Necessity of taking AAMC PREview exam

[Premedstudent149]

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Hello, I am currently deciding if it is worth it to take the PREview exam. All my schools are only recommending it, so I do not see any real drawbacks to skipping the test. Also, it seems that the earliest the scores would release would be at the end of July, which could potentially hinder me from having a complete application if I pre-write all my secondaries. Am I missing anything by not taking the test?

 

[KnightDoc]

Hello, I am currently deciding if it is worth it to take the PREview exam. All my schools are only recommending it, so I do not see any real drawbacks to skipping the test. Also, it seems that the earliest the scores would release would be at the end of July, which could potentially hinder me from having a complete application if I pre-write all my secondaries. Am I missing anything by not taking the test?

Other than the fact that schools might prefer applicants who follow their recommendations over those who do not, no, you are not missing anything. Schools that really don't care about something don't bother recommending it. That applies to this exam the same as it applies to prereqs, or anything else for that matter.

If your application is strong enough to allow you to fire away without following all of the recommendations, then you should go for it, since I have no doubt some applicants will be successful without following all recommendations. But, if the idea is to give yourself every chance to succeed, then the smart thing to do is not to debate with yourself whether it is necessary to do something schools only "recommend" when their acceptance rates are all around 5% or so. 🙂

 

[Mr.Smile12]

I wouldn't not worry about the score release date on your application review, especially if your schools recommend it. Some schools are only using it for comparison with their MMI, others for longitudinal study when it comes to professionalism issues later. They should not penalize you for not having a score.