Med School students ! I need MCAT advice

[poof0078]

I am a senior. I have applied to enter the 2005 med school class. Recently I got my MCAT scores back from the April test. I got a five in physics, a 6 in bio, an eleven verbal and a Q writing. I am most def taking this test again but I am afraid I won't do well on it. I took kaplan and studied the entire semester, but it was too hard to juggle. How does it look to you that are already in med school of my chances??

P.S. I also might be getting a D in ochem II, but I got an A in ochem lab II and an B in both ochem lab and lecture I.

Any advice please!!!

THANKS

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[bigdan]

Admittedly, I'm not a medical student, so do what you wish with this advice.

A 6 in any section will cause concern. A 5 is worse. A 22 is not a competitive score for most allopathic medical school. On the bright side, an 11 in verbal is very nice. That you found things "too hard to juggle" is exactly what admissions committees do not want to hear.

Verbal was my strong section as well, and, if legend is true, it is also the most difficult section to make improvements in - which is good for you since you did so well. Go find why you did so poorly in the other two sections. Do you know what you need to know? I knew about 105 formulas for the physics/chemistry portion of the MCAT. Do you know all the hormones? There is a spot on the MCAT website that tells all the topics that can be tested on. You need to know those. If you don't, you won't do well. Also, AAMC practice tests tend to have repetitve topics that showed up on the MCAT that I took - learn those topics well - wave harmonics is what I remember seeing all the time.

Study hard. Good luck.

dc

 

[G0S2]

Order the science study materials from Examkrackers (www.examkrackers.com). Best science materials for the MCAT. 7 years out of college and I scored very well on those sections. The books are a bit silly, but the stuff inside is to the point and useful. I would not push these materials unless I felt they served me well. Also, do as many practice exams as possible.

 

[ndi_amaka]

Order the science study materials from Examkrackers (www.examkrackers.com). Best science materials for the MCAT. 7 years out of college and I scored very well on those sections. The books are a bit silly, but the stuff inside is to the point and useful. I would not push these materials unless I felt they served me well. Also, do as many practice exams as possible.

I agree with you except on ordering it from examkrackers....

it is much cheaper if you check outplaces like www.walmart.com ebay or amazon. Sometimes you can get a really sweet deal.

 

[geromine]

Dude, you need to have better science background before coming into med school. Most of those science passages should be stuff that you know before hand. You shouldnt even have to read them. I do a complete review of the sciences especially physics and biology. If you have a change, take some more advanced science courses like microbiology or biochemistry, they'll help you out a great deal too.
Your verbal score is great which means you have the ability to do well but just havent put enough time into your prerequisit classes. None of your section scores should be lower than 8 if you wanna have a decent chance to get into an allopathic school so I would shoot for an 8 or higher.

 

[ussdfiant]

P.S. I also might be getting a D in ochem II,...

You're going to have to address that as well.

 

[AF_PedsBoy]

I'd agree with the others - when I was entering a 27 was barely competitive (9 minimum), although the criteria are somewhat lower for osteopathic schools, or for out-country medical schools (e.g. St George's, etc. etc.) which are other options. You may be having problems because you haven't been able to put in the time for classes (as Ochem II seems to indicate) and MCATs at the same time. It might be a good idea to hit the books for your classes first, study for MCATs after senior year, and then apply a year late - you have plenty of time, and a lot of students are 23 or 24 (of course there are some punks who are under 21) when they start their first year - we've even had some 40 year olds who have got in and do just fine. Also committees will look more kindly upon someone with lower scores who has some meaningful extracurricular activities - having a 22 on the MCATs while doing groundbreaking research and feeding the homeless is a lot better than having a 22 and your only extracurricular activity is drinking beer in some frat house!

 

[EMDrMoe]

Dude, you need to have better science background before coming into med school. Most of those science passages should be stuff that you know before hand. You shouldnt even have to read them .

I don't agree. Other posters who were out of school for a while may agree with me here, but when it's been 8 years since general bio, you have to study this stuff again. Also, admittedly, I didn't learn it very well the first time As far as advanced classes, they will help you if you don't want to read the passages, but don't feel like you need to take them. Remember, you need 4 classes to take the MCAT - you can have a history degree! Med school will teach you what you need to be a doc.

I do agree that you MUST know the information for the MCAT, though. I had to study longer than other people I knew because it'd been so long. Your verbal score's good, so just review your strategies a couple of times (probably on your practice exams).

Since you already took Kaplan, be careful to not lapse into using the same methods to study you used last time. You want a new score. I agree with the other posters - get a new set of science material written by someone else. Just my two cents...(well, actually, I think you got more like a buck)

 

[EMDrMoe]

You're going to have to address that as well.

Ditto - D's won't fly in prereqs. I had 3 (retook Genetics & Organic, the latter specifically to get into med school) on my transcript. Get a really good MCAT score, though, and some of those past grades don't mean as much

 

[thackl]

Kaplan should have been enough, unless you didn't have time to do the work. I hadn't seen physics or chem in over 10yrs and didn't even take org 2, either org labs or any bio prior to the MCAT. TPR was enough to get me into the 90th percentile and verbal was my toughest to improve. You're looking good for a retake. Put in the effort this time

 

[mikedc813]

Order the science study materials from Examkrackers (www.examkrackers.com). Best science materials for the MCAT. 7 years out of college and I scored very well on those sections. The books are a bit silly, but the stuff inside is to the point and useful. I would not push these materials unless I felt they served me well. Also, do as many practice exams as possible.

I totally support Examkrackers. They are the BEST MCAT REVIEW OUT THERE. I've gone through tons of books and while the diagrams look goofy they really help simplify the concepts. Trust me, you can't go wrong with Examkrackers. I found the books more helpful than the cds, but if you have the chance the cds can be helpful after using the books. So if you just want to buy one thing, buy the review books!

 

[mikedc813]

Not to be too harsh, I think getting a D in orgo doesn't bode well for you. I mean you either aren't studying like you need to or you just don't have a knack for that subject. You know your weakness. Now do whatever you can to boost that D because adcoms will NOT like seeing that on there. Plus, I got a 22R the first time on the MCAT (I was really sick that day but took it anyways..I know, dumb mistake) and was super worried. I don't think you can get into med school with a 22 unless you're INCREDIBLE in something - like you've won the Nobel Prize in chemistry or something. I boosted my MCAT to a 29R and got in. So you can retake after getting a crappy score and still manage to get an acceptance. Just target your weak points and do all you can to strengthen them.