Reading Disability & MCAT - PLEASE HELP!

[archer71]

Hi everyone,

After reading multiple threads on here about disabilities and accommodations, you know quite honestly I'm left disheartened and even embarrassed at how people view others who have learning disabilities.

I'm pretty bright and I work extremely hard. My GPA suffered for the first 3 years of University because I had too much pride to ask for help. But I know I'd spend hours studying, tutor others, and end up getting 30% on an exam, while the person I tutored would improve from a 60% to a 90%.

One of my professors recommended I go for professional testing, and the Educational Psychatrist discovered I had a severe reading disability. To break it down, I had 8 weeks of testing, about 2 hours per session, and many tests. Essentially, I was placed in the 98th or 99th percentile for all categories except reading. My IQ is "high". In reading I placed at 54th percentile. That large difference places me into the LD category.

I know my disability impacts my learning but I have strategies on how to overcome it. Yes, it takes me on average about 2 x longer to read than a normal person, but I've developed techniques. I'm not stupid, or lazy, or looking for extra time to do better on the MCAT. Everyone's LD is different - regarding reading disabilities my therapist said that everyone's comprehension plateaus at a certain point and that means you may only discover it once you start going into higher learning.

And to those people who think all of a sudden having a LD means you're too stupid to work in the professional or medical world: FYI, when a patient's lying in front of you, you're not sitting there reading a multiple choice question figuring out what you're going to do - you take what you learnt in class, in practice, and you DO it.

My question:
BUT, I don't know if I will even do remotely well on the MCAT because it's based on reading comprehension (where my disability lies) and multiple choice. Is there ANYONE out there who has a reading disability like I do? How did you get through the MCAT? Was there specific techniques you used to deal with the time constraint? Did you find your verbal reasoning scores were lower or higher than average? If you applied for accommodation, were you granted additional time?

FYI, I really think people don't understand what a learning disability is and it makes me sad, especially if we're all supposed to be future doctors. Where's the compassion for difference? It's not a crutch, it's not a time-grab for the MCAT; it's just a struggle. You have yours, and unfortunately my brain wired itself this way, so I have mine.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[theseeker4]

FYI, I really think people don't understand what a learning disability is and it makes me sad, especially if we're all supposed to be future doctors. Where's the compassion for difference? It's not a crutch, it's not a time-grab for the MCAT; it's just a struggle. You have yours, and unfortunately my brain wired itself this way, so I have mine.

Unfortunately I don't have any advice to offer you from experience with this. I will just say, don't take comments made on here personally. First, no one knows you personally, so they can't possibly be personally criticizing or attacking you. Second, most of the people who would make comments are completely unfamiliar with any learning disabilities. Third, if you read through enough threads in the pre-med forums, you will see that there are people who DO try to use accommodations illegitimately. Some people don't need extra time, special consideration, etc, yet will try to take advantage of programs/conditions that are intended for those who really need it. Unfortunately, this dishonesty on the part of a handful of applicants makes many people more skeptical of accommodations without discriminating between those who actually need them and those who don't.

The point is, don't take anything personally, and if someone makes a critical comment, feel free to ignore it, nothing requires you to respond.

 

[Prncssbuttercup]

OP,
I am not sure which of the many reading disabilities you have, however, I know for most of them there are specific places that can help retrain your brain to have more success. I have less concern about the MCAT, and more concern about how you will do with the loads of reading and studying you'll need to do in school? I do have a friend who has a program that takes any text source and reads it (like for the blind) and that is how he studies for classes... you will need to talk to AAMC about what accommodations they can make for you... best of luck, let us know what you find!

 

[DrMidlife]

I had a math professor in college who got his PhD at Princeton and had piles of academic accolades and was a big deal in pure math. Super fun, nice prof. Some student asked for extra time on a test because of dyslexia. Prof says what's that. Student describes it. Prof says that's normal. Student persists. Prof finds out prof is severely dyslexic. Prof's mind is blown. Prof was about 40 at the time.

Point being, I'm on board with how learning disabilities aren't about intelligence.

People with learning disabilities do get into med school. You can get extra time on exams. Not all exams, but enough to make a difference.

