So confused and hopeless

[hopefullyhope]

Hello all,

So I am scheduled to take the MCAT on sept 2nd and currently I'm only scoring between 23-25 (it's plateaued at this for a month and a half) Do you think that 3 weeks is enough for me to bring up my score? Or should I just cancel/postpone the exam now, since I have no chance.

Has anyone been able to bring up their score by this much in 3 weeks? Or if you guys have any studying habits that worked please let me know!!

In a way, I want to take it so I feel that I did something this summer. But then I don't want my low score to negatively affect my chances at med school

Please help!!!

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[vin5cent0]

Hello all,

So I am scheduled to take the MCAT on sept 2nd and currently I'm only scoring between 23-25 (it's plateaued at this for a month and a half) Do you think that 3 weeks is enough for me to bring up my score? Or should I just cancel/postpone the exam now, since I have no chance.

Has anyone been able to bring up their score by this much in 3 weeks? Or if you guys have any studying habits that worked please let me know!!

In a way, I want to take it so I feel that I did something this summer. But then I don't want my low score to negatively affect my chances at med school

Please help!!!

If you've plateaued for over a month and a half, you need to make some changes to your studying. If you keep doing what you're doing, why would the next 3 weeks be any different than the last 6?

In three weeks you can easily bring up a low score like that (I would know, I'm in the same boat as you and I'm bringing up my avg score every test). Post up your study habits and let people critique them. If you're not making appreciable gains at the ~25 level in 6 weeks of studying, you're doing something very wrong.

 

[tn4596]

3 week to gain from 25 to 30 is pretty impossible lol...
from 25 to 30, that is a lot of questions missed...obviously you needs to review your contents better.

 

[hematosis]

Hello all,

So I am scheduled to take the MCAT on sept 2nd and currently I'm only scoring between 23-25 (it's plateaued at this for a month and a half) Do you think that 3 weeks is enough for me to bring up my score? Or should I just cancel/postpone the exam now, since I have no chance.

Has anyone been able to bring up their score by this much in 3 weeks? Or if you guys have any studying habits that worked please let me know!!

In a way, I want to take it so I feel that I did something this summer. But then I don't want my low score to negatively affect my chances at med school

Please help!!!

I was in a similar boat the first time i sat for the test. my scores were all over the place. i was scoring 22-26 on the last few exams. I realized i was just stressed and needed to relax. took the real test and ended with a 29. just keep your head up and change your study habits a little.

 

[hopefullyhope]

Thank you! 2 of the posts have given me hope
I think i do need to study much more than I do now

So far, I've been using Kaplan materials. Reading chapters/notes/reviewing flashcards. I guess I need to do more problems. And I've been taking the aamc FLs once a week. And am just starting to analyze my work these past couple of days.

 

[DrDotooMuch]

Yeah buddy. Don't count on it. I'm sure it happens to everyone. It defiantly happened to me. I was scoring 30ish for a long time. And I thought I would never get out of it. Then on just another FL day. I started scoring 36ish and have been scoring that range ever since that faithful day. If you do everything right. There will be a time where you just stop making stupid mistakes and make mistakes that are worth making. Sure it comes after a lot of hard studying, sleep deprivation, frustration and anger management, and maybe a couple second thoughts about your goals in life. But the important thing is it eventually comes. Might not be in 3 weeks. Might not be in 6 weeks. You never know when it might happen. You cant rush magic. It comes to you.

 

[Remxed]

Thank you! 2 of the posts have given me hope
I think i do need to study much more than I do now

So far, I've been using Kaplan materials. Reading chapters/notes/reviewing flashcards. I guess I need to do more problems. And I've been taking the aamc FLs once a week. And am just starting to analyze my work these past couple of days.

You've only started reviewing your practice material now? That's your main problem right there. You need to go back and analyze your mistakes the day after your practice exam, so you can learn from them and figure out which areas need improvement and more practice.

 

[ggill119]

You can definately bring it up! I started studying in May and by the middle of July my test scores were at a 26ish I didnt know what was going wrong and so I started doing tons of practice problems for every subject to identify the weak areas. This really helped me figure out where I needed to redo my content review and my next test I had moved up to a 30. you just have to really get your content down and the only way I managed to do that was doing tons and tons of practice passages every day and carefully reviewing AAMC questions that I got wrong. I've now moved up to a ~33 average on my last 3 tests (AAMC 7,8,9) and am hoping to move up a point or two on my last 2 tests. So don't give up, you can for sure get that score. Just keeeep working at it

 

[sweetness34]

be confident, work hard, study hard, and practice!!!! you will do well.

 

[paul411]

Scores in the low 20s indicate a weak grasp of fundamental concepts. If you're aiming for 30+, you need to work on your content review first. When you go through the material, make sure you understand everything well enough conceptually to be able to explain it to someone else.

Next, stop wasting AAMC FL's. Those are very valuable practice tests that you are burning through. Save the AAMC's till you've finished content review. While you review content, use the passages + questions from whatever prep book you are using to help you apply the stuff you just learned.

For verbal, try using the EK 101 Verbal book as practice material. It contains 14 VR tests which should help you improve your VR score.

 

[hopefullyhope]

Thank you all for the advice.
I took a Kaplan FL and got a 26 yesterday, my highest score with Kaplan to date. I've changed my studying habits and can finally see the small improvements. Now my question is, should I take the exam as my scheduled date on Sept 2nd. Or should I postpone it? I start school at the end of September, and I've heard it is extremely stressful to study for both school and the MCAT. Please let me know what you guys think.

 

[Remxed]

See how much you can improve from now to your test date since I'm not even sure you can cancel your exam at this point anyways.

As for studying during school, it depends on your course load. For me, I couldn't do it, but a few of my friends did (but they literally had no time to do anything fun for those few months of studying) and performed just fine.

 

[hopefullyhope]

My last day to cancel is the 19th.. so I can still cancel it..
Please give more advice before then?

 

[PinkpanthaMD]

My last day to cancel is the 19th.. so I can still cancel it..
Please give more advice before then?

Well, why don't you take it and void? Either way you will lose your money. At least by taking it you will at least get the experience of the actual exam.

 

[vin5cent0]

3 week to gain from 25 to 30 is pretty impossible lol...
from 25 to 30, that is a lot of questions missed...obviously you needs to review your contents better.

I don't believe that's impossible.

In under 2 weeks of pretty heavy content review, I've gone from 25 to 31 (practice tests, of course). Depends how hard you're willing to work. I actually slacked a few of those days Kinda regretting it now