*The Official MCAT June 2018 Thread*

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mariposas905 said:
Oh so your actual mcat score was right in line with AAMC FLs? Ugh it looks more and more likely that I'd score the same as those too 🙁
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Yeah I guess it fell in the + or - 2 so I shouldn't be too surprised. Still, keep your head up!
 
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Got a 506, and tbh that's not great BUT I'M SO RELIEVED. It's balanced (126/127/126/127). Tbh shocked about CARS--I was scoring 123-124 on my practices. Same with P/S, I was scoring 125-126. My sciences are kinda crappy but I hope my 3.99 GPA can show that I understand science, lmao.

I guess this means I'm officially applying! DO and some lower-tier MD. Thanks to everyone on here for being so supportive. Couldn't have gotten thru this s*** without y'all!
 
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Cheerfulcheeto said:
Yeah I'm thinking that it might be more of a disadvantage to apply with a low score when you're a bit older lol I was also reading up on non-trads in this forum, and there seem to be quite a bit who get in so I might just be paranoid lol

Have you ever encountered a score plateau like this? And if so, how did you break out of it? I'm thinking it must be something about my strategy or something...no idea.
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I've encountered a score plateau with my science scores and honestly, I'm not sure how to break out of it at this point. I notice I run out of time often and make stupid mistakes. So right now, I'm just going to be drilling as much content as I can before my exam. My verbal scores fluctuate based on the exam and my P/S score stay relatively constant. Idk, I think there is luck involved with the MCAT :shrug: hopefully, it's in our favor.
 
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PopeKnope98 said:
Got a 506, and tbh that's not great BUT I'M SO RELIEVED. It's balanced (126/127/126/127). Tbh shocked about CARS--I was scoring 123-124 on my practices. Same with P/S, I was scoring 125-126. My sciences are kinda crappy but I hope my 3.99 GPA can show that I understand science, lmao.

I guess this means I'm officially applying! DO and some lower-tier MD. Thanks to everyone on here for being so supportive. Couldn't have gotten thru this s*** without y'all!
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That's great news!! I wish you good luck for this cycle!!!

BTW: what were your practice scores like, again? lol I cannot break around the 500s and I wonder if there is any chance one could score at least 1-2 points higher on test day..
 
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mariposas905 said:
I've encountered a score plateau with my science scores and honestly, I'm not sure how to break out of it at this point. I notice I run out of time often and make stupid mistakes. So right now, I'm just going to be drilling as much content as I can before my exam. My verbal scores fluctuate based on the exam and my P/S score stay relatively constant. Idk, I think there is luck involved with the MCAT :shrug: hopefully, it's in our favor.
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I'm getting the same sense too...I think that your score on the real deal will probably be similar to practice, but with some luck we might be able to score a little higher...? Maybe...? IDK 🙁
 
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Cheerfulcheeto said:
That's great news!! I wish you good luck for this cycle!!!

BTW: what were your practice scores like, again? lol I cannot break around the 500s and I wonder if there is any chance one could score at least 1-2 points higher on test day..
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FL 1: 503 (125/123/127/128)
FL 2: 501 (126/124/126/125)
FL 3: 506 (127/126/127/126)

As you can see, WOW FL 3 was accurate, even though the content tested on FL 3 vs the real thing was totally different. I was really nervous I was gonna bomb CARS and P/S since those were quite iffy throughout, but somehow did better in both.

I think the reason my CARS and P/S went up on the real thing is because that's what I REALLY focused on in the last 5 days after FL3. I did hella CARS passages and used UWorld for P/S. I kinda snoozed on the sciences, and I felt those sections weren't as hard so the curve wasn't as large. Overall, the best way to increase your score is to practice practice practice. The more you do in those last few days, the better chance you have at scoring higher than usual on test day.

You got this!!!
 
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PopeKnope98 said:
FL 1: 503 (125/123/127/128)
FL 2: 501 (126/124/126/125)
FL 3: 506 (127/126/127/126)

As you can see, WOW FL 3 was accurate, even though the content tested on FL 3 vs the real thing was totally different. I was really nervous I was gonna bomb CARS and P/S since those were quite iffy throughout, but somehow did better in both.

I think the reason my CARS and P/S went up on the real thing is because that's what I REALLY focused on in the last 5 days after FL3. I did hella CARS passages and used UWorld for P/S. I kinda snoozed on the sciences, and I felt those sections weren't as hard so the curve wasn't as large. Overall, the best way to increase your score is to practice practice practice. The more you do in those last few days, the better chance you have at scoring higher than usual on test day.

You got this!!!
Click to expand...

Thanks so much!!
 
