some advice

[iamphilip]

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Hey guys, wondering if you can give some advice. I got my scores back for Aug 2015 exam. I got a 130 (97%) on psychology soc., 128 (87%) PC, 126 (67%) Bio, and a measly 123 (33%) on Verbal. The verbal is truly an anomaly to me. I never scored this low on my practice. Total score is a 507. Should I retake the mcat exam just to improve verbal? Last thing I want is a retake where I do well in Verbal, but score lower on the rest.

Thanks a lot guys.

 

[tenblackalps]

What is your plan to improve in verbal? Also, how much of an anomaly do you consider your score to be? It's hard to draw significance from the real mcat and the practice material that is out there for this 2015 version of the test. Granted, verbal hasn't changed much if it all, but only if you were consistently scoring maybe 75 or 80% or higher on the CARS question packs and I would consider a retake.

Another question is can you maintain your psych/PC knowledge? Because your scores are unbalanced you have room for improvement in bio/biochem and of course room in CARS too which could easily offset dropping 1 or 2 points in psych/PC.

All in all though, I would only retake a 507 if you are confident you could score 515+. One average score is better than taking the exam twice and only improving by a few points. With a 507 you are sitting at ~29 old score which is certainly good enough to get an MD interview if you apply early and broadly with good ECs, although with a ~29 NYU and Mt. Sinai would be extreme reaches. I wouldn't suggest putting such high stock any particular school though: admission is a crap shoot even with high stats. Best of luck.

 

[GrapesofRath]

Hey guys, wondering if you can give some advice. I got my scores back for Aug 2015 exam. I got a 130 (97%) on psychology soc., 128 (87%) PC, 126 (67%) Bio, and a measly 123 (33%) on Verbal. The verbal is truly an anomaly to me. I never scored this low on my practice. Total score is a 507. Should I retake the mcat exam just to improve verbal? Last thing I want is a retake where I do well in Verbal, but score lower on the rest.

Thanks a lot guys.

P.s I want to apply to with NYU and Mt. Sinai as my number 1 and number 2 choices.

123 translates to the 6-7 range. 507 translates to around a 29-30. Yes, I think a re-take is probably in order to be competitive at lower tier MD(ie any MD school). With all due respect, NYU and Mt Sinai with their 37/520 median MCATs are the last thing in the world that should be on your mind.

 

[iamphilip]

What is your plan to improve in verbal? Also, how much of an anomaly do you consider your score to be? It's hard to draw significance from the real mcat and the practice material that is out there for this 2015 version of the test. Granted, verbal hasn't changed much if it all, but only if you were consistently scoring maybe 75 or 80% or higher on the CARS question packs and I would consider a retake.

Another question is can you maintain your psych/PC knowledge? Because your scores are unbalanced you have room for improvement in bio/biochem and of course room in CARS too which could easily offset dropping 1 or 2 points in psych/PC.

All in all though, I would only retake a 507 if you are confident you could score 515+. One average score is better than taking the exam twice and only improving by a few points. With a 507 you are sitting at ~29 old score which is certainly good enough to get an MD interview if you apply early and broadly with good ECs, although with a ~29 NYU and Mt. Sinai would be extreme reaches. I wouldn't suggest putting such high stock any particular school though: admission is a crap shoot even with high stats. Best of luck.

Thanks for the reply. I did score around 80% on verbal during practice. Maybe I got the jitters for my first time taking the Mcat. I think I will change up my game plan. I am confident I can bring up both biochem and verbal. Thank you again for the advice.

 

[iamphilip]

123 translates to the 6-7 range. 507 translates to around a 29-30. Yes, I think a re-take is probably in order to be competitive at lower tier MD(ie any MD school). With all due respect, NYU and Mt Sinai with their 37/520 median MCATs are the last thing in the world that should be on your mind.

Thanks for the reply. Yea, I know they are extreme reach schools. But, hey you never know right.