My MCAT Situation, Seeking Advice

[alakermsu23]

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hello there, this is a little long but please voice your opinion

I am currently scheduled to take the MCAT on 8/23/2012, so 20 days from today. I have taken 3 kaplan practice exams and 1 aamc with scores:

AAMC #3) 22 (7-7-8)
Kaplan #2) 27 (8-8-11)
Kaplan #3) 25 (10-7-8)
Kaplan #4) 25 (8-7-10)

I am not fully through content review yet (I've only been studying for about 3-4 weeks), and its shown by some very weak spots on each of these exams. I am also struggling to get my verbal score above a 7 and its quite frustrating.

I had originally planned on applying this cycle and taking the MCAT in May, but I came down with mono in April and had to push back my MCAT a couple months. Therefore, I am not applying this cycle and will be applying next June. I have a 3.91 GPA and would like to score above a 30 overall on this exam in order to give me the best possible chance of acceptance into an MD school. I believe that there are two possible options: study extremely hard these next 3 weeks and take the exam the 23rd or cancel and reschedule for sometime in January.

Since I've already rescheduled before, I'm hesitant to do so again and would like to just get this beast over with. I also think, however, that pushing my exam back till January would give me ample time to devote to improving my VR score and finishing the content review efficiently. One downside in pushing it back is that I will also be taking classes as I study for the MCAT, but right now I'm only taking one course and have lots of free time. If I did decide to push it back to January, I would take a Humanities class this Fall to potentially improve my VR and would effectively finish the content review instead of cramming it into a short period of time. I really would like to get this over with, but on the other hand I want to do the best I possibly can. Therefore I'm looking for some advice:

Take it or Reschedule and why????

 

[Tenebrus]

I'm by no means an MCAT genius, but from what I've gathered on these forums and heard, apparently Kaplan's exams are inflated by a few points (~5 or so?) and your AAMC is a better indicator of where you are. I'm not sure how long ago you took AAMC #3, but if it's been a while you should take another AAMC FL before deciding. If that one was fairly recent, I would considering postponing the MCAT. I know you mentioned that you weren't through content, but how far are you relatively? If you've still got a lot to get through and think you can get it done, but the problem is that it's hard to bring verbal up in such a short time span.

I know how you feel in wanting to get it over with (I'm in a similar situation as you in terms of cramming, my test is the 10th though and I'm ready to explode from all the MCAT and basically putting my life on hold to study), but you don't want a low MCAT score to cast doubt on your GPA when you apply. Try another FL if you think you've improved, and if you arent scoring at least a 25-27, I would recommend postponing till winter. Since you've already dedicated your summer to MCAT, you could still try finishing content review this summer and then spend the next semester doing practice and review, and working on verbal.

 

[Mehd School]

apparently Kaplan's exams are inflated by a few points (~5 or so?)

Kaplan has a much more forgiving grading scale, but the sciences are noticeably harder. Still, Kaplan FL's seem to be a bit higher than aamc scores.

If I were in your shoes (and I am) I'd either take the test and Void, or reschedule. You're applying next year so you have plenty of time. Get prepared for the test, take it once and do it right.

Take another aamc in the meantime to see where you stand.

 

[ChocoMoo]

If you are aiming for a 30, I would highly recommend that you reschedule.

AAMC #3 is probably one of the most, if not, THE most, straightforward/easiest of the AAMC exams. A 22 with a 7/8 on the sciences indicates that there are major holes in content understanding and/or lack of practice. With 20 days left until your exam you should have been done with content already, be currently drilling passages, and be about to start a string of practice tests within the next couple of days. Raising the sciences 3 points each in about 3 weeks would be difficult, especially since you still need to go over material and make sure you nail that first before attempting practice tests. Even if you managed to raise both sciences to a 10, they will not make up for a lower verbal score (hard to raise in 20 days) and you'll probably end up getting sub-30 overall. Rescheduling will give you more time for content review, practicing passages, and might also allow you to figure out a good strategy for verbal so you can raise it.

As for taking courses while studying, it's possible as long as you have the discipline to keep yourself on track. Making a detailed schedule about what topics you're going to cover, what problems you're going to do, while also fitting in course work will help a lot. I would recommend making a tentative schedule to see how it works while taking classes. Then if there needs to be adjusting based on course workload, you can move stuff around. However, after you make these changes you should keep the schedule the way it is and not change it unless there are dire circumstances. Reason being that every time you have a quiz or a lab report or something due, you might want to use it as an excuse to skimp out on MCAT studying (at least I would). The reason why making the schedule would be beneficial is so you know exactly what you have to do and when you have to do it. There would also be no excuse to not study for the MCAT, because 1.) you made this schedule a while ago and knew ahead of time what you had to do, and 2.) you already made adjustments taking into account your course load. Anyway, I went off on a little tangent there...

Basically, reschedule it, but only if you know you can dedicate the time during the school year while taking class. Maybe give yourself a lighter course load if anything.

 

[alakermsu23]

Thanks for the responses, I really appreciate it. I am leaning towards re-scheduling. There's no point in rushing such an important exam when I have 10 months till I actually am applying to medical school. I know that I will be able to study efficiently during the school year, therefore I should give myself enough time to effectively learn the material instead of cramming.

 

[letmebeanMD]

I don't know how you study, whether you are able to cram or not. If you are, then maybe these last 20 days can be a strong push to the finish line. I too am scheduled in August infact next week haha on the tenth. I had some disappointing scores a week ago scoring around 20-22 and then buckled down in PS review and went over all the topics and made my own equation and study sheet using reference books and chads videos. I was able to raise my PS high of 7 to a PS of 10 within a week and scored a 26 on aamc 5 and 25 on aamc 7 I am underway of doing the same thing for bio. So even though it may not seem possible but your mind can do wonders in a short period of time. If you don't feel like you scored well just void it.

Also what I had trouble with was finishing PS on time. I now try doing the discretes first and then tackle passages that I know I can get through which really bumped up my PS scores.

Anyway whatever you decide. Good luck!