"Test drive" MCAT in August....or NOT?

[billydoc]

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Hi All!
I'm non-trad, M 36 y.o, have been out school for a while, a long while. I'm an RN with a bunch of clinical exp, but it will not help me in basic science. I realize that it's "mission imposible" to be ready for the August. But, would you guys recomend to go ahead, and take it anyway (provided I'll be studying between now and Aug)?
Your thoughts, comments, advices are greatly appreciated.
Thanks 🙂

 

[ChymeChancellor]

Hi All!
I'm non-trad, M 36 y.o, have been out school for a while, a long while. I'm an RN with a bunch of clinical exp, but it will not help me in basic science. I realize that it's "mission imposible" to be ready for the August. But, would you guys recomend to go ahead, and take it anyway (provided I'll be studying between now and Aug)?
Your thoughts, comments, advices are greatly appreciated.
Thanks 🙂

Don't take it unless you're fully prepared. You would be hard pressed to find someone to tell you to take it if your not fully ready. Maybe take it and then void it if your dead set on taking it and already regisered. There are AAMC practice tests that would serve the same purpose.

 

[ChymeChancellor]

Don't take it unless you're fully prepared. You would be hard pressed to find someone to tell you to take it if your not fully ready. Maybe take it and then void it if your dead set on taking it and already regisered. There are AAMC practice tests that would serve the same purpose.

Yeah, I definitely agree.

 

[Dr Trek 1]

Don't take it unless you're fully prepared. You would be hard pressed to find someone to tell you to take it if your not fully ready. Maybe take it and then void it if your dead set on taking it and already regisered. There are AAMC practice tests that would serve the same purpose.

I agree. You may also find it helpful to take the Kaplan course so that you have more simulated full lengths that are proctored, etc.

But do not take the MCAT until you are fully prepared and know you can score your goal score.

 

[LifetimeDoc]

NEVER, EVER, EVER TAKE THE REAL MCAT AS A "TRIAL RUN"! 😱 👎

That's what the AAMC practice exams are for! If you take the real MCAT as a practice, then if you score poorly, the medical schools will see how you did and sometimes count it against you. You should aim to take the MCAT ONLY ONCE, and to do your best on the test. If you must take it again, then a second retake is acceptable. You want to check your progress while you prepare for the real exam using the seven AAMC practice exams which you can purchase (Test 3R is Free) from the AAMC at http://www.e-mcat.com

 

[billydoc]

Thank You all who repplied. Point well taken. That's what I thought too, but I've never taken the MCAT before and wanted to hear the real deal.
Could I still apply for 2007 without MCAT? Will not taking it put me at some major disatvantage?
Thanks

 

[DrBowtie]

Thank You all who repplied. Point well taken. That's what I thought too, but I've never taken the MCAT before and wanted to hear the real deal.
Could I still apply for 2007 without MCAT? Will not taking it put me at some major disatvantage?
Thanks

No. If you want to enter fall 07, you must take this August.

 

[Arsenic]

Thank You all who repplied. Point well taken. That's what I thought too, but I've never taken the MCAT before and wanted to hear the real deal.
Could I still apply for 2007 without MCAT? Will not taking it put me at some major disatvantage?
Thanks

if you want to see what a real mcat is like you can purchase an official released mcat from the aamc:

http://www.aamc.org/students/mcat/practicetests.htm

one of those will give you the best estimate of where you are right now. brett's right though, if you want to start med school in 2007 you need to take the august '06 administration.

 

[QofQuimica]

Hi All!
I'm non-trad, M 36 y.o, have been out school for a while, a long while. I'm an RN with a bunch of clinical exp, but it will not help me in basic science. I realize that it's "mission imposible" to be ready for the August. But, would you guys recomend to go ahead, and take it anyway (provided I'll be studying between now and Aug)?
Your thoughts, comments, advices are greatly appreciated.
Thanks 🙂

Have you finished all of the pre-reqs (one year each of bio, gen chem, organic chem, and physics)? If not, definitely wait until you have. One thing that you must realize is that people in our age bracket (over age 30) tend to statistically be the lowest-scoring group on the MCAT, while teenage college students score the best. The generation gap is pretty sobering. (You can take a look at the breakdown on the AAMC website at http://www.aamc.org/students/mcat/examineedata/sum2005.pdf ). My feeling is that the reason for this gap is that non-trads tend to want to take short-cuts due to feeling "behind" and thus do not review the material properly. We also tend to have more responsibilities (house, family, job, etc.) compared to trads that compete for our time, and many of us have been out of school for a long time so our knowledge base is often rustier. But all that being said, the med schools will still expect the same kinds of competitive scores from you that they expect from younger applicants, so you must plan carefully and prepare yourself well enough to be able to do that.

