can do it!
So yes, there is no quick way to increase your score. Its hard work, but again, if you want this you will do whatever you have to. You have the strength to beat this test and show everyone what you're made of. There needs to be at least 7-10 hours of studying a day, 5-6 days a week for 5-6 months. People in our position are more behind than everyone else taking the test, you have to catch up to the basic material and then study for the MCAT. I know it sounds like a ton of studying, but if you want to beat this test to a pulp that will be what it takes.
So stop crying about your scores, and start your long term plan in beating this test. Turn that sadness into anger, anger towards yourself, anger towards the MCAT, anger towards anything that will give you some dedication and motivation to study.
Good luck!!!
The MCAT is one of the hardest things I have ever had to overcome. It was not easy, there are no quick fixes. My biggest problem was not knowing the material well enough, and it actually took me a very long time to realize that I didn't really know it as well as I thought I did. I was in the midst of getting my Masters degree when I realized that I knew biology very well, but wasn't applying it the correct way to do well on the MCAT. Plus being years out from taking chemistry and physics, I had forgotten all of the basic rules of the subject that are heavily needed (although not really directly tested) for the MCAT.
Although looking at my first 3 MCAT scores (16, 19, 17) it would look like I didn't really study for the test, I was actually studying a lot. However, I wasn't studying correctly. I wasn't organized in my studying, I just kept going through things very superficially. You need to focus on only the MCAT, you can't be taking classes and thinking that you can do it all. Sometimes just focusing on one thing is way more powerful than you would think. I graduated, took a semester off from everything and just studied each day as if it was my full time job. I'm talking like 8-12 hours a day, even on Saturday and Sunday. I know that most people don't have that type of focus for such a long period of time, but when you get to med school you will be studying this way, and when I was in grad school I had to do the same thing or I would have flunked out. So I was already used to it. But also, thinking that this is your last chance to get into med school is something that fueled me a lot. And this may very well be your last chance to prove yourself... Do everything that you can, if you don't you will regret it.
The thing about people that score in the teens to very low 20s is that none of them are stupid, they just don't get how to study for this test. It's a crazy thing to ask someone to learn 8 semesters worth of material and retain it, but then they don't even ask them direct questions about it! I used to study with only MCAT prep books, but I never made it past the 20 mark on practice tests. The key to beating this test for me was to relearn the material from scratch. I know, it sounds like a very hard thing to do, and it takes time, but if you are making low scores, there is NO way you will beat this test if you don't.
Many people that took undergrad really learned the information, they have those tiny bits of gold from each subject burned into their mind. In my personal experience, I have found that the MCAT tests your knowledge of concepts, but without the foundation of information for each subject you can't do well on this test. When I took a Kaplan prep course I remember this girl that was making 30+ on all of her practice tests. Every time we would go to class and go over the questions on the practice MCAT that we had problems with, she would always say something like "well of course it's this answer, because blah blah." And I would ask, "well how do you know that??" She knew it because it was a small piece of background information she learned in her chem I or phys I course that I never retained. The rules of the subject need to be learned, and these rules are not in the MCAT prep books.
So where do you start then? You need to first make a list of all of the sections of physics, chemistry, biology and organic. I used the EK and TPR book chapters as my guide. For instance, Physics and Chemistry each have 10 tested subjects. Biology has like 13 if I remember correctly. Then you need to learn each of these sections in a real text book. Even if your MCAT book says it's not on the test, you need to have this background information to actually attempt the tested information. It's not easy teaching yourself all of this material, but you need to read it, and most importantly understand and retain it. Learn the subjects like you are taking a class, then go to the MCAT books and expand your knowledge, then do practice tests. Don't do practice tests until you learn the background information because that will just be too frustrating. You need to know this background information as if you will be teaching a class to a bunch of students that don't own a book!
Most importantly, don't let this test make you think that you are stupid. You are smart, and you need to be a studying machine in order to beat this test. Focus only on the MCAT for about 5 months before taking it. Don't make the mistake I did by taking it hastily so that I could just apply. As you know, a bad score will HAUNT you. Most people do not make over their average practice scores on the real thing. So don't think that maybe if you take it without much studying, you may get a 25 if your practice scores are a 19... It's not going to happen. If you want this bad enough you will do what it takes to get there. If it means you put your life on hold for 6 months, then that's what you have to do. If you don't then you will never be a doctor. Once you realize that, the motivation that comes with it is endless.
I actually never planned on taking the MCAT 5 times. I was set on taking it for the fourth time after I studied very hard for it. I know that I would have made the 27 on my fourth MCAT, but my computer froze and AAMC would not acknowledge that this hindered my score. Well, it did, and the timer was running while my computer was frozen so I lost a lot of time. Although they agreed that this happened, they said that they could not prove that my timer was running for very long. Regardless, they had to get me a new computer because my computer would not work even after the proctor tried to fix it. I ended up with a crappy 22.
