Take a year off?

[GatorWell]

I am in this dillema.. I have good gpa 4.0 with science major. But i didn't do well at all on the April MCAT ( verbal 5..... 10'z on sciences...).......(* I have only been in US for 10 years....)

I really don't think my verbal will improve much. Thus, I am thinking about takin a year off and study harder for verbal and take it next year. Is this a good idea? Or Do i still have a chance of getting in??? I know its hard for a person to get in with a 5 on verbal.. but couple of people in this fourm encouraged me saying that they know some people in similiar situation and got in.... What should i do?

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[idq1i]

4.0 gpa and a 5 on verbal somehow just doesn't make sense when considered together. I don't think it would make sense to adcomms either.

What school?

 

[ColumbiaMPH]

A lot of schools have minimum requirements for each section, so it may be difficult to even get interviews with a 5. I would definitely spend a lot of time working to improve that score.

Is English your first language? If not, committees may hold this low score against you even more because they may be concerned about your ability to speak English and effectively communicate with patients. In this case, taking a TOEFL course and getting a good score on the exam would probably help.

 

[SonGoku]

What else do you plan to do during the year off? I know people who are doing that because their MCAT scores were low, but they also plan on doing something else to strengthen their app. Have you given it any thought?

 

[mvp44]

GatorWell,

I don't know if you've applied yet, but I don't think you should if you haven't. That may not be what you want to hear, but I don't think you have a good chance to get in anywhere with a verbal score of 5. Adcoms usually give students with English as a second language some slack, with a score of 7 being tolerable and a score of 8 or 9 being good, but 5 is pretty low.

I think waiting an extra year to improve your verbal score is a good idea. That'll give you the time you need to improve your reading skill and speed, which will result in a better score. You're obviously smart, so you can definitely do it if you put some time into it. Verbal scores can increase with practice. Some recommended journals or newspapers to read include Scientific American, The Economist, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal. Reading these will give you practice reading at the level of MCAT passages. Along with that, you need to do practice passages. You can buy books that contain practice passages and do those.

This is just my opinion. I have no idea what the rest of your application looks like and whether or not that 5 will keep you out. Whichever way you go, good luck.

 

[smellycat]

i agree with mvp. I'm pretty sure that you will have a hard time getting interviews with that verbal score. i would say a minimum of 7 would be needed to get an interview.
Take a year off and concentrate on your verbal score. it'll pay off. Nothing wrong with taking time off. I think honestly it is the way to go. IMHO applying with a 5 with not be worth it. Best of luck!

 

[XENON-RAMZ]

my verbal mcat score jumped 7 points i wasnt reading all those journals. all i was doing is making sure my mood was right on test day.