Need MCAT advice please

[bluegold16]

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Hi everyone, I'm currently 2.5 weeks away from my scheduled test date (which I am strongly considering moving to a later date in March) but I am having an immense amount of trouble improving my score. I have no problem when it comes to the actual content we need to know in all 3 science sections. I've taken 7 full length tests (5 from TPR, 1 AAMC, and 1 Next Step Prep) and my score has been very static. I started out at a 491 before I took the Princeton Review course in July and over the course of studying for the last 5 months my score has only increased to 499...which is soooooo frustrating after having studied so hard/long. Upon reviewing my full length tests I realized that I missed majority of the questions for misreading either the passages or the questions themselves, so I initially thought maybe I'm going too fast and I should slow down, which I did for the last 2 tests with slight improvement in my latest score, but I run out of time and have to rush through the last 8-10 questions.

I'm not sure what to do next as I have continuously reviewed content, formulas, pathways, etc. and since these do not seem to necessarily be my issue I think it is my actual test taking strategies, or lack of strategies. Does anyone have any resources, recommendations, or suggestions on what I can do? I know 2.5 weeks is very unrealistic for my goal of a 510-515 but I'm stuck and I don't know how to proceed forward.

Additionally, I am currently a part-time scribe and since I had thought I would be taking my test before February I came into agreement during the time of my hiring (in September) that I could transition to full time, which has already been presented/established with my provider. I'm considering putting in a 2 weeks notice as I do not see any chances of improving my score working full time but I'm worried that ScribeAmerica won't be willing to rehire me in the future. Does anyone have any advice about this?

 

[kb1900]

what did you get on your aamc practice test? if you didnt break 500 on that and it was taken recently, you should postpone your exam and reevaluate a lot.

random tips:

-wake up daily at whatever time u have to get up on test day
-treat reading mistakes/misunderstandings as any other mistakes; i.e. identify the error and type of error, review the concepts etc.
-review concepts/extraneous material in the same time slots as FL exams (always study in 1.5 hour blocks)
-don't look at the timer unless its at the end of a passage.
-thoroughly do all the AMCAS qbanks and sectionbanks and do them in FL format
-postpone your testdate if your AMCAS practice exam score is not in your target range. whatever you do, do not sit for the test until you are prepared
-your MCAT exam is more important than any scribe position you may have. this doesn't mean you have to quit, but act based on your priorities

one other thing ill suggest that i know most people think is stupid is to push yourself through taking 2 FLs in one day. Its ridiculous and you're not really doing it for the scores but just to build your stamina to the point where only 1 FL is a cake walk. I did this about 3 weeks away from my real exam and it made every FLafter seem short/more like a sprint rather than a marathon

 

[bluegold16]

what did you get on your aamc practice test? if you didnt break 500 on that and it was taken recently, you should postpone your exam and reevaluate a lot.

random tips:

-wake up daily at whatever time u have to get up on test day
-treat reading mistakes/misunderstandings as any other mistakes; i.e. identify the error and type of error, review the concepts etc.
-review concepts/extraneous material in the same time slots as FL exams (always study in 1.5 hour blocks)
-don't look at the timer unless its at the end of a passage.
-thoroughly do all the AMCAS qbanks and sectionbanks and do them in FL format
-postpone your testdate if your AMCAS practice exam score is not in your target range. whatever you do, do not sit for the test until you are prepared
-your MCAT exam is more important than any scribe position you may have. this doesn't mean you have to quit, but act based on your priorities

one other thing ill suggest that i know most people think is stupid is to push yourself through taking 2 FLs in one day. Its ridiculous and you're not really doing it for the scores but just to build your stamina to the point where only 1 FL is a cake walk. I did this about 3 weeks away from my real exam and it made every FLafter seem short/more like a sprint rather than a marathon

Thank you for the quick response! All of this is really great advice and I will definitely work off of it! Unfortunately, I got a 496 on my AAMC test most recently, which I haven't scored that low since about 1.5 months ago. I completely bombeeed the CARS section (121) which dropped me so low. I've always ranged around 124-126 on the TPR FL which is still pretty low- I was also under the impression TPR FL were slightly more difficult than the actual AAMC tests so I was caught off guard and realized I should've dedicated a lot more timed practice.

I was advised by a colleague to take a FL every 2 days from now on until the test- totaling in about 7 FL, which I can definitely do, and to void my test the day of if I feel like it went poorly, what would your take on this be?

 

[787593]

-thoroughly do all the AAMC qbanks and sectionbanks and do them in FL format
-postpone your testdate if your AAMC practice

one other thing ill suggest that i know most people think is stupid is to push yourself through taking 2 FLs in one day. Its ridiculous and you're not really doing it for the scores but just to build your stamina to the point where only 1 FL is a cake walk. I did this about 3 weeks away from my real exam and it made every FLafter seem short/more like a sprint rather than a marathon

I switched the amcas to AAMC 🙂

I'm inclined to say that taking 2 FL exams in one day is a waste of practice exams since they're so expensive. One could build stamina by studying or reading for 14 hours...
But hey, maybe you're right and it works, I've never tried it haha

 

[787593]

Hi everyone, I'm currently 2.5 weeks away from my scheduled test date (which I am strongly considering moving to a later date in March) but I am having an immense amount of trouble improving my score. I have no problem when it comes to the actual content we need to know in all 3 science sections. I've taken 7 full length tests (5 from TPR, 1 AAMC, and 1 Next Step Prep) and my score has been very static. I started out at a 491 before I took the Princeton Review course in July and over the course of studying for the last 5 months my score has only increased to 499...which is soooooo frustrating after having studied so hard/long. Upon reviewing my full length tests I realized that I missed majority of the questions for misreading either the passages or the questions themselves, so I initially thought maybe I'm going too fast and I should slow down, which I did for the last 2 tests with slight improvement in my latest score, but I run out of time and have to rush through the last 8-10 questions.

