Which score would you rather have?

[randombetch]

Just wondering what one's preferences are.

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[thawunandonly]

What's that 9 for?

 

[J ROD]

balanced 36.....all day...

 

[NYR56]

Anyone who says they'd rather the 9, doesn't understand what med schools are looking for. Sure a 15 may be cool to have but the balanced score is much better.

 

[Geekchick921]

balanced 36.....all day...

Definitely.

 

[cliffhuxtableDO]

I voted for the "unbalanced". A point higher in VR and perfection on a section, nothing is better than perfection. PS is probably the least looked at section besides writing, and the unbalanced score was higher in total too.

 

[g8orlife]

I voted for the balanced score, but on second thought ... a 15 on VR would be pretty impressive. Don't some schools look at VR with the highest regard as compared to other sections?

 

[randombetch]

I voted for the balanced score, but on second thought ... a 15 on VR would be pretty impressive. Don't some schools look at VR with the highest regard as compared to other sections?

On a survey, it was BS that was the highest, and VR was next.

 

[premedstudent55]

I voted for 12, 12, 12 (= 36) since I think med schools would want to see a person who does equally as well in all sections rather than receiving a 9 on whichever sections. But then again, the unbalanced score with a total of 37 would still be impressive. i wish i can score either one, hahahha

 

[tlaloc87]

...PS is probably the least looked at section besides writing...

Way to make me feel a little ****tier about my 15 in PS haha!

still would prefer the more balanced score 100 times out of 100.

 

[randombetch]

Dang, maybe I should have made it "12, 12, 12 vs 9 PS, 15 BS, 13 VR" to make the tally closer.

 

[Siggy]

Dang, maybe I should have made it "12, 12, 12 vs 9 PS, 15 BS, 13 VR" to make the tally closer.

It wouldn't have changed my vote. If you take the AAMC practice exams, take a look at the hand grading guide. At the high end of the exam (basically 13, 14, 15) each section is only 1-2 questions. So if you miss 0, 1, and maybe 2 questions you're at a 15. Miss one or two more, you're at 14 and so on. On the other hand, a score of 7, 8, 9, or 10 might be 5-10 questions in size. Hence, the difference between a 13 and 15 is much smaller than the difference between 8 and 9.

 

[JDissere]

i gotta vote the unbalanced route. a 15 VR score is hands down miraculous. has anyone seen the grade percentile distributions for mcat subscores (found in the official aamc guide)? its amazing how much more difficult VR is compared to PS and BS. If you have a high pre-med gpa, you probably know science pretty well. plus, a pre-med advisor told me that there is a very strong correlation between the VR score and physician success.

 

[MegaSpectacular]

i gotta vote the unbalanced route. a 15 VR score is hands down miraculous. has anyone seen the grade percentile distributions for mcat subscores (found in the official aamc guide)? its amazing how much more difficult VR is compared to PS and BS. If you have a high pre-med gpa, you probably know science pretty well. plus, a pre-med advisor told me that there is a very strong correlation between the VR score and physician success.

haha... 15 VR is great but I think not any retaker who scored 15 VR repeated the score in a multiyear period (from the last MCAT guide book).

So 15 VR who cares. Everyone knows balance is better and harder to achieve. Much easier to go 15 10 10 than 12 12 12. You just work really hard on the one subject and neglect the other two.

 

[noonespecial]

i gotta vote the unbalanced route. a 15 VR score is hands down miraculous. has anyone seen the grade percentile distributions for mcat subscores (found in the official aamc guide)? its amazing how much more difficult VR is compared to PS and BS. If you have a high pre-med gpa, you probably know science pretty well. plus, a pre-med advisor told me that there is a very strong correlation between the VR score and physician success.

 

[JDissere]

haha... 15 VR is great but I think not any retaker who scored 15 VR repeated the score in a multiyear period (from the last MCAT guide book).

So 15 VR who cares. Everyone knows balance is better and harder to achieve. Much easier to go 15 10 10 than 12 12 12. You just work really hard on the one subject and neglect the other two.

would you say a 15 10 10 (or 10 15 10) is equal to a 10 10 15? (in order PS BS VR)

 

[Drexon]

lol verbal the bane of all existence ...
seriously i dont pay attention to verbal scores that are 12+ because in my opinion it's all the same. I mean to get a 12+ on verbal implies you only missed a handful of questions due to the steep nature of the verbal scoring system. Thus perhaps the difference between a 12 vs 13 or 13 vs 14 could be 1 -2 questions. But i'm no adcom so perhaps they view the 15 verbal as something else haha

 

[MegaSpectacular]

would you say a 15 10 10 (or 10 15 10) is equal to a 10 10 15? (in order PS BS VR)

VR scores have shown to be more indicative of success in future standardized tests (there is actually data on this).

So the VR 15 is better than a 15 PS or BS, but still the difference b/t a 13 and 15 in VR are nanoskills.