*The Official MCAT June 2018 Thread*

[pretty_positron]

June 2nd, 2018 here.

81 days until the test, here.

Let's rock, brothers and sisters.

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[southwestpremed06]

509 (125/126/130/128)! Bit bummed about C/P but I'm otherwise happy. I would rather not retake.

 

[tizely]

Holy cow what a ride it has been!
I got a 511!
129/124/128/130
I’m super happy but that cars section got me, I’m not going to retake.

 

[Shotapp]

Holy cow what a ride it has been!
I got a 511!
129/124/128/130
I’m super happy but that cars section got me, I’m not going to retake.

Sweet! That's a good score. I wouldn't retake either. Good luck with your app cycle.

 

[brownsugarqueen]

506!! 125/127/127/127
I will never do this again!! What a relief

 

[BBBallIsLife]

Congrats to everyone who earned great scores! Don’t forget to be thankful for the score you earned everyone, it could be A LOT worse.

508: 128,124,127,129

this is my second time to take the test (1st was a 503), so to those who need a retake, DO NOT GIVE UP! You will succeed in some shape or form. Good luck this cycle friends.

 

[tsunamiboy]

2nd times the charm! (6/29)

I got a 520 (130, 128, 130, 132)!

I was literally shaking and had to do a double take. My first exam score was a 501 and I was so defeated after the first time and all I have to say is use that feeling of failure to motivate you. I became way more intesne with my studying and it paid off. DONT GIVE UP!!! ITS A HARD ASS PROCESS BUT IN THE END YOU WILL GET TO WHERE YOU NEED TO BE!
ok i need to stop preaching but seriously!
congrats everyone! and to those who didnt do as well as they hoped, i understand what you are feeling. there is no one way to medical school. Get back up on your feet and go kill it!
Best <3

 

[TeamBloodAndGuts]

2nd times the charm! (6/29)

I got a 520 (130, 128, 130, 132)!

I was literally shaking and had to do a double take. My first exam score was a 501 and I was so defeated after the first time and all I have to say is use that feeling of failure to motivate you. I became way more intesne with my studying and it paid off. DONT GIVE UP!!! ITS A HARD ASS PROCESS BUT IN THE END YOU WILL GET TO WHERE YOU NEED TO BE!
ok i need to stop preaching but seriously!
congrats everyone! and to those who didnt do as well as they hoped, i understand what you are feeling. there is no one way to medical school. Get back up on your feet and go kill it!
Best <3

What did you change to get your score to improve so much?

I am in absolute shock of my score... 491.

For other people who did poorly -
I just keep reminding myself: KEEP PUSHING THROUGH. If you want that MD, you've got to find a way.

Something my boss told me - "If it was easy, everyone would do it. Bottom line, you are driven enough to be victorious whether right now or in the future. You're going to get there either way. It's all very fresh news right now, so give yourself a couple days to think about it. It all works out in the end."

Failure is inevitable. You can either let it define you or you can use it teach you. Sure, give yourself a bit to feel crappy about it. It sucks. But after that, you've got to pick yourself up, dust yourself off, figure out where you went wrong, and change it.

 

[tsunamiboy]

What did you change to get your score to improve so much?

I am in absolute shock of my score... 491.

For other people who did poorly -
I just keep reminding myself: KEEP PUSHING THROUGH. If you want that MD, you've got to find a way.

Something my boss told me - "If it was easy, everyone would do it. Bottom line, you are driven enough to be victorious whether right now or in the future. You're going to get there either way. It's all very fresh news right now, so give yourself a couple days to think about it. It all works out in the end."

Failure is inevitable. You can either let it define you or you can use it teach you. Sure, give yourself a bit to feel crappy about it. It sucks. But after that, you've got to pick yourself up, dust yourself off, figure out where you went wrong, and change it.

that is honestly a great attitude! I was honestly so defeated after my firat MCAT... i even considered not going into medicine because I thought if I couldnt do well on this test how can i do well in med school?
But I kept pushing through and changed my whole study method.
The first time around I focused way more on content than actual test taking. I was so hung up on trying to memorize everything that I wasn't focusing on question patterns and how to work through passages. You can NEVER know everything and I wasted 5 weeks trying to and giving myself only one week for questions.

