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"Voiding" your MCAT score...
- Thread starter wizenedone
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its as if you just took another AAMC practice test. They know you took it b/c they have your money, but med schools won't ever see that you took and voided.
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Why would someone want it scored when they know they didnt do well? Like people still end up with 18's, 19's, 20's? They really think they did well? I just thought if you take it...it gets reported..or if you void..med schools still know that you voided..i guess i was wrong.
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yea i dunno... people just want to cling on to that last bit of hope. or maybe they really just dont think they did that poorly. since it is curved, doesnt their technically have to be people that score that low?
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well yea..I guess thats true
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i dunno tho, ive been reading recently that the curve is pre determined, which means that if everyone that thought they did poorly voided, there would be no one that got below a certain score....so i dunno.
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i think he means that if the curve is predetermined before the test is taken, and if everyone who scores below say a 20 voids their score, nobody would score below a 20.
the alternative would be that the curve isnt determined until after the test is taken..in which case, if the same group of testers voided their score, the new "lowest" scores would be below 20. did that make any better sense? my brain is a little fried from the mcat this morning
the alternative would be that the curve isnt determined until after the test is taken..in which case, if the same group of testers voided their score, the new "lowest" scores would be below 20. did that make any better sense? my brain is a little fried from the mcat this morning
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lisasimpson explained it pretty well i think.
If the curve is predetermined, then theoretically every test taker could get a 45. In other words, if every test taker that thought they failed voided, and you were left with only the people that felt they did really really well, then you would see no scores of 18, 19, 20, etc. You would only see scores in the 30s and up.
If the curve is NOT predetermined and it depends on the test takers on that day, then there will always be people that score in the teens and low 20's. When people void, all that means is that the curve is shifted, and now maybe the people that would have scored a 23 now score a 20.
hopefully that makes sense. i have now idea how the curve works so i'm not saying one or the other is correct. also keep in mind that a lot of people would have to void to seriously impact the curve like they did in my hypothetical situation.
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they dont even grade your exam.
aww... I could never do it... which stems from a canadian system that isn't too picky about # of times taking the exam... haha but I would still be too curious.
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I'm pretty sure they curve so that x percent of people get 10, y percent of people get 11, etc. Hence, the "we convert raw scores to a scale that takes into consideration the difficulty of test questions." They couldn't know too well how hard a test truly was without the data from everyone taking it. Fortunately, I don't foresee a time where everyone that would have scored below a 30 would void.
L
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Well, doesn't a voided score count towards the total number of times one is allowed to take the MCAT in a given year? There's a limit to how many times one can take it, and I'm pretty sure voided exams count toward that. I think you can only take it ~3 times, but that's probably more than anyone really does though.
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I have a question about voiding. A friend is paranoid that in a daze following their MCAT they selected the option to void his score. I told him that that's probably not what happened, but does anyone know if there are several opportunities to confirm that you do in fact want to void your score, or is there just that one page following the completion of the exam?
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I used to ask that question too. My answers for that are:
1. It's really difficult to gauge how well you did on the test. The actual exam has more difficult questions than any practice exam i ever took, so i had nothing to compare it to.
2. Some people might know that they didn't really do well. But they realize that if they void their scores, they will have to go through another month or two of studying for when they have to re-take it.
3. Not everyone is aiming for a 30. Some people are "only" aiming for a 25 or so. Many DO school averages and Caribbean school averages are around a 25. There are also physician assistant graduate school programs that average around a 23.
4. There are probably people who haven't taken many practice tests and so they have no idea where they stand and how many questions they have to get correct to get what score.