But: you have to get into med school on the same terms as everybody else. That means that your cumulative undergrad GPA and MCAT are between you and an acceptance. Your grades from your first three years of college are more permanent than a tattoo. If you want to pursue DO, you can repeat classes and get the old grades forgiven. If you're in Texas, you can do academic fresh start and do undergrad over from scratch. But there's no way to get into a US med school with an unredeemed low GPA.

So I suggest putting the MCAT aside for a while, and looking at what you need to do to rehabilitate your GPA and build a credible case for your success under the load of med school. The LD med students I know had to spend several extra years on this - one taught high school, one did rigorous grad study and published, both did extra years of undergrad, both did SMPs as an audition for med school, both had to take the MCAT multiple times.

Also, do the math and see what you're in for. If you know you need 2x the time to study, apply that to how much time people say they spend studying (boatloads of threads on SDN have this info). How does the amount of studying vary through med school and in practice? Is there enough time in the day? Is lack of sleep another multiplier? If you have to study after a 12 hour day on a rotation, is that an additional multiplier?

Meanwhile, you can't control other people's attitudes about LDs. You can only control how you think about your LD. I suggest you need to grow some seriously thick skin and make like Dale Carnegie.

Last suggestion: contact some med schools and ask to be contacted by med students who have LDs. Find some mentors who are a step or two ahead of you. You may need to ask 100 times to get 1 mentor, so again, thick skin.

Best of luck to you.

 

[startoverat40]

ask your school if they provide access to software designed to help people with dyslexia.

http://www.kurzweiledu.com/dyslexia-and-kurzweil-3000.html

 

[OldBat]

Did you have this problem in high school? You made good enough grades and scored high enough on your SAT or ACT to be accepted to an university. If you can teach the material to others you apparently understand it.
I have a question about your LD. Did he determine if you were dyslexic?
I have a couple of suggestions
Have a through vision exam, See if your school offers the software mentioned above. Take a speed reading course. Learn some relaxation techniques.

 

[yossarian444]

If you are able to get an accommodation for the MCAT, make sure you know the rules for accommodations for the USMLE and/or COMLEX. There would be nothing worse than to be accepted into med school after a high MCAT with accommodations, pay tuition for 2 or 3 years, and then get kicked out of school for failing boards too many times since the NBME might not allow accommodations. If you read some of med school forums, every few months or so there is just such a scenario - student having a learning disability, failing boards to many times, getting dismissed form med school, and are 100k's in debt. Here is one such recent horror story: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=904374

I'm not saying you wouldn't be able to pass boards without accommodations - but, just be aware that it is another hurdle you'll face and you may have to prepare for it early on in med school.

For what its worth, I'm extremely slow at reading and didn't finish any section of my MCAT except for the VR. I only took it once and somehow ended up a hair above 30. I found the examkrackers advice for VR helpful: Read it once slowly, and resist all urge to go back and re-read anything in the passage. I bought all the practice VR tests I could possibly find. VR ended up being my highest score to my suprise.

My personal opinion: I see no reason why you would need accommodations. I doubt I'm much higher than 50% on ANY IQ testing category (no joke); certainly not in the 98th or 99th percentile. Have faith in yourself - you can do it without accommodations as you're gifted in other areas which can compensate.

 

[startoverat40]

USMLE test accomodations

http://www.usmle.org/test-accommodations/

 

[23 from me]

1. GPA suffered for first 3 years: As noted in other responses, your cum and BCPM GPA must be competitive for med school admission. Get help from your university student support services program. Work as hard as you can with any approved reasonable accommodations.

2. MCAT: AAMC can provide reasonable accommodations. The AAMC website outlines required documentation. You need to work with a qualified professional to document your history, diagnosis and recommendations. Do not take advice from students. Accommodations or not, you can get through the MCAT by training as if it were a marathon: "Practice, practice, practice - whatever it takes."

3. Med School: Schools test all students experiencing academic difficulty for LDs. This has been routine for > a decade. Once admitted, schools will help you. Accommodations are possible if appropriate.

4. Attitudes: Accommodations must be approved by qualified professionals at the AAMC, NBME, specialty boards, etc. These are the only opinions that count.

