MCAT inconsistency?!?!?!

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bbdylan87

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I've taken all three of the MCAT FL exams and the scores are all over the place

FL1: 512: 130/126/130/126
FL 2: 516: 130/129/130/127
FL 3: 512: 131/125/129/127

Clearly, the science and behavioral sections are consistent, but I am very nervous now about CARS. My exam is this Saturday and don't know how I feel. Any thoughts?
 
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Zenabi90 said:
Isn't Saturday... today?
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Ok, so half of this thread is remarks that provide no perspective whatsoever to the question and purpose behind posting this thread. If you look at my original post, I state I have my MCAT exam "this Saturday". Use your brain, do you think I would be posting this if I just took the damn MCAT?!?!?!?!?
 
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bbdylan87 said:
Ok, so half of this thread is remarks that provide no perspective whatsoever to the question and purpose behind posting this thread. If you look at my original post, I state I have my MCAT exam "this Saturday". Use your brain, do you think I would be posting this if I just took the damn MCAT?!?!?!?!?
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How about you use yours too? Posting scores doesn't allow people reading the post to do much. It's clear to you that there is some inconsistency in your CARS scores, and that's all we can see from what you've posted as well. From your post, this is the information I have:

Strong CP/BB.
Decent PS, a bit of improvement could be made here but not much in 1 week.
CARS is the most variable, and really the only part that is "all over the place" not all of your scores.

So yes, my perspective shows you have variability in CARS and solid to strong in all other sections, and thus you understandably worried and becoming quite short-tempered.

So what are we supposed to tell you, if you don't give us any insight into why you did poorly on two AAMC FLs but brilliantly on the third. Did you review the questions? Look for patterns of success and patterns of failure?
My thoughts are that the answers you seek lie not with anonymous posters on the internet, but within your own powers of analysis.
 
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Did you run out of time on some of those cars sections? take notes any differently? try to use a computer mouse left handed so you can handwrite with your right to highlight and take notes at the same time (yes lol this is a thing, I think my Kaplan book suggested it). Were some of the cars passages about topics you knew better/already on the highest scoring test? Did you second-guess yourself any more or less, or change answers? Did you skip questions or passages, and find this helpful or not helpful?

Those are some questions I would brainstorm answers to when trying to figure out why you're getting a range of scores.
 
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WIMNFamilyMed said:
Did you run out of time on some of those cars sections? take notes any differently? try to use a computer mouse left handed so you can handwrite with your right to highlight and take notes at the same time (yes lol this is a thing, I think my Kaplan book suggested it). Were some of the cars passages about topics you knew better/already on the highest scoring test? Did you second-guess yourself any more or less, or change answers? Did you skip questions or passages, and find this helpful or not helpful?

Those are some questions I would brainstorm answers to when trying to figure out why you're getting a range of scores.
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I didn't run out of time, I think I had 10 minutes remaining. And I don't take notes anymore, I rarely use them and they just waste time for me. The thing that frustrates me is that I have no more "official practice" to test out any new methods. I knew CARS wasn't my strong suite, but damn I was hoping for at least a 126.
 
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bbdylan87 said:
Then don't comment wise cracker
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This temper is probably your problem. When a passage hits you hard and you start to panic, have you tried flagging it, skipping it, and coming back to it last? Staying cool-headed and collected will mean staying rational.

CARS is about being very logical and interpreting the answers as literally as possible. Some answers will seem correct, but there is no evidence in the passage to support them. If you get down to two answers, build a case using evidence from the passage for the answers you feel are correct (the highlight tool could be handy for this), and you should narrow it down to one of them.
 
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bbdylan87 said:
I didn't run out of time, I think I had 10 minutes remaining. And I don't take notes anymore, I rarely use them and they just waste time for me. The thing that frustrates me is that I have no more "official practice" to test out any new methods. I knew CARS wasn't my strong suite, but damn I was hoping for at least a 126.
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Did you buy the extra passages from the AAMC and do all those already?
 
