MCAT Retake advice needed

[uvapremed]

I'm wondering if I should retake the MCAT to improve on one section (VR). I received a 8VR 13PS 13BS R. Over my practice tests, I was averaging 9-10 on VR while peaking at an 11. Should I retake the MCAT beast just to improve my verbal section. While I never was strong in verbal to begin with, that score is below what I was averaging on the AAMC tests. It seems like that verbal score isn't consistent at all with my other scores. I'm not coming here to brag or anything like that; I'm being sincere on whether I should retake it in April to be as competitive as I can be at top 50/top 25 med schools. Thanks for the advice.

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[EndSong]

I wouldn't retake unless you really wanted to. A VR 8 won't keep you out of med school. It's still even possible to get into a tier 3 or above with a VR 8 although it might depend on factors such as English being a second language.

But if you're really serious about getting into Yale or Harvard and don't have the ECs or good PS or whatever I would suggest you start studying for verbal now since it takes awhile to develop the verbal skill. When I first took my practice tests I got a 7 and got a 10 on the real thing. Verbal is extremely intuitive and not really rational, it takes awhile to develop the kind of intuition one needs.

 

[richarms]

Keep in mind, 13 on both PS and BS are phenomenal and you run the risk of decreasing those scores if you retake it. Not that you would be any less prepared for your retake, but so many random factors go into your score (what form you get, what passages there are, how everyone else does) that it is quite possible that your others would go down. Would you take a 10 in verbal if it means losing a couple points for the sciences?

You got a freakin' 34 R. Your great score could have been an incredible score if Verbal went more in your favor, but that is a very small dissapointment relative to other people struggling with 24s. As long as you have great GPA, letters of rec, EC, etc, you can get in any med school in the country with that score. For goodness sake, don't take the exam again.

 

[Nikki2002]

Oh Gawd--do Not Retake--are You Nuts?

 

[szrokkhmer]

I'm wondering if I should retake the MCAT to improve on one section (VR). I received a 8VR 13PS 13BS R. Over my practice tests, I was averaging 9-10 on VR while peaking at an 11. Should I retake the MCAT beast just to improve my verbal section. While I never was strong in verbal to begin with, that score is below what I was averaging on the AAMC tests. It seems like that verbal score isn't consistent at all with my other scores. I'm not coming here to brag or anything like that; I'm being sincere on whether I should retake it in April to be as competitive as I can be at top 50/top 25 med schools. Thanks for the advice.

Don't retake! Why would you want to suffer the MCAT ordeal again? You have a very respectable score. Sure you could improve on your verbal, but the odds are against you in maintaining or improving on the 13's.

Best Regards...