The second time around I was way more serious and bought the Berkeley books (since I already used the Kaplan) and months before would do the practice questions in them and only do content review on topics i needed aka i was TROUBLESHOOTING
The only book I read through entirely about 6 weeks before the exam was bio. So for two weeks I did quick review and for the next 4 i did QUESTIONS!!! I did a **** ton of questions and took about 11 practice exams and would hardcore review the exams after. I would look into every question whether I got it right or wrong since every question is a fact. This allowed me to notice patterns in MCAT questions and spend more time getting comfortable with the test questions than trying to absorb a crazy amount of content.

Good luck and stay positive. You will get to where you need to be ... I promise

 

[On_The_Way_Up]

What did you change to get your score to improve so much?

I am in absolute shock of my score... 491.

For other people who did poorly -
I just keep reminding myself: KEEP PUSHING THROUGH. If you want that MD, you've got to find a way.

Something my boss told me - "If it was easy, everyone would do it. Bottom line, you are driven enough to be victorious whether right now or in the future. You're going to get there either way. It's all very fresh news right now, so give yourself a couple days to think about it. It all works out in the end."

Failure is inevitable. You can either let it define you or you can use it teach you. Sure, give yourself a bit to feel crappy about it. It sucks. But after that, you've got to pick yourself up, dust yourself off, figure out where you went wrong, and change it.

What were your AAMC practice scores?

 

[BerkReviewTeach]

that is honestly a great attitude! I was honestly so defeated after my firat MCAT... i even considered not going into medicine because I thought if I couldnt do well on this test how can i do well in med school?
But I kept pushing through and changed my whole study method.
The first time around I focused way more on content than actual test taking. I was so hung up on trying to memorize everything that I wasn't focusing on question patterns and how to work through passages. You can NEVER know everything and I wasted 5 weeks trying to and giving myself only one week for questions.

The second time around I was way more serious and bought the Berkeley books (since I already used the Kaplan) and months before would do the practice questions in them and only do content review on topics i needed aka i was TROUBLESHOOTING
The only book I read through entirely about 6 weeks before the exam was bio. So for two weeks I did quick review and for the next 4 i did QUESTIONS!!! I did a **** ton of questions and took about 11 practice exams and would hardcore review the exams after. I would look into every question whether I got it right or wrong since every question is a fact. This allowed me to notice patterns in MCAT questions and spend more time getting comfortable with the test questions than trying to absorb a crazy amount of content.

Good luck and stay positive. You will get to where you need to be ... I promise

First and foremost, congratulations and then some. Your improvement is amazing, motivation, and downright awe-inspiring.

I'm writing because you touched me with your post in a way that shocks me. When I saw your first post with your new score and how much you improved, I immediately wondered what you did to improve so much. I was very much hoping you used our materials, but to be quite honest, after reading SDN posts over the last few years about other resources that have become trendy and pushed us down the popularity chart at SDN, I was't sure given that maybe 20% of current SDNers use our books (unlike about 50% three years ago.)

When I read in your second post (the one quoted here) that you got serious and used our books, it really moved me. I am truly honored, as a small part of those books is my work. I'm sure your feedback inspires all of the authors, and I thank you for that. Best of all, you used the books PERFECTLY! That is EXACTLY what every student should do, but more and more often they do not.

(1) Your point about doing questions and thoroughly reviewing them is huge. You learn more reviewing questions after the fact than anywhere else.
(2) Your doing content review only when trouble-shooting is the absolute best way to study for this exam, and something most people fail to do. Learning to efficiently answer multiple-choice questions is how you prepare for a multiple-choice, passage-based exam.
(3) About ten full lengths is optimal and the best thing someone can do is thoroughly go through their reasoning of every questions after they are done. They should take 6 hours and 15 minutes to complete and ten hours to review.

Congratulations on a fantastic job and thank you for letting us share a small part in your success.

 

[BerkReviewTeach]

I want to take a second to post a thank you to three highly inspirational posters who I often read and then smile. I read many messages here, and don't reply all that often. For all the time times I failed to like or respond with a "thank you", thank you BobbyKoch, Shotapp, and tsunamiboy for keeping SDN positive and strong. You are the quintessential example of what every future doctor should be.

I feel like the AAMC must be moving at a v close to c, because as per the time dilation equation, time in my reference frame seems to be slowing...

God I love nerd humor. That has to be one of the funniest things posted at SDN. Thanks for your positive attitude and helpful comments. Congratulations on a great score!

You're right. SDN can be a toxic/competitive environment. No one should feel obligated to post their score (that's only for you to know). Frankly, I like when people post scores because I like to celebrate with them on their achievement. Good or bad I will post my score because that's what I want to do (I'm going to do my best to prepare for it). What people shouldn't do is feel that your worth is equivalent to the score you receive on the Mcat (that's just sad). It's just one of many tests we're all going to take in medical school and beyond.