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PopeKnope98 said:
FL 1: 503 (125/123/127/128)
FL 2: 501 (126/124/126/125)
FL 3: 506 (127/126/127/126)

As you can see, WOW FL 3 was accurate, even though the content tested on FL 3 vs the real thing was totally different. I was really nervous I was gonna bomb CARS and P/S since those were quite iffy throughout, but somehow did better in both.

I think the reason my CARS and P/S went up on the real thing is because that's what I REALLY focused on in the last 5 days after FL3. I did hella CARS passages and used UWorld for P/S. I kinda snoozed on the sciences, and I felt those sections weren't as hard so the curve wasn't as large. Overall, the best way to increase your score is to practice practice practice. The more you do in those last few days, the better chance you have at scoring higher than usual on test day.

You got this!!!
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Sample test scores?
 
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Got a 506 (128/123/129/126) and a 3.98 GPA. Obviously not happy with that, and wanted to ask about my chances with MD. Any advice is appreciated, thank you.
 
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manofthehour said:
Got a 506 (128/123/129/126) and a 3.98 GPA. Obviously not happy with that, and wanted to ask about my chances with MD. Any advice is appreciated, thank you.
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You can probably try this cycle out with MD since you have a strong GPA. Come January, if your MD cycle isn't going well, you can retake the test for CARS. My friend got into MD with 502 and 506 (124 CARS) retake, and got 5 MD interviews as ORM so it can be done.
 
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Wow, I thought there would be a lot more posts in here. Is June not a popular test time, or is it because only the 1-2 June scores have been released?
 
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Also, fairly new to the site, though I've been lurking for awhile. I'm nontraditional, so have been doing most of this on my own. I've seen some posts above referencing the types of schools people are applying to based on their scores. Are there any good guidelines out there? I already submitted my application with a wide array of schools from tiny upstarts to higher ranked ones like Pitt and Case Western (trying to stay in a certain region of the country). I don't feel like spending a bunch of money flying all over and paying for secondaries if there is a good way to narrow down schools. Thanks!
 
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manofthehour said:
Got a 506 (128/123/129/126) and a 3.98 GPA. Obviously not happy with that, and wanted to ask about my chances with MD. Any advice is appreciated, thank you.
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Hey dude, have almost identical stats compared to you!!! Except my 506 is 126/127/126/127. I’m applying MD as well as DO. I think our high GPAs should help. Applying to the MD where I feel like I fit their mission (service-oriented) and can come off as really passionate in my secondaries. Just use the MSAR and find schools with like a 508-512 median MCAT.
 
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daw05 said:
Wow, I thought there would be a lot more posts in here. Is June not a popular test time, or is it because only the 1-2 June scores have been released?
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I feel like June was a really popular test month on the mcat subreddit, but fairly quiet on SDN compared to May. Who knows why, lol!!
 
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mariposas905 said:
Would you guys be willing to share what your AAMC FL scores were?
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FL 3 was 131/129/130/127 for total of 517
actual exam was130/129/132/127 for total of 518
so for me, the FL 3 was a really good predictor... i actually thought my actual exam was much harder than fl3

btw my GPA is a 3.95
 
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Just looked at my score and got a a 516 (129/129/129/129)
AAMC FL 1 508 (127/126/128/127)
AAMC FL 2 506 (125/128/127/126)
AAMC FL 3 512 (127/129/130/126)
AAMC QBs were all in the between 60-70%

UWorld average was about 60-70% (dont have account access so I'm not sure what my exact scores are)

Good luck to anyone still waiting for scores!
 
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southwestpremed06 said:
On my scratch paper I write 1:30@20, :30@40. Meaning at 1:30 you should be on or past q20 and at 30 you should be on or past q40.
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I like that idea. I will try it!
So far, I was always triaging the questions by going through the passages, rate them (easy, medium or hard) and answer the discretes along the way. I would give myself until timer is at 1:20 to do that, which leaves exactly 8 minutes per passage and no review time.

I'm not sure if triaging is a waste of time because prioritizing seems to make sense to make sure you grab your safe points by working easier passages first. It just never works out for me timing wise..Any thoughts?:shrug:
 
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ljkeeper said:
Just looked at my score and got a a 516 (129/129/129/129)
AAMC FL 1 508 (127/126/128/127)
AAMC FL 2 506 (125/128/127/126)
AAMC FL 3 512 (127/129/130/126)
AAMC QBs were all in the between 60-70%

UWorld average was about 60-70% (dont have account access so I'm not sure what my exact scores are)

Good luck to anyone still waiting for scores!
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How long before your MCAT did you take the FLs? That's a great score jump! Also, how did you improve your C/P score so much?
 
