MCAT Score: Complete FAIL

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.

Kayce

Full Member
7+ Year Member
Joined
Nov 6, 2013
Messages
102
Reaction score
42
Hey SDN! I received my MCAT scores back a week ago and was extremely shocked! I graduated at a top university with a 3.7GPA and took the Berkeley Review prep course this year. I know I am not the best test taker, but on my FL AAMC and two TBR FL exams, I received 40-55% on all sections and exams. I thought I would be okay taking the exam, since I am applying to D.O. schools (I wanted to hit a 498-503+ range). I ended up scoring way below that..and I studied for several months. Any words of advice would be helpful or would anyone recommend getting my exam re-scored? It's almost as if I clicked blindly on all the questions..that's how bad I really did. HELP! 🙁
 
Hi @Kayce

I am sorry to hear you did not get the score you wanted on the MCAT. You have an outstanding GPA, so keep your head up. This is just one small obstacle to get into medical school. You must have reviewed some of the material on the MCAT since you took it officially already, so look on the bright side. You are not starting from scratch, you have seen the actual MCAT already, you know what to expect on a retake of the exam.

I think starting where you are now you should first try to find out what you did wrong on the exam. Were you just overly nervous about the exam? Did you not know some of the questions or did you have to guess on too many due to time?

If it is a content problem where you are confused about the science topics I would recommend getting a different MCAT prep book, maybe a premed friend could lend one to you so you do not have to spend even more money since you already took a prep course that did not work out for you.

If it is a time problem then I would get some more practice test and make sure you review them and study them.

With either case definitely do some more practice exams. Focus on the areas you are the weakest on. Do not try to learn everything perfectly and knowing every small detail, learn to read those passages and get the most answers right on the exam.

With that GPA I know you are capable of getting pass this exam and I am 100% confident you can get the score you need to get into medical school. Just go back to the fundamentals of the content and work on those practice exams.
 
Last edited:
I would have advised against taking the real thing with practice tests averages below 50%. It is definitely harder than the sample test.
Did you have issues with time or was it more about the content?
I suggest you do as many practice problems and FL tests as you can.
 
40-55% is very low, regardless of any FL. That should have been an indicator to postpone or void your exam.
Tell us a little more, how were you scoring on the TBR passages in the review course? Were you constantly reviewing past concepts already learned? How did you do on the AAMC FL, AAMC OG, or any of the Qpacks? How many FL's did you take in total?
 
Top