5. Documentation: See required information at 2 specialty boards:
https://www.abp.org/abpwebsite/ada/guide.pdf
http://www.abim.org/exam/ada.aspx

6. Is there anyone with an LD in medicine? Yes. Check out the Yale Med website.

7. If you go into medicine with or without an LD, you are signing up for a lifetime of learning, testing and hard work. Many with an LD have been successful in diverse areas of medicine: practice, academics, and research. Some even serve on adcoms.

Good luck!

 

[MedPR]

.

 

[MedPR]

Hi everyone,




And to those people who think all of a sudden having a LD means you're too stupid to work in the professional or medical world: FYI, when a patient's lying in front of you, you're not sitting there reading a multiple choice question figuring out what you're going to do - you take what you learnt in class, in practice, and you DO it.

That's exactly what you do on the MCAT as well. Whether or not your "LD" will affect patient care I don't know, but it will affect you on every one of the standardized tests you have to take after the MCAT.

People on SDN who post about their LD and say stuff like "just because I 'insert disability here' doesn't mean I can't be as good of a physician as anyone else" are completely overlooking all of the board exams to come. It doesn't matter if your LD won't affect your ability to practice medicine if you can't make it through all the testing.

Many ESL students score just fine in VR and you can bet some of them read at or below the 54th percentile.

Everyone is limited by something, and at some point you have to either make adjustments, suck it up, work harder, or find another career path. Lots of people without learning disabilities think they can make it into and through medical school, but can't. People on SDN with learning disabilities all seem to think they would be invincible academically without it and I think that's why there are so many negative replies and opinions.

In high school I was a good basketball player, but was (still am) short so there was no way I could make it to the NBA. It's not the best analogy, but if you think of shortness as a learning disability, you can see what I'm getting at. It's not impossible, but you can't expect people to give you special treatment because of a disadvantage.

Sure extra time might help you on the MCAT just like being a URM will help me get into medical school. However, you won't have extra time to learn all the material in med school, and being a URM won't matter for me either.

 

[mcatcram]

Hi everyone,

Essentially, I was placed in the 98th or 99th percentile for all categories except reading. My IQ is "high". In reading I placed at 54th percentile. That large difference places me into the LD category.

