How you felt you did vs. how you actually did on the MCAT?

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First time, thought I did horrible. Almost didn't have it scored. Ended up with a 27 which is probably better than I deserved considering my study habits that time around.

Second time, about what I thought. There's a certain randomness to it, depending on how you fair on the ones you guessed...but I ended up with a 32 which was my last two practice tests and right in the middle of my overall range. Felt like I did about the same as my practice tests. So I knew it could be anywhere between 30-35
 
Newguy92 said:
I thought I did terribly when I walked out, especially since I was taking a lot longer than during my practice exams and I forgot that there were discrete questions after the last passage on BS, so I had to to answer all of them in about a minute....

I thought it was definitely more difficult than practice

But in the end, it worked out and I scored two points better than my practice tests.
Click to expand...

Same experience here. Almost voided and ended up 3 points above my aamc average.
 
BrCo said:
I felt like I was making a load of small stupid mistakes on physical sciences. On Biology I felt like I was "guessing" on almost every single question - this really shocked me because on all AAMC practices I felt like I didn't have to guess much. There were like two passages on PS where I was convinced I had gotten every question wrong.
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OK that actually makes me feel better! thanks so much for sharing your experience.
 
I got the range I was feeling. I got pretty good at predicting my practice exam scores and on the real thing.
 
I was averaging 37s felt good about it leaving the exam center, ended up with a 31. I am pretty happy with it. Most people can't even break a 25.
 
My buddy and I studied together and we averaged about the same.
 
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PTed around 36 most of the time, thought I was in the 33-35 range after, got a 37. I think I felt bad about it because I had a month to think about (and look up) the questions I messed up, whereas while PTing, I finished and checked my answers right away.
 
Felt like I bombed it the first time. And I did do poorly compared to my practice test average. The second time I was convinced I did even worse that my first take. My post-test thoughts were, " wow, people that do well on this test must be so smart to be able to think and problem solve that quickly!" Ended up getting a solid 30+ score and a new found respect for myself.
 
Felt ok about PS and BS. Ran out of time for verbal so I had to 3 mins on the last passage =/ Guessed on a bunch.

Scores reflected that feeling. 11 PS/ 8 VR/ 11 BS. Lowest verbal on all AAMCS (averaged 10.5, 9-->13) =/

Hopefully this re-take will be better =D
 
BrCo said:
I felt like I was making a load of small stupid mistakes on physical sciences. On Biology I felt like I was "guessing" on almost every single question - this really shocked me because on all AAMC practices I felt like I didn't have to guess much. There were like two passages on PS where I was convinced I had gotten every question wrong.
Click to expand...
literally this is exactly how I feel. Except I havent gotten my scores yet (2 more days and i'm dying). hope to have a similar outcome as you
 
Post-MCAT feeling correlated well with my actual score on 5/17/2014.
I felt PS was easy...got a 13.
Verbal was not too bad...got a 9 (which I'm fine with since I rarely get above that).
BS was okay because it was doable but there were a few passages I was unsure of...got an 11.
 
Right after I took it I was feeling pretty okay about it, thought I'd get a 31-33. The longer I waited for my score, the worse I felt. Literally an hour before I got my score back, I was planning my gap year because I wasn't even sure anymore if I'd even gotten over a 30. I got a 36.
 
amcas average was a 35. got a 35. thought i got a 7 on PS since I guessed on 15+ questions with 5 minutes left (3 passages, think I fell asleep)...but I guess the curve god was gracious that fateful day.
 
Felt pretty good coming out because of the bio section, but during PS and Verbal I was thinking "just let me live." Ended up with 36, did not expect that
 
I thought I did poorly since both of my science sections were so different that what I'd seen on practice. I usually take all the time on PS and finish early for BS, but I ended up finishing 25 min. early on PS and went down to the last second on BS. VR was just whatever. Ended up with 14/9/14, 4 pts higher than my AAMC average. Lesson learned: screw the number, trust in ur preparation.
 
I thought I did really bad, turns out I did even worse than expected. Was pretty crushed for awhile, but unexpectedly, the rest of my application more than made up for it. I got into the school I wanted to this cycle and am feeling great
 
Everyone walks out feeling crappy. After about a week once I'd forgotten the specific things I knew I did wrong it really seemed similar to the full length practice exams 9-11. Ended up scoring in my practice range as well like most people
 
I walked out feeling pretty close to where I ended up scoring.
 
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I almost voided my test because i felt so horrible about the BS and VR sections and only okay on PS. The only thing stopping me was the thought of studying for the MCAT again. Ended up with a 34 which was higher than anything I got on the PTs
 
My second MCAT, PS demolished me, didn't finish and ended up Christmas treeing the last passage... Was so rattled that I didn't finish VR! (My best section in all of my practice exams and my best section on my first MCAT 2 years prior)...more christmas treeing... Felt ok about BS. Was so heartbroken over PS and VR that I seriously contemplated voiding.
Ended up with a 32. I thinks it's true that most people feel awful afterwards only to be pleasantly surprised a month later.
 
I walked out feeling fine. Predicted a 33. Got a 34.

Obviously I, like everyone else who has ever taken the MCAT, went through days of "Oh god I bombed it" while waiting on my score, but deep down I knew I probably did fine.
 
I felt OK and did a bit worse than I expected. Was scoring 34-37 on Kaplan fls, and 32-34 on aamc. Got a 31 because I didn't do as well on PS (9) or v (11) as I did in any of the practice tests. Was most surprised by my verbal score because I was consistently scoring 12+( mostly 13+) on practice tests. Didn't retake, though. I may take the new one if I don't get on this cycle
 
I thought I did about five points worse than how I actually did, which was 1 pt away from my AAMC full-length average.
 
I took the MCAT 3 times and have been surprised each time I have gotten my score.

1st time, I was sure I got a 24 at best (killer test)... ended up with a 30+.
2nd time, it was a very easy test and I felt good walking out... ended up doing worse than my first test by 2 points.
3rd test- it was a difficult and weird test (second hardest I've taken). I felt the best about verbal, physics was very math based, and then bio (my strength-always 95th percentile or higher subscore) had 2 passages on a very low yield subject, lots of experimental/logical questions. I left the test unsure if I should have voided, and then ended up with my highest score ever!

I have many many friends who have taken the MCAT, and in general it seems to be that the harder the test the more generous the curve so don't freak out if you know it's a hard test!
 
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