Should I just give it up?

[DocKayEMDEE]

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[iceman132]

Depends on how bad you want to become a doctor..... There are a lot of people that take the MCat 3 times.

 

[Mces97]

Have you looked at what your weaknesses are in getting those scores? Is it time management, understanding what the question is asking? I got A's in all the pre-reqs, but took them between 2 and 4 years ago, so I am pretty rusty on everything. Basically I am relearning all the material. I am using the Berkeley review for physics and general chem. The way I am studying is after I read the content review and have a good grasp on the material I do the questions. I do not worry about the time limit they give you for specific questions because I want to make sure I understand the material. Many times after not understanding how to answer a problem, even after looking at the explanation I feel like I want to give up. What keeps me going is knowing that if I work hard enough I will get through this and eventually it will click. If you really want to become a doctor nothing will stop you. If the MCAT scores are your crutch, do extra curricular things to boost your resume. Volunteer at hospitals. See if there are some research projects you might be able to work on. Yes some schools will look at a statistically average MCAT score and weed out people, but many schools want to see the whole you. Just because you get a 40 on the MCAT in no way means you will be a great doctor.

 

[Pre-Med Village]

You say you want to take the MCAT again next year and reapply, but that you have exhausted your resources. Not being able to get past the MCAT can exhaust a person emotionally, but if you don't have kids, it's hard to see why you can't try again next year, if that is what you really want to do. Maybe you start simultaneous progress on plan B or C out of prudence. If you truly believe that these scores are not representative of your potential on the exam then you owe it to yourself to try again.

One of my very first students in the nineties was working valet parking as a post-bac taking the MCAT over and over again. Back then, a person couldn't take the test the fourth time without petitioning AAMC. Everything was conspiring to tell him he was not going to be a doctor, but he did much better on the fourth test, and now he is a doctor. I ran into him at Dekalb Regional a few years ago and seems to be content.

I did help another student improve from 18 to 24 that same year, but he felt that he wasn't going to get any further. He was older. He felt the path of wisdom to be packing it in and moving on, and maybe he was right. To tell you the truth, I have the feeling that the most professionally content people in medicine these days are the P.A.'s, which is what he became.

Regarding your scores, my feeling is that if you can score a 9 in bio, your scores in VR could have a lot of room to improve. Usually this type of score, a high Bio and low VR, happens for folks reading VR passages as a kind of puzzle instead of a real communication. Reading comprehension becomes all about the test instead of the author who is actually trying to get something across to you. Too much verbal reasoning system makes the test-writer the intended audience instead of yourself. Maybe try to develop an intense reading life for pleasure over the next few months - not the Economist - and you might learn to enjoy VR passages and bring them up to the level of your bio.

This kind of thing is a tough decision. Life is longer than you might think in your twenties, so you have time for some risk, but don't convince yourself that becoming a doctor is the only path to happiness. Some do succeed with their third exam. The spacing between test 1 and 2 might not have been long enough to permit the knowledge to crystalize in your mind as comfortable mastery. This often happens with Spring and Summer MCATs in quick succession.

 

[mafunk]

Perhaps this can be your strategy:

1) Get a coach/tutor to help you with your specific areas of weakness as it relates to the MCAT

2) Become a adept meditator. I'm not kidding. If you have any kind of performance anxiety this alone might help you get a couple more points.

3) Look for other ways to strengthen your applications. Find a way to take a strong volunteer leadership role with a meaningful medically related nonprofit

4) Research schools extensively and look for those that may accept lower MCAT if you are stronger on GPA, experience, etc.

 

[FrkyBgStok]

i got tired of doing poorly on my mcat practice tests (after a 23 MCAT with a 6 in bio). I practiced physics and chem a lot, did the EK strategy to a T, but with bio, I took every hormone/organ/enzyme/etc. that was in the EK book and I went on different sources and put everything I thought would be relevant on a flashcard and went through it. My problem was, for example, i knew the main function of a hormone, but didn't know the other functions or the physiology. it brought me from a 23 to a 28.

 

[Pre-Med Village]

Perhaps this can be your strategy:
2) Become a adept meditator. I'm not kidding. If you have any kind of performance anxiety this alone might help you get a couple more points.

