Should I push back MCAT date?

[TehTeddy]

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Hello all,

I'm currently scheduled to take the MCAT at the end of August- so far I've been studying for two months, and in theory I should be halfway done. However, I don't feel as ready as I think I should be by now. I want to get the best score possible, and am wondering if I should push the date back to mid January. Unfortunately with the way the AAMC has the schedule, August/early September are the last dates to take it until January, so there is not much in-between. The reschedule wouldn't affect my app submission at all since I'm not applying this cycle.

I normally have good time management skills during the semester, but for whatever reason am extremely inefficient now that I have a wide-open schedule to study for the MCAT. Ironically the days in which I work part time are the days I get the most done afterwards.

Now, I could probably work hard these next 2 months and get a decent score- that is not my concern. But if I could get a few points higher by pushing it, would it be worth it?

I haven't taken a full length test as of this point, but I was going to in a few days. I predict around an average score based on my performance in passages in TBR and EK 30-min exams.

 

[clockrunner]

Im also not applying this cycle, taking this mcat aug 5th. I think its really important to feel confident going into the mcat. My advice would be to take your first fl and then evaluate if you can realistically push yourself in two months to get the score you want. I've heard several mcat horror stories that ended with a happy ending (got in to med school despite severe cramming, bad first sitting, etc.) I've heard that its important to build confidence. If you take it this time and do poorly, would you feel like it's indicative of your next try in January or would you be able to say "this is okay because I know I didnt study as much as I could so I'll be fine for the next time."
I am also behind schedule. I planned to have finished content review+aamc bank+passages in one month, and do fl+review for two months, but didnt finish the content review+aamcbank+passage, so I started taking the fls anyway. Now its kind of a mess because I'm doing content review and fls at the same time. I decided not to push back my exams because I finally finished my mcat pre-reqs w the exception of biochem, and I took some of the relevant courses three years ago so I don't want that knowledge to fade even more. Also I know that I wont be able to devote an entire summer to just mcat again, so even though I'm not applying this cycle, I hate retaking exams so in my head I've created a deadline/final exam type scenario so that I can motivate myself to put all my effort in. In short, if you have another opportunity to study, if it would make you more comfortable/confident, if in the grand scheme of things it makes sense, if you take a practice fl and get like a 475, I would reschedule. Basically, if there is definitely going to be another time in your life that you can put in the effort and get your best possible score, then delay it. If you do reasonably well on your practice fl and it makes more sense in your overall plan to take the mcat, I would keep studying. That's my two cents.


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[Gutsy]

Im also not applying this cycle, taking this mcat aug 5th. I think its really important to feel confident going into the mcat. My advice would be to take your first fl and then evaluate if you can realistically push yourself in two months to get the score you want. I've heard several mcat horror stories that ended with a happy ending (got in to med school despite severe cramming, bad first sitting, etc.) I've heard that its important to build confidence. If you take it this time and do poorly, would you feel like it's indicative of your next try in January or would you be able to say "this is okay because I know I didnt study as much as I could so I'll be fine for the next time."
I am also behind schedule. I planned to have finished content review+aamc bank+passages in one month, and do fl+review for two months, but didnt finish the content review+aamcbank+passage, so I started taking the fls anyway. Now its kind of a mess because I'm doing content review and fls at the same time. I decided not to push back my exams because I finally finished my mcat pre-reqs w the exception of biochem, and I took some of the relevant courses three years ago so I don't want that knowledge to fade even more. Also I know that I wont be able to devote an entire summer to just mcat again, so even though I'm not applying this cycle, I hate retaking exams so in my head I've created a deadline/final exam type scenario so that I can motivate myself to put all my effort in. In short, if you have another opportunity to study, if it would make you more comfortable/confident, if in the grand scheme of things it makes sense, if you take a practice fl and get like a 475, I would reschedule. Basically, if there is definitely going to be another time in your life that you can put in the effort and get your best possible score, then delay it. If you do reasonably well on your practice fl and it makes more sense in your overall plan to take the mcat, I would keep studying. That's my two cents.