Lol, sure you statistically have a learning disability because of the range, but 54th percentile means that your reading ability is slightly higher than the average person. Whether you have some type of problem, like dyslexia, is a different concern but it sounds like if you do, you're coping with it pretty well. If you don't actually have a problem like dyslexia, there is no way you will receive assistance simply because you don't read as well as you do other things, most people would call that a weakness, not a disability. My reading comp is garbage and my ability to work problems quickly is garbage too. My academic success has not been the result of reading or working problems, it's been based on taking a test and figuring out how to do problems using logic. It takes me a long time to finish tests, but the fact that I can think logically enough to make up my own physics equations that I later find out are the actual equations and apply them during a test would suggest that I'm smart, but it wont get me a good mcat score. I was in for quite a surprise when the MCAT rolled around, I can't read quickly at all, I've relied very heavily on just thinking about ideas so that I didn't have to slave over a book all day and could just lay outside and think. I quickly realized that I would need to improve my reading skills for the MCAT, but didn't have time because I started preparing a month before. I think it will be critical to my success in medical school. Sure poor reading ability won't inhibit your ability to practice medicine, but it sure as hell will inhibit your ability to get through medical school. In case you are taking the MCAT without knowing what medical school is. Here's an idea for you, you go to class from 8-5, monday through friday, and study at least 4 hours once out everyday, IF your one of the smarter students who can read fast. If you read at half that rate (as you state, although it contradicts your percentiles), good luck making it through medical school. Medical school is described as trying to take a drink of water from a fire hydrant. If you only can drink half as much of the water that you're expected, how do you think that's going to work out for you? Improve you're reading comprehension or you're screwed. I do sympathize with you if you have a reading disability like dyslexia, but no ones sympathy will help you. If you can't read well, you won't be able to make it through medical school. It's not college where you have studying and downtime and if you need to study harder than others, you can just take it out of your down time. In medical school you have class, studying, and 5 hours a night of sleep if you're lucky. Reading disability or not, sympathy or not, if you can't do the studying quickly and efficiently you won't succeed in medical school, that's what it comes down to. That's why the MCAT exists, it's not to test if you can do basic science that doesn't mean anything. It's to test if you can take all those basic sciences and see how they apply to eachother and to the world (that's what they say it's for). What they don't tell you is that really it's simply a test to see if an applicant is an efficient enough reader and has the critical thinking ability to take a large concept that they have learned and apply it to new situations in a fast enough manner that a medical school knows you can read and comprehend their curriculum. Apparently we think that's a better system then just removing college and teaching medical students the content in a reasonable amount of time instead of 2 years.
Well there's my rant but now this is what you'll care about. YOU CAN SUCCEED ON THE MCAT AND WORRY ABOUT IMPROVING YOUR READING COMPREHENSION BEFORE MEDICAL SCHOOL Like I said, I can't read quickly and didn't have enough time to improve. however I was scoring 35+ on my practice exams. Here's how I did it. First, you can expect to do poorly in verbal, but that doesn't mean you can't simply say I had a bad day, or the typing by other students in their writing section was distracting. The only way this works is if you don't score terribly and score very well in the sciences. The physical section does not require you to read quickly, you just have to know your stuff. I could have answered 35+ physical questions correctly without reading any passages. Get that down and nail the physical section. Verbal will be tough, but get timing down, try just reading intro and conclusion and skimming topic sentences. Do this AFTER reading the questions. This way you can see answers quickly and put them down and don't have to read nearly as much. You should be able to get thru the whole exam like this but will have to guess on 10 to 12 specific questions based on the authors opinion or the main thesis, and you'll only hit about 4 or 5 of them. This is NOT the way to get a 12 on the MCAT. This is the way that I got into the 9 10 range despite the fact that had I read the passage it would have taken me 8 minutes. The BIO section is a little more comprehension based. But you'll get 2 orgo passages, which don't require anything other than understanding organic chem and tables. You'll have 12ish discetes which are easy. and then you don't really have to read the bio secions just skim and get a general idea and analyze graphs, and come back to look up answers later, but BIO isn't to difficult to get through in time, even with poor reading comp. YOU REALLY CAN DO WELL ON THE MCAT WITH POOR READING ABILITY! However, it won't be easy, you really will have to know your **** and practice timing excessively. The thing that is dumb about the MCAT is that if you have good reading comprehension, you can score a 30 in 2 weeks of studying, simply because you start at a 12 in verbal and a 10 in bio because you can read insanely well. I don't know how common this is, but I'm at a pretty tough school and of the 7 pre med friends I have 5 of them put up 25+ pre studying mocks test simply because they had great reading comprehension, and they were all only half a semester into physics and did very poorly in that section. Just because it's easier for other people doesn't mean you can't do it too! YOU GOT THIS! just know your **** better then everyone else to make up for your reading comp. and you'll do fine. Just realize that having a learning disability does not mean that you are going to get an equal opportunity. You won't. Medical schools might have sympathy for you, but they certainly won't take you over a better applicant because you can't read as well as the more qualified applicant (regardless of the cause).

 

[mcatcram]

Hi everyone,

Essentially, I was placed in the 98th or 99th percentile for all categories except reading. My IQ is "high". In reading I placed at 54th percentile. That large difference places me into the LD category.

