<p>My daughter is scheduled to take the 01/24 MCAT. She has been studying via the Kaplan On Demand course along with PR subject books since Sept during her fall semester. She has taken all of the Kaplan FLs, and she scored around 27-29 in the latest FLs (except FL#10 and #11 which she scored just below 20!!). So far, she hasn't cracked the 30 mark yet. With less than one month to go, is it realistic to expect her to get over 30 in the real MCAT? She hasn't started on AAMC FL yet, but is doing that today (will start with AAMC FL#3 today, then 2 FLs every week). </p>
<p>She is discouraged and I am worried. She is not a dumb kid. As a matter of fact, she was identified as "gifted" since elementary school and she goes to a top 10 university (and doing reasonably well in her pre-reqs). I am puzzled at to why she is struggling so much with MCAT prep. While others scored over 30 in even the diagnostic test without studying, she couldn't even cracked that after months of studying. Should she postponed her test date? What more can she do in the remaining 3 weeks if she is going to stick with the 01/24 test date? Any advice will be highly appreciated. We are lost right now.</p>
<p>Iv’e heard from my older D (who was Kaplan instructor) that the Kaplan practice exams are skewed toward the materials that Kaplan teaches in their classes and are not necessary representative of the AMCAS exam. She felt the retired AMCAS exam were more representative of what the test was actually like.</p>
<p>That said, unless your D starts consistently pitching scores in 30+ range on the retired AMCAS exams, I think she ought to postpone the exam. </p>
<p>(BTW, AMCAS #3 is supposedly extra esasy. Don’t let her get her confidence up too much over that one score. Exams #10-14 are more representative of the difficulty of the real test. Or so D2 told me over Xmas break. She’s also taking the MCAT in January.)</p>
<p>Was she doing practice passages and questions along with reading the prep books?
Take the AAMC FLs and see what her scores are. If below 30, postpone to march.</p>
<p>Confidence is key with the MCAT, and if she’s feeling down then I think she should definitely postpone.</p>
<p>Taking lots of full-length tests is exhausting. I would recommend taking lots of section tests until she really gets the hang of them. (Ie: spend an afternoon doing 3-4 bio section tests.) She should go over all the questions and answers thoroughly at the end–not only knowing why one answer is right, but why the others are wrong. Eventually she should do another full-length and see how results have changed. I don’t really get the point of full-length after full-length after full-length; I think after you’ve done 4 or 5 you have a good enough feeling for the full length of the test that you could just focus on section tests. However, I know many people who have done 10-15-20 full-lengths (sounds like torture to me!). </p>
<p>Have you considered getting a private tutor? Perhaps a few sessions with one would be sufficient. Maybe there’s something that’s just not clicking, and it can be easily fixed.</p>
<p>In the end, she might not get a high score. I agree that 30 is a good mark to shoot for, and with scores of 27-29 I think getting up to 30 over the next few months is totally reasonable. </p>
<p>It’s a stressful time. I know how easy it is to let it consume you; I hope you guys are still finding time to do fun relaxing things rather than focus on the stupid MCAT 24/7. In the end, it’s just another test, just another day, just another hoop to jump through. While it plays a big role in your options for med school, it doesn’t predict how fit you are to go, how well you’ll do once you get there, and the quality of doctor you’ll be. </p>
<p>A 28 on the MCAT might be limiting, but it’s far from the end of the world!</p>
<p>^^I agree with doing sections. This is the preparation scheme used by both my kiddos. (Worked beautifully for D1 who scored quite well. She did lots of practice sections until she could reliably score in a certain range, then moved on to the next section. She only did about 5 or 6 full length practice exams just to make sure she had the stamina for the 5 hour exam.)</p>
<p>Is your D having difficulties with one particular section? Verbal? PS?</p>
<p>If so, then it would be most profitable for her just to do lots and lots of practice on that section.</p>
<p>In general I agree with the postponement group. There’s a few more details I’m curious about which might change my mind.</p>
<p>It sounds to me like your daughter is at either Hopkins or Penn, having gotten in with a 1410 M+V. She had good EC’s in HS (class President) but not celebrity-level (e.g. major scientific discovery, NYT bestselling novel, etc.). Did she have anything else going for her in the undergraduate admissions process that might also help her out in medical school admissions? Is she from a particularly desirable demographic group?</p>
<p>How are her undergraduate grades? (Overall GPA and Bio/Chem/Physics/Math GPA.)</p>
<p>What was her score on a diagnostic test? Did she start off below 20?</p>
<p>And, most important, what has her test progression been thus far? Did she improve for a little while, and is now plateauing? Has she not improved at all?</p>
<p>Depending on the answers, I think she should either proceed comfortably aiming for a 27 or so; postpone the test and aim for a 30+ (really 32 in this day and age), or maybe I might be more pessimistic than either of these. But most likely I’m going to join the others and recommend postponement.</p>
<p>BUT…I really think something is going on here. Time to do some in depth test diagnostics. What is she missing? Types of questions? Running out of time? More to be learned from dissecting misses and makes than just looking at scores. Go question by question.Why did she get it right? Why did she get it wrong? Something will start popping out.</p>
<p>D1 who is doing Kaplan online prep for her STEP 1 right now (in my living room as I type…) mentioned that at least with the version of the software she’s using, she can get an analysis of her test-taking behaviors–which she’s found very helpful.</p>
