<p>My son will be taking the MCAT this Saturday. I spoke to him and he said that if he doesn't feel that he did well, he's going to cancel his test. </p>
<p>I'm not sure that's a great idea because ...</p>
<p>1) he may have done better than he thought he did (that's happened to him before..he thought he did lousy on a AP Euro exam and then got a 5 on it).</p>
<p>2) he'd then have to take the exam in July - which is too late.</p>
<p>3) I'm not sure that SOMs won't know that he cancelled an exam. </p>
<p>4) I think many people think they did lousy on the MCAT, but their scores were better than they expected.</p>
<p>Ok…I just spoke with him again. His fear is that he’ll take the test, and if he feels that he’ll get about a 30, that he should cancel. I told him, NO, take the 30, that is fine. He can probably still get into a med school since he has a 4.0 BCMP and good ECs.</p>
<p>He has it in his head that he needs at least a 33, and yes, that would be great, too, but I think his thinking is wrong.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t go into the test with the mindset that I can cancel the test. I scored way better than I thought I did. It’s hard to predict your score</p>
<p>Many underestimate their score, he probably would do the same. What a shame if he cancels a 32, how about a 35? My D. was senserely surprized by her score when she got it.</p>
<p>OK, just remember something. Although it is not always true, there is a way to estimate the score. Often it is 2 points below the best practice score and within 2 points of ACT. Both of them were true for my D.</p>
<p>I’m glad to hear that people often think they do worse than they actually did.</p>
<p>Both of my kids are the type that if they come across a few questions that stump them, they think they failed the test. </p>
<p>So…when you’re taking the MCAT…is it typical that you’re going to come across some questions that stump you or are super hard, but you end up with a fine score anyway???</p>
<p>The other consideration about cancelling a score is that he may not be able to schedule a re-take in time to get his application read early in the cycle.</p>
<p>He will not be able to reserve a seat for a re-take until after AMCAS as processed his cancellation (which could take several days), then he has to find a location with an available seat. This is not all that easy during high demand periods–like spring.</p>
<p>take the test- EVERYONE taking that test is anxious about it. it won’t get any easier delaying it- go for it and then decide if it’s really advantageous to do it a 2nd time.</p>
<p>1) you did not prepare for it–and by that I mean, you walked into it cold like you did for the SAT or ACT.</p>
<p>2) something catastrophic happens–your computer breaks and cannot be fixed</p>
<p>3) you become violently ill during the test and cannot return </p>
<p>4) you realize, with :30 left in the test, that you forgot to select answers for half the questions </p>
<p>Etc. Anxiety about your score is NOT a good reason for all of the reasons you already mentioned, but I’d like to highlight that 1) you’re probably not estimating your score correctly and may have indeed done better than expected (ala bigreddawgie and miami’s kid) and 2) EVERYONE walks out of the MCAT feeling like it sucked and like they need multiple stiff drinks ASAP. I swear it’s just part of the game :)</p>
<p>He’s studied diligently for this test, and he’s done great in the classes that are preparing him for it. Going into the test with the mindset that he can cancel it is not the way to go; the way to go is to relax, realize you’re prepared, know that you are capable of doing very well on this exam, and this is your chance to prove it to med schools that you should be admitted. Only in very rare and unforeseen circumstances should a score be cancelled!</p>
<p>I’m copy/pasting your responses and emailing them to him. I think he’ll listen to the voices of those “in the trenches” rather than “good ole mom.” ;)</p>
<p>Kristin and others…</p>
<p>Does computer-testing allow for you to “go back” “skip” or change an answer? I know that when my older son took the old-style GRE, you couldn’t skip questions or go back to previously answered questions.</p>
<p>oh my. So, a 39 MCAT person can take the exam, come upon some really hard questions, and think he did poorly? I’m definitely showing this to my son…not that I think he can get a 39 MCAT…lol…we’ll be thrilled with anything with a 3 in the front. </p>
<p>What is the meaning behind the alpha score? What is a good alpha score? What is a bad alpha score? Do SOMs really look at that?</p>
<p>My kid took the March MCAT. She didn’t get a chance to study much (cracked the prep books open during the 5 days at home for Spring Break). After she took it, she was sure that she could have done much better with more prep (forgot a lot of the bio & phy but they looked very familiar). We registered for a retake right away and the first slot that’s opened is June 21st. Got the scores back this week and it’s a 31 (which is ok, not great) and we’re glad that we didn’t cancel even though she wanted to. We’ll apply early (per Curm & Blue’s suggestions) and update the scores when the result comes back in July (I think we could do this). </p>
<p>My suggestion is don’t cancel and wait for the results. If he thinks he bombed the test, or can do better, register for an early summer exam so that he has time to study and improve.</p>
<p>So, how does that work with a retest coming up? Will AMCAS let you proceed with the current results and then do some kind of update with the new MCAT score? Does the new score delay anything?</p>
<p>Mom2, We’ll trade you mcat score for gpa, lol.<br>
That’s also my question, will schools look at your application if you check “the box” stating that you will have new scores coming in?</p>
<p>My understanding is that if the box is checked your application will not be processed until the score is in. Some schools send secondaries once AMCAS is SUBMITTED but many wait until it is PROCESSED.</p>
<p>Also, you can jump around a section (ie bio/orgo, chem/physics, or writing) ad much as you want and mark questions so you know which ones you want to look over again. It is not like the GRE where each question’s result determines the next question. All the MCAT questions are there at the start.</p>
<p>Thanks…was wondering if it operated like the GRE…glad to hear that it doesn’t. </p>
<p>What if you don’t “check the box” that you have scores coming??? What if you proceed with your current score, then decide to retest later? Does everything stop or what? </p>
<p>I hope that I’ve talked my son into not canceling if he worries about his score. He has it in his head that data suggests that a score increases the second time. I keep telling him that it may be one step forward (higher score) but a few steps backward because it’s a July exam. Frankly, even if he retested, I just don’t think he’d do that much better. When he retested for the SAT and ACT, his scores either stayed the same (ACT) or nudged up a little (SAT). </p>
<p>(Being a parent is stressful! lol…I hope I’m giving the right advice!)</p>
<p>“Being a parent is stressful”
-not at this point. It was stressful when D. was driving to onterviews to very snowy cities at the pick of snowstorms, to the places where she has never been before, while we were vacationning in Mexico. I will never forget her call when she said that she has escaped the major snowstorm by very few hours - we were seating in beautiful restaurant surronded by small mexican band serenading to us, but D’s call made this much more enjoyable experience. There were other adventures on various interview trips, she handled them all just fine, but we will never forget them. And the funniest of them all was when she has sent us to rent apartment in the city of her final choice because she decided to go to yet another trip abroad and did not have time as her Med. School was starting early July. On this trip, we blew the tire on brand new Lexus because of horrble roads full of potholes! I was thinking that good thing that it was us and not our D. Things happen, believe me, it will be enough adventrues to write a book!</p>
<p>I doubt anykid with a 4.0 is unprepared. It sounds like your kid has the traits of perfection and getting a few wrong answers would be the end of the world. If you know how he is doing in practice tests, that should be sufficient to figure out if he is prepared or not and not how he thinks he did during the test.</p>