Voiding vs not taking

[Fourtyfive]

---

Members don't see this ad.

I've scored lower than I've wanted to on my practice tests. My mcat is in a few days.

Should I:
Not go to it and plan on taking someother time (to late to cancel but I could just not show up

Or
Take it and cancel the score


What is the difference between not showing up vs voiding? Do either show up on my record? I could take it for practice but I'd rather not submit myself to more misery and take it when I'm more prepared. If I don't show up without canceling, is that bad?

 

[Warick22]

Take it if you want more practice, I would recommend this. NO medical schools will find out that you took a test and voided it, hence the reason for a void. Unless you take it and you think you got lucky and got really good topics and thougt you did well just void it and it will not be a problem. They wouldn't have a void option if it hurt you

 

[Aromatic Amine]

by not showing up, you are throwing your 220 bucks down the drain.

by showing up and voiding you are at least getting an idea of how your MCAT was. use it to gauge what you should focus on, and see how difficult a verbal test can be.

 

[NickNaylor]

by not showing up, you are throwing your 220 bucks down the drain.

by showing up and voiding you are at least getting an idea of how your MCAT was. use it to gauge what you should focus on, and see how difficult a verbal test can be.

Agree with this entirely.

 

[ManBroDude]

I've scored lower than I've wanted to on my practice tests. My mcat is in a few days.
Should I:
Not go to it and plan on taking someother time (to late to cancel but I could just not show up
Or
Take it and cancel the score

$220 for a practice exam seems a little steep for me 👎

After Sept 10th, the next MCAT won't be until Jan 28th-ish. If you're looking to apply this cycle, you might as well take it and see what score you got on the real thing. You might get lucky! If it's not up to par, you can then work on your weak areas in the next few months and retake it and get a 5+ point difference which ad-coms will look positively on as a sign of improvement. You're shooting yourself in the foot if you void this test. You deserve to know how you perform on the real thing, if nothing more than to gauge where you're at.

 

[BerkReviewTeach]

by not showing up, you are throwing your 220 bucks down the drain.

by showing up and voiding you are at least getting an idea of how your MCAT was. use it to gauge what you should focus on, and see how difficult a verbal test can be.

I third this. Excellent advice!

 

[medceg]

Take it, then void it, then think of this:

You just bought the most expensive MCAT practice test ever. There is no shame.

😀

 

[kehlsh]

Take it, then void it, and then think of it this:

You just bought the most expensive MCAT practice test ever. There is no shame.

😀

I guess this is one of the many reasons why AAMC has 30-day ridiculous period of returning the scores. People actually are just willing to pay for it and take it and void it for the practice run. 😱 People don't think of the negative side of this, I find it ridiculous because

1. you are not getting scores back (total lack of evaluative value)
2. you already know real mcat is hard (wasting your time of re-affirming what you already know), also this can subconsciously raise your MCAT fear and make you defeated internally without even yourself knowing
3. going there with voiding intention is not going to stimulate real mcat experience at all (again, waste of time and money)