When did YOU take the MCATS?

Pre-Med & Medical School Pre-Med Topics
1

<p>Information on the year (i.e. freshman, sophomore, junior, senior, after-senior) and semester (or winter/summer breaks) please. I am just curious as to when people might have taken the MCATs.</p>

2

<p>You need to have completed the prequisite coursework before sitting for the MCAT. (Bio, gen chem, Ochem, physics, For the MCAT 2015 and later, add biochem, stats, psych and sociology to the pre-req list.)</p>

<p>Most students who plan to move directly from undergrad into med school, take the MCAT near the end of their junior year.</p>

<p>Students who plan to take one or more gap years after undergrad before entering medical school often take it later–senior year or shortly after graduation.</p>

<p>MCAT scores have a limited window of acceptability/validity–2-3 years, depending on the policies of a specific medical school. The big exception to this will be the current MCAT exam- scores from which will not be accepted for admission consideration after the 2015-16 admission cycle.</p>

<p>AMCAS has a suggested timeline for direct-from-undergrad applicants here</p>