Lol, sure you statistically have a learning disability because of the range, but 54th percentile means that your reading ability is slightly higher than the average person. Whether you have some type of problem, like dyslexia, is a different concern but it sounds like if you do, you're coping with it pretty well. If you don't actually have a problem like dyslexia, there is no way you will receive assistance simply because you don't read as well as you do other things, most people would call that a weakness, not a disability. My reading comp is garbage and my ability to work problems quickly is garbage too. My academic success has not been the result of reading or working problems, it's been based on taking a test and figuring out how to do problems using logic. It takes me a long time to finish tests, but the fact that I can think logically enough to make up my own physics equations that I later find out are the actual equations and apply them during a test would suggest that I'm smart, but it wont get me a good mcat score. I was in for quite a surprise when the MCAT rolled around, I can't read quickly at all, I've relied very heavily on just thinking about ideas so that I didn't have to slave over a book all day and could just lay outside and think. I quickly realized that I would need to improve my reading skills for the MCAT, but didn't have time because I started preparing a month before. I think it will be critical to my success in medical school. Sure poor reading ability won't inhibit your ability to practice medicine, but it sure as hell will inhibit your ability to get through medical school. In case you are taking the MCAT without knowing what medical school is. Here's an idea for you, you go to class from 8-5, monday through friday, and study at least 4 hours once out everyday, IF your one of the smarter students who can read fast. If you read at half that rate (as you state, although it contradicts your percentiles), good luck making it through medical school. Medical school is described as trying to take a drink of water from a fire hydrant. If you only can drink half as much of the water that you're expected, how do you think that's going to work out for you? Improve you're reading comprehension or you're screwed. I do sympathize with you if you have a reading disability like dyslexia, but no ones sympathy will help you. If you can't read well, you won't be able to make it through medical school. It's not college where you have studying and downtime and if you need to study harder than others, you can just take it out of your down time. In medical school you have class, studying, and 5 hours a night of sleep if you're lucky. Reading disability or not, sympathy or not, if you can't do the studying quickly and efficiently you won't succeed in medical school, that's what it comes down to. That's why the MCAT exists, it's not to test if you can do basic science that doesn't mean anything. It's to test if you can take all those basic sciences and see how they apply to eachother and to the world (that's what they say it's for). What they don't tell you is that really it's simply a test to see if an applicant is an efficient enough reader and has the critical thinking ability to take a large concept that they have learned and apply it to new situations in a fast enough manner that a medical school knows you can read and comprehend their curriculum. Apparently we think that's a better system then just removing college and teaching medical students the content in a reasonable amount of time instead of 2 years.
Well there's my rant but now this is what you'll care about. YOU CAN SUCCEED ON THE MCAT AND WORRY ABOUT IMPROVING YOUR READING COMPREHENSION BEFORE MEDICAL SCHOOL Like I said, I can't read quickly and didn't have enough time to improve. however I was scoring 35+ on my practice exams. Here's how I did it. First, you can expect to do poorly in verbal, but that doesn't mean you can't simply say I had a bad day, or the typing by other students in their writing section was distracting. The only way this works is if you don't score terribly and score very well in the sciences. The physical section does not require you to read quickly, you just have to know your stuff. I could have answered 35+ physical questions correctly without reading any passages. Get that down and nail the physical section. Verbal will be tough, but get timing down, try just reading intro and conclusion and skimming topic sentences. Do this AFTER reading the questions. This way you can see answers quickly and put them down and don't have to read nearly as much. You should be able to get thru the whole exam like this but will have to guess on 10 to 12 specific questions based on the authors opinion or the main thesis, and you'll only hit about 4 or 5 of them. This is NOT the way to get a 12 on the MCAT. This is the way that I got into the 9 10 range despite the fact that had I read the passage it would have taken me 8 minutes. The BIO section is a little more comprehension based. But you'll get 2 orgo passages, which don't require anything other than understanding organic chem and tables. You'll have 12ish discetes which are easy. and then you don't really have to read the bio secions just skim and get a general idea and analyze graphs, and come back to look up answers later, but BIO isn't to difficult to get through in time, even with poor reading comp. YOU REALLY CAN DO WELL ON THE MCAT WITH POOR READING ABILITY! However, it won't be easy, you really will have to know your **** and practice timing excessively. The thing that is dumb about the MCAT is that if you have good reading comprehension, you can score a 30 in 2 weeks of studying, simply because you start at a 12 in verbal and a 10 in bio because you can read insanely well. I don't know how common this is, but I'm at a pretty tough school and of the 7 pre med friends I have 5 of them put up 25+ pre studying mocks test simply because they had great reading comprehension, and they were all only half a semester into physics and did very poorly in that section. Just because it's easier for other people doesn't mean you can't do it too! YOU GOT THIS! just know your **** better then everyone else to make up for your reading comp. and you'll do fine. Just realize that having a learning disability does not mean that you are going to get an equal opportunity. You won't. Medical schools might have sympathy for you, but they certainly won't take you over a better applicant because you can't read as well as the more qualified applicant (regardless of the cause).

 

[MedPR]

OP never posted again.

 

[Gauss44]

Hi everyone,

I'm pretty bright and I work extremely hard.

BUT, I don't know if I will even do remotely well on the MCAT because it's based on reading comprehension (where my disability lies) and multiple choice.

I really think people don't understand what a learning disability is and it makes me sad...

