Possible to do better?

[BTheM]

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[orangeman25]

What did you get on verbal? If you are going to retake, try and focus to improve either BS or PS first (PS is prob the easier one to improve).

 

[BTheM]

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[aspiring20]

so you have a 32 from a previous MCAT?

that's a very good score (close to 90th percentile).

do you need a mid 30s to get into a school of your choice or to make up for GPA deficiencies?

if neither, then don't retake

 

[orangeman25]

so you have a 32 from a previous MCAT?

that's a very good score (close to 90th percentile).

do you need a mid 30s to get into a school of your choice or to make up for GPA deficiencies?

if neither, then don't retake

A 32 is not necessarily a "very good score" since it is the average score of those accepted into medical school.

 

[Jepstein30]

A 32 is not necessarily a "very good score" since it is the average score of those accepted into medical school.

It's near the 90th percentile.. that's a pretty good score.

People throw out that its the average score of those accepted but I'm not so sure that they think about what that actually means. Assuming the median is around the average (which I'm pretty sure it is based on the AAMC's data), that means half of those who are accepted to medical school have less than a 32.

To the OP, don't retake unless you are hitting 34+ on your practice exams. Even then, it's borderline risky. If you're still at the 6/8 or 7/8 mark, you're probably not going to break into the 13+ range. As to whether it's worth the time investment, that's a question that you'll have to answer for yourself based on your current time commitments and the strength of your application outside your MCAT score. You should probably consult with your pre-health adviser or post on the "What are my chances?" board here.

You can definitely re-take a 32 and score significantly better, don't get me wrong. It's just that it may not be worth it.

 

[heartsink]

Instead of making a thread I thought I might just ask a related question here on this thread: say you got a 30 on the mcat, retook it and scored lower; how do med schools look at this? Or, If your score doesn't change, will it still look less good that you took it twice?

 

[TheAnonymous]

Instead of making a thread I thought I might just ask a related question here on this thread: say you got a 30 on the mcat, retook it and scored lower; how do med schools look at this? Or, If your score doesn't change, will it still look less good that you took it twice?

the consensus here is that if you retake it and score the same, it will most likely still look bad. I won't retake unless I'm confident that I can score higher

 

[orangeman25]

Instead of making a thread I thought I might just ask a related question here on this thread: say you got a 30 on the mcat, retook it and scored lower; how do med schools look at this? Or, If your score doesn't change, will it still look less good that you took it twice?

If you get a 30 the first time, you will need at least a 33 the second time in order to make any change to your application with respect to the MCAT. If you score 31-32, it's not necessarily bad but definitely won't help you at all. If you score a 30 or below, then you have shot yourself in the foot.

 

[edgerock24]

A 32 is not necessarily a "very good score" since it is the average score of those accepted into medical school.

lol.

 

[orangeman25]

It's near the 90th percentile.. that's a pretty good score.

People throw out that its the average score of those accepted but I'm not so sure that they think about what that actually means. Assuming the median is around the average (which I'm pretty sure it is based on the AAMC's data), that means half of those who are accepted to medical school have less than a 32.

To the OP, don't retake unless you are hitting 34+ on your practice exams. Even then, it's borderline risky. If you're still at the 6/8 or 7/8 mark, you're probably not going to break into the 13+ range. As to whether it's worth the time investment, that's a question that you'll have to answer for yourself based on your current time commitments and the strength of your application outside your MCAT score. You should probably consult with your pre-health adviser or post on the "What are my chances?" board here.

You can definitely re-take a 32 and score significantly better, don't get me wrong. It's just that it may not be worth it.

Yeah, and half have above a 32. It's a respectable score. Personally, I would call a 35 "very good", but this just comes down to semantics.

 

[BTheM]

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[Jepstein30]

If you get a 30 the first time, you will need at least a 33 the second time in order to make any change to your application with respect to the MCAT. If you score 31-32, it's not necessarily bad but definitely won't help you at all. If you score a 30 or below, then you have shot yourself in the foot.

Yea, common thinking is that admissions committees expect a 1-2 point increase because of your increased familiarity with the test. So you have to get 3+ points to really make it worthwhile. Scoring worse than your original score is a death sentence. Scoring even or within two points isn't going to help much and isn't a very good use of your time/efforts.

Yeah, and half have above a 32. It's a respectable score. Personally, I would call a 35 "very good", but this just comes down to semantics.

Yea, semantics. My point was that the average/median is a 32.. so it's not like you really need to ensure you're above that number to get in. A 32 would most certainly do.

IMO though
24-26: "average"
27-29: "okay"
30-31: "good"
32-34: "very good"
35-37: "great"
38+: "elite"

To OP, PM'ed you.

 

[Person0715]

It's near the 90th percentile.. that's a pretty good score.

People throw out that its the average score of those accepted but I'm not so sure that they think about what that actually means. Assuming the median is around the average (which I'm pretty sure it is based on the AAMC's data), that means half of those who are accepted to medical school have less than a 32.

Unless you know how large the spread is, saying that half of accepted students score below a 32 is not really all that comforting. Half could score under 32, but what if that just means they scored 30 or 31?

 

[SN2ed]

As long as you don't get a perfect score, it's always possible to do better. However, that says nothing to the probability of improving. Considering that you scored worse on a test you already took, I wouldn't suggest you try for a retake. Furthermore, I wouldn't suggest a retake even if you hadn't taken that AAMC. The point of an MCAT score is to get you into medical school. Can a 11-10-11 score do that? Certainly. Work on building up the rest of your application because you can always improve that aspect.

 

[Contr0lz]

Hi everyone, I just wanted to ask if there is any plant biology on the mcat (I didn't want to make a new thread). I'm studying it right now in my bio 2 class and I hate it sooooo much. Just want to know if I have to go through this phase again for later mcat prep.

 

[Jepstein30]

Unless you know how large the spread is, saying that half of accepted students score below a 32 is not really all that comforting. Half could score under 32, but what if that just means they scored 30 or 31?

https://www.aamc.org/students/download/361080/data/combined13.pdf.pdf
In 2013, just over 10% of ALL test takers scored a 30 or 31. Just considering the relative amount of people who take the MCAT vs. get into medical school, it's probably around 25-30%.

My point remains though.. 32 remains the target score for many because it is the average but people forget that it IS just the average. You can do worse and get in. The primary goal of the MCAT is to get into medical school. That means you don't necessarily need a 32+ to do the job. It depends on your application, you can't just say you have a 32 and you automatically need to do better.