This is so true. Anyone who follows my story around here might know that earlier this year was a stressful time for me to say the least. Anyway, I've been getting the toner for WikiPremed for years from a small business in Atlanta. I was visiting the owner who has become a good friend of mine and we were talking. He's a Buddhist from Taiwan, and he said 'John, you must meditate!' I tried to put him off, but he insisted on teaching me a technique that involves clearing your mind, closing your eyes, and surveying your own body from top to bottom. It was late and the store was empty so he taught me right there in the shop. It's not difficult. You clear your mind as much as possible and start by thinking about the top of your head, forehead, eyes, nose, ears, whole head, shoulders, etc. I started to do this just a few minutes every day, and now I am a true believer. From a physiological standpoint the technique seems to access each of the cranial and spinal nerves in sequence and resets an overall parasympathetic state. It's actually incredible how much it improves the clarity of mind and general well-being. I am convinced it made me a better song writer because my abilities in that area took a big leap forward at that time. Without deprecating the religious aspects, I am convinced that meditation is a really valuable practical self discipline for anyone undergoing the rigors and stresses of medical education.

 

[jon stewart]

how did your practice exams go?

 

[coyotelime]

I think TBR is great for practice but mcat-review.org hits home for the content with outlines for the actual topics that will be tested on the MCAT. If I could go back, I would read mcat-review and TBR while doing SN2's schedule... perhaps you can give that a shot?

I don't know how much of TBR you will remember but there were a crapton of passages. Good luck!!!

 

[DocKayEMDEE]

🙂

 

[DocKayEMDEE]

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[PingPongPro]

Scores that are consistently this low are obvious signs of being weak in content. You should really find out which subjects you are weak in and really review everything thoroughly. Going through other people's recommended schedules might not be optimal and it might be better for you to go slower and truly learn everything during your content review.

 

[kehlsh]

I'd like to study again, but I don't know what I should use now that I've burned through the Berkeley Review passages! Also, what practice exams should I use? I've done AAMC, Kaplan, and TBR exams.

I have a strong suspicion that you are making quantity aspect of the prep a priority rather than quality....
Are you sure you are making thorough review of EVERYTHING you have covered, including the problems that you have gotten right? Are you making sure you are certain of content surrounding the topics that the question involves? Do you take notes on things you get wrong (and guess) and keep up with them? These are vital aspects of the prep from my experience.

If you feel overwhelmed by amount of details and cannot sort the information in a crystal clear fashion, I would strongly suggest you to go over the Content Outline provided by AAMC and go through those to see if you have nailed down each concept. Also, 6 in verbal shows that either 1. you are not prepared enough or 2. you get nervous and underperform in the real thing. All this can be fixed by practicing and heavy post analysis after each practice FLs.

Also, I think there is a chance that you are not taking FLs in a stimulated environment... People tend to ignore this part of the game. I've practice a lot of FLs in close to 90% similar testing environment AND I have taken MCAT before yet I still got a little nervous on the real thing that I took on 9/8/11. Try to go to the local state university's computer lab and try to stimulate practice exam as close to the real mcat environment as possible.

 

[DocKayEMDEE]

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[Warick22]

For every practice full-length exam I took, I reviewed all the right and wrong answers. I would spend at least four hours reviewing the exam the next day. It wouldn't hurt for me to study more again, but it's tiring if you've studied for the MCAT twice already.

The second time around, I practiced the full-length exams at home in a study room from 8 to noonish. I tried to mimic the testing center as much as possible and I woke up early just as I would do for the real thing.

I will definitely follow your advice on the content outline and really master those bulleted points. I'm going to work harder for this because I don't see myself doing anything else.

And I think you're right about your suspicion. I need to really change the way I study.


I used TBR during the summer (retake) and Kaplan + EK for the first exam. Is there anything that you'd like to recommend for a third retaker?

Umm, if your interested I took the princeton review this summer. It has alot more information than is needed to study but, maybe thats what you need to improve your score. I got a 16 on the first diagnostic exam that I took and ended up getting multiple 35s and averaging around a 33 by the end of the summer. My score comes out in 4 days so I can tell you how it relates to my real score if you would like.

 

[DocKayEMDEE]

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