The celebrate comment is so perfect. This community can be amazing when people celebrate successes and at the same time support and lift up the missteps. You have been a great inspiration to many people with your posts and I want to say I personally appreciate your infectious, great attitude.

i 100% agree! The ony people that really post there scores are the high scorers which leads to us thinking we arent good enough and everyone is doing well excpet for the few .... talk aout an availability bias!! lol stay strong and know you did your absolute best

You are so motivational and comments like this are fuel for people you will never meet. Thank you for making this community what it is.

 

[TeamBloodAndGuts]

What were your AAMC practice scores?

So, that's one of the ways in which I messed up...

I only took Kaplan FLs at the beginning of my studying to figure out what I didn't know and then did straight up content review until the test. Going in to studying, I did almost no research on how to study, which was completely stupid on my part. By the time I found out that I should be using the AAMC resources (which I realize should've been obvious) and doing a lot more questions and FLs, it was way too late. I didn't even find forums like SDN or reddit to help me study until after the test because I was so focused on just reviewing content all day everyday. I probably should've rescheduled to a later July test date or just canceled all together, but I did not have the money to spare.

The bright side: I have now found a lot of subreddits that are super helpful in figuring out how I SHOULD be studying. And next spring will be a super light semester course load wise, so I'll have a lot more time to be studying.

 

[TeamBloodAndGuts]

that is honestly a great attitude! I was honestly so defeated after my firat MCAT... i even considered not going into medicine because I thought if I couldnt do well on this test how can i do well in med school?
But I kept pushing through and changed my whole study method.
The first time around I focused way more on content than actual test taking. I was so hung up on trying to memorize everything that I wasn't focusing on question patterns and how to work through passages. You can NEVER know everything and I wasted 5 weeks trying to and giving myself only one week for questions.

The second time around I was way more serious and bought the Berkeley books (since I already used the Kaplan) and months before would do the practice questions in them and only do content review on topics i needed aka i was TROUBLESHOOTING
The only book I read through entirely about 6 weeks before the exam was bio. So for two weeks I did quick review and for the next 4 i did QUESTIONS!!! I did a **** ton of questions and took about 11 practice exams and would hardcore review the exams after. I would look into every question whether I got it right or wrong since every question is a fact. This allowed me to notice patterns in MCAT questions and spend more time getting comfortable with the test questions than trying to absorb a crazy amount of content.

Good luck and stay positive. You will get to where you need to be ... I promise

Thank you so much! I honestly think my biggest problem was that I did the same exact thing you did the first time around. Like I said in the post above, I did Kaplan FLs 6 weeks out to figure out where I needed to review and then did solely content review all day every day up until the day of the exam. In hindsight, this was a HUGE mistake. But I'm determined to learn from it and move forward.

 

[tsunamiboy]

Thank you so much! I honestly think my biggest problem was that I did the same exact thing you did the first time around. Like I said in the post above, I did Kaplan FLs 6 weeks out to figure out where I needed to review and then did solely content review all day every day up until the day of the exam. In hindsight, this was a HUGE mistake. But I'm determined to learn from it and move forward.

Good luck! If you have any questions hit me up! We are in this together!!

 

[PlsLetMeIn21]

2nd times the charm! (6/29)

I got a 520 (130, 128, 130, 132)!

I was literally shaking and had to do a double take. My first exam score was a 501 and I was so defeated after the first time and all I have to say is use that feeling of failure to motivate you. I became way more intesne with my studying and it paid off. DONT GIVE UP!!! ITS A HARD ASS PROCESS BUT IN THE END YOU WILL GET TO WHERE YOU NEED TO BE!
ok i need to stop preaching but seriously!
congrats everyone! and to those who didnt do as well as they hoped, i understand what you are feeling. there is no one way to medical school. Get back up on your feet and go kill it!
Best <3

Truly impressive tsunamiboy!

 

[daw05]

510 (127/127/128/128)!! Thanks for the help guys!

Also, how many points above your MCAT score would you guys recommend applying? Like could I get away with applying to schools with a median 513 MCAT?

I would look at the MSAR to see the ranges of scores. For example, if their median is 513, but their 25% is 511, they're not taking a much below that number. That said, I don't think many schools are that narrow. I think you would be fine to apply to schools with the median you mentioned, and even ones with higher medians.