Waiting to take MCATs

[kkim]

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Hi, so I have a 3.8 GPA with a lot of research and volunteer but I'm really struggling with my MCAT score. When I keep taking practice exams, I'm hitting around a 499 (24/25 old conversion wise) my verbal section sucks 🙁 . My exam is this week and it's either I take it this week or take it in June. It sucks because medical schools wont view my application until my MCAT scores are in. On top of that, my school wont write me a committee letter (letters of rec) until I've submitted everything to AAMC and it takes a month for me to obtain the committee letter so basically medical schools wont see my application until August I bet. I don't know what to do. Should I just take the MCAT this week and just deal with it or wait it out until June. I know that medical schools look more heavily on MCAT scores but I feel so helpless at this point. It's stupid but I really need second opinions from people. Applying next year is not really an option because I rather try and if I dont get in, ill try again next year. Your help is super appreciated 🙂

 

[gyngyn]

Do not take the MCAT until you are confident that you will get a score consistent with success.
A weak score will still be visible and will have an effect on any future cycle.

 

[NeuResurgens]

Don't take the thing if you don't feel ready for it. I delayed my application until this year just because I wasn't able to take all of the classes I needed for the MCAT until it was too late in the cycle to have a good chance. Delaying the test and taking a gap year might be good for you, and it certainly will pay dividends if it gives you enough time to get the best MCAT score you possibly can.

Also, which practice tests are you taking? I took Kaplan and they were very hard. Best I ever got was a 508 on one of those things and I hit the 99th percentile on the real test. These companies overshoot the difficulty because it's better for them if you go into the real thing having been overprepped vs. underprepped.

 

[Cookiess]

Plan to take the MCAT once and don't take it until you feel ready. I wouldn't take it this week. Keep working at it and see how you are doing on practice tests when the end of May/early June rolls around. A low score can hurt you because it will stay on your record so don't take the test until you are scoring closer to where you want to score.

 

[kkim]

Don't take the thing if you don't feel ready for it. I delayed my application until this year just because I wasn't able to take all of the classes I needed for the MCAT until it was too late in the cycle to have a good chance. Delaying the test and taking a gap year might be good for you, and it certainly will pay dividends if it gives you enough time to get the best MCAT score you possibly can.

Also, which practice tests are you taking? I took Kaplan and they were very hard. Best I ever got was a 508 on one of those things and I hit the 99th percentile on the real test. These companies overshoot the difficulty because it's better for them if you go into the real thing having been overprepped vs. underprepped.

I'm also taking the Kaplan exams. I looked into how people have been scoring after reading your comment. A bunch of other people have been stating that they only scored around 499-502 on kaplan exams but on the real MCAT scored within the 90th percentile. People are saying kaplan score +10 is a good estimate. I'm really confused by this. I understand why companies would make their exams much harder but that large of a jump seems very very strange to me?

 

[Terror Billy]

Yes it's sad so many people (including myself) have freaked out over Kaplan's scoring, but they truly are not indicative of the real test in many ways. Keep grinding through them, and when you're ready try the one AAMC scored test to get an honest evaluation of where you're really at.

 

[NeuResurgens]

I'm also taking the Kaplan exams. I looked into how people have been scoring after reading your comment. A bunch of other people have been stating that they only scored around 499-502 on kaplan exams but on the real MCAT scored within the 90th percentile. People are saying kaplan score +10 is a good estimate. I'm really confused by this. I understand why companies would make their exams much harder but that large of a jump seems very very strange to me?

I think it's just to protect themselves. they designed their stuff before the new test actually came out so they were working pretty blind - they only really had the content lists and some basic information provided by AAMC to go off of when designing their practice tests. They don't want there to be complaints that the practice tests are too easy or don't prepare you very well so they made them extra hard to over-prep people.

That being said, I'd still advise you to not that the exam if you're not feeling very confident about it. I think being a re-applicant next year might be more detrimental than applying for the first time a year late, so do what you need to do to really feel ready for the test. Take a bunch of full length tests and also try to get a hold of some of AAMC's official MCAT practice material if you can, that helped me more than anything else.