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WIMNFamilyMed said:
Did you buy the extra passages from the AAMC and do all those already?
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Yes I did, but the first 5 passages were brutal (from what I've read this seems to be pretty consistent among others). I'm trying to space it out until test day so I don't want to do all at once. But even then, I can't really develop a good strategy since the volume pack isn't the same format as the actual FL in that 9 passages do not correlate with 53 questions (or even close).
 
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bbdylan87 said:
Yes I did, but the first 5 passages were brutal (from what I've read this seems to be pretty consistent among others). I'm trying to space it out until test day so I don't want to do all at once. But even then, I can't really develop a good strategy since the volume pack isn't the same format as the actual FL in that 9 passages do not correlate with 53 questions (or even close).
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Have you read the Kaplan prep book (or similar) which has strategies to approach the question-types?
 
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raf1ki said:
This temper is probably your problem. When a passage hits you hard and you start to panic, have you tried flagging it, skipping it, and coming back to it last? Staying cool-headed and collected will mean staying rational.

CARS is about being very logical and interpreting the answers as literally as possible. Some answers will seem correct, but there is no evidence in the passage to support them. If you get down to two answers, build a case using evidence from the passage for the answers you feel are correct (the highlight tool could be handy for this), and you should narrow it down to one of them.
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Thanks for your feedback but I think there's a major, major difference between being a hot-head outside of your profession/task and thinking rationally on the job. Hence some of the most amazing surgeons and researchers are rubbish outside the office.
 
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WIMNFamilyMed said:
Have you read the Kaplan prep book (or similar) which has strategies to approach the question-types?
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I bought kaplans book but IMO it's a terrible idea implementing new strategies the day of the exam. I was also very confused with Kaplan's strategies, and note-taking doesn't help for me, rather it just takes up time. I'm just going to try to go into the test thinking that the correct answer is staring right at me, and (apparently) there's enough info in the prompt to support it
 
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bbdylan87 said:
Ok, so half of this thread is remarks that provide no perspective whatsoever to the question and purpose behind posting this thread. If you look at my original post, I state I have my MCAT exam "this Saturday". Use your brain, do you think I would be posting this if I just took the damn MCAT?!?!?!?!?
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A little entitled? I've got good news for you, your MCAT score probably won't be what keeps you out of medical school.
 
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mk04447 said:
A little entitled? I've got good news for you, your MCAT score probably won't be what keeps you out of medical school.
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Entitlement: the fact of having a right to something.

What I displayed: anger, hostility, frustration maybe? If you can't read basic emotions, good luck becoming a doctor. The difference between you and me (assuming you're flawed logical is correct), is that I won't be in 500k debt.
 
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bbdylan87 said:
Entitlement: the fact of having a right to something.

What I displayed: anger, hostility, frustration maybe? If you can't read basic emotions, good luck becoming a doctor. The difference between you and me (assuming you're flawed logical is correct), is that I won't be in 500k debt.
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Ouch, you got me good. And, it's your.
 
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bbdylan87 said:
See you're the only one on this thread that understands. Thank you sir
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#NotASir... wish I had that lord of the rings gif.

And I agree with the others that you were rude and unclear in your situation, I just moved past it to try and be helpful. As you can see I Liked many of the comments not in support of your angsty last-study-week ways of nearly blaming others.
 
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Just to get back to the original question, it can be difficult to know what exactly is the cause for your inconsistency. It seems like you're worried about CARS and P/S.

CARS is the section where students' performances are most often inconsistent. You should tease out what types of CARS passages you're missing many questions on, and which types of questions you're missing. For example, if you're missing mainly main idea questions and also on art history passages, then try to read some overview materials about art history and try to "test yourself" on identifying main ideas, all in addition to any other materials (AAMC section banks and Q packs).

