need advice on multiple mediocre attempts

[onlyindream]

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Hey guys,
Just figured I'd post my situation and see if I can gain any insight on it. Here we go. So I first took the MCAT July 2009 very foolishly and immaturely and did not take preparation seriously, I received a 22 8P 6V 8B. I then entered an SMP after college managed to maintain good grades, happy with that I decided to give another crack at the MCAT. July 2011 I receive a shocking 9P 6V 8B for a 23. After completing the second year of the SMP which is comprised of taking 70% of a first year med school curriculum, I finished the program with High Pass and even Honoring a few courses. I told myself this was it, and that if I can handle first year med courses, I can certainly handle the MCAT. Wrong again, I took it this past summer with a 7P 6V 10B. While I am happy with the improvement in the biological sciences, I was absolutely shocked by the dip in my physical sciences score as I was doing much, much better than that in my practice exams. Any general advice would be appreciated. I personally know people in my program that have taken a 3rd, even a 4th stab at this exam, managed to overcome it and ultimately gain an acceptance. Just sucks that it seems I can handle the course load, but the entrance exam is something else. Also noticed that I was doing better on my practice exams, but come time for game day I can't seem to perform. I would appreciate if people would with hold negative comments, I have no problem with honesty and constructive criticism, but please be tasteful. Thank you.

 

[NinjaMed]

What are you using for the Physical Sciences? Make sure that you have a conceptual understanding of the material. It is very important to get your timing down pat before going in.

Take a look at some of the posts on here regarding Verbal Reasoning for some pointers.

Keep at it with the Biological Sciences despite an improvement in your score for that section.

Regarding game day, where do you normally study?

 

[onlyindream]

Thanks for your response! Round two I used Princeton Review, and was at least able to get that 9, but this time I switched to EK and it really didn't seem to sit well with me. I normally study at home or at the library, but it is a library that I have gotten comfortable with over the past few years. I was just looking for insight if others would think one last crack at it would be a terrible idea, if I take the time to re-evaluate, come up with a better study schedule/mix things up/ potentially take a prep course/etc.

My main concern is that even if I do score better on this final retake (I certainly think I can considering my practice averages). How would an admissions committee view this? I think that it could go one or two ways, oh it took this applicant four tries to break a thirty, or oh this applicant did not give up, overcame the struggle and persevered. Any input?

 

[onlyindream]

I see this thread is getting a few views here and there. I'm guessing with no responses maybe, just maybe this is a lost cause. Penny for your thoughts? Save the rain forest? haha. Although, I really do want to give it one more go, with all I got and if it doesn't work out, then I'll consider plan B. As I know this test says nothing about my intelligence, clearly since I can handle a first year med school curriculum. Nothing about my passion, as I am so dedicated in showing my true potential, etc etc.

 

[NinjaMed]

Judging by your post, you haven't displayed your full potential yet. There is an SDN'er who took the MCAT 5 times and she still got accepted.

The ad coms don't like 4 or 5 attempts, but who cares, you can still get accepted. It is important to realize this and to focus on this. The most important thing that you need to do for yourself is get the score that will let you matriculate. However, you must make sure that you are ready...that you are absolutely ready before you make your fourth attempt. Some are rooting for you here, including me, so give yourself enough time and stay focused. And don't count yourself out yet unless you are preparing for your 10th attempt.

You must find an anchor for yourself, something that keeps you solid and steady and focused. Make sure that you are able to practise problems and get feedback on your errors. Learn from your mistakes and you will improve. Do as much practice as you can for each section.

 

[onlyindream]

Thank you so much for your encouragement. I realize that the burden of proof is on me, but I am committed and determined enough to make it happen. I will post back on this thread down the road with how it all panned out.

 

[melht18]

Hi. After reading everyone's posts, I wanted to see if I could get some advice for my situation as well.

Like onlyindream, I have been having trouble with multiple bad MCAT scores. I took my MCAT this year and received a 24 but then when I took it a second time just recently, I unfortunately decreased in my score. This news was a complete shock to me and a huge disappointment. I feel like my chances of getting into med school are obsolete right now.

