X

[deleted1044561]

Advertisement - Members don't see this ad

X

 

[XsoloXela]

I'm sorry I cant help currently with the MCAT question. But just curious, what are the options with MD v. DO that you're talking about?

 

[MyOdyssey]

With the 2021 application coming up, I was wondering if I should retake my MCAT of 507.
This is my spreadsheet.

NS Diagnostic	126​	123​	128​	129​	506​
Altius Diagnostic	127​	126​	127​	126​	506​
TPR Demo	125​	123​	125​	128​	501​
TPR FL1	124​	121​	125​	127​	497​
TPR FL2	124​	121​	126​	126​	497​
NS FL1	129​	122​	128​	127​	506​
NS FL2	127​	124​	128​	127​	506​
NS FL3	128​	126​	129​	127​	510​
NS FL4	127​	123​	128​	126​	504​
AAMC Sample	131​	126​	130​	129​	516​
AAMC FL1	130​	126​	127​	127​	510​
AAMC FL2	130​	122​	130​	128​	510​
AAMC FL3	130​	127​	129​	128​	514​
AAMC FL4	129​	122​	129​	126​	506​
MCAT	130​	124​	128​	125​	507​

Studied 6 months, used Uworld, all the AAMC materials, KA materials. Started diagnostics about 3 months out and AAMC tests about 2 months out. Redid AAMC material (probably not a good idea).
Really not sure what happened with my test. The 506 on AAMC FL4 definitely shook me but I was not especially nervous during the test besides the second half which was pretty tough. By the time I got to P/S I had to squint to even read the screen.

I really want to go MD to leave more options but I am applying DO and would go if accepted. I'm wondering the logistics of the retake which may be possible in late June/July and since a lot of schools are pushing deadlines and interviewing without scores, I'm not sure how this will be looked at.

On the other hand, I'm thinking of not retaking and since 507 is +/-5 of 510-511 (which is my FL average)

When did you take the MCAT originally?

What were your sub scores?

Are you prepared to retake?

How selective are your state MD schools?

What makes you think you’ll do better on a retake?

Isn’t AAMC FL 4 the most similar to the current MCAT?

 

[MyOdyssey]

The P/S score can be improved. CARS is difficult to improve generally speaking but that 124 will hurt you because it’s below the 50% for that section.

Did you use the Khan Academy 300 page outline to study P/S? How did you prepare for CARS?

To do better you might have to take a course but that would cause a delay in your application.

Without knowing the remainder of your application, it’s hard to know how you’d do in this cycle but based just on your MCAT, you’re probably a borderline MD candidate.

 

[MyOdyssey]

Yes, the P/S is supposedly the easier section to improve. However, I felt like it was pretty challenging despite using the KA 300 and 86 doc.

I have a 3.8 GPA so I'm really hoping low tier MD school consider me a candidate despite pretty low MCAT.

I agree, I don't know what I could do besides taking a class and mental prep for a retake. I'd have to get at least 512 for it to be worth it.

For CARS, I did a bunch of passages like 4/5 a day and focusing on logic of AAMC. I ended up doing TBR CARS just to have passages to practice with.

Do you have sufficient volunteering hours?

How is TBR CARS for practice?

 

[Engrailed]

Kudos for taking all of these practice exams.

Looking at your trend of scores, I would be very wary of re-taking.
Also, reassess your studying strategy. Having taken all of those tests (basically hundreds of similar questions) with little change in score signals that you are not fully understanding the material.

It's better to do fewer questions and really parse the explanations than... doing 1000s by brute force and getting the same result. If you are planning on re-taking as things stand right now, I would say your scores are way too variable-not worth the risk. You should plan on re-taking if you are consistently hitting scores of 515-518+ on practice exams.

 

[Engrailed]

I only took 11 practice tests; I don't think that's above average, is it?

Really my fluctuation is CARS and then P/S never quite clicked with me despite doing the KA stuff. I always felt the answers in P/S could be argued one way or the other as I did in undergrad but undergrad was much more straightforward.

I'm pretty sure content review in P/S won't help a whole lot. I would need to rely on more careful analysis of the passage which is less reliable than content gaps to address.

If you ever plan on retaking the MCAT with the hopes of obtaining a higher score, that mentality is certainly not going to help you. If you are not able to understand why you got questions wrong after reading the explanations, it's best to ask people for help, tutors, other premeds to help explain concepts you don't understand. This line of thinking is applicable for beyond just the MCAT as the path to medicine is a lifelong series of exams/concepts.

Sure, the passages can be tricky, but having a solid foundation in the concepts will help minimize error and guesses between two close/tricky answer choices.

 

[MedDoc305]

I figure that line of thinking is bad, and I seem to overthink those questions. I feel like I can raise this score by stamina, reading passage for what it's for, and going over content.

I didn't like anki for this section (or any section) since I felt like I was spending time on things I didn't feel were too important which I feel was correct. Looking at my FL4 wrongs, I missed things despite being able define the terms like not following train of thought for the passage. That's probably what I could work on more and experimental analysis in blocks of text instead of figures that would normally be in the science sections.

I'd only recommend retaking it if you can consistently score a 126+ on the CARS section and can significantly improve PS. It's going to be hard to get another 130 on CP. Personally, I was scoring 124s on CARS until I started reading the passages out loud to myself and read the first 3-4 chapters of Kaplan CARS review book. Suddenly my scores were consistently 126+. Obviously this is n=1 but I hope it helps.

 

[MyOdyssey]

I'd only recommend retaking it if you can consistently score a 126+ on the CARS section and can significantly improve PS. It's going to be hard to get another 130 on CP. Personally, I was scoring 124s on CARS until I started reading the passages out loud to myself and read the first 3-4 chapters of Kaplan CARS review book. Suddenly my scores were consistently 126+. Obviously this is n=1 but I hope it helps.

What did you find helpful about Kaplan CARS review book? Did you study that as part of a course?

 

[MedDoc305]

What did you find helpful about Kaplan CARS review book? Did you study that as part of a course?

No. I just bought the books off amazon, never really did a course. Its a bit silly because everything in the first 3-4 chapters seems like common sense, but for someone who just never read throughout his life (also English is second language) it was quite helpful to give me a different approach to reading the passages.

Off the top of my head, two major tips I took were to slow down my reading during or/but, etc where there's a shift in ideas, and dissecting each paragraph individually while trying to determine the whole tone of the author.