With P/S, without much context as to your study habits/history with P/S as subjects (e.g. performance in undergrad, other coursework beyond intro), the only thing I can point to is the fact that many resources (including some AAMC resources) are inconsistent as to the exact scope of P/S concepts tested on the MCAT. It seems like with each AAMC FL, there are new vocabulary terms introduced that had previously not been explicitly stated as testable. For this, I might suggest 1) familiarizing yourself with the way psychology experiments are conducted by reviewing past exams as well as any other P/S passages and 2) drill all vocab from whatever prep materials you used as well as any "new" terms from each FL you take.
 
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bbdylan87 said:
Thanks for your feedback but I think there's a major, major difference between being a hot-head outside of your profession/task and thinking rationally on the job. Hence some of the most amazing surgeons and researchers are rubbish outside the office.
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This breaks into two points because you are conflating performance on the CARS with performance on the job. But in both cases, I disagree.

1. Having a hot-head is going to affect you anywhere. I don't know where you got the idea that the most amazing surgeons or researchers are jerks -- that is probably Hollywood or people being dramatic for the sake of interesting conversation. The most amazing PEOPLE make the world a better place to live in. If you haven't noticed, adcoms have radically shifted the goalposts in terms of what kinds of medical students they want. You might slip in with that kind of attitude, but you are purposely handicapping yourself and throwing red flags out left and right in this thread.

2. Making snap judgments on the CARS section can harm your score, because it creates a false first impression of the answers that lingers in your mind, obscuring the truth. If you find yourself getting irritated with a section, that is a clue to beware of irrationality.
 
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raf1ki said:
This breaks into two points because you are conflating performance on the CARS with performance on the job. But in both cases, I disagree.

1. Having a hot-head is going to affect you anywhere. I don't know where you got the idea that the most amazing surgeons or researchers are jerks -- that is probably Hollywood or people being dramatic for the sake of interesting conversation. The most amazing PEOPLE make the world a better place to live in. If you haven't noticed, adcoms have radically shifted the goalposts in terms of what kinds of medical students they want. You might slip in with that kind of attitude, but you are purposely handicapping yourself and throwing red flags out left and right in this thread.

2. Making snap judgments on the CARS section can harm your score, because it creates a false first impression of the answers that lingers in your mind, obscuring the truth. If you find yourself getting irritated with a section, that is a clue to beware of irrationality.
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You clearly did not read the post I sent, which is a clear indication to me that all you want to do is argue. So lets argue.

If you read the post, you will see that I said "some" indicating that it is a small majority, but still there. If you have ANY analyzing skill whatsoever, this will indicate that it is possible to be HOT-HEADED outside of your PROFESSION and still be GOOD at your PROFESSION. In my case, my profession is being a student, and in this specific instance, analyzing CARS. I am not going to justify myself as hot-headed or not, I am simply providing evidence to refute your claim that "all hot-heads are screwed". And you talk about what adcoms are looking for? I'm pretty sure the number 1 thing they are looking for FIRST is the intellectual capability to be a doctor, and THEN compassion. Yes, I understand compassion is vital in getting into med school, but I ask you, do you think medical schools would like students who ask "is your exam today?😵" ? The fact that you are still trying to argue is sending RED FLAGS as well, leave the discussion if you have nothing productive to say, period. For God's sake man, how much time do you have on your hands to argue?
 
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bbdylan87 said:
You clearly did not read the post I sent, which is a clear indication to me that all you want to do is argue. So lets argue.

If you read the post, you will see that I said "some" indicating that it is a small majority, but still there. If you have ANY analyzing skill whatsoever, this will indicate that it is possible to be HOT-HEADED outside of your PROFESSION and still be GOOD at your PROFESSION. In my case, my profession is being a student, and in this specific instance, analyzing CARS. I am not going to justify myself as hot-headed or not, I am simply providing evidence to refute your claim that "all hot-heads are screwed". And you talk about what adcoms are looking for? I'm pretty sure the number 1 thing they are looking for FIRST is the intellectual capability to be a doctor, and THEN compassion. Yes, I understand compassion is vital in getting into med school, but I ask you, do you think medical schools would like students who ask "is your exam today?😵" ? The fact that you are still trying to argue is sending RED FLAGS as well, leave the discussion if you have nothing productive to say, period. For God's sake man, how much time do you have on your hands to argue?
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Re: intellectual is first- not really. an mcat score checks a box for many schools. A good candidate will be accepted because of other qualities with any score above the 60-70th percentile at most MD programs, and above 45-50th at DO programs.

