Mcat & Board Exam

[lseo]

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I just received my August MCAT score, and I placed in the low 20's.
I don't think I will retake the April MCAT.

How closley are MCAT scores related to Board exams?
Your opinions will be greatly appreciated.

 

[CaliforniaBound]

I just received my August MCAT score, and I placed in the low 20's.
I don't think I will retake the April MCAT.

How closley are MCAT scores related to Board exams?
Your opinions will be greatly appreciated.

How low is low? There is a vast difference between a 21 and a 25! Also, are you not going to retake because you aren't planning on applying? I know people who have gotten into medical school with mid 20's scores (meaning 24 and 25). I have no information on the correlation between board scores. From what I've heard there isn't a strong correlation. Remeber that the boards are going to test specific knowledge over two years worth of medical school material. People with low MCAT scores can and have gone on to get reasonable/very good Board scores! Don't give up the dream this early...hopefuly you aren't! Good luck!

 

[WatchingWaiting]

How low is low? There is a vast difference between a 21 and a 25! Also, are you not going to retake because you aren't planning on applying? I know people who have gotten into medical school with mid 20's scores (meaning 24 and 25). I have no information on the correlation between board scores. From what I've heard there isn't a strong correlation. Remeber that the boards are going to test specific knowledge over two years worth of medical school material. People with low MCAT scores can and have gone on to get reasonable/very good Board scores! Don't give up the dream this early...hopefuly you aren't! Good luck!

Actually, there is a strong correlation. Do you think med schools weight MCAT scores heavily in the admissions process just to spite low-scoring applicants? If you go to the AAMC.org website and look at the published research on the MCAT, you'll see that the correlation between MCAT and Step 1 is slightly higher than the correlation between undergrad gpa and Step 1. The actual number is between .6-.7 as far as I remember.

It's not a coincidence that Stanford, Duke, Penn, and the like generally have high incoming student average MCAT scores (mid 30s as compared to matriculant average of ~30; SD: 5), and high Step 1 averages (low to mid 230s, as compared to matriculant average of 215-220; SD: ~20)

 

[Kateroni18]

There does appear to be a correlation. Here's one article that discusses it that's available on PubMed:

Julian ER. "Validity of the medical college admission test for predicting medical school performance." Acad Med. 2005 Oct;80(10):910-7.

I've heard the verbal score is the best predictor, but I've never seen an official source confirming it.

I figure anyone can do well on the boards if he/she works for it though.

 

[sleepyhouse]

theres no correlation, its all about what you put into it. i didnt take college seriously and got by by not opening a book till the night before tests and i got a 28 on the mcat. i've tried to do well in medical school and got a 259 on step one. i really dont see how one has any relation to the other.

 

[Scottish Chap]

I just received my August MCAT score, and I placed in the low 20's.
I don't think I will retake the April MCAT.

How closley are MCAT scores related to Board exams?
Your opinions will be greatly appreciated.

You're going to hear all kinds of myths and partial truths, and I would strongly urge you to read the primary research articles via PUBMED that address your question. Various studies have documented the following: 1) The MCAT score has a good, but not perfect correlation with board score success (it makes sense that good test takers perform well consistently). 2) The MCAT score is a better, but still not perfect, predictor of STEP 1 success which tests basic sciences (as does the MCAT – again, quite logical). 3). Medical school grades are better predictors of board scores than the MCAT.

I personally know a couple of people with > 35 MCAT scores that attained very average board scores and I know a couple of people with <24 MCAT scores that performed exceptionally well; granted neither group exemplifies the ‘general rule’, but you get the point. The one thing that separated them was preparation for the boards and a very high level of motivation in the latter group. Getting into medical school is probably the toughest, most subjective selection process overall and the MCAT certainly affects that, but the rest is up to you after you are admitted. Motivation and sacrifice can overcome a lot. Good luck!

 

[unoriginal]

I just received my August MCAT score, and I placed in the low 20's.
I don't think I will retake the April MCAT.

How closley are MCAT scores related to Board exams?
Your opinions will be greatly appreciated.

you will have a very hard time getting into med school with a low 20s score, unless you have affirmative action on your side (or plan on applying to osteopathic schools). so, i think i would be more concerned with getting in first, rather than worrying about the boards.

 

[Long Dong]

Check out this thread:

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=75348

 

[nockamura]

Check out this thread:

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=75348

This poll should be taken with a grain of salt. It doesn't have a very large sample size considering that there are many thousands of people who have taken the test. But I would imagine that there is some correlation between MCAT scores and board scores. However, I do not think that this necessarily reflects a person's intellectual capacity, rather the strong will and desire to do well on the MCAT will probably drive the same person to perform on the boards.
Your score is low and possibly below average. You should retake the test at all costs. The ability to overcome such a low test score will only endear you to the adcoms whose entire purpose in life is to determine which applicants can and will be able to endure the next 4 years of arduous and stressful medical school. If you do not retake the test, you will only show the adcoms that you are unwilling and/or unable to perform and think about basic science concepts (or worse, you cannot adequately process English verbal information). As you probably know, you must have a strong ability to use basic science knowledge as a medical student and as a doctor; without proving you will be successful at such tasks it is unlikely that they will even allow you to attempt to become a doctor.

 

[punchberry]

How closley are MCAT scores related to Board exams?

Here is a link for a paper in the journal Academic Medicine on the "Validity of the Medical College Admission Test for Predicting Medical School Performance".

http://www.academicmedicine.org/cgi/content/full/80/10/910

Basically, the authors identify a stronger correlation between boards and MCAT than boards and GPA, but if you look at the summary plots, you can also see that any combo is possible.