@misterwiggles I know this result is disappointing for you, but in my experience your test day result is not that surprising when examining your practice history. Your test day results are within a point or 2 of your FL average and is close to your most recent exams. The use of the 1, un-scored AAMC exam as a predictor is very misleading, and serves to underscore the point that NO one test, by anyone, even the AAMC (though they are the most AAMC like ;-) can predict your score with significant accuracy. The OG is considered easy by many, tough by others. Any given MCAT can have topics you find easy, and another can just as easily combine topics you do not do well with. That is why I tell all my students to shoot for 6-10 FL exams by the time they are ready for the real thing. You did, and your test day score is in line with your practice performance. Your CARS appears to have typically been your lowest score not just on test day so I would focus on developing your critical reasoning skills for that section. With those skills honed, you will improve at the sciences as well, which don't seem to be as big an issue.
What is your score goal? The AAMC will be releasing a new, SCORED exam in November so that will give you more material. Many companies will also be revising their materials in the off-season so you can expect better materials come 2016. Avoid repeating exams you have already used when you study the next time. Re-using books is fine but you'll want to develop your content foundation and critical thinking strategies (you mentioned timing not being an issue).
Hope this helps, good luck!
I have to disagree with the above. While the AAMC FL is hardly some perfect predictor, it has predicted many many people's scores with reasonable accuracy. A 497 is not at all what I would expect from someone who answered 70% of the AAMC FL questions correctly. You can explain away one section being a lot lower than your practice test, but not all 4. Something went wrong during test day, as in significantly wrong. Because based off these scores, I would have expected something in the 505-508 range( a 29 or so on the old MCAT). Instead you have a 497 which is in the 23-24 range for this MCAT.
The Princeton FL scores are next to useless; I don't put any weight in their 499's and their deflated scale at all. Saying you had a 499 on that so it's expected you would get similar on the real MCAT doesn't hold much water. And beyond that is the bigger issue; the Princeton FL is absolutely nothing like the real MCAT at all. IT is basically a regurgitation of facts and memory recollection. That is not what the MCAT it is and that highlights maybe the biggest thing you need to change for a re-take strategy; doing MCAT passages that are similar to the actual MCAT. These classes full of practice questions that aren't remotely similar to the real MCAT aren't going to be of much benefit to you. Really this example drives home something I say alot; the resources you use to study matter. Alot. Many of them simply aren't preparing people for what to expect on test day.
So how do you find realistic MCAT practice material? Fortunately there is alot of it.
For low verbal since you already did the TPRH verbal workbook, next up is to invest in EK 101 passages. Do them all. Go through and find old AAMC practice exams. Do all the verbal passages for those. That's close to 100 passages of the best practice out there. Khan Academy has a few verbal practice passages. Do them. EK has an individual CARs book with about 20 passages that are good. Do them. And beyond that, EK and Next Step have some very solid FL practice exams(particularly EK) that do the best job you can have of simulating the real MCAT. You'll find a very large number of practice passages there for verbal. Do them all. All in all, that's over 200 practice passages for verbal, maybe even close to 300. Part of it is you simply got unlucky on CARs last time. Do all this practice and with better luck I think you have a fair shot to improve your CARs score at least 2 points.
For the sciences, this is another area where prep companies are weak in. You need realistic practice passages that are like the actual MCAT and not mere fact recollection. this is where the berekley review is an invaluable resource. I'll go as far as to say somebody who doesn't do all the physical sciences passages BR offers is shooting themselves in the foot and not maximizing their potential score. For Bio, you will get plenty of very good practice as well. Do all these passages across all their books. It's over 400 passages and it will make a difference. On top of that, Khan Academy has a number of good passages. Do them all. EK and Next Step FL's are also very good practice for this, as are the EK individual books for physics and bio. All in all, you'll have over 700 passages that are much more realistic MCAT practice than what a PR book will offer. Do all this, and there is a good chance you will do better the next time around. On top of this, I would advice doing all the old AAMC material for sciences, particularly bio. Again, it's about learning how the MCAT thinks that's really what counts and will improve your score.
For psych/soc, unfortunately there is not as much great material. But EK FL's and practice books are good. As are Next Step. And Khan Academy is another very good resource. I can't really guarantee this will do alot to drastically improve your score, but even if you can score an extra point or two higher, it will help.
Finally, I would save the newly released AAMC practice test and practice until you have done about 60- 70% of this. You need to get a realistic gauge of where you stand and how you can improve. Don't do it before and give yourself enough time where you can still study and improve after. And I would repeat the AAMC FL you already did at some point. The score it gives yo uwon't be the most realistic idea of where you stand but it's invaluable practice. Your goal through all of this is to think like the MCAT: doing the material they released for this exam is the best way to do that.
From all of this you need to set a realistic target score for a re-take. Your AAMC FL was suggestive of someone who could get around a 505 on the real deal. Obviously that didn't happen. But look at each section and how much improvement you think you can make. For C/P with doing all of BR and the realistic practice exams, a 2 point improvement to a 128 might be realistic given this is the section historically the easiest to improve. For CARs, a 2-3 point improvement to 124-125 might be realistic. For Bio, a 2 point improvement from say 124 to 126 might be realistic. For psych/soc it's tough to say, maybe 1-2 points to go up to 126-127. All in all if you can come out with a 128/124/126/126 that will equal a 504. Not a perfect score, around a 28 on the old scale. But a hell of a lot better than a 497 and a score that will be competitive for a large number of DO programs. And if you can do better, great. But that to me is a way of how I would look at this and how I would go about a re-take strategy. Remember there are no guarantees. You might not improve your score doing all this much. But you have to give it one final effort and go all in. To me, this is the best way to do it. You gotta have a specific plan and realistic goal. To me, BR, EK, Khan, old AAMC material and KA are the path to follow and 502-506 is a realistic target for the re-take.