 

[bearintraining]

Hi, so I have a 3.8 GPA with a lot of research and volunteer but I'm really struggling with my MCAT score. When I keep taking practice exams, I'm hitting around a 499 (24/25 old conversion wise) my verbal section sucks 🙁 . My exam is this week and it's either I take it this week or take it in June. It sucks because medical schools wont view my application until my MCAT scores are in. On top of that, my school wont write me a committee letter (letters of rec) until I've submitted everything to AAMC and it takes a month for me to obtain the committee letter so basically medical schools wont see my application until August I bet. I don't know what to do. Should I just take the MCAT this week and just deal with it or wait it out until June. I know that medical schools look more heavily on MCAT scores but I feel so helpless at this point. It's stupid but I really need second opinions from people. Applying next year is not really an option because I rather try and if I dont get in, ill try again next year. Your help is super appreciated 🙂

June is not too late. Even July isn't horrible. But do make sure you're ready for the exam no matter what.

 

[protego]

I'll second everyone and say don't take it until you're ready. I ended up pushing my test date back by a few months and was forced into a gap year but I think it was worth it. You don't want to go through this test twice. I would wait until June, or until you've studied to the point where you absolutely cannot look at it anymore. I hit that point before my later test date, but definitely felt I had more to give before the initial test date, which is why I moved it. That said, I also scored much better on the real exam than on my best Kaplan test.

 

[bearintraining]

I'll second everyone and say don't take it until you're ready. I ended up pushing my test date back by a few months and was forced into a gap year but I think it was worth it. You don't want to go through this test twice. I would wait until June, or until you've studied to the point where you absolutely cannot look at it anymore. I hit that point before my later test date, but definitely felt I had more to give before the initial test date, which is why I moved it. That said, I also scored much better on the real exam than on my best Kaplan test.

For what it's worth, I sat a June exam and decided days prior that I wouldn't have it scored because I knew I wasn't fully prepared but would lose the money if I didn't sit for it, and rewrote in July with excellent results.

 

[weanprednisone]

I'm in a similar situation. I've been trying to study for the MCAT as a full-time student and working part-time, but it isn't working out.
I got my PS, 15 ecs, LORs, rest of my application ready/edited, and I recently decided to take a gap year, because of the MCAT and my family.

"I rather try and if I dont get in, ill try again next year." this is not a reason to apply this cycle. Some schools don't favor reapplicants, and you have to make your app even better. And if you're not doing so hot on practice exams, you WILL get a bad score on the MCAT. The test isn't something we all can wing.
I would suggest taking a year off, and do awesome on the MCAT. Heck, you have a 3.8 gpa, I'm sure if you study a little longer, you can do it!

 

[BeachBlondie]

Also, don't take the exam until you realize that it's "MCAT", not the plural version, "MCATs" 😉

But seriously, only take it when you feel ready.

 

[kkim]

Thank you everyone for your replies, I really appreciate it 🙂

It was really foolish of me to think that taking the exam sooner with a poor score was even an option. Also, thank you everyone for your encouragement! Best of luck to everyone 🙂

 

[MaxPlancker]

I used to teach MCAT for one of the big companies and I heard they make the exams tough for their own benefit because many companies have refund policies etc where you need to achieve higher than the diagnostic score by X points or whatever metric to qualify. Yep, terrible I know but that's how the world works 😀

 

[njtrimed]

I'm also taking the Kaplan exams. I looked into how people have been scoring after reading your comment. A bunch of other people have been stating that they only scored around 499-502 on kaplan exams but on the real MCAT scored within the 90th percentile. People are saying kaplan score +10 is a good estimate. I'm really confused by this. I understand why companies would make their exams much harder but that large of a jump seems very very strange to me?

I took Kaplan before taking the new MCAT last spring, and while my scores were lower than my actual score, it certainly was not by ten points. I believe I scored about 4-5 points lower (one point per section) than I did on the actual exam, and my AAMC practice test was right on point. I would recommend waiting until you're within a few points of your target range (if taking Kaplan tests) and feeling confident, and then take an AAMC practice test to make sure you're really ready. Don't rush it. This process is too arduous and expensive (financially and otherwise) to go through a cycle that isn't well-planned.