<p>(For example, it tells her if she’s changing correct answers to wrong answers; if her changed answers made within 5 seconds are more likely to be correct than her changed answers made when she finished the section and goes back to review, how often she gets her wild guess answers correct–and other test-taking behaviors.)</p>
<p>Is that available on the Kaplan MCAT software? That might be a useful way to see what going on with her testing skills.</p>
<p>Thanks to everyone for all of your responses. To answer some of the questions:</p>
<p>(1) Yes, she is at Penn, and she is very active on campus. While she doesn’t have celebrity level EC, her ECs are very good (multiple leadership positions, meaningful shadowing with a doctor with whom she has developed a strong mentoring relationship and who will write her a strong rec, research position since freshman year though no publication, etc.)</p>
<p>(2) Her cGPA is around 3.6, sGPA is around 3.5</p>
<p>(3) She is doing practice passages as well as section tests as part of her study plan. She is also doing post-FL analysis religiously</p>
<p>(4) Her first Kaplan diagnostic score is 20 and has been making steady progress. She just hasn’t gotten to the 30-mark in Kaplan KLs </p>
<p>(5) Timing is not an issue. She didn’t run out of time in any of her Kaplan KLs. Verbal is her strongest areas, with PS and BS being about the same score-wise</p>
<p>(6) She is not a URM or from a desirable demographics. She is just a plain white kid from a middle class family</p>
<p>Looks like the consensus is that she should postpone as I deduct from that statement that it will not be realistic to expect her to get a score of over 30 with 3 weeks remaining. This is disheartening to know since I know how hard she worked and how much she studied in the last several months. With this amount of study and the level of efforts that she put in, and she still can’t hit over 30, it makes me wonder whether postponing it and squeeze in a few more months of study will make any difference at all. Maybe she just doesn’t have what it takes to succeed? Perhaps she should reconsider her career choice?</p>
<p>^I think throwing in the towel and reconsidering medicine after all the work she’s already done is premature at this point. My vote is hire a personal tutor, perhaps through Kaplan since she’s already doing Kaplan, keep practicing on the section tests, and avoid taking another full length until Feb. Give her a month to build up some skills and some ego from doing better on the section tests before seeing how it all fits together. And even if she ends up with a score of 28 or 29, it’s far from the end of the world–she can surely still apply! </p>
<p>Overall I agree that it’s too early to throw in the towel. Her EC’s and grades are a little below where you’d like them to be but not by much. If her MCAT score ends up the same way as those (say, 30 exactly), then the fact that she goes to Penn will help her quite a bit.</p>
<p>The fact that she’s making steady progress is encouraging, as is the fact that verbal is currently her strongest section, and that she’s not running out of time. It suggests to me that she just needs more time, likely to learn more content.</p>
<p>I’m also encouraged (in a sort of backwards fashion) by the fact that she’s trying to do this studying during the school year, which is very difficult, particularly for somebody who is struggling with grades. </p>
<p>***Edit: The below is obsolete thanks to WOWM#15. **
Apologies if it’s something I should have noticed earlier.</p>
<p>What year is she in school? If she’s a current junior, I might advise taking the MCAT in the summer and taking one year off before applying; I know that feels like a major derailing of life goals, but I promise it won’t feel that way in the end. This will give her (1) extra coursework to help learn content, (2) senior year to bring up her grades, and (3) extra time – particularly, summer time – to study for the MCAT. It also allows (4) A bit of a rest period before medical school, (5) non-school time to apply to medical schools, (6) additional extracurriculars (e.g. a job) on her application.*</p>
<p>Oh nice work WOWM. Sorry if i missed that in the original post!</p>
<p>I would, at this point, recommend a second “glide year,” but now it loses a lot of the advantages I discuss in my #14, so I think it’s more of a borderline call. Basically, it boils down to: how important will studying over the summer be? I’d recommend it, still, because I’d hate to tie somebody up during second semester senior year studying for the MCAT when it’s clearly bothering her quite a bit. </p>
<p>But like I said, it’s more of a borderline call.</p>
<p>BDM, Nice to hear from you again. And thanks for your help to me and, indirectly, DS in the past. (He is MS2 now. Although STEP-1 is already on the horizon, I heard he will have some fun with the 2nd year talent show/drunk first. :))</p>
<p>S2 and i are going back and forth on which way to do mcat prep…aamc #3 scored 31, aamc #8 scored 28, both of these have been done with no studying. reading that #3 is the easiest so probably the 28 is more accurate score. he has option of a kaplan class, or self study. he has talked to a few people who have taken the course who dont think it is worth 2K for the classes, i am not convinced he will self study effectively (ie will wait until the last minute) probably with ek books…ek also has audio tapes but he has said he doesnt want those… but ek does have a lot of mini tests which i think might be helpful along with doing more aamc tests. any thoughts?</p>
<p>OP,
You have received great responses from many of the veterans here. If you haven’t already, you may want to send this link to your DD. Sometimes hearing from others resonate moreso than hearing it from parents. </p>
<p>@parent56. When will your son be doing the MCAT? I ask since, I believe I may have read that taking the AAMC practice tests should be done closer to taking the actual exam.</p>
<p>@Bluedevilmike, welcome back to the Forum…welcome back greensquares awarded…and do not say you don’t want any as you will be loaded…go ask Curm lol</p>
<p>learninginprog… he is scheduled to take it in may… he just wanted to get a feel for the exam…3 is free, but then he heard 3 might be the easiest so decided to try a different one. actually glad he did as he doesnt need to be over confident for this thing.</p>
Good luck!</p>
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