I'm not sure what to do next as I have continuously reviewed content, formulas, pathways, etc. and since these do not seem to necessarily be my issue I think it is my actual test taking strategies, or lack of strategies. Does anyone have any resources, recommendations, or suggestions on what I can do? I know 2.5 weeks is very unrealistic for my goal of a 510-515 but I'm stuck and I don't know how to proceed forward.

Additionally, I am currently a part-time scribe and since I had thought I would be taking my test before February I came into agreement during the time of my hiring (in September) that I could transition to full time, which has already been presented/established with my provider. I'm considering putting in a 2 weeks notice as I do not see any chances of improving my score working full time but I'm worried that ScribeAmerica won't be willing to rehire me in the future. Does anyone have any advice about this?

DO NOT TAKE THE MCAT IN 2 WEEKS.

499 is a terrible score and is likely to be your score on test day.

You're married to your mcat. Some schools average multiple attempts. You'd have to get a seriously high retake to counter a 499...

My advice is to take at least 15 more practice exams, with one week of studying between each exam. That's right, 15 more weeks of studying.

Take a practice FL on Saturday while simulating test day conditions (no cell phone!), take full breaks. 10,30,10 min.

Take the rest of Saturday off.

Sunday: thoroughly review the C/P section of your Saturday exam. Find your weaknesses, be able to answer the questions, and spend the rest of the day studying C/P and maybe hit some practice problems/passages.

Monday: do the same thing with CARS that you did on Sunday with C/P. But you can't spend all day with CARS so mix in some content review/practice for other sections (bio,chem, psych, etc.)

Tuesday: thoroughly review the B/B section of your Saturday exam. Find your weaknesses, be able to answer the questions, and spend the rest of the day studying B/B and maybe hit some practice problems/passages.

Wednesday: thoroughly review the Psyc/Soc section of your Saturday exam. Find your weaknesses, be able to answer the questions, and spend the rest of the day studying Psych/doc and maybe hit some practice problems/passages.

Thursday: content review and practice problems for weak areas across all sections

Friday: same as Thursday but take the afternoon/evening off in preparation for you exam tomorrow(Saturday)

Additional tips: practice 2-3 CARS passages every day of the week.

I went from a 495 --> 98th percentile.

Not saying this method is perfect, but it worked for me!!!

Edit: if your goal is a 515, do not take the mcat until you're scoring at least a 513-514 on practice exams with a balanced score.

 

[aprilfools]

DO NOT TAKE THE MCAT IN 2 WEEKS.

+1

 

[Ejm1]

My biggest tip is try to RELAX. The best way to get a great score is to go into the exam calm, cool, and collected. However, it does not seem like you will be able to get to this point in two weeks. I agree with everyone else that you should push your test date back. I pushed mine back and it was the best thing I could have done.

Another piece of advice; focus less on content and more on test taking. You should get to a point where you know how to maximize your time. The answers are usually somewhere inside the passage. I even ended up finishing multiple sections with time to spare on test day.

Best of luck

 

[bluegold16]

Thank you so much for the thorough advice. I actually went ahead and moved my test date and the earliest date available ended up being in May, which feels like a really long ways away but I feel so much better going forward with studying and I'm definitely going to follow your advice and take a FL every Saturday going forth.

DO NOT TAKE THE MCAT IN 2 WEEKS.

499 is a terrible score and is likely to be your score on test day.

You're married to your mcat. Some schools average multiple attempts. You'd have to get a seriously high retake to counter a 499...

My advice is to take at least 15 more practice exams, with one week of studying between each exam. That's right, 15 more weeks of studying.

Take a practice FL on Saturday while simulating test day conditions (no cell phone!), take full breaks. 10,30,10 min.

Take the rest of Saturday off.

Sunday: thoroughly review the C/P section of your Saturday exam. Find your weaknesses, be able to answer the questions, and spend the rest of the day studying C/P and maybe hit some practice problems/passages.

Monday: do the same thing with CARS that you did on Sunday with C/P. But you can't spend all day with CARS so mix in some content review/practice for other sections (bio,chem, psych, etc.)

Tuesday: thoroughly review the B/B section of your Saturday exam. Find your weaknesses, be able to answer the questions, and spend the rest of the day studying B/B and maybe hit some practice problems/passages.

Wednesday: thoroughly review the Psyc/Soc section of your Saturday exam. Find your weaknesses, be able to answer the questions, and spend the rest of the day studying Psych/doc and maybe hit some practice problems/passages.

Thursday: content review and practice problems for weak areas across all sections

Friday: same as Thursday but take the afternoon/evening off in preparation for you exam tomorrow(Saturday)

Additional tips: practice 2-3 CARS passages every day of the week.

I went from a 495 --> 98th percentile.

Not saying this method is perfect, but it worked for me!!!

Edit: if your goal is a 515, do not take the mcat until you're scoring at least a 513-514 on practice exams with a balanced score.