<p>New to the forum. Took the MCAT this past Saturday and wanted to know about anyone's past post-exam jitters. I had been getting between 33-37 on all of my practice MCATs (started out with a 31 the first one I took). I got a little bit nervous (more than normal) during the test from the fact that my first passage in the Physical Sciences was a killer magnetic field conceptual beast (it's always nice to get one that's easy to begin with). I'm sort of worried I ended up making a lot of fairly ignorant errors as a result (already looked up and counted about 5 questions wrong in physical science, at least one in verbal, and at least 4 in biology...how I confused endocytosis and exocytosis is beyond me, lol.. a couple of those wrong were clearly easy questions I should have gotten correct). Overall, I thought it probably was not a great test, although I'm not sure if that's just post-exam jitters or actual reality. </p>
<p>Anyway, is it completely normal to think you did awful after you take them? I'm pretty sure I'm PROBABLY over-scrutinizing myself. Even if I get on the lower end of my practice scores I'll be fine about it I think, but assuming I get my scores at the end of the month and they aren't up to snuff, will I have time to retake....should I be keeping up on making sure I retain all the basic info/equations/etc.? Also is re-taking beneficial?</p>
<p>Are you applying the next cycle? If so, I’d certainly keep up AND re-register. You don’t want to be late. As to how you did, I don’t know if anybody out here will be a better judge than you. </p>
<p>FWIW, Your score history is almost exactly the same as my D’s and she did score at the low end of her range and she thought she had “done O.K.”, not that her history is any sort of predictor. Had she “kept up” she may have re-taken the test but as it was, she will hold and hope her “soft factors” and GPA will bring her through. </p>
<p>Good-luck and don’t forget to work on your “soft factors”.</p>
<p>Yes you definitely can - but i would say that no one actually feels like they killed the MCAT. Just wait and see how you did - you might be pleasantly surprised.</p>
<p>Have they started getting scored out in less than 4 weeks yet? I know that was their promise at one point.</p>
<p>Scores are released April 28th, so it’s 30 days. I got so used the instant satisfaction of e-mcat online scoring!</p>
<p>I checked up on it and you can register for another test 2 days following your first test (so tomorrow? I assume). I’m thinking about just re-registering for sometime in May (22nd or 28th?) just so that I could have a few weeks to study and review again after getting my score. Assuming I do well on this first guy, I’ll just cancel it and get a partial refund. Good idea? I’m just worried the test dates might fill up if I don’t register soon and I don’t want to get stuck with a late test date.</p>
<p>Looking to apply by July 1st, so late May is cutting it close, but I think doable. Thoughts?</p>
<p>Yeah thats a decent idea. Don’t worry so much about the date of your second MCAT. Since you’ll already have one MCAT score on the books, you can submit your AMCAS and have it verified and everything, and then your new score will be added to your application as soon as it comes out. Since AMCAS verification takes some time, etc. You would be perfectly fine with an end of May MCAT.</p>
<p>absolutely …i thought i did awful WHILE i was taking the test! i was close to canceling my test after the VR section and afterwards i could’ve sworn i got a 7 on the VR. I didn’t. And i also stopped thinking about the test and didn’t look anything up. Also i had to wait twice as long for my score.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>you probably are…everyone tends to think about what they got wrong after a test like that. and if you do get a 33 don’t retake.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>no and usually not…a retake only 2 months isn’t enough time to get over whatever hurdle you encountered the first time around. </p>
<p>just relax…wait for your score and then once that comes out you can make a game plan…if you do badly (which seems unlikely from what you are saying) then you don’t HAVE TO apply this cycle</p>
<p>curmudgeon - i hope your daughter didn’t retake a 33!</p>
<p>She didn’t re-take the MCAT. (She took her first and only after soph year without a prep-course but with what she felt was sufficient studying.) She thought about re-taking …she registered for a few weeks ago…but she didn’t re-take. Much to my relief. Now understand that it would have been just like her to re-take the dang thing. </p>
<p>She’s not one to do things the easy way. But in this instance (much like refusing to take SAT Subject Tests for UG…or Calculus in college…or any number of other no-no’s) I think she just decided that her MCAT score didn’t define her and that she would concentrate on those things that she felt did - the soft factors, her research, her experiences. So she went to Sicily and hiked Mt. Etna to watch the lava at night instead of re-take the MCAT. I guess some schools just fell off the list with that decision. ;)</p>
