Taking The MCAT

[[Future]DrPrincess]

Hey Everyone!

I just had a quick question. I was planning on taking the MCAT on the first test date in April, but now that i've taken some practice exams and have been studying for awhile, i'm feeling very apprehensive. I'm feeling like I should take some more time to study due to the fact that I am still taking classes, and I don't feel like I have the time to study enough in that short period of time. Therefore, i'm thinking of pushing my test date back to the first June test date. My question is- would that be too late? I want to make sure I get my application in early enough, but I also want to make sure I only have to take the MCAT once. Thoughts?

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[eteshoe]

You should be fine. You won't be too late in the cycle and what really matters is that you do well once

 

[Sardinia]

Hey Everyone! I just had a quick question. I was planning on taking the MCAT on the first test date in April, but now that i've taken some practice exams and have been studying for awhile, i'm feeling very apprehensive. I'm feeling like I should take some more time to study due to the fact that I am still taking classes, and I don't feel like I have the time to study enough in that short period of time. Therefore, i'm thinking of pushing my test date back to the first June test date. My question is- would that be too late? I want to make sure I get my application in early enough, but I also want to make sure I only have to take the MCAT once. Thoughts?

When do you figure out whether you are adequately prepared for an exam that you've never taken?

 

[takeurmeds02]

Yea, a June date is optimal in my opinion. I would also suggest trying to knock out your activity descriptions for the primary app and PS, now. Like say do one activity per week and that way you won't be scrambling to do the app PLUS study for the MCAT at the same time. You're whole point in pushing it back is to clear your plate, if you piecemeal it this way, you should be okay.

 

[Sardinia]

Yea, a June date is optimal in my opinion. I would also suggest trying to knock out your activity descriptions for the primary app and PS, now. Like say do one activity per week and that way you won't be scrambling to do the app PLUS study for the MCAT at the same time. You're whole point in pushing it back is to clear your plate, if you piecemeal it this way, you should be okay.

I feel like only giving yourself one shot on the new MCAT is unnecessarily shooting yourself in the foot considering the fact that the exam gives you the opportunity to nullify an exam if you feel you did poorly on it.

 

[takeurmeds02]

I feel like only giving yourself one shot on the new MCAT is unnecessarily shooting yourself in the foot considering the fact that the exam gives you the opportunity to nullify an exam if you feel you did poorly on it.

Sorry, I meant a May date is optimal in my opinion. I was thinking about June because I took it in late June. I personally think April is too soon because it's hard to adequately study when you have to fulfill your obligations to all of your other coursework as well. May would still give you some wiggle room if need be.

 

[Sardinia]

Sorry, I meant a May date is optimal in my opinion. I was thinking about June because I took it in late June. I personally think April is too soon because it's hard to adequately study when you have to fulfill your obligations to all of your other coursework as well. May would still give you some wiggle room if need be.

My issue with the new MCAT was that none of the test taking distributors aside from The Berkeley Review had remotely an accurate pulse on the subject matter. Most students from strong molecular science backgrounds or disciplines would likely be fine taking the exam. However, the immense emphasis not only on Biochemistry but on being able to assess restriction endonuclease and protein readouts on a Science / Nature article was something that most review books do not adequately prep for on the exam which tends to lean heavily in the in-depth sections of both the Biology and Physics science section. Most books provide you with breadth which allows you to capture the free points from the single question section asking me one or two questions from just a section in physiology alone. Perhaps it is because my school didn't teach the material to the extent that it should have been taught, however I was able to quickly assess and identify several problem categories in taking the examination and using the first exam as a "crash" course into prepping for a couple of months for the next one was more effective than taking a Kaplain or Princeton Review course.

 

[takeurmeds02]

My issue with the new MCAT was that none of the test taking distributors aside from The Berkeley Review had remotely an accurate pulse on the subject matter. Most students from strong molecular science backgrounds or disciplines would likely be fine taking the exam. However, the immense emphasis not only on Biochemistry but on being able to assess restriction endonuclease and protein readouts on a Science / Nature article was something that most review books do not adequately prep for on the exam which tends to lean heavily in the in-depth sections of both the Biology and Physics science section. Most books provide you with breadth which allows you to capture the free points from the single question section asking me one or two questions from just a section in physiology alone. Perhaps it is because my school didn't teach the material to the extent that it should have been taught, however I was able to quickly assess and identify several problem categories in taking the examination and using the first exam as a "crash" course into prepping for a couple of months for the next one was more effective than taking a Kaplain or Princeton Review course.