Re: time to argue?— You’re taking the MCAT next week. I’m aware you came to see the reply to your thread to see if it was helpful advice, but you clearly invested time in replying to raf1ki. Hope the irony of your question isn’t lost on you.
 
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WIMNFamilyMed said:
Re: intellectual is first- not really. an mcat score checks a box for many schools. A good candidate will be accepted because of other qualities with any score above the 60-70th percentile at most MD programs, and above 45-50th at DO programs.

Re: time to argue?— You’re taking the MCAT next week. I’m aware you came to see the reply to your thread to see if it was helpful advice, but you clearly invested time in replying to raf1ki.
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I am at a loss for words, honestly. This is crazy
 
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WIMNFamilyMed said:
Invest in MSAR before you pick schools, you’ll see there’s a wide range.
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I'm at a loss for words at how much time you have. Of course I have the MSAR, and you'll clearly see schools are becoming more and more competitive

And did you say intelligence is not first? Really? You don't need to buy the MSAR to know that. Do you think med schools want a student who has no mental power (perhaps like some posters on this thread)? Let me be the first one to say, as I have stated in my previous thread, that I know it's more than simple stats. BUT, you need to have a degree of intelligence to get past the screening, and also during the interviews. I can see the adcoms asking a "what-if" question, then some posters on here replying with "but that didn't happen yet..." You're like the media, picking and choosing very specific things I have stated, take them out of context, and try to throw it back at me.
 
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bbdylan87 said:
I'm at a loss for words at how much time you have. Of course I have the MSAR, and you'll clearly see schools are becoming more and more competitive

And did you say intelligence is not first? Really? You don't need to buy the MSAR to know that. Do you think med schools want a student who has no mental power (perhaps like some posters on this thread)? Let me be the first one to say, as I have stated in my previous thread, that I know it's more than simple stats. BUT, you need to have a degree of intelligence to get past the screening, and also during the interviews. I can see the adcoms asking a "what-if" question, then some posters on here replying with "but that didn't happen yet..." You're like the media, picking and choosing very specific things I have stated, take them out of context, and try to throw it back at me.
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Fella I've got say your tone sucks and it makes you sound like an idiot, that's coming from a real prick who knows. With a little time and experience you too can hone your craft; the trick is to be a prick without the idiot part.

I am being sincere when I say this chip will come out in an interview, someone like me will insist on it. Good that this happened here, I'll give you the same advice my divorce attorney did years ago, find someone who isn't an idiot to proofread your messages before you send them.
 
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Just got my MCAT score today. Received a 518, well balanced. This post is for those who are planning on taking the MCAT in the future. As you can see, nearly ALL of the posters on this thread took the time to post ridiculous remarks that did not answer the original question in the slightest, some even claiming that I did not have "the CARS skills necessary to do well." One of the users above even stated that I could not cut it for MS due to my frustration at all the non-helpful comments. This user was subsequently banned from SDN after many more ignorant and destructive posts. Says a lot about HIS personality and how HE will be as a doctor.

In any case, I say to those future MCAT takers, do not listen to pessimistic and inconsiderate posters. Study your heart out, if you're getting mostly good scores, take a few deep breathes, and take the test, do not void. You will do fine. If people begin posting comments like the ones above in YOUR posts, do not get discouraged. They are merely jealous that you are scoring better than them on the FL (and eventually the real deal) than they would ever hope to get. Peace.
 
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Sounds like a 129-130 CARS. Interesting that the FL2 was accurate while 1,3 deflated. Either way congrats on your score and GL in the cycle. You surely performed better than me (May19 taker.)
 
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