The fifth time I took the MCAT I was more than burned out because I never wanted to take it this many times. Also, by then I had been studying for 8 months straight!!! The month before my final MCAT, I lost all focus and started slacking on my studies for a few weeks. I had also started working since I had already received a job because I thought I would not be taking the MCAT again. For me, my pivotal moment came a few weeks before the exam... My boss, a surgeon in the medical school I work at, took me to a 4th year surgery exam on a cadaver with some med students. While I was there, he mentioned to everyone that I was pre med, and then the barrage of advice started coming from the med students... Well, soon after this, one of the students said something about taking the MCAT back when it was the last test on paper, and he had applied in 2006 and got into medical school. I realized that these students were the exact same age as me! I had also taken the last MCAT on paper and applied in 2006... It was the worst realization in my life. I had realized that I had wasted years off of my life by not beating this test once and for all. I would have been a graduating medical student last year. But because of my MCAT score, because I wasn't living up to my true potential, I had given this opportunity away. From that day forward, I worked from 6am-2pm, left for the library and studied until 11pm. I finally had the drive to finish what I started, and I got the score I wanted, a 27!
YOU have to sit down and realize that without this score, you are giving up your seat in medical school, and ultimately years of your life. Just tell yourself that you need to do this, you have to do this, and you will do this the right way.
You need to take a lot of time and become confident in the material, and study it deeply. Do not retake the MCAT until you are absolutely ready, until you have made at least consistently high 20's MCAT scores in practice. If you can't apply this year, that is ok. Taking your time and not rushing into taking the MCAT will make a huge difference in your score. Take this year off and fix your MCAT, then apply next year. I know that is not what you want to hear, but I truly feel that making another poor score will not be beneficial to you.
My many poor MCAT scores have hindered my ability to get interviews greatly. And even though I now have an ok score, I am sure that my past scores are still being looked at and they make a big difference in what the adcoms think of me. Sure, I pulled up my score 10 points from the time I took it 2 years ago, but it doesn't matter. I still made those bad scores, and even though they are now very old, they show my past poor ability and poor judgment of retaking when I wasn't ready. It makes me a risk for any medical school I apply to.
If this is really what you want to do, you CAN do it. You just have to make a plan and stick with it. I don't have a backup plan at all, in fact I never did have one. Even with 3 below 20 MCAT scores and two failed application cycles with no interviews, I always told myself that this was what I was meant to do. You either want to be a doctor or you don't. If you really want to, then do it. Only you are standing in your way of getting into medical school.
MCAT courses are useless. You need to do some heavy self studying, but use a textbook like I said before, and then go on to the MCAT prep. If even a small part of you feels that you will regret not going full force towards medical school and becoming a physician, then you need to stop being your own worst enemy and just bite the bullet and do the hard work that is needed to do well on this test. If you are willing to do anything to get into med school... Well, first start with admitting that you need to start at the most basic level of Biology, Chemistry and Physics. I mean, I had a masters degree in immunology, and going back to undergrad level studies was really difficult for me. But I want to be a doctor, so I was willing to do whatever it took, and I knew that even though I have a higher education than most people studying for the MCAT, I sucked at the material that was tested. Just start at the beginning and move slowly towards your goal. Don't leave any subject untouched. Push yourself and become a studying maniac. If I can do it, I am confident that you can do it!
So yes, there is no quick way to increase your score. Its hard work, but again, if you want this you will do whatever you have to. You have the strength to beat this test and show everyone what you're made of. There needs to be at least 7-10 hours of studying a day, 5-6 days a week for 5-6 months. People in our position are more behind than everyone else taking the test, you have to catch up to the basic material and then study for the MCAT. I know it sounds like a ton of studying, but if you want to beat this test to a pulp that will be what it takes.
So stop crying about your scores, and start your long term plan in beating this test. Turn that sadness into anger, anger towards yourself, anger towards the MCAT, anger towards anything that will give you some dedication and motivation to study.
Good luck!!!
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Im hoping that you will never give up on your dream and will just keep moving forward until you reach it! I know you can!
And when I was doing poorly on my MCATs, it was the people that told me that I was "too dumb" to get into med school (check out the really old comments on my MDApps just to see how ignorant people can be) that made me try harder and become the best I could be… In the end, I'm there. And I am grateful to those people for being so hard on me and allowing me to make it and prove them wrong. 
. I should've listened to the warnings of my pre-health advisor and a fellow classmate "This mistake will haunt you in your application year, Bad, bad idea. For your own good, don't do it"
. Looking at the scores of my practice test and the result of the real thing, I wish I can go back in time and slap sense into myself a month ago and yell " WTF ARE YOU THINKING? CANCEL/RESCHEDULE YOUR TEST. IF ITS TOO LATE TO DO THAT, THEN VOID"
. Unfortunately, this is reality and fantasy is nonexistent (Not always true in some cases). I definitely plan to retake this exam next year. 
). 
