so blue

[viragovixn]

my april mcat scores were horrid...5, 6, 7 and just plain sad when it came to the writing samples...i was so confident about my essays. i am truly disappointed and don't know if it's worth it...to continue onward, study and take it again...i'm not getting any younger (27 at the moment) and the thought of chasing an impossible dream for the next several years is quite daunting. any suggestions/advice?

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[Spiderman [RNA Ladder 2003]]

How is your GPA? Study more and take test in august. You still have time.

 

[missbonnie]

Take a look at how your setting yourself up. If it's "impossible" to you, then WILL be impossible. Was that the first time taking the mcat?

Hey 27 is not old!

-bonnie

 

[Tweetie_bird]

Age is but a matter of mind.

I know a granny (yeap, that's right!) who applied and got into med school. You have to think about what's important to you. You shutting your own doors to your own future by not trying again, is far worse than trying hard and not succeeding the first time. There's always a second chance!!! Give yourself that chance. If med school is not in your fate, let it be the med schools that turn you down. You make sure you don't short change yourself by not applying or not retaking.

Good luck.
Tweetie

 

[viragovixn]

thanks for answering my query. i just wanted to add that i'm not an idiot. i graduated with a 3.9 gpa and a stellar bs in cell bio and physiology in addition to completing and defending an honors thesis on lycopene/free rads and age related diseases. i've completed hours upon hours of volunteer work for various hospice orgs and paid for college by working my a*@ off. i would like to know of anyone out there experienced the same downward spiral with their first mcat (bad scores) and how they got through, rebuilt their egos, got into med school, etc. etc...

indeed, twas my first mcat and i studied alone, no group prep courses...at this point, the med school goal is 'seemingly' impossible yet plausible still...thank you spiderman, missbonnie and tweetie-bird!

 

[Harry Truman]

I would advise against taking the August MCAT. It's less than a month away. You will not get the improvement in your scores that you are looking for if you rush into taking the MCAT again. Unless there was some extenuating circumstance on the day of your first MCAT (you were sick, your favorite pet died, you lost a family member.....), I would wait to take the MCAT again. If you truly want to become a doctor, then study your butt off over the course of the next several months and aim to take the April 2003 MCAT. Hope this helps.....

 

[freakazoid]

Did you take a prep course? Did you do practice passages? Did you take a diagnostic test? I remember getting out of my first diag feeling like "hey, that wasn't so bad", and I got a 23. It's really a thinking test, and it takes a while to realize that (for me, anyhow). I know they purposely make it hard so you feel like you've improved, but I still think I had some level of improvement by my own strategy than the difficulty of the test when I made a 33 on the last diag . . .

 

[simpleG]

viragovixn,

i'm sure that you can kick butt on the test, but i think the big thing is studying and preparing for the test. you're not "an idiot" =) and if i had never taken a prep course and studied my butt off and just walked into the test, i'm sure i woulda bombed (as a lot of us have, walking into that prep course diagnostic test).

i got lucky and took off an entire summer to simply study. in the last month, i was going 12+ hrs a day. i don't consider myself extremely bright...i think it was my preparation that got me a relatively high score. so my advice is to take heart, and try really hard for the next test (after August), and if you can take a prep course or rigorously use their materials.

good luck!

-simple

 

[racergirl]

DO NOT take the test again this august. You don't have time to improve. But DO take it next April. Consider a prep course, but for sure take lots of FULL LENGTH practice tests under timed conditions (I took 5 of them, 1/week for 5 weeks before the real test). Then go over each test and figure out WHY you missed the questions you missed AND why you got the correct answers correct! Good Luck.

 

[BushBaby]

Virag,

As posted above, I suggest you enroll in one of those prep courses and possibly sit for the April 2003 mcat. The first time I took the mcat I too studied by myself and I got 17. I felt bad, not because I got a 17 but, because I had the audacity to take the exam without first taking Physics and Orgo and nobody tried to stop me.....(the physics and Orgo I knew while I sat for the exam were basically what I managed to teach myself in three months).

I later enrolled in the prep courses and ofcourse by that time I had taken orgo/physics and other advance bio classes so my score increased naturally and I also learned how to better approach the exam.

Study hard and take a prep course. There are some test taking strategies that you can learn from those courses and it provides for you a way to monitor your progress (with the diag tests) and see if you are ready to take the real thang.

Plus you meet other students and hopefully get a study group/buddy.

 

[LeslieKay]

It sounds like maybe you just need to improve your test taking skills--with a BS in cell bio and physiology you definitely know enough to do well at least in the bio section--like everyone else said, take lots and lots of practice tests. Don't give up!