Yea, I think because I did a lot of research in undergrad, I was adequately prepared to digest problems that were more research-based and were more pointed towards technique. Not surprisingly, I did the best in the bio section.

I will agree that it would be more difficult for some people who did not necessarily have a research background. Although, looking on this forum alone, the consensus has been to subsidize that learning by reading research articles and becoming comfortable with those.

I will say that when I studied, I used Exam Krackers and I think they did a decent job at introducing research techniques that would prove useful in your arsenal of general knowledge. Unfortunately at that time, I just didn't have much access to practice exams that were true to the new MCAT because they just weren't available so I had to wing it a bit more.

 

[NoRagrets]

I recommend pushing your test date back. You won't be able to study well enough while also taking classes if you are already feeling this way. I took the test in June and put myself into full time MCAT study mode right after classes ended in the end of April/beginning May. The benefit of this is obviously the focus and increased study time, but the downside is the later score date. I took the June date last year and found the later score "date" did not significantly affect me because the reward of a high "score" more than compensates. You will still be able to submit early enough. You only want to ever have to take it once. Hit it hard, no ragrets.

 

[sat0ri]

I'd recommend May 20th if you don't want to be (only slightly) late


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile app

 

[kitkat13]

you don't want to be (only slightly) late

So taking the May test would make you slightly late as well?

 

[BluMist]

It takes a month to get score back, so May 20th test means you won't be complete on June 1st (+/- a few days), the first day of submission.

 

[Hospitalized]

I'd rather be slightly late than not competitive. I'm trying to decide between the June 18 and July 8/9 exam. There's PLENTY of people who get accepted that are not complete on day 1, or even within the first month.

 

[NoRagrets]

you can still submit your app before having the score back so that it can go through the month long verification. That is why either date is fine.

 

[takeurmeds02]

It takes a month to get score back, so May 20th test means you won't be complete on June 1st (+/- a few days), the first day of submission.

You can still submit your primary for verification without an MCAT score. In this case, one would only submit to one throwaway school and add the rest when they received their scores.

 

[kitkat13]

You can still submit your primary for verification without an MCAT score.

Sorry if this a dumb question, but does this hurt you in any way? So when you add the other non-throw away schools, are you seen later than those who added them earlier?

 

[takeurmeds02]

Sorry if this a dumb question, but does this hurt you in any way? So when you add the other non-throw away schools, are you seen later than those who added them earlier?

Yea, that's a valid question. Yes and no, I suppose. You're still submitting a bit later BUT it wouldn't be as late as if you waited for your MCAT score first and then also had to wait for your primary app to get verified, which for some people, took weeks.

Luckily, most schools almost immediately send out secondaries once they've received your primary (in most cases within a few days).

In the meantime, before you actually receive those secondaries, it would behoove you to already have them pre-written so that when you do get the secondary app, you can have it turned right back in within a day or two. I used this site to complete ALL of my secondaries before having actually received them.

Ultimately, it's all one big gamble no matter which route you take; you can take the first MCAT in April and hope that you gave yourself enough MCAT time or you can wait and provide yourself with that protected time but at that point, you have to be much more diligent about your studying so that you can hopefully score big on the first try. Even if you have to take it a second time at that point, it wouldn't put you at such a huge disadvantage, timetable-wise.

Honestly, if you feel like you can get adequate studying in for an April test date, then by all means, take it then. If you ever feel too inundated and feel that you just don't have the time during the semester to study, then know that it's okay to push it back to a May date.

 

[carpediem22]

I would say take it when you feel 80% ready (you will NEVER feel 100% ready for it -- there is too much to learn!). The "give yourself time to retake" wisdom is not the best, since you really DON'T want to retake the MCAT -- most schools will still consider your first score, and honestly it's a nightmare so just get it over with once if you can. If that means pushing back to a later date, do it.

That being said, remember that most colleges have finals in May, and it is very difficult to study for both finals and the MCAT at the same time.

I was originally going to take my exam in April 2015 and pushed back to May because I didn't feel ready. Really, really happy I did, but if I had had to retake it in July it would have been a nightmare since that would've mean being very late for secondaries. If you do retake, you need to give yourself a good 1-2 months to keep studying to avoid scoring the same/lower. So taking it in May then retaking in June is not advisable.

If you can, take the May MCAT. Otherwise the June might be OK, but then you are still in bad shape if you DO have to retake. The earlier the better, but only take it when you feel ready.