I honestly cannot imagine doing anything else in life and I feel that I have what it takes to be a physician. I just am having a hard time with getting over the MCAT hurdle.

Should I just consider leaving this med path and find another career or should I keep going and hopefully get an incredible third MCAT score and hope for the best? Does anyone know if med schools will just laugh at my stats and fear for my ability to succeed due to a dip in scores?

I definitely appreciate anyone's help/advice in this matter, especially at such a horrible point in time for me right now. I submitted my AMCAS for the first time this cycle as well.

thank you in advance 🙂

 

[BKN89]

Hey guys,
Just figured I'd post my situation and see if I can gain any insight on it. Here we go. So I first took the MCAT July 2009 very foolishly and immaturely and did not take preparation seriously, I received a 22 8P 6V 8B. I then entered an SMP after college managed to maintain good grades, happy with that I decided to give another crack at the MCAT. July 2011 I receive a shocking 9P 6V 8B for a 23. After completing the second year of the SMP which is comprised of taking 70% of a first year med school curriculum, I finished the program with High Pass and even Honoring a few courses. I told myself this was it, and that if I can handle first year med courses, I can certainly handle the MCAT. Wrong again, I took it this past summer with a 7P 6V 10B. While I am happy with the improvement in the biological sciences, I was absolutely shocked by the dip in my physical sciences score as I was doing much, much better than that in my practice exams. Any general advice would be appreciated. I personally know people in my program that have taken a 3rd, even a 4th stab at this exam, managed to overcome it and ultimately gain an acceptance. Just sucks that it seems I can handle the course load, but the entrance exam is something else. Also noticed that I was doing better on my practice exams, but come time for game day I can't seem to perform. I would appreciate if people would with hold negative comments, I have no problem with honesty and constructive criticism, but please be tasteful. Thank you.

Can you tell us the nitty-gritty of how you study? Break it down exactly - for example something along the lines of:
days 1-4: read content for 2 hours, break, then passages for 2 hours, break, review passages.
day 5: review content
day 6: lots of passages
repeat days 1-6 for the next chapter.

Give as much detail as you can, and maybe we can give you some feedback on your study technique. It sounds like you are a hard worker (you finished an SMP with high marks, that's impressive), so I suspect there is perhaps some flaw in how you prepare for content, or how you practice for the test.

 

[BKN89]

Hi. After reading everyone's posts, I wanted to see if I could get some advice for my situation as well.

Like onlyindream, I have been having trouble with multiple bad MCAT scores. I took my MCAT this year and received a 24 but then when I took it a second time just recently, I unfortunately decreased in my score. This news was a complete shock to me and a huge disappointment. I feel like my chances of getting into med school are obsolete right now.

I honestly cannot imagine doing anything else in life and I feel that I have what it takes to be a physician. I just am having a hard time with getting over the MCAT hurdle.

Should I just consider leaving this med path and find another career or should I keep going and hopefully get an incredible third MCAT score and hope for the best? Does anyone know if med schools will just laugh at my stats and fear for my ability to succeed due to a dip in scores?

I definitely appreciate anyone's help/advice in this matter, especially at such a horrible point in time for me right now. I submitted my AMCAS for the first time this cycle as well.

thank you in advance 🙂

Same goes for you as above, give us details so we can give you some feedback.

 

[onlyindream]

so I was sold into believing that examkrackers is the golden ticket to do well on this exam, and that clearly did not work for me. I spent a lot of time on content review and don't think I did nearly enough passages/practice problems. I basically used their study method- doing the questions in the chapters as I was reviewing and then doing the EK exam for the chapter after I went through the content thoroughly. So in hindsight, relying on their very few practice passages were not enough. My biggest concern is getting passed verbal, as it just seems that I fall for the wrong yet, appealing answer choices.

 

[maybemed2013]

Have you tried EK 101.

