Successful retakers...need advice!

[riseNshine]

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Hi everyone,

After studying most of summer after receiving a 28 on my first MCAT, my average on AAMC's is a 30 (ranging from 27-33 with 30s on the most recent tests). I feel like I have a much better grasp of the material this time around and yes, I do thoroughly review my exams, noting down weaknesses, but I'm seeing no improvement. After hitting 32/33, my scores dropped to 30 and I have no idea what to do to hit a higher score.

In reviewing my exams, some mistakes are due to carelessness which of course, can be eliminated, but are hard to avoid under time constraints, but will another 3 months of lots of practice questions do it for me. I simply don't know if it's realistic to aim higher because after an entire summer, I find myself frustrated that my scores aren't any higher. I use a combo of TPR and kaplan for studying.

For those who have retaken the MCAT and gotten +3 improvement, what was your strategy? How long did you spend prepping? Is there a single thing that helped you boost your score?

Any help will be greatly appreciated. Thank you all! This test really knows how to discourage people.

 

[gongshow89]

Taking note of your weaknesses is half the battle. The other half is making a conscience effort to stop the mistakes. Check out my post in 30+ thread, most of what I say there applies to someone who wants a bigger score jump. I remember there were several times where I would begin to fall back into bad habits (misreading questions, mental math errors, etc) and had to stop myself and re-focus. This takes time, but with enough practice you'll get there! There are also a couple other posts in the 30+ thread by people who improved a lot. These were great help for me!

 

[riseNshine]

thanks gongshow89, I'll try to find some of those posts! Awesome job yourself on the improvement.

if anyone else has any advice, would love to hear it

 

[eggs13]

Hi everyone,

After studying most of summer after receiving a 28 on my first MCAT, my average on AAMC's is a 30 (ranging from 27-33 with 30s on the most recent tests). I feel like I have a much better grasp of the material this time around and yes, I do thoroughly review my exams, noting down weaknesses, but I'm seeing no improvement. After hitting 32/33, my scores dropped to 30 and I have no idea what to do to hit a higher score.

In reviewing my exams, some mistakes are due to carelessness which of course, can be eliminated, but are hard to avoid under time constraints, but will another 3 months of lots of practice questions do it for me. I simply don't know if it's realistic to aim higher because after an entire summer, I find myself frustrated that my scores aren't any higher. I use a combo of TPR and kaplan for studying.

For those who have retaken the MCAT and gotten +3 improvement, what was your strategy? How long did you spend prepping? Is there a single thing that helped you boost your score?

Any help will be greatly appreciated. Thank you all! This test really knows how to discourage people.

i scored a ps10 vr6 bs12 (28Q) the first time around. obviously verbal was my weak point. I decided to take some time off studying and take the test a year later (May '11 original, April '12 retake). I was pretty happy with my science scores, and I had used the kaplan books to prepare the first time so 3 months before my test i started hitting those again. obviously the kaplan VR strategy wasnt working for me so I got 10 hours of private tutoring from TPR for verbal. I hit the content review hard and tried to nail down the new verbal strategy for 3 months, taking practice tests about once or twice a week after a solid 4-5 weeks of content review. my score went to a ps14 vr10 bs11 (35Q). dedicated all my time to school, working out, and MCAT (no going out, partying, etc) and it paid off.

 

[eggs13]

That is great! But is it for a reason you posted a different score distribution on MD apps? 13-10-12?

to stay anonymous if any adcoms or what not are here, blew my cover i guess, but many more people will come across that page than this post lol