Need advice about retaking

[FIREitUP]

Hey guys, I took the June 18th MCAT and scored a 31M (11P-8V-12B) and I am currently signed up for a retake on August 5th. I took all of the AAMC's and some Kaplan tests and my average was ~34 with above 10 on verbal for almost all AAMC's (9 on one, 10-11 on others, and I do poorly on Kaplan verbal).
Now, for the hell of it I took the Princeton Review Free Test and scored a 28 (lol, never scored even near that ever) with a 7 in Verbal. Although I expected it to be low (just the nature of the diagnostic).
On the test I was thrown off by a passage on rotational kinetics in PS which I think affected me, but I also felt like verbal was more difficult than my practices. What should I do?

3.8 cumulative gpa 3.73 science, w/ research, clinical, etc. good LOR

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[kypreos]

I would not retake. apply broadly and early and you should be fine. throw in DO and your golden.

 

[FIREitUP]

I would not retake. apply broadly and early and you should be fine. throw in DO and your golden.

i'm mostly concerned about my 8 in verbal :/ and getting rejected because of it.

 

[LostInStudy]

Absolutely no need to retake unless you KNOW you can do significantly better (5+). If you get over a 30 you should only retake under 3 conditions.

1.) If you have an extremely unbalanced score, like a 7- on any section. (Which you don't.)

2.) Your practice AAMC MCAT averages were much much higher, like 5+ points and not even then because it depends on the schools you are applying to.

3.) Your score is expiring. (You just took it so no here also.)

-LIS

 

[FIREitUP]

Absolutely no need to retake unless you KNOW you can do significantly better (5+). If you get over a 30 you should only retake under 3 conditions.

1.) If you have an extremely unbalanced score, like a 7- on any section. (Which you don't.)

2.) Your practice AAMC MCAT averages were much much higher, like 5+ points and not even then because it depends on the schools you are applying to.

3.) Your score is expiring. (You just took it so no here also.)

-LIS

an 8 in one section doesn't constitute an unbalanced score?

 

[kypreos]

an 8 in one section doesn't constitute an unbalanced score?

it is unbalances but not that bad. You should not retake unless your gonna significantly improve. your score is impressive and your science scores are good. you should be fine man you have a good score. 8 in verbal is find but its by no means bad man. take your score and run.

 

[FIREitUP]

it is unbalances but not that bad. You should not retake unless your gonna significantly improve. your score is impressive and your science scores are good. you should be fine man you have a good score. 8 in verbal is find but its by no means bad man. take your score and run.

hmmm. well too late to cancel so i might as well retake and void if I feel awful. we'll see.

 

[FIREitUP]

any more advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[miffy810]

i'm in the same position (retaking on july 31st). and my aamc scores are also around ~34-36. i just took the free PR and also got a 28! haha. i really wouldn't worry about it because i think the point of the "free" diagnostic is to make you feel like you are doing terribly and must sign up for PR classes to do better. I think the passages are way more difficult (i wanna say as difficult as kaplans) except they do not have a corresponding curve like kaplan to make up for the difficulty difference. go ahead and retake it and i'm sure you'll rock it this time! good luck!

 

[LostInStudy]

You can work with an 8. I say just go with it. Also, you are going to feel bad about the next test whether you do well or not. I say if you have been studying and doing practice tests then go ahead with it.

-LIS

 

[FIREitUP]

You can work with an 8. I say just go with it. Also, you are going to feel bad about the next test whether you do well or not. I say if you have been studying and doing practice tests then go ahead with it.

-LIS

I was just looking at mdapps to see how people with 8's in verbal did in getting into med school and it's kind of disappointing :/. Especially since I'm a NY resident, it looks like the states schools don't care for 8's.

edit: I have run out of practice, so I don't really know about what would happen to verbal on my test day (did all 101's and AAMC). oh well, i guess i'll figure it out.

 

[FIREitUP]

i'm also afraid that i may be getting late, my amcas hasn't verified yet and my premed office hasn't made my letter. maybe i should just take it since it's not like I can apply any ealier.

 

[FIREitUP]

finally made up my mind and decided not to retake. it's not worth losing nights of sleep over and potentially putting my application at further risk. I will be applying to DO and MD schools. good luck all.