Horrible Score

[Disgusted]

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Hi Everyone,

I need some help and inspiration. I got a 12 on the mcat I wrote last September. I had studied all summer before, and was in my 3rd year, having completed all my prerequisites in my 1st year. Any suggestions on how I can improve this score? I do only have a cpga of 3.2 right now. Is there any hope for me?

 

[Scean]

not much

 

[Kaustikos]

I'll try and give some help, but I'm/we're not getting the whole picture. Did you feel comfortable with the material? Did you take any practice tests? How did you do on them if you did?

We can't really gauge anything from that post. If you were getting low numbers on your test from the beginning, I'd venture a guess and say you weren't ready for the test. Note: I said not ready, not saying you CAN'T do it. Seems to me you just rushed everything and jumped the gun. This site can offer much better advice if you just take the time to look at the stickied threads.
Couple pointers:

Practice, practice, practice! Look at the questions you missed and know how you missed them.

Be familiar with the material.

You DO NOT have to take the test if you're not ready. Don't do what I did on my first mcat. I was barely breaking the average on test scores and still decided to take the test - bad idea. I would take the time to evaluate what you need to work on.

 

[J ROD]

Take a prep course and apply DO or Caribbean MD.

And pray...😀

because you still probably going to need some luck unless that MCAT was very unrepresentative of your abilities.

 

[MossPoh]

If you got a 12 and TRULY studied all summer then you need to reevaluate what you did. That seems like a lot of issues to go that low. I have a gpa only slightly higher than yours and am aiming for AT LEAST a 30 to stand a proper chance. Not even carribeans will accept a 12. I'm not trying to be harsh, but that puts you in like the bottom of ALL test takers that took it that day. Is it impossible? Of course not, but you need to more than double your score. The first 10-15 points should be easy. It is just learning strategy. After that it is determination. If you meant a 21, well then you just need to study harder and take more practice tests. Sorry, but I have a hard time wrapping my head around a 12. I'm not particularly gifted and I got a 22 on a diagnostic after not seeing the material ever, or within the previous 5 years. Something needs to change. At that level, nearly any change can lead to a higher score.

 

[Disgusted]

It is quite unbelievable I know...Maybe it was my nervs? I'm not sure....because I did take it in the first of August, and I was in the group where the whole system failed, and they sent us all home...after It took many many hours of travelling and money for hotels etc...so I was and still am completely frustrated with the aamc. (and especially thompson-prometric). After that I did not study much at all. I was very worried about meeting deadlines and when I was going to be rescheduled to write...they only called me a week before to write in a place 7 hours away. So...it was a terrible experience all together.

I did study all summer though, about 4 hours a day after my full-time job. And also did about 5 practice tests (all of which I only scored 30% on :S) I don't know what my problem is. I know my information quite well, but have a very tough time applying it. What should I do?

 

[phospho]

It is quite unbelievable I know...Maybe it was my nervs? I'm not sure....because I did take it in the first of August, and I was in the group where the whole system failed, and they sent us all home...after It took many many hours of travelling and money for hotels etc...so I was and still am completely frustrated with the aamc. (and especially thompson-prometric). After that I did not study much at all. I was very worried about meeting deadlines and when I was going to be rescheduled to write...they only called me a week before to write in a place 7 hours away. So...it was a terrible experience all together.

I did study all summer though, about 4 hours a day after my full-time job. And also did about 5 practice tests (all of which I only scored 30% on :S) I don't know what my problem is. I know my information quite well, but have a very tough time applying it. What should I do?

I'm sorry if I'm misunderstanding this - so you took practice tests, and you were scoring 30% - and you still went ahead and took the real thing?

 

[ORELL]

Iam In The Same Position As You Are
1st Time 12
2nd Time 17
3rd Time Retake In June Now
Know The Material Very Well, Hard Time Applying
Can Do It

 

[bioteach]

One important thing about the MCAT - schools will see every test attempt. So you do not want to take the MCAT unless you scoring in an acceptable range on your practice tests. Typically you will score right around your practice scores. It is not reasonable to expect to score higher on the real thing than you did on practice tests. If you are scoring a 12 then you don't know the material. Take a Kaplan type prep course. Retake the basic classes on bio, chem or physics.

 

[MossPoh]

I don't think you know the material as well as you think if you are getting a 12. There are almost always two answers which can be eliminated instantly with prior knowledge. My best recommendation is to wipe the slate clean. Forget everything you think you know, enroll in a nice expensive prep course and crank away. I get the impression that it is one of those deals where you have a little bit of knowledge,but not enough to "know you don't know" as they put it. This test is for basic science. If you truly know the material, then over a 20 is perfectly doable, even for the poor test taker. If you take it and get above a 30 then you might have one of the most epic comebacks in mcat history. 😛

Once again, this isn't tooting my own horn but I felt like I didn't know the material and still can get a 20 on diagnostics in the past. You shouldn't compare yourself to others, but something is seriously flawed in your approach. Taking 2 or 3 practice exams really isn't that much either. I mean, I've taken 6 so far and plan on going through all of the aamcs one more time before the real thing. I'm not exactly laden with time to do it. I just make time. I wake up at 5 a.m. and eat breakfast, shower then I head to the library, set up my laptop and am done by about 10:30 at the latest.