<p>We’ll find out in the next 12 months if that was a smart thing to do. But I know she had fun.</p>
<p>Yeah, but this performance wasn’t probably based off lack of knowledge or the sort of test taking skills you learn about doing well on the MCAT, I’ve been taking exams for a month. I think it was rather super temporary nerves kinda exacerbated by some personal stuff that was happening in my life a week or two before the test. Happened to me the first time I took the SATs and I re-took a month and half later and improved 220 points. I feel as though my practice test scores were too consistent for me not to re-take if I get, say, a 30 or 31.</p>
<p>(OP, I do realize your post was directed to others but…)</p>
<p>Oh, OP. Given her career choice, she’d have re-taken a 30 or 31 also. “No 'bout adoubt it.” </p>
<p>Yes, I do understand conventional wisdom is not to retake a 30 or 30+, but based on prior tests (the fact that she is an excellent test-taker, and the fact that she was very comfortable with the material covered)…she would have re-taken (and I would have agreed). She felt her score was in “no man’s land” - too low for what she felt she needed for some schools on her list, too high to re-take.</p>
<p>If, OTOH, her goal was “any med school”, a 30 or 31 would have served her quite well as she is blessed to be from The Republic of Texas with many fine choices where (along with her CV) a 30 or 31 would have placed her in contention. She is aiming for a different type of career and as such, a different type of med school. If it happens that she doesn’t make it because of her MCAT choice, she will find a way to get there from wherever she does end up. It’s all good. ;)</p>
<p>Let us know how the scores come out. We’ll be pulling for ya’.</p>
<p>Hey all, so I looked into and I can only seem to find test dates available for May 1st or May 2nd. Or, alternatively, June 18th. May 1st is literally a few days after I get my first test results…so I don’t think that’s a good idea. June 18th seems a little late. Thoughts?</p>
<p>“Yeah thats a decent idea. Don’t worry so much about the date of your second MCAT. Since you’ll already have one MCAT score on the books, you can submit your AMCAS and have it verified and everything, and then your new score will be added to your application as soon as it comes out. Since AMCAS verification takes some time, etc. You would be perfectly fine with an end of May MCAT.”</p>
<p>Actually, you can submit your AMCAS for verification even without any MCAT score. But, Icarus is correct: the verification step is the most time-consuming step and should be done as quickly as possible. The AMCAS application is usually available to be filled out at the beginning of May so by June 12th-ish (which is the first date on which you can submit your application), you should have the AMCAS application filled out and you should have requested that all your transcripts be mailed to AMCAS. Then, AMCAS will verify your grades (this only takes a couple of days at the beginning of June but can take WEEKS if you wait longer). Once the verification process is done, then your application will be ready to submit to med schools as soon as your MCAT score comes out. The key is to have the verification done before your score comes out.</p>
<p>OK, so could I fill out the AMCAS… Wait until mid-July until a June MCAT score comes in…then submit immediately? That way everything could be in by mid-July even with a later MCAT?</p>
<p>As soon as I walked out of the exam, I thought I killed it. I predicted a fairly high score. By that night, the relief period was over, and I was convinced I had skipped a verbal passage (haha). The more I thought about it, the worse I felt. A few days later and I was hoping to break 30. After about five days, I just completely forgot about it until right before the date that scores were released. I ended up making exactly what I had predicted.</p>
<p>Moral of the story - don’t think about it! The MCAT’s not a pleasant experience, and you’re bound to doubt yourself. Wait until you have your score before you start worrying.</p>
<p>Hey guys! Thanks for all the advice. I re-registered for May 2nd (about a month from now…may change this if I can find a slightly later test date that’s open)…mainly because I checked up on test dates and basically everything is filled now until July, so I figured I needed to keep the option open. I was pretty lucky to get that test date, and oddly enough at my preferred test center at the same time (12 PM…don’t want to get up early).</p>
<p>I’ve decided to basically just study a few days a week without a lot of pressure or stress and maybe re-take one full-length MCAT sometime over the next few weeks. Just to make sure I retain all the facts and keep up with the test-taking skills. I’m pretty sure I know most of the material anyway, I’ve studied it enough that a week break from it isn’t going to have it leave my mind.</p>