I am so depressed!

[sekem]

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I did not complete my high school in the States so I have serious trouble in the verbal section! On average, I score 10-11 on the physical and biology part but I do terrible on the verbal and am not able to pull more than 4-5. I am so depressed. Is there any chance of medical school in the range of 24-26?

 

[MediMama23]

I did not complete my high school in the States so I have serious trouble in the verbal section! On average, I score 10-11 on the physical and biology part but I do terrible on the verbal and am not able to pull more than 4-5. I am so depressed. Is there any chance of medical school in the range of 24-26?

DO schools tend to be more lenient when it comes to MCAT scores, but no school, osteopathic or allopathic, likes to see that big of a discrepancy between sections.

How many practice tests have you been doing? Full lengths? Are you doing some outside reading? Apparently, outside reading seems to help. Is it your reading speed? Are you bringing in too much outside knowledge? You need to address any possible reason that your scores are low. Do you find yourself picking very extreme answers? Are you even making it to the end of the section? Are you only giving yourself 9 minutes per passage? Have you tried testing company strategies like Kaplan, TPR, or EK?

It can be done. Your score in Verbal can be brought up. But you may have to try new approaches to these passages. Are you taking the exam this April? Better question still: do you HAVE to take the exam this April (if you're planning to)?

 

[sekem]

DO schools tend to be more lenient when it comes to MCAT scores, but no school, osteopathic or allopathic, likes to see that big of a discrepancy between sections.

How many practice tests have you been doing? Full lengths? Are you doing some outside reading? Apparently, outside reading seems to help. Is it your reading speed? Are you bringing in too much outside knowledge? You need to address any possible reason that your scores are low. Do you find yourself picking very extreme answers? Are you even making it to the end of the section? Are you only giving yourself 9 minutes per passage? Have you tried testing company strategies like Kaplan, TPR, or EK?

It can be done. Your score in Verbal can be brought up. But you may have to try new approaches to these passages. Are you taking the exam this April? Better question still: do you HAVE to take the exam this April (if you're planning to)?

I have done about 12 full length exams and never had anything above 5 on verbal! I have been in the States for only 4 years and when I came to this country I did not know even simple alphabet!

In response yo your question, no I am not able to finish it, in max I can only complete 7 passages and I guess on about 10-12 questions.

 

[MediMama23]

I have done about 12 full length exams and never had anything above 5 on verbal! I have been in the States for only 4 years and when I came to this country I did not know even simple alphabet!

In response yo your question, no I am not able to finish it, in max I can only complete 7 passages and I guess on about 10-12 questions.

12 full lengths is good. And since you know you can pull out the double digits on the sciences, it's time to lay off those sections just a tad. You need to buckle down with verbal hard core. In order to get a better score, you need to read every passage. It's the only way that you'll have a fighting chance at at least knowing what those questions at the end are talking about. As a result, you'll at least have a better chance at these questions than randomly filling in bubbles. This means that you'll have to give yourself no more than 9 minutes per passage. Time yourself, and try to keep within the 9 minutes. Try one passage at a time, then 2 at a time, then 4, etc, until you're back to taking a full practice verbal section. Practice verbal everyday, and read heavy articles everyday so that you can get used to it.

Do a search in this forum for things like "EK strategy," "Kaplan strategy," and "TPR strategy." Lots of discussion has been going on about these three strategies, and it could help to have one if not more of them.

I really hope that some of this helps you. Keep the faith!

 

[Psychoanalyzed]

Yes people get in with MCat scores within the 24 to 26 range. Just don't apply to Hopkins or Harvard or schools like that. The chances of getting in those are very slim but not non-existent. Still, you would be aiming better at schools whose average MCats is not 30 (like Harvard and Hopkins among others). Don't be depressed, take english classes or something. Or school abroad and transfer to America. There are other ways to be a doctor without forcing the MCats on yourself.

 

[gdbaby]

you also still have time to bring up that verbal score. Verbal is a tricky thing. Really, one of the things that works best is to do a lot of Verbal. When I set up my study grid, I would rotate physics, gen chem, bio, o chem daily, but I would do a little verbal every day--just one or two passages daily.

 

[2DEG]

I did not complete my high school in the States so I have serious trouble in the verbal section! On average, I score 10-11 on the physical and biology part but I do terrible on the verbal and am not able to pull more than 4-5. I am so depressed. Is there any chance of medical school in the range of 24-26?

Hi Sekem:

I didn't do my highschool in the U.S either. I got a 9 on the verbal section. I took last year's april test. I actually ran out of time and guessed all the answers for the last passage without even reading that hard long passage.

I think the single most important thing that worked for me was I blindly believed in Examcracker's strategy. I got their 101 passages book. I was real skeptical about their strategy. I was so frustrated that I would do very poorly. I was trying different things.

But honestly, in last 2 or 3 weeks before the MCAT, I did the practice tests from 101 passages every day during lunch hour in one of our conference rooms at work.

I think that helped me the most. If I were to give you any advice, I would say...practice using that book. I don't think its too late either.

Best wishes.