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MCAT retake + applying help please. (Long story)
- Thread starter escesc
- Start date
escesc, you need to keep in mind that the MCAT is a thinking test. yes, you need to have basic knowledge in the sciences, and yes, there are some things that you need to memorize, but overall, it is mostly a thinking test. Considering that your science GPA is reasonable, it seems like you got a good grasp on the material, so I wonder if it is your application and interpretation of the passages that did it for you.
When you go back through your practice exams to see what you got wrong, did you ask yourself why you got those questions wrong? Was it because you didn't remember something you should have from your classes, or was it because you didn't understand the passage. Especially since English is not your first language, I have a feeling that your problem might be that you have difficulty understanding the passages and are not used to the way that they present the information.
With that, my guess would be that you might not need to study the material, but rather do more problems to familiarize yourself with the style of the questions. For this, I found EK's 1001 Physics and Chemistry to be not very useful, since basically all of the questions in those are discretes, as opposed to the passage-based questions that predominate on the MCAT. EK's 1001 Biology and 101 Verbal books are good though. Also, since you did Kaplan, you probably have access to the question bank. I hear that is a tremendous resource.
Definitely doing as many practice tests as possible would help you.
So retake or don't? That question is really up to you... Do what you think feels right. Do you think you can get a better score if you retake, or are you planning to retake because you think you might get the luck of the draw?
If you do retake, don't rush into it. Take the summer to study so that you are well-prepared and can go into the test confident.
Best,
kirkio
When you go back through your practice exams to see what you got wrong, did you ask yourself why you got those questions wrong? Was it because you didn't remember something you should have from your classes, or was it because you didn't understand the passage. Especially since English is not your first language, I have a feeling that your problem might be that you have difficulty understanding the passages and are not used to the way that they present the information.
With that, my guess would be that you might not need to study the material, but rather do more problems to familiarize yourself with the style of the questions. For this, I found EK's 1001 Physics and Chemistry to be not very useful, since basically all of the questions in those are discretes, as opposed to the passage-based questions that predominate on the MCAT. EK's 1001 Biology and 101 Verbal books are good though. Also, since you did Kaplan, you probably have access to the question bank. I hear that is a tremendous resource.
Definitely doing as many practice tests as possible would help you.
So retake or don't? That question is really up to you... Do what you think feels right. Do you think you can get a better score if you retake, or are you planning to retake because you think you might get the luck of the draw?
If you do retake, don't rush into it. Take the summer to study so that you are well-prepared and can go into the test confident.
Best,
kirkio
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wow i have to say im a lil blown away by ur consistency and willingness to keep at it. im also taking the test in june and english is my second lang. i have taken some test and i barely get 5 on verbal. so i know where you are coming from.
my advice is for verbal keep doing passages till ur mcat, basically getting to know the style of the test. but i recom spending more time on bio and phys. keep in mind, in my opinion, bringing ur score up for bio and phys is much easier.
so if u manage to keep ur verbal @ 8 or 9 but u do waaay better than 7 in the other 2, 11s or 12s, you will be better off. i feel that you are still worried too much about verbal, which u did better compare to bio and phys.
last thing, stop thinking about backups and if june didnt work out this and that.... then u'll end up taking it and canceling it AGAIN. pick june or august, dep on ur schedule, and take for one LAST time no ulternatives/ backups!!!!
best wishes,
hopefully i'll see u on the otherside lol
my advice is for verbal keep doing passages till ur mcat, basically getting to know the style of the test. but i recom spending more time on bio and phys. keep in mind, in my opinion, bringing ur score up for bio and phys is much easier.
so if u manage to keep ur verbal @ 8 or 9 but u do waaay better than 7 in the other 2, 11s or 12s, you will be better off. i feel that you are still worried too much about verbal, which u did better compare to bio and phys.
last thing, stop thinking about backups and if june didnt work out this and that.... then u'll end up taking it and canceling it AGAIN. pick june or august, dep on ur schedule, and take for one LAST time no ulternatives/ backups!!!!
best wishes,
hopefully i'll see u on the otherside lol
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Escesc, I really sympathize with you, because I've had problems with the MCAT too. (I just took it for the third time, because I got really low PS scores the first 2 times, even though my bio and verbal scores were very good.) But you have to be realistic about your situation: your first score was very low. That means that the MCAT is a very big challenge for you, and it's going to take quite a while to work on it. I really think that June would be too soon to try again--you'd be setting yourself up for another bad result. Instead, postpone your application until next year and give yourself plenty of time (i.e. many months) to work on the MCAT. Take it slow and do it right, rather than trying to rush yourself and getting another low score, which is only going to hurt your chances of getting into med school.
There are a number of people around SDN who have achieved big improvements in their MCAT scores, and many of them have posted their stories here for the benefit of others. Here is a link to one of those success stories, Vihasdas, who got his score all the way up to 40: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showpost.php?p=6695902&postcount=273
Just take your time and do it right. That's my advice. Good luck.
There are a number of people around SDN who have achieved big improvements in their MCAT scores, and many of them have posted their stories here for the benefit of others. Here is a link to one of those success stories, Vihasdas, who got his score all the way up to 40: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showpost.php?p=6695902&postcount=273
Just take your time and do it right. That's my advice. Good luck.
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