Is my MCAT goal realistic?

[trackhead4]

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I am scheduled to take the MCAT on May 24th and I have been using the ExamKrackers 10th edition books. I have taken 3 practice tests, AAMC FL 1= 493, EK 1 = 491, EK 2 = 492, and I am getting discouraged by the fact that my scores haven't moved. I have my BS, and graduated with my MS this past summer, so I'm pretty much brushing up on the core sciences that I haven't seen in 2-3 years. I have been taking a practice test every Sunday, but I'm not sure if I am putting in enough study hours during the week (~2-3hr/M-F). I have a job and I am also shadowing in 2 different clinics 4x/wk.

At this point I have 70 hours in a specialty clinic, and 12 in primary care. I want to get at least 50 more hours in primary care, but I feel like shadowing is cutting into valuable study time.

I guess my questions are:
1. About how many hours should I be studying daily?

2. Is it realistic to have an MCAT goal of 512 considering the practice tests I've taken so far?

Thanks for the help in advance!

 

[WIMNFamilyMed]

Many people study around 300 hours if i recall correctly. Being two months out, I would up it to 4-5 hours per day if I were you to get closer to that mark.

The shadowing can wait until May 25 or 26. In Amcas, you can write about events you are currently doing. Shadowing is hard to schedule so you want to stay in it I’m guessing, but I would cut back. You can write a May-June shadowing dateline in your application and then you can project for the hours you will do then once you have a bit of free time. That’s an idea.

 

[trackhead4]

@WIMNFamilyMed I'm definitely willing/able to put the shadowing on the backburner for now. My Pre-med advisor says there's no "magic number" of shadowing hours needed, but I feel that having more will make me look like a better candidate. My UG GPA was not stellar (3.33) because I had suffered some significant hardships and I had to manage being a D-I Student-Athlete, but my Grad GPA was a 3.8.

I appreciate the feedback!

 

[WIMNFamilyMed]

That additional background helps!

I kinda see it this way - you want the MCAT to be one and done. The money and time to take it again is insane. (But this could also be said about having too few ECs and having to reapply to med school so it’s a fine balance.). Do it once and do it right. It’ll stick with you for the next 4 years. You’re right, shadowing is important and beefing up your ECs is something you need to do with the undergrad GPA, just make sure it’s not at the expense of the test score.

 

[Cinemed]

It's realistic if you're willing to push off the exam date in the event that your practice scores aren't up to par. Don't force your timeline if it isn't going to happen.

 

[Optimist Prime]

Have you gone through all of the review books and taken the time to learn what is in them? Currently your scores indicate a huge gap in content knowledge that will need to be filled in.

 

[Groggs]

From my understanding the AAMC FLs are very indicative of how you will do on the actual test. Obviously there will be some outliers. If you take AAMC FL2 later and don't get around where you hope to score you may want to consider rescheduling. Next Step makes some good tests if you want more practice FLs.

 

[workaholic181]

^ totally agree with this. AAMC FLs are generally a good indicator of how you ultimately might score. I'd take the AAMC FL 2 a few weeks out from your test date and see how that goes.

Early applications are a big advantage but the most important thing is taking the MCAT when you are feeling ready for it. The only mistake you could make would be to hamstring your app down the road with a sub 500 score this spring, which based off of your provided FL scores seems possible. Take AAMC FL 2 and see how you do, but dont hesitate to postpone a few weeks or even months if you're not where you want to be. I pushed my date back and it was a huge reason why I exceeded my goal (also 512). Good luck OP.

 

[DokterMom]

With 70 hours of shadowing, you already have enough. Spend more time studying for that MCAT --

 

[Magus5454]

If you are not able to improve your practice scores, either move your testing date or be prepared to void your exam.

With your practice scores not changing much you need to examine how you are studying and why it isn't making a difference.

 

[curvesetter]

I am scheduled to take the MCAT on May 24th and I have been using the ExamKrackers 10th edition books. I have taken 3 practice tests, AAMC FL 1= 493, EK 1 = 491, EK 2 = 492, and I am getting discouraged by the fact that my scores haven't moved. I have my BS, and graduated with my MS this past summer, so I'm pretty much brushing up on the core sciences that I haven't seen in 2-3 years. I have been taking a practice test every Sunday, but I'm not sure if I am putting in enough study hours during the week (~2-3hr/M-F). I have a job and I am also shadowing in 2 different clinics 4x/wk.

At this point I have 70 hours in a specialty clinic, and 12 in primary care. I want to get at least 50 more hours in primary care, but I feel like shadowing is cutting into valuable study time.

I guess my questions are:
1. About how many hours should I be studying daily?

2. Is it realistic to have an MCAT goal of 512 considering the practice tests I've taken so far?

Thanks for the help in advance!

With a 493 on AAMC #1, I highly, highly recommend you either do not sit for or void your upcoming exam if you are aiming for a 512. A 493 indicates a deficiency in knowledge of content which is usually the easiest to fix. What have you been using to study and what is your technique?

 

[westsidestoryz]

I say hold. I got a 498 on my AAMC FL 1 and got a 502 on the real thing. That score has delayed my app for a whole year.
In terms of number of hours, I would say work on test taking skills I.e. things MCAT wants you to see but you can’t see because you’re in a rush. Work on your timing and see the bigger picture.
I was pretty solid on my contents last year and thought I would do well.

This year, my content isn’t as good as last year but my test taking skills are much better.

So even though I don’t have all the contents, I’ve been scoring significantly better second time around.

So with that said, I would say push the exam and work smarter not harder. (3-4 hours a day of smart studying vs 8 hours of inconsistent habits). You have plenty of shadow so focus on MCAT

 

[theGuyWhoBuiltTheArk]

I am scheduled to take the MCAT on May 24th and I have been using the ExamKrackers 10th edition books. I have taken 3 practice tests, AAMC FL 1= 493, EK 1 = 491, EK 2 = 492, and I am getting discouraged by the fact that my scores haven't moved. I have my BS, and graduated with my MS this past summer, so I'm pretty much brushing up on the core sciences that I haven't seen in 2-3 years. I have been taking a practice test every Sunday, but I'm not sure if I am putting in enough study hours during the week (~2-3hr/M-F). I have a job and I am also shadowing in 2 different clinics 4x/wk.

At this point I have 70 hours in a specialty clinic, and 12 in primary care. I want to get at least 50 more hours in primary care, but I feel like shadowing is cutting into valuable study time.

I guess my questions are:
1. About how many hours should I be studying daily?

2. Is it realistic to have an MCAT goal of 512 considering the practice tests I've taken so far?

Thanks for the help in advance!

I am going to be quite frank with you. Your MCAT score even if 5 points better than your best score would basically stop you from being accepted anywhere.

You can improve! I started from where you are and ended up doing above 90 percentile. You are not studying enough in my opinion. I studied ten hours a day six days a week for a couple months (this isn’t a required magic number but 20 hours seems too low to me).

Additionally, you have enough shadowing hours. Focus on the MCAT. DM if you have any questions.

 

[Detective SnowBucket]

You've got approx. 60 days remaining. At 4 hours/day that makes 240 hrs which is only a lil less than you need total (AAMC says 300 and kaplan says 350) and Im guessing you already have >60 hours. Now, I went from 497 to 510 in 225 hours so you're not out of the game yet. The only question is are you willing to do 4 hours a day (and I mean 4 hard hours not including breaks).