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mariposas905 said:
How long before your MCAT did you take the FLs? That's a great score jump! Also, how did you improve your C/P score so much?
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Took the first one about a month out, the second about 2 weeks out and the last a week prior. Spent the last week reviewing all of them pretty heavily and solidifying what i was weak in. To be completely honest idk how I got that C/P score haha, I got a 128 on the AAMC practice test but didn't expect anything like a 129. I think the whole test was curved pretty heavy because I thought I did bad on the P/S section too. That or I just got had a few lucky guesses!
 
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Good job y’all!

I got a 507 (130/122/130/125)

Choked on CARS and psych.
Guess I am not applying this cycle. 🙁 oh wells, that’s life.

Will prepare a re take in the near future.

Good luck to everyone on this thread!!
 
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DrCrazyDiamond said:
Good job y’all!

I got a 507 (130/122/130/125)

Choked on CARS and psych.
Guess I am not applying this cycle. 🙁 oh wells, that’s life.

Will prepare a re take in the near future.

Good luck to everyone on this thread!!
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You have C/P and B/B down though and tbh P/S is the easiest to improve on, so if you can manage to squeeze out a few more points on CARS you will have a great score. Just practice cars every day and you will be in good shape.
 
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esob said:
You have C/P and B/B down though and tbh P/S is the easiest to improve on, so if you can manage to squeeze out a few more points on CARS you will have a great score. Just practice cars every day and you will be in good shape.
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Ya, I signed up for September retake. Time to get studying again!

Here is my breakdown of practise scores in chronological order:

Kaplan full-length: 500 (125/125/127/123)
AAMC Sample Test: ~513 (129/129/128/127)
AAMC Practise 1: 513 (131/125/130/127)
Next Step FL 1: 509 (127/126/128/128)
Princeton Review Demo: 507 (125/124/128/130)
Princeton Review test 1: 503 (126/126/125/126)
AAMC Practise 2: 511 (129/126/130/126)

Not sure if these numbers help anyone haha but here's my contribution to the body of knowledge 😛
 
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mariposas905 said:
That's a big jump! How far out did you do all the FLs? And what do you think helped you score so much higher on the real thing?
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Cheerfulcheeto said:
WOW!! You give me hope!! I second mariposas's question and also--why do you think there was this jump?
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I took NS1 in January, then I did some super light studying through the end of January and did NS2. Then school picked up so studying slowed down a tonnnn and in the end of February I did NS3. I then stopped completely until Spring Break in the middle/end of March and CRANKED OUT Kaplan Bio and Chem and had those DOWN. Even got through 1/2 of Biochem. Then did AAMC 1. Kept refreshing Bio, Chem, and Biochem lightly through the end of semester and the ONLY ORGO I studied was naming conventions. Honestly no new material. Mid-May I did NS4.

After that I started going through Physics and more Biochem. What I did that helped the most was utilizing the 5 attempts NS gives you and used the other attempts to redo individual sections. That helped bump my scores up to the 127 range in most subjects, and even got a few 128-130s here and there.

End of May I did AAMC 2 and 4 days later (2 days before my test) I did AAMC 3.

Honestly, everything I did can be done in 3 months. I did 2 weeks in January, maybe 1 full week in February, March, and April, and then 3 weeks in May. If you PLAN PLAN PLAN you can definitelyyyy study for this test in 8 weeks. I believe I started from 0% because everything I did basically felt like starting from 0%. Maybe not Physics, that was 20%
 
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Sharknad0 said:
I took NS1 in January, then I did some super light studying through the end of January and did NS2. Then school picked up so studying slowed down a tonnnn and in the end of February I did NS3. I then stopped completely until Spring Break in the middle/end of March and CRANKED OUT Kaplan Bio and Chem and had those DOWN. Even got through 1/2 of Biochem. Then did AAMC 1. Kept refreshing Bio, Chem, and Biochem lightly through the end of semester and the ONLY ORGO I studied was naming conventions. Honestly no new material. Mid-May I did NS4.

After that I started going through Physics and more Biochem. What I did that helped the most was utilizing the 5 attempts NS gives you and used the other attempts to redo individual sections. That helped bump my scores up to the 127 range in most subjects, and even got a few 128-130s here and there.

End of May I did AAMC 2 and 4 days later (2 days before my test) I did AAMC 3.

Honestly, everything I did can be done in 3 months. I did 2 weeks in January, maybe 1 full week in February, March, and April, and then 3 weeks in May. If you PLAN PLAN PLAN you can definitelyyyy study for this test in 8 weeks. I believe I started from 0% because everything I did basically felt like starting from 0%. Maybe not Physics, that was 20%
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Thanks for the input! Wasn't the June 1st/2nd test very organic heavy though? Did you feel it impacted you not knowing enough organic for the test? Also, did you employ any specific strategies on test day that helped raise your score to 514? Taking AAMC 2 days before, but scoring 7 points higher is like a miracle! I would be so happy if that happened to me.
 
