Very discouraged about MCAT scores :(

[StayingFocused]

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I'm taking the MCAT on August 17. I am retaking it and have already gone through all the AAMC ones and was averaging 24 on them and ended up scoring a sad 25 🙁 And so I studied this whole summer (from May 17 until now) and I have taken 3 practice tests so far.
My scores are:
1. 9 PS 6 VR 10 BS - 25 Kaplan test
2. 13 PS 5 VR 12 BS - 30 Kaplan test
3. 7 PS 6 VR 11 BS - 24 TPR (one of the cracking the mcat tests).

I purchased the berkeley review tests and am waiting for them to come in and will purchased AAMC 11 but I'm really discouraged about my scores. If I score another 25 or lower I'll just die 🙁 Any words of encouragement or tips?

 

[Luvahgilahsa]

I'm taking the MCAT on August 17. I am retaking it and have already gone through all the AAMC ones and was averaging 24 on them and ended up scoring a sad 25 🙁 And so I studied this whole summer (from May 17 until now) and I have taken 3 practice tests so far.
My scores are:
1. 9 PS 6 VR 10 BS - 25 Kaplan test
2. 13 PS 5 VR 12 BS - 30 Kaplan test
3. 7 PS 6 VR 11 BS - 24 TPR (one of the cracking the mcat tests).

I purchased the berkeley review tests and am waiting for them to come in and will purchased AAMC 11 but I'm really discouraged about my scores. If I score another 25 or lower I'll just die 🙁 Any words of encouragement or tips?

i would toss the cracking the MCAT tests into the trash. It's total garbage. It has wayyyyyyyyyyyyyy too many difficult calculations on the PS sections, and the VR passages are wayyyyyyyyy too long. I would not count on these tests.
But based on your other two, I think your ps and bs is okay. try to think of ways to improve your VR!
I had the hardest time with VR as well, so unfortunately I can't give u any advice on that 😛

 

[grapepopsicle]

Delaying applying is not the worst thing in the world. If you want to go MD, a score in the 20s and a late app (you wouldn't get your score until late Sep) will practically doom you (unless you have incredible ECs and a high GPA). Take a few more months to study and take it sometime next year (Jan-May), then apply. You don't want another score in the 20s on your record.

To improve your science scores, I highly highly highly recommend the TBR books (the science ones at least, haven't heard great things about their VR books). They are dense, but they have incredible passages that make the actual passages on the MCAT seem trivial. For verbal, EK101 is the best. The EK verbal strategy book also really helped me. Practice reading academic articles fast, focusing on understanding the main topic and the author's arguments.

 

[chayo234]

I second the EK verbal strategy. It is by far the best method for improving VR. What I would do is find out why you are scoring so low on VR. Buy the AAMC practice tests and do a couple and you will find out that they arecompletely different than any other type of test out there. The easy questions are mind-numbingly easy and even the hard questions are only mildy hard compared to the very hard questions on Kaplan.

Work on improving your weaknesses and keep your chin up is all I can say. I've had several break-downs depending on if I improved my test score or not haha. I've learned that studying for the MCAT is more of a mental battle =/

 

[PanRoasted]

Definitely do not take your MCAT with those scores in VR, you are setting yourself up for disappointment, IMO. I agree with above posters that you should buy an AAMC practice test because the VR on AAMC tests are definitely a different beast than those that you'll find elsewhere and you may find that your VR is not as bad as what these tests would indicate. Based on what you've given us, though, I am in the "delay your application for the next cycle" camp. You need to find a way to increase your VR for sure... I was thinking "oh, 25-30 is not bad and definitely improvable" but then I saw that your BS and PS were a combined 20-23~. Few, if any, MD schools will look at you with that kind of spread.

 

[StayingFocused]

When I did full length VR in the EK101 and TPR Hyper-learning book I averaged an 8. I don't know why when I was taking these full lengths I'm only getting a 6 on them. But to be honest. I've been accepted into a post-bacc program where they don't even recommend you taking the mcat once you've been accepted. After you've been accepted they just look at how you performed in the post-bacc courses which are the first year med school courses. I just wanted to re-take just in case I didn't get accepted after the post-bacc program. But that's just beside the point. I was hoping for encouragement but all of you guys made me feel like crap, lol. 😛

I just did my own research on SDN and apparently TPR cracking MCAT FL's are much harder and people on average score a lot less so I'm going to keep practicing. Just in case someone else has been struggling with TPR cracking the mcat FLs.

If my breakdown on test day is 11 PS 8 VR 11 BS honestly I would be ecstatic. Not everyone wants to go to USF med school 😛

 

[PanRoasted]

We were all under the impression that, like a normal applicant, you were depending on your MCAT score to grant you acceptance into a legitimate medical school (not to say that your post-bacc program won't get you into a reputable medical school, but "to be honest", a post-bacc program that gets you into med school without an MCAT? I hope you didn't take one of those SDN banner ads seriously).

If you're already in a (magical?) post-bacc program that seemingly allows you to enter med school without an official MCAT score, then here's my encouragement: practice as much as you can from now until your test date, take it, hope for the best. I'm sure you'll do great!


(...not that it really matters...)