1. You are correct, a single specific learning disabiliy has NOTHING to do with one's OVERALL INTELLIGENCE (average, superior, very superior, etc.) which relys on more of a mean. (This is in contrast to any disorder that impacts all intellectual abilities.) It is a misconception that only people of low intelligence have learning disabilities. If anyone wants to learn more, RESEACH NEUROPSYCHOLOGY.

2. AAMC is very strict/difficult when it comes to accomodation requests. I have had that impression ever since the class action lawsuit, Turner vs. AAMC, was in the news. Just keep trying. Hire an attorney if you can afford it. Attorneys know disability laws so they can help you decide WHAT INFORMATION THE AAMC NEEDS and if you have explained those points optimally. This should help both you and the AAMC. It also ensures that the AAMC will at least consider your request (which they are hopefully doing already). If you need help finding an attorney, you can either use the Martindale database (google it), check with education/disability social services in your state for a possibly free lawyer (ex. One was mentioned in Turner vs. AAMC in CA). I'm not suggesting you sue, just to find an expert/lawyer that makes sure you are giving the AAMC maximum reason to say, "yes."

3. Is a person with a learning disability more likely to flunk out than anyone else?

That depends on so much more... For example, if you have very high intelligence in all but one area, you can probably compensate for your shortcoming. Some methods of compensating are surely not allowed by prometric without accomodations. Some people really do appreciate how much more work it can be to be disabled - in any way. Applying for accomodations, finding ways to compensate/work around additional shortcomings, etc.

 

[shineshine]

Hi everyone,

After reading multiple threads on here about disabilities and accommodations, you know quite honestly I'm left disheartened and even embarrassed at how people view others who have learning disabilities.

I'm pretty bright and I work extremely hard. My GPA suffered for the first 3 years of University because I had too much pride to ask for help. But I know I'd spend hours studying, tutor others, and end up getting 30% on an exam, while the person I tutored would improve from a 60% to a 90%.

One of my professors recommended I go for professional testing, and the Educational Psychatrist discovered I had a severe reading disability. To break it down, I had 8 weeks of testing, about 2 hours per session, and many tests. Essentially, I was placed in the 98th or 99th percentile for all categories except reading. My IQ is "high". In reading I placed at 54th percentile. That large difference places me into the LD category.

I know my disability impacts my learning but I have strategies on how to overcome it. Yes, it takes me on average about 2 x longer to read than a normal person, but I've developed techniques. I'm not stupid, or lazy, or looking for extra time to do better on the MCAT. Everyone's LD is different - regarding reading disabilities my therapist said that everyone's comprehension plateaus at a certain point and that means you may only discover it once you start going into higher learning.

And to those people who think all of a sudden having a LD means you're too stupid to work in the professional or medical world: FYI, when a patient's lying in front of you, you're not sitting there reading a multiple choice question figuring out what you're going to do - you take what you learnt in class, in practice, and you DO it.

My question:
BUT, I don't know if I will even do remotely well on the MCAT because it's based on reading comprehension (where my disability lies) and multiple choice. Is there ANYONE out there who has a reading disability like I do? How did you get through the MCAT? Was there specific techniques you used to deal with the time constraint? Did you find your verbal reasoning scores were lower or higher than average? If you applied for accommodation, were you granted additional time?

FYI, I really think people don't understand what a learning disability is and it makes me sad, especially if we're all supposed to be future doctors. Where's the compassion for difference? It's not a crutch, it's not a time-grab for the MCAT; it's just a struggle. You have yours, and unfortunately my brain wired itself this way, so I have mine.

Hi I just happened to randomly see your post. I know this might be a little late but do u still need some help? I have severe dyslexia. I took the MCAT last year and now am attending medical school in August.

 

[Gauss44]

Hi everyone,

After reading multiple threads on here about disabilities and accommodations, you know quite honestly I'm left disheartened and even embarrassed at how people view others who have learning disabilities.

I'm pretty bright and I work extremely hard. My GPA suffered for the first 3 years of University because I had too much pride to ask for help. But I know I'd spend hours studying, tutor others, and end up getting 30% on an exam, while the person I tutored would improve from a 60% to a 90%.

One of my professors recommended I go for professional testing, and the Educational Psychatrist discovered I had a severe reading disability. To break it down, I had 8 weeks of testing, about 2 hours per session, and many tests. Essentially, I was placed in the 98th or 99th percentile for all categories except reading. My IQ is "high". In reading I placed at 54th percentile. That large difference places me into the LD category.

