Mid/Late July MCAT for MD? Second Retake

[cc0702]

I'm registered for 6/18 and debating whether I should reschedule my MCAT to July 16/July 22 for AMCAS this cycle. This will be my third time taking the MCAT, and the main reason for my retake is my CARS scores (first take Sept 2019: 502[126/122/127/127], second take April 2021: 506 [129/123/128/126]). Obviously this is my second retake and I want to make sure that I do a lot better than before, especially in CARS. I started doing CARS practice in March and have done about 60 passages or so and some light Anki for P/S, but I do have a demanding full-time job and have three business trips coming up before my test date in June. Since I plan on getting a lot of studying done and do FLs on the weekends, those work trips would leave me only 7 weekends to prepare (plus ~2hrs of studying on weekdays).

I could still take it on 6/18, but I don't want to make the same mistake of taking the test when I'm not prepared as I have the past two times. I feel like it's doable to improve my other section scores, but I have always struggled with CARS. I am ESL and was never really a big reader, and timing is a big issue for me (in the past month of practice, I was averaging ~10 minutes on easier passages and I would take up to ~14 minutes to complete a more dense passage and maintain accuracy). Plus I think I need to revisit a lot of content for C/P and P/S since it's been over a year since I last took the exam.

Some background info about me: ORM from a large state school in 2018 (cGPA 3.62, sGPA 3.72), same school SMP 2020-2021 (GPA 3.75), decent extracurriculars (400hrs ophthalmology tech, 115 hrs medical receptionist, 1050 hrs ER scribe, 120 hrs hospital volunteer, 200 hrs soup kitchen volunteer, 120hrs volunteer abroad, 480hrs undergraduate research, ~250hrs graduate research, no publications but potentially later this year, 2 semesters residential mentor at college dorm, 1 year working in pharma cancer therapy post-undergrad and 1 year in management consulting post-grad)

Last year I retook the MCAT because I needed an updated score for the SMP linkage program. It was hard to improve since I couldn't take any time off for full-time studying and I also had to prepare for other exams in my SMP courses around the same time. I ended up getting waitlisted at my SMP med school. In the end, I submitted AMCAS to a throw-away school, but never submitted secondaries and didn't apply to any other schools last cycle.

So my question is, should I postpone my MCAT to late July? Would that put me at a disadvantage for MD? I guess my other option is to wait and apply next cycle, but tbh I've taken so many gap years and I don't want to want so much longer. How realistic is it to study for the MCAT and improve in 3 months time while working a full-time job, perhaps those who have studied while working full-time can share your experiences?

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[Neuroscifan]

I'm registered for 6/18 and debating whether I should reschedule my MCAT to July 16/July 22 for AMCAS this cycle. This will be my third time taking the MCAT, and the main reason for my retake is my CARS scores (first take Sept 2019: 502[126/122/127/127], second take April 2021: 506 [129/123/128/126]). Obviously this is my second retake and I want to make sure that I do a lot better than before, especially in CARS. I started doing CARS practice in March and have done about 60 passages or so and some light Anki for P/S, but I do have a demanding full-time job and have three business trips coming up before my test date in June. Since I plan on getting a lot of studying done and do FLs on the weekends, those work trips would leave me only 7 weekends to prepare (plus ~2hrs of studying on weekdays).

I could still take it on 6/18, but I don't want to make the same mistake of taking the test when I'm not prepared as I have the past two times. I feel like it's doable to improve my other section scores, but I have always struggled with CARS. I am ESL and was never really a big reader, and timing is a big issue for me (in the past month of practice, I was averaging ~10 minutes on easier passages and I would take up to ~14 minutes to complete a more dense passage and maintain accuracy). Plus I think I need to revisit a lot of content for C/P and P/S since it's been over a year since I last took the exam.

Some background info about me: ORM from a large state school in 2018 (cGPA 3.62, sGPA 3.72), same school SMP 2020-2021 (GPA 3.75), decent extracurriculars (400hrs ophthalmology tech, 115 hrs medical receptionist, 1050 hrs ER scribe, 120 hrs hospital volunteer, 200 hrs soup kitchen volunteer, 120hrs volunteer abroad, 480hrs undergraduate research, ~250hrs graduate research, no publications but potentially later this year, 2 semesters residential mentor at college dorm, 1 year working in pharma cancer therapy post-undergrad and 1 year in management consulting post-grad)

Last year I retook the MCAT because I needed an updated score for the SMP linkage program. It was hard to improve since I couldn't take any time off for full-time studying and I also had to prepare for other exams in my SMP courses around the same time. I ended up getting waitlisted at my SMP med school. In the end, I submitted AMCAS to a throw-away school, but never submitted secondaries and didn't apply to any other schools last cycle.

