Postpone MCAT? Worried...

[pre-doc_93]

Advertisement - Members don't see this ad

So I've been studying all summer and some of spring semester for each section of the MCAT. I did practice passages from EK, AAMC question packs and Khan academy passages. I don't do amazing, but I do tend to get a good chunk of the passage based questions and independent questions correct on the resources I use. I just completed a Kaplan FL and received a 489.

I don't know how I scored so low. After reviewing the exam, I noticed that a majority of my mistakes were over material I knew but didn't do a good job of applying to the exam. I think a part of it was me getting worried about my performance and not actually focusing on the exam. With a score that low on an FL, should I postpone my July 18 exam date? What can I do in the mean time other than practice questions and reviewing?

Thank you.

 

[BlitheDilettante]

What did you get on your AAMC practice test? Kaplan FL may be intimidating.

You have to consider the pros and cons of postponing. Taking it after July will put you way behind others in this cycle. However, like mentioned, if you don't feel confident about it, go ahead and reschedule. One of the most effective, yet simplest method of all for me is to narrow down the answers to 2. Being able to do so proves that you know what the Q is asking and what approach you can use to solve it. Be mindful of this when doing the practice Qs.
Many a time you cannot narrow the answers down to 2, please "mark" that question and jump ahead. No matter how much "harder" you think, you may still hovering over 4 answers without knowing how to pick the correct one.

After finishing the practice, go back to the questions that you couldn't narrow the answer and study the reasoning.
For the questions you narrowed down to 2 answers yet did not pick the correct one, go over it to understand why the correct answer was (or was not) one of your 2 final picks after POE.

This is true for all 4 sections. For me, I believe the POE is the most important regardless of type of questions and tactics to tackle each type for each section detailed by prep books. They may make things confusing sometimes. And of course, we all know the tricks for POE (overgeneralization, simpletons, "quoting" passage but does not provide answers, non-related stuff, etc.). Beware of them when practicing.

Why POE is important, IMO:
- you can cross out wrong answers directly on the test and do not hover over them again (which increases the chance of mis-clicking on the wrong one when your eyes are tired after a while)
- some answers are convoluted, and part of it is right but the rest is wrong. POE helps you get rid of them.
- feel confident when answering. Self-doubt and double-checking may be good but also time-consuming

Good luck!

 

[El-Rami]

Those full-lengths are harder than the real thing, so I have heard. There are people who scored 500-505 on the full-lengths and earned very high percentile ranks on the real exam.

 

[Dreamstoo]

Try to take one more FL in about a week. I would say if you can get at least a 494+, try taking it. I have been averaging a 495 with one being about 3-4 points lower than my average. I took some time off and did a FL scoring nearly a 500.

 

[rraidermd]

Try to take one more FL in about a week. I would say if you can get at least a 494+, try taking it. I have been averaging a 495 with one being about 3-4 points lower than my average. I took some time off and did a FL scoring nearly a 500.

I agree with Dreamstoo. From what I saw on the MCAT scores, people that generally scored 500+ on the kaplan ended with good to really great scores on their real test. So I would postpone if you aren't hitting 494+ on the practice like Dreamstoo stated.

 

[Dr. Trenb]

Postpone. Do not rush it, MCAT isn't going anywhere.

 

[nomdeplume1234]

Those full-lengths are harder than the real thing, so I have heard. There are people who scored 500-505 on the full-lengths and earned very high percentile ranks on the real exam.

I wonder how many more question right are needed to go from a 494 to a 505 though.

 

[Dreamstoo]

I wonder how many more question right are needed to go from a 494 to a 505 though.

based on TPR tests, about ~53% was a 494. A 500 was about a ~62%. So I would say ~71-72% based on scales from other prep companies. My highest was ~61% which was around 500 give or take 5 or so right answers.