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mariposas905 said:
Thanks for the input! Wasn't the June 1st/2nd test very organic heavy though? Did you feel it impacted you not knowing enough organic for the test? Also, did you employ any specific strategies on test day that helped raise your score to 514? Taking AAMC 2 days before, but scoring 7 points higher is like a miracle! I would be so happy if that happened to me.
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There was a decent bit of orgo on it so I’ll definitely say to know the logic behind SN1, SN2, E1, and E2 reactions as well as what substances are bases or acids. It won’t hurt to read the book if you have the time.

When I scored AAMC 3 I was just like “ya know, what happens happens.” I just relaxed, accepted that I’ve studied as much as I can, and just went for it.




Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile
 
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Sharknad0 said:
There was a decent bit of orgo on it so I’ll definitely say to know the logic behind SN1, SN2, E1, and E2 reactions as well as what substances are bases or acids. It won’t hurt to read the book if you have the time.

When I scored AAMC 3 I was just like “ya know, what happens happens.” I just relaxed, accepted that I’ve studied as much as I can, and just went for it.




Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile
Click to expand...

Did you feel like you were doing a lot of guessing though on questions? Especially since you didn't study organic except for naming
 
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mariposas905 said:
Did you feel like you were doing a lot of guessing though on questions? Especially since you didn't study organic except for naming
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A decent bit of stuff was pattern recognition. Like, I knew my standard bases and certain reactions so lemme scratch when I said all I studied was naming conventions because I did do the SN1/2 and E1/2 stuff. So know things like "this reaction has a primary carbocation, so I know it will be SN1 and will thus need a polar protic solvent."
 
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Sharknad0 said:
A decent bit of stuff was pattern recognition. Like, I knew my standard bases and certain reactions so lemme scratch when I said all I studied was naming conventions because I did do the SN1/2 and E1/2 stuff. So know things like "this reaction has a primary carbocation, so I know it will be SN1 and will thus need a polar protic solvent."
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Okay, I know that stuff. I'm good with the following organic topics: SN1/2, naming, IR/NMR, lab techniques, stereochemistry, acids/bases - I don't know many reactions, but I'm planning to memorize those on the Kaplan quick sheet. I will also memorize the main structures/functional groups again. I really hope this will be enough for me!

Also, I don't think E1/E2 is on the new MCAT? It's not on the outline I believe.
 
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Cheerfulcheeto said:
I would go either way. I'm a non traditional applicant, so I think I have to be extra careful? I know discrimination based on age is not legal but that doesn't mean it cannot influence someone's decision lol

Voiding will be such a difficult decision because you never know what the curve will look like.
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You can’t think this way and hope for a big curve. Normally people do +\- 2 or 3 points compared to the average of the 3 AAMC FLs. If you aren’t where you want to be on the practice exams then you need to take it later.
 
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On_The_Way_Up said:
How were your practice exams?
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FL 1: 503 (125/123/127/128)

FL 2: 501 (127/124/127/125)

FL 3: 506 (127/126/127/126)

Real thing: 506 (126/127/126/127)

Was pleasantly surprised by my CARS and P/S. Was disappointed in my sciences as I had been consistently scoring 127s. Oh well, I'm still satisfied!
 
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Sharknad0 said:
There was a decent bit of orgo on it so I’ll definitely say to know the logic behind SN1, SN2, E1, and E2 reactions as well as what substances are bases or acids. It won’t hurt to read the book if you have the time.

When I scored AAMC 3 I was just like “ya know, what happens happens.” I just relaxed, accepted that I’ve studied as much as I can, and just went for it.




Sent from my iPhone using
Click to expand...
I agree that there was a lot of acid/base stuff. I thought there were only the basics of orgo - not much E1/E2, SN1/SN2
 
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mariposas905 said:
Those are good scores, I think you will be fine! Compared to third-party FLs (NS, Altius, etc), what would you say was most similar to the real deal?
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I think AAMC is always going to be closest to the real deal since its the same company. However, I can't really compare for the other companies because I only took 1 altius, 1 Next Step, and 1 Princeton. But from what I could ascertain, altius has a very similar format, but I think it may be harder. Nextstep is harder as well I think, but its pretty similar, and I took the princeton one too long ago to remember what that was like.

I'd go AAMC > Altius > the others for tests but I'm not a very good source lol

I stuck with mainly AAMC material for practice and princeton review for content, and since I studied in such a short amount of time, I didn't get to some of the AAMC material like the C/P Section bank and the CARS 2 qpack. Hopefully, I did okay though!!! Still praying lol time is going by too slowly.
 
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