I know my disability impacts my learning but I have strategies on how to overcome it. Yes, it takes me on average about 2 x longer to read than a normal person, but I've developed techniques. I'm not stupid, or lazy, or looking for extra time to do better on the MCAT. Everyone's LD is different - regarding reading disabilities my therapist said that everyone's comprehension plateaus at a certain point and that means you may only discover it once you start going into higher learning.

And to those people who think all of a sudden having a LD means you're too stupid to work in the professional or medical world: FYI, when a patient's lying in front of you, you're not sitting there reading a multiple choice question figuring out what you're going to do - you take what you learnt in class, in practice, and you DO it.

My question:
BUT, I don't know if I will even do remotely well on the MCAT because it's based on reading comprehension (where my disability lies) and multiple choice. Is there ANYONE out there who has a reading disability like I do? How did you get through the MCAT? Was there specific techniques you used to deal with the time constraint? Did you find your verbal reasoning scores were lower or higher than average? If you applied for accommodation, were you granted additional time?

FYI, I really think people don't understand what a learning disability is and it makes me sad, especially if we're all supposed to be future doctors. Where's the compassion for difference? It's not a crutch, it's not a time-grab for the MCAT; it's just a struggle. You have yours, and unfortunately my brain wired itself this way, so I have mine.

You can probably get extra time on the MCAT.

What you need:
1. A neuropsychologist or other qualified professional who knows which tests you need to qualify for AAMC's disability accommodations.
2. AAMC's instructions for applying for disability accommodations of extra time. It's on their website.
3. If rejected by AAMC the first time, try appealing. Find a law firm like this one: http://www.kcslegal.com/practice-areas/special-education-disability-rights/ A law firm like that can tell you where your application is weak and what to do about it.

Good luck!

 

[Elza]

Hi I just happened to randomly see your post. I know this might be a little late but do u still need some help? I have severe dyslexia. I took the MCAT last year and now am attending medical school in August.

how much did you score?

 

[happyday]

Hi everyone,

After reading multiple threads on here about disabilities and accommodations, you know quite honestly I'm left disheartened and even embarrassed at how people view others who have learning disabilities.

I'm pretty bright and I work extremely hard. My GPA suffered for the first 3 years of University because I had too much pride to ask for help. But I know I'd spend hours studying, tutor others, and end up getting 30% on an exam, while the person I tutored would improve from a 60% to a 90%.

One of my professors recommended I go for professional testing, and the Educational Psychatrist discovered I had a severe reading disability. To break it down, I had 8 weeks of testing, about 2 hours per session, and many tests. Essentially, I was placed in the 98th or 99th percentile for all categories except reading. My IQ is "high". In reading I placed at 54th percentile. That large difference places me into the LD category.

I know my disability impacts my learning but I have strategies on how to overcome it. Yes, it takes me on average about 2 x longer to read than a normal person, but I've developed techniques. I'm not stupid, or lazy, or looking for extra time to do better on the MCAT. Everyone's LD is different - regarding reading disabilities my therapist said that everyone's comprehension plateaus at a certain point and that means you may only discover it once you start going into higher learning.

And to those people who think all of a sudden having a LD means you're too stupid to work in the professional or medical world: FYI, when a patient's lying in front of you, you're not sitting there reading a multiple choice question figuring out what you're going to do - you take what you learnt in class, in practice, and you DO it.

My question:
BUT, I don't know if I will even do remotely well on the MCAT because it's based on reading comprehension (where my disability lies) and multiple choice. Is there ANYONE out there who has a reading disability like I do? How did you get through the MCAT? Was there specific techniques you used to deal with the time constraint? Did you find your verbal reasoning scores were lower or higher than average? If you applied for accommodation, were you granted additional time?

FYI, I really think people don't understand what a learning disability is and it makes me sad, especially if we're all supposed to be future doctors. Where's the compassion for difference? It's not a crutch, it's not a time-grab for the MCAT; it's just a struggle. You have yours, and unfortunately my brain wired itself this way, so I have mine.

You can contact this company, maybe they can help - http://dralegal.org/attention-students-with-learning-disabilities