So my question is, should I postpone my MCAT to late July? Would that put me at a disadvantage for MD? I guess my other option is to wait and apply next cycle, but tbh I've taken so many gap years and I don't want to want so much longer. How realistic is it to study for the MCAT and improve in 3 months time while working a full-time job, perhaps those who have studied while working full-time can share your experiences?

In my experience, n=1 so take it for what it’s worth, CARS takes time. For me personally, I spent about the same amount of time in CARS as I did in the three science sections combined, and it was still my worst section. If you find yourself struggling with CARS, it often takes time to evaluate where your weak areas are and why you aren’t understanding passages/main ideas/questions/answer choices. I’ve also had students that I have tutored make remarkable progress very quickly when they started pinpointing their weaknesses and doing targeted remediation.

The overarching advice that I will always give for the MCAT is this: don’t sit for an actual exam unless you are confident going into it that you will receive a score you will be happy with. For one friend of mine, that was a 500, and he is now a second year at a great DO program and is going to be an excellent physician. How can you be confident that you’re going to score around your goal? Take a few practice exams a couple weeks before your test date. If you aren’t scoring within 2-3 points, then I wouldn’t recommend taking the real deal.

Source: 526 personal score and tutor for 2 years.

 

[cc0702]

In my experience, n=1 so take it for what it’s worth, CARS takes time. For me personally, I spent about the same amount of time in CARS as I did in the three science sections combined, and it was still my worst section. If you find yourself struggling with CARS, it often takes time to evaluate where your weak areas are and why you aren’t understanding passages/main ideas/questions/answer choices. I’ve also had students that I have tutored make remarkable progress very quickly when they started pinpointing their weaknesses and doing targeted remediation.

The overarching advice that I will always give for the MCAT is this: don’t sit for an actual exam unless you are confident going into it that you will receive a score you will be happy with. For one friend of mine, that was a 500, and he is now a second year at a great DO program and is going to be an excellent physician. How can you be confident that you’re going to score around your goal? Take a few practice exams a couple weeks before your test date. If you aren’t scoring within 2-3 points, then I wouldn’t recommend taking the real deal.

Source: 526 personal score and tutor for 2 years.

Do you have any advice on how to improve CARS and what resources are the best? I have been just doing practice passages (first time timed, second time untimed without looking at answers, then review answers and explanations). In terms of resources, I've been using the TPR CARS workbook and KA passages. I'm saving the AAMC passages for before the exam. It's also hard since I've taken the MCAT twice already, I have done most of the AAMC passages in the past, some of them more than once, so I feel like they might not as helpful for me for first time users. I'm planning on using Uworld once I finish TPR and KA. I think in general my accuracy is okay, I could definitely bring my score up a little bit if I can improve on timing.

Also, assuming that I will be ready by mid/late July (my goal is 512+ overall and 125+ in CARS). Does it really put me at a significant disadvantage in terms of being late (I'm not talking about like top 20 schools, my goal is mostly mid and some low tier MD schools).

 

[Neuroscifan]

Do you have any advice on how to improve CARS and what resources are the best? I have been just doing practice passages (first time timed, second time untimed without looking at answers, then review answers and explanations). In terms of resources, I've been using the TPR CARS workbook and KA passages. I'm saving the AAMC passages for before the exam. It's also hard since I've taken the MCAT twice already, I have done most of the AAMC passages in the past, some of them more than once, so I feel like they might not as helpful for me for first time users. I'm planning on using Uworld once I finish TPR and KA. I think in general my accuracy is okay, I could definitely bring my score up a little bit if I can improve on timing.

Also, assuming that I will be ready by mid/late July (my goal is 512+ overall and 125+ in CARS). Does it really put me at a significant disadvantage in terms of being late (I'm not talking about like top 20 schools, my goal is mostly mid and some low tier MD schools).

I recommend looking into patterns on question types you miss. There are several specific types of questions. I would also focus on finding arguments and evidence in each paragraph, and trying to make sure your main idea is solid.

I don’t *think* that taking the MCAT in June will be a problem as long as you get your application in and verifying when it opens up, and be proactive and pre-write your secondaries. As far as I understand it, as long as you get your secondaries in early, you’ll be fine.