When I first started doing verbal I was score 4 and 5 now my average is an 8 ( I know an 8 is not super but it is passing.)

Here are some tips I have for you:
When you first start to do passage DO NOT time yourself, you need to FIRST learn how to do a passage. Find what techniques work for you. EVERYONE IS DIFFERENT so what one person does to get a 15 in verbal could cause another person to get a 2.

Also when reading the passage you should be asking yourself questions like what is the main idea, is the author agreeing with a topic or disagreeing, what is the author view on the topic, etc... this will come to you naturally after a while it did for me.

Some ppl like to skim the questions first; some like to skim the passage first, look at questions, then reread the passage; some like to read the passage first, then answer the questions and refer back to the passage when needed, etc... There so many reading techniques find which one works best for you.

AFTER you found your technique SLOWLY build stigma., every week or so add an extra passage until you are doing 7 passages in ONE SITTING.

When you are able to do 7 passages in one sitting TIME yourslf to see how long it takes you, if you are in the 60 min mark GREAT if not consider only doing 5-6 passages and guessing on the rest.... ( I usually take my time with 6 passages and guess on the last.... I know me not reading all the passages will prevent me from getting a 15 on verbal, but I will be more than glad with an 8 on verbal so this technique works for me.)

 

[BKN89]

so I was sold into believing that examkrackers is the golden ticket to do well on this exam, and that clearly did not work for me. I spent a lot of time on content review and don't think I did nearly enough passages/practice problems. I basically used their study method- doing the questions in the chapters as I was reviewing and then doing the EK exam for the chapter after I went through the content thoroughly. So in hindsight, relying on their very few practice passages were not enough. My biggest concern is getting passed verbal, as it just seems that I fall for the wrong yet, appealing answer choices.

Okay. So as you can probably tell, heavy content review does not work for MCAT the way that it works for other tests in school. The trick about the MCAT is that they are testing your ability to synthesize information and use it to problem solve, not your ability to regurgitate it.

Yes, you need passages, and you need to practice tons of them. In my opinion, it does not matter as much which company you use for content review. It DOES matter who you use for passages though - Berkeley Review is usually agreed upon in these forums as having the most comprehensive and high quality passages. Feel free to explore other companies though. But the main thing is...you should be doing 4-5 passages/day, and ideally at the end of the week, do a set of 15-20 passages for all subjects. I always reviewed passages no more than an hour after I took them so that I remembered what I was thinking when I made the mistakes.

Like maybemed said above me, it's okay to do the passages untimed first. Learn to do it correctly before you do it quickly. My rule was this: on the day that I learned the content for the first time, I did the passages untimed. I only timed myself at the end of the week, when I was doing a large amount of passages and seeing these topics for the second time that week.

For verbal, you should try doing 3-4 passages every day. Timing for verbal is perhaps more key than any other section, so perhaps you can start off untimed, then give yourself a handicap - a longer amount of time for a passage than usual. After you do the passages, take a quick 5-10 minute break, and then look at the answers. You want to be able to look at them while your thinking process is fresh in your head. Jot down some common mistakes in logic, and skim that list before you do verbal the next day. The list will grow and then probably plateau. You can also try and tally the type of question that trips you up most frequently.

 

[onlyindream]

Thanks for the solid advice, I will definitely invest in TBR. I'll make sure to have the material down cold and then spend bulk of the time doing passages and problem solving.

I guess my next concern is what are some comparable FLs to consider since I've pretty much gone through AAMC. I'm seeing people say that TBR CBTs are top notch while Gold Standard is decent practice as well. Any insight on this? Thank you!

 

[gtbROX]

What are/were your study habits during your mcat studies?
If I missed the post where you mentioned it, sorry, but the biggest score improvement does not usually come from a change in prep course or prep material. It usually comes from figuring out those things you were doing wrong the first time. How much time did you dedicate to mcat studying (hours per day, days per week, how many weeks or months?)? How much of that time was set aside to content review versus practice test/drills? How much of that time did you spend analyzing your practice test/drill results? How did you analyze those results? Did you check each and every answer choices of every question or did you just look at ones you got wrong and the correct answer choice?

