Should I reschedule my MCAT?

[ccrone]

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First, if this belongs somewhere else, I truly apologize. Hopefully the kind moderators will be happy to move it for me if that's the case. 😉

I took the MCAT last August and made a 28Q (9PS/10VR/9BS). I didn't study *at all*. Completely unprepared. 😳 Now that I understand how important it is to study, practice, etc., I've been working diligently for about the past month. I graduated in May with a 4.0gpa.

I'm currently scheduled to take the MCAT Thurs. 6/21. If I took it today, I'd score between 30-34. I'm consistently hitting 12s on BS and VR, but am just beginning to study for the PS portion of the test (I know, I know....😱). I'm hitting about 10 of the PS sections I'm taking now.

Here's my question: should I reschedule for a July or early August exam session? I'd feel a lot better with extra time to study. As it is, I've been staying up way too late the past few weeks to get study time in. I'm a basket case. I'm worried that I'm so exhausted that I'll go in and fritz it just because I am so tired.

I know it's better to be complete as early in the game as possible, but I'm wondering if I would be better off delaying my MCAT and increasing my odds of a stellar score. I only need to do a little better (ie, crack 30) to be a competitive applicant because of my GPA, but if I were to do really outstanding, it would open a lot of doors for me at better schools.

So, do I reschedule, or does waiting and pushing later into the application season cancel out any benefit the score bump might provide?

Thanks!

 

[LittleDandelion]

You don't want to take the MCAT feeling unprepared for it. If you feel that you can improve by rescheduling, then go ahead and reschedule. That test alone is almost as important as your GPA for the whole undergrad career.

 

[ronathan]

I'd add to the above comments to say that if you DO decide to take it this coming Thursday, give yourself a day or two before hand to do nothing but rest and relax. That means no work, no studying, nothing. Even if you're just psyching yourself out and you in fact ARE prepared enough at this point to do well on the MCAT, you won't do well if you are too tired and/or stressed out. As for whether or not to take it this coming week, only you can answer that question for yourself. You should take the time to do some honest soul-searching about this. But I would suggest that if you really do have doubts about your performance, put it off. Confidence is needed to do well on the MCAT almost as much as actually knowing the material.