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Which full length did you take first? I was thinking aking the AAMC unscored exam as my first FL but we don't get to see the score...

 

[alpha-GTP]

There are a few free diagnostic exams out there that you can try. I recommend Princeton Review because it is the only free full-length diagnostic that I have been able to find. Taking the AAMC sample test would be good as well. You don't get a score, but if you get a percent correct score in the 70s, then that's a good sigh. Once you take these, I recommend NS and EK, since those are the closest to matching the AAMC. I would save the AAMC scored for last since it is the best predictor of your actual MCAT score. Depending on what your target score, practice exam scores in the low 500s give you a good chance of ending up with a score at least in the 80th percentile.

 

[TehTeddy]

Im also not applying this cycle, taking this mcat aug 5th. I think its really important to feel confident going into the mcat. My advice would be to take your first fl and then evaluate if you can realistically push yourself in two months to get the score you want. I've heard several mcat horror stories that ended with a happy ending (got in to med school despite severe cramming, bad first sitting, etc.) I've heard that its important to build confidence. If you take it this time and do poorly, would you feel like it's indicative of your next try in January or would you be able to say "this is okay because I know I didnt study as much as I could so I'll be fine for the next time."
I am also behind schedule. I planned to have finished content review+aamc bank+passages in one month, and do fl+review for two months, but didnt finish the content review+aamcbank+passage, so I started taking the fls anyway. Now its kind of a mess because I'm doing content review and fls at the same time. I decided not to push back my exams because I finally finished my mcat pre-reqs w the exception of biochem, and I took some of the relevant courses three years ago so I don't want that knowledge to fade even more. Also I know that I wont be able to devote an entire summer to just mcat again, so even though I'm not applying this cycle, I hate retaking exams so in my head I've created a deadline/final exam type scenario so that I can motivate myself to put all my effort in. In short, if you have another opportunity to study, if it would make you more comfortable/confident, if in the grand scheme of things it makes sense, if you take a practice fl and get like a 475, I would reschedule. Basically, if there is definitely going to be another time in your life that you can put in the effort and get your best possible score, then delay it. If you do reasonably well on your practice fl and it makes more sense in your overall plan to take the mcat, I would keep studying. That's my two cents.

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Right, I guess that makes sense. Perhaps I'll evaluate where I'm at in a month, and then reschedule if I'm not getting the scores I'm looking for.

 

[Hospitalized]

The only way to tell what you should do is to just take a practice exam. I really do not think >4 months is necessary for this test if you've done all the prereqs and are studying 4~ hours a day.

I would advise not pushing it back for a few reasons:

1.) The closer the test date gets, the more you will ramp up studying;
2.) If you push your test date back right now, you might end up wasting this next month hardly doing anything (it's summer, test would be far away, etc.);
3.) If you've already been studying 2 months, you should be able to score at least 500 on some practice test. If your score is low, it should motivate you to study more and hone in on your weaknesses/test taking skills. If it's high, you can shoot for a 90th+ percentile score;
4.) I feel that pushing the test date back is a subconscious way of telling yourself that you don't feel like you can do it (maybe).

I had my test originally scheduled for June 18th but elected to move it to July 8th. Why? I was way too stressed and didn't read about many success stories of people studying successfully in 6 weeks (I got out of school May 6th). I moved it back to July 8th, and bam, all of the sudden I felt like I could do it. Studying started to come to me, I took a practice test and the motivation was there. So with everything I've just said, whatever will motivate you to crack down, do that. My recommendation is a practice test to see where you are at. NS offers a free FL and so does TPR.

Good luck!

 

[beastfromtheeast]

Very conflicted, sometimes not feeling ready might necessitate pushing it back , but @Hospitalized makes some really good points about the cons of postponing...

 

[clockrunner]

@Gutsy, I took 3 kaplan fls so far. Im saving the NS, EK, and AAMC for later and closer to the exam.


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