<p>I'm a freshman, and I plan to take all the required courses by my sophomore year. I would like to take the test in September of 2008. What is the likelihood of getting a great score right before the junior year?</p>
<p>As long as you can finish your prereqs by the end of your sophomore year, there's nothing wrong with taking the MCAT right after. That's what I did and I did well.</p>
<p>the only caveat would be is that the MCAT score is only good, at most schools, for 3 years, so, if you are not accepted in the first try, you might have to repeat the exam at a time far removed from the courses. I would suggest you take a prep course, or a lot of practice tests, to gauge your performance before taking it for real.</p>
<p>You'd be allowed to delay your application by one year.</p>
<p>And yes, actually this is a very good time to take it, since it means that you'll have your score well in hand before you need to start planning for the application process. This will help you select schools, get an idea of the number of schools, etc.</p>
<p>My advice is to take the MCAT when you can get your absolute best score. This could be at any time, it's going to depend on when and how you study. If you think that this is the time that is best for you, then go for it. If you can think of a more ideal situation (that is feasible to happen - obviously no one is going to have time to lock themselves in a room for weeks at time or whatever imagined ideal situation you might come up with) then I suggest you wait.</p>
<p>As long as you're done with the prereqs and have adequate time to review/prepare, I see no reason why not to take it after sophomore year (thats what I'm planning on doing too).</p>
<p>I'm actually doing it. This May I am taking the MCAT and this semester I am finishing up my prereqs as well as taking a Kaplan prep course. Its a lot of work for sure but if you can budget your time wisely its doable.</p>
<p>Caltech sent me an email about premed there, and it said that most kids take the MCAT after thier second year. Keep in mind, it's Caltech.</p>
<p>My S did what you are planning and took MCAT summer after Sophomore year. He scored a 41 so it worked for him. He said everything was still fresh for him, which helped.</p>
<p>I know you obviously need Physics for the MCATS but I will be taking one semester in spring sophmore year and the other one in fall junior year and am wondering can one semester of physics be enough for the MCATS? My school has classical physics and then one for life science majors so I don't know if the topics I even learn will help on MCATS</p>
<p>It's the MCAT (singular)...you can get away with SAT's b/c there are subject tests and all, but there is only one MCAT (thank goodness too).</p>
<p>It depends on the amount/quality of physics you had in HS. If you have merely average physics instruction, or had it like sophomore year, then it'd probably be wise to take both semesters. Remember the "classic" time to take the MCAT was April of junior year for a long, long time. So you'll be on schedule if you take at some point during or shortly thereafter the 6th semester of undergrad (BDM and I do have an extremely small disagreement on how late is too late, so he pushes for earlier, while I think that the early June test dates, while late are fine).</p>
<p>If you had a great physics class in HS, then taking Kaplan or one of the other test prep courses will likely be sufficient. Second semester physics is typically non-Newtonian (Einstonian doesn't sound right) - so electricity, magnetism, optics, fluids, and other "small" stuff is on the syllabus. I've found most people hate one semester or the other of physics - I hate the small stuff, so going through the class was probably beneficial for me.</p>