I suggest that you start out by taking a practice test. See how you do, and begin to study from there. Do not take the real test if you are not consistently scoring in the high 20s or better on multiple practice tests.

 

[billydoc]

Have you finished all of the pre-reqs (one year each of bio, gen chem, organic chem, and physics)? If not, definitely wait until you have. One thing that you must realize is that people in our age bracket (over age 30) tend to statistically be the lowest-scoring group on the MCAT, while teenage college students score the best. The generation gap is pretty sobering. (You can take a look at the breakdown on the AAMC website at http://www.aamc.org/students/mcat/examineedata/sum2005.pdf ). My feeling is that the reason for this gap is that non-trads tend to want to take short-cuts due to feeling "behind" and thus do not review the material properly. We also tend to have more responsibilities (house, family, job, etc.) compared to trads that compete for our time, and many of us have been out of school for a long time so our knowledge base is often rustier. But all that being said, the med schools will still expect the same kinds of competitive scores from you that they expect from younger applicants, so you must plan carefully and prepare yourself well enough to be able to do that.

I suggest that you start out by taking a practice test. See how you do, and begin to study from there. Do not take the real test if you are not consistently scoring in the high 20s or better on multiple practice tests.

Thanks for the advice. I really appreciate it.
As my pre-reqs. They are there, but are quite old. I had no problem getting into ROSS, SABA and St.Matthews Universities in the Caribbean. I went with ROSS (back in 2004, before mandatory MCAT). But, for many reasons could not continue past 2nd semester. I realized that going abroad without my family is not an option (for us),though many other ppl have done it. But the clock is ticking. I'm not in my early 20s anymore. The thought of going trough residency at an older age is daunting. I do realize that I have to make it that far to worry about it. But as you've mentioned before, family responsibilities, making a living raising a child are all part of this equation for me.

Thanks very much all for the advice. I have full set of Kaplan materials from 2003, which after buying I never got to use, because I wanted to do it "quick" through the Carib route. But come to think of it. I entered ROSS when I still was 34. If thingswould've worked out I would have graduated by the time I'll be 38.But now, if I take MCAT in April'07 the earliest I could hope to get in is when I'm 38 😱 I know that ppl much older than that have done it, but this "pre" anything road is becomming way too long for me, considering my age factor.
Anyway,
Thanks Everybody 🙂

 

[EddieIndy]

Thanks for the advice. I really appreciate it.
As my pre-reqs. They are there, but are quite old. I had no problem getting into ROSS, SABA and St.Matthews Universities in the Caribbean. I went with ROSS (back in 2004, before mandatory MCAT). But, for many reasons could not continue past 2nd semester. I realized that going abroad without my family is not an option (for us),though many other ppl have done it. But the clock is ticking. I'm not in my early 20s anymore. The thought of going trough residency at an older age is daunting. I do realize that I have to make it that far to worry about it. But as you've mentioned before, family responsibilities, making a living raising a child are all part of this equation for me.

Thanks very much all for the advice. I have full set of Kaplan materials from 2003, which after buying I never got to use, because I wanted to do it "quick" through the Carib route. But come to think of it. I entered ROSS when I still was 34. If thingswould've worked out I would have graduated by the time I'll be 38.But now, if I take MCAT in April'07 the earliest I could hope to get in is when I'm 38 😱 I know that ppl much older than that have done it, but this "pre" anything road is becomming way too long for me, considering my age factor.
Anyway,
Thanks Everybody 🙂

Good luck in anything you choose to do!
It might sound stupid, but even at the age of 20, I'm scared of the long road ahead...

 

[billydoc]

Good luck in anything you choose to do!
It might sound stupid, but even at the age of 20, I'm scared of the long road ahead...

Hey EddieIndy! Thanks man. Yeap it is scary. But if this is really what you want it doesn't matter how long it takes you to get there. Look at Chuck over there. He is still going and going ,and going...just like Energizer bunny This is the road well traveled before us by the ppl of different ages. If they could it so can we. But going abroad is one more thing being stuck up against me. I'll try my luck here. In my book it's better to be an older AMG, than younger IMG.

Good Luck on your journey 🙂