MCAT Scores are averaged??

[futrorthodr]

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Hey I just got my April 2004 scores and am quite happy with them 🙂 . I had taken it before in august 2002 and had gotten a 7v 8p 7bs= 22M and this time around i got a 10V 11P and 10BS= 31N

I feel this is a definite improvement, but I am still worried if the scores are averaged b/c that would still leave me with a horrible score in my opinion.
Does anybody know exactly how med schools look upon previous scores or is is school specific?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Congratulations everybody on all these great scores I am seeing on this board.

 

[Medikit]

MCAT scores are not averaged, you are in great shape.

 

[futrorthodr]

Phew I was worried there b/c in some other thread some people were talking about its not a good idea to take the MCAT cold turkey b/c the scores are averaged.

 

[willthatsall]

Well, there is a rumor that they are sometimes averaged. Sometimes they take the best score, sometimes they take the worst score, etc. I don't really believe any of that. I think they look at all the scores and try to discern what the deal is. The ADCOMS are probably smart enough to figure out that you can't average a 22 and a 31 and get an accurate representation of your ability. Would it be better if you didn't have that 22 on there? Probably. But I don't believe anyone is going to look at your transcript as a 26.5 MCAT.

 

[dnelsen]

Well, there is a rumor that they are sometimes averaged. Sometimes they take the best score, sometimes they take the worst score, etc. I don't really believe any of that. I think they look at all the scores and try to discern what the deal is. The ADCOMS are probably smart enough to figure out that you can't average a 22 and a 31 and get an accurate representation of your ability. Would it be better if you didn't have that 22 on there? Probably. But I don't believe anyone is going to look at your transcript as a 26.5 MCAT.

I agree 100%. Also, you have an "upward trend", which is something they love to see. If it was the other way around and you got a 31 and then a 22...then you might have a problem.

 

[frank51]

Hey futrorthodr, what did you do differently the 2nd time around? Oh, and I wouldn't be worried about them averging the two scores.

 

[adamj61]

I know for sure Tufts takes the best in each section...I think a few schools will do that. Medical College of Wisconsin is also like that. That would be good for people who do better on one each time around

 

[futrorthodr]

The way I studied the second time around I believe made the biggest difference in how I performed. The first time around I believe I focused to much on learning the material that is found in the review books, rather than understanding and learning how to take the test. I took kaplan the first time and obviously it didnt pay off, and I was shocked b/c I was scoring at least 27's on their practice tests.
The second time I took TPR, while their styles of teaching werent that diffenent princeton definitely focuses a lot more time on the verbal reasoning section whereas Kaplan only had 2-3 class periods.

I would recommened studying the material in review books at the beginning, but as the test gets closer you might want to ween yourself off of those books and spend as much time as possible doing practice tests and passages. I found the AAMC practice tests to be the best representation of how you will perform on test. If you are not taking a review course definitely stop by your local bookstore and pick up some books of just practice tests, and if you dont have the money you may want to check your local library as I found some there too. MAKE SURE THAT YOU GO OVER AND UNDERSTAND WHY IT IS THAT YOU MISSED A QUESTION ON THE TEST.

Good Luck everybody and dont be discouraged b/c you can bring your score up drastically.
If you have any more questions dont be afraid to ask!

 

[thewzdoc]

The first time around I believe I focused to much on learning the material that is found in the review books, rather than understanding and learning how to take the test.

👍 This is great advice! I've said this before too.

 

[thewzdoc]

if the scores are averaged b/c that would still leave me with a horrible score in my opinion.
Does anybody know exactly how med schools look upon previous scores or is is school specific?

They will both be reported but they aren't "averaged".

 

[Pinkertinkle]

Yeah, I doubt any school takes two scores and puts em together. They just show adcoms everything you've done and lets them decide.

 

[thewzdoc]

Yeah, I doubt any school takes two scores and puts em together. They just show adcoms everything you've done and lets them decide.

Yup...that's how I understand it.

 

[futrorthodr]

That is how I initially thought it worked but in the thread entitled taking the MCAT cold turkey there were a couple of mentions of how the MCAT scores are avg. so that caught me off guard for a moment. I think it would be extremely unfair and a horrible representation of the applicant if they were to avg. the scores, but of course I would feel this way. 😉

 

[MoosePilot]

I think it may vary by school how they look at it. You might speak to the admissions office at your favorite schools and ask the question.

 

[frank51]

Good Luck everybody and dont be discouraged b/c you can bring your score up drastically.
If you have any more questions dont be afraid to ask!

Thanks for the advice, I took TPR and it didn't help that much, I understand the matterial pretty well, but I need to work on my timing and do more problems, EK should help in that regard.