Most of the retakers I've personally talked to at school and a lot of retakers on sdn mention that they did not have good study habits during their previous mcat studying, and they had to really think about what they were doing wrong and make changes to improve. And it seems like a lack of intelligence is not your issue with the mcat since you've been doing well in that smp program.

 

[Roxas]

.

 

[onlyindream]

What are/were your study habits during your mcat studies?
If I missed the post where you mentioned it, sorry, but the biggest score improvement does not usually come from a change in prep course or prep material. It usually comes from figuring out those things you were doing wrong the first time. How much time did you dedicate to mcat studying (hours per day, days per week, how many weeks or months?)? How much of that time was set aside to content review versus practice test/drills? How much of that time did you spend analyzing your practice test/drill results? How did you analyze those results? Did you check each and every answer choices of every question or did you just look at ones you got wrong and the correct answer choice?

Most of the retakers I've personally talked to at school and a lot of retakers on sdn mention that they did not have good study habits during their previous mcat studying, and they had to really think about what they were doing wrong and make changes to improve. And it seems like a lack of intelligence is not your issue with the mcat since you've been doing well in that smp program.

So as stated above, the first time I took it I should have absolutely voided, there was no point, it's as if I was just winging it, poor planning and lack of maturation on my part. Round two, maybe touched one or two practice exams. But, this time I felt was different, our program finished in late may, I gave myself a few days to decompress after our finals and then got to it! I was told that EK is the way to go, so I did all of my content review with them, and really only used their multiple choice questions in the chapter and then the EK exam that corresponds to the chapter at the end of the book. I did go through the AAMC practice tests, and I was scoring within a range I was comfortable with. I don't know if it's me having a hard time separating the significance of the weight of the exam from performing or what. But, looking back, I think as an above poster stated I really should have spent a lot more time going through practice passages and practice problems before tackling the tests. My post game analysis could have probably been more thorough as well.

I think the biggest concern in planning out this re-take is getting new practice full length materials, since I need to be challenged by things I haven't seen before. Performing some research on the forum, it seems people speak pretty highly of the berkeley review CBTs and that Gold Standard is pretty solid for the sciences, harder than the AAMCS, but that will be good prep for the real thing. I will save retaking the AAMCs for last, but of course can't use those for predictive purposes since I've seen them before, but think there can still be a lot to learn from thorough review/going over the thought process/logic behind each and every question.

Thanks for your encouragement everyone!

 

[gtbROX]

So as stated above, the first time I took it I should have absolutely voided, there was no point, it's as if I was just winging it, poor planning and lack of maturation on my part. Round two, maybe touched one or two practice exams. But, this time I felt was different, our program finished in late may, I gave myself a few days to decompress after our finals and then got to it! I was told that EK is the way to go, so I did all of my content review with them, and really only used their multiple choice questions in the chapter and then the EK exam that corresponds to the chapter at the end of the book. I did go through the AAMC practice tests, and I was scoring within a range I was comfortable with. I don't know if it's me having a hard time separating the significance of the weight of the exam from performing or what. But, looking back, I think as an above poster stated I really should have spent a lot more time going through practice passages and practice problems before tackling the tests. My post game analysis could have probably been more thorough as well.

I think the biggest concern in planning out this re-take is getting new practice full length materials, since I need to be challenged by things I haven't seen before. Performing some research on the forum, it seems people speak pretty highly of the berkeley review CBTs and that Gold Standard is pretty solid for the sciences, harder than the AAMCS, but that will be good prep for the real thing. I will save retaking the AAMCs for last, but of course can't use those for predictive purposes since I've seen them before, but think there can still be a lot to learn from thorough review/going over the thought process/logic behind each and every question.

Thanks for your encouragement everyone!

That's good! Just make sure to constantly reflect on how you're doing and what you can improve on each step of the way. Best of luck to you!