 

[Tamburlaine]

Hi Disgusted,

Sorry to hear about your trouble.

Here is the most important thing of all about mcat and applying to med in general: if you really, really want it, don't give up and don't let anyone scare or intimidate you. A lot of this process is keeping your self-confidence high and working hard. You'll get a lot of people who will basically try to scare you into something else. If you want something else, cool. But if you want med, you will get in if you work hard and raise your score.

And you can raise your score, I have friends who really screwed up the MCAT, but retook, in some cases multiple times, and did just fine. If you have the funds, I think you should seek out a personal tutor. Someone who can really sit down with you, diagnose your problems and come up an action plan. Between you and me, ExamKrakers is a great company and has great personal tutors. Kaplan is a McDonald's/corporate feeling for me, but...

Hard to say exactly what's holding you up, but I bet a lot of it is your stamina. For the MCAT you've got to really train hard and build up your ability to read and focus. The best--and only--way to do this is practice very hard and take real tests under timed conditions. Don't turn off your stopclock or give yourself extra time or fudge with time generally. That is a killer and won't let you progress.

Good luck.

 

[mterp45]

Hi Everyone,

I need some help and inspiration. I got a 12 on the mcat I wrote last September. I had studied all summer before, and was in my 3rd year, having completed all my prerequisites in my 1st year. Any suggestions on how I can improve this score? I do only have a cpga of 3.2 right now. Is there any hope for me?

You studied for four months and you got a 12, and not only that but you said yourself that you were scoring 30% on your practice tests. well, I got good news for you, Yes there is hope, but don't take that test again any time soon. What you should do is enroll in a post back program for non-science majors and This time around, try to truly understand the concepts behind what you are learning and do not memorize.

 

[thecalccobra]

Hmm....what did you get on the SAT/ACT?

 

[justletmeinplz]

I'm going to go ahead and say it if no one else will. Not everyone is cut out to be a doctor. If you've studied the material and feel like you have a reasonable grasp on the concepts, yet you can't even break 20, you need to reevaluate what you want to do with your life.

That statement will either light a fire under your *** and you'll prove me wrong, or I'll be just be right. Either way, I'm happy. Good luck!

 

[DiverDoc]

You might have concentration issues. If you know the basics of each subject (aside from VR) you should be breaking 16-17. If your not a reader, start reading books, read everyday and switch it up. Read the front page of the Wall Street Journal, science articles, novels, very light reading before bed. If you did fairly well in your science classes with genuinly earning your grades, then it seems you have critical thinking and reading comprehensive issues you need to improve on.

 

[bob1988]

Don't worry, you still have hope.

I know someone who went from a 15 to a 30 and is currently in their 3rd year of med school.

 

[halekulani]

I don't know what my problem is. I know my information quite well, but have a very tough time applying it. What should I do?

start by convincing yourself that you don't know the material at all.

 

[JoeNamaMD]

Ha ha ha. Maybe if you run into Borat, he can say to you, you are ******!!!

 

[nshams]

Hrmm... well, my best guess would be you studied really wrong. If all you did for prep (other than the practice tests you took) was review your course materials or look @ old books, you didn't approach this test right. This is a problem-solving exam & the best way to approach it is to solve problems. LOTS & LOTS of problems.

Cheapest (& I TRULY feel like THE best options) are the 1001 Exam Krackers books - they're only about $19 a piece (Physics, Biology, GenChem, OChem). You should consider buying them 'cus they'll give you a huge set of problems in your area of weakness (not to be harsh, but in your case, it sounds like you should do all the books).

Also, it is REALLY important for the verbal & BS sections that you build up stamina - people have attention spans of 30min @ most; after that, it takes a lot of effort to keep looking at a computer screen, asking you obscure questions.

About verbal, based on how low it was (& I'm guessing the highest you could've gotten was a 6), this is tougher to raise than either PS or BS. Exam Krackers does have a verbal book, but I don't know how good it is. Practicing for a LONG time (@least 2 months) is what I'd place my bets on if I were you.

Goodluck with your test prep... Remember Caribbean is always an option for everybody & some schools don't even require MCATs (infact if your GPA is high, you can get into a decent Carib school without bothering about MCATs ever again).

 

[unsung]

The one thing, if anything, you should learn from this experience is that how you do on practice tests is a reasonable predictor for how you will do on the real thing.

Do NOT re-take this test again unless you are getting a majority of practice questions right. To get over a 10, you need to aim at getting less than 2 wrong per passage.

At this point, I wouldn't even say it's a matter of your "test-taking skills"... getting in the low teens indicates a lack of mastery of the basic concepts.

The good news is, you CAN gain more knowledge and increase your score substantially. It's a lot harder to go from scoring around average to scoring 35+.