MCATs taken 2 weeks apart

[flyingwisdom]

I had to take my MCAT exam two weeks apart. The 1st time I took it there were testing center issues such as the exam shutting down for an extended period of time before being re-booted.I re-took the exam two weeks afterwards as a result.

Accordingly, my first exam went poorly, but my second exam went up by a decent number of points. AAMC also provided letters addressed to admissions describing the circumstances surrounding my first test date. Is it advisable to send these letters to each school I am applying to, as part of my application, so they can understand why I took the exam two weeks apart? Or should I wait until admissions decides to ask during the interview?

Any thoughts would be helpful! Thank you!

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[Spectar]

No harm in sending it as long as it states that it was a test center problem.

 

[etp123]

I would agree, since if the letter is no use to them then they can ignore it. But without it they may come to some conclusions about irresponsibility or whatnot, or just be generally bothered by it, and that could be enough to dock you when they're faced with a large applicant pool who don't have that problem. Just my speculation.

 

[Hkkhan]

I had to take my MCAT exam two weeks apart. The 1st time I took it there were testing center issues such as the exam shutting down for an extended period of time before being re-booted.I re-took the exam two weeks afterwards as a result.

Accordingly, my first exam went poorly, but my second exam went up by a decent number of points. AAMC also provided letters addressed to admissions describing the circumstances surrounding my first test date. Is it advisable to send these letters to each school I am applying to, as part of my application, so they can understand why I took the exam two weeks apart? Or should I wait until admissions decides to ask during the interview?

Any thoughts would be helpful! Thank you!

Yeah, I agree with the two above posts - basically, it can't hurt/can only help so why not and it can also end up making a big impact.

 

[flyingwisdom]

Oh awesome! Thank you all for your input and advice! I was concerned it would appear as if I was making an excuse. I didn't void the first exam as it was the last testing date that was accepted for one of the schools I was applying to and so I had to make a hasty game-time decision unfortunately. Thank you all for your comments!

 

[Zenabi90]

Oh awesome! Thank you all for your input and advice! I was concerned it would appear as if I was making an excuse. I didn't void the first exam as it was the last testing date that was accepted for one of the schools I was applying to and so I had to make a hasty game-time decision unfortunately. Thank you all for your comments!

Just for anyone else who reads this thread:

This is not making an excuse. Any significant departure out of the norm that is OUT OF YOUR CONTROL during the test taking time should absolutely be documented and forwarded to interested parties. For example: you got struck with insane diarrhea the morning of, or like this, the test center screwed something up. The idea of the standardized test is that is standardized, even down to the testing conditions. This is why centers like Prometric are used. So anything that throws your conditions significantly out of standard should be noted, so that your score can be taken into proper consideration.

 

[flyingwisdom]

Just for anyone else who reads this thread:

This is not making an excuse. Any significant departure out of the norm that is OUT OF YOUR CONTROL during the test taking time should absolutely be documented and forwarded to interested parties. For example: you got struck with insane diarrhea the morning of, or like this, the test center screwed something up. The idea of the standardized test is that is standardized, even down to the testing conditions. This is why centers like Prometric are used. So anything that throws your conditions significantly out of standard should be noted, so that your score can be taken into proper consideration.

Thank you for clarifying that! Definitely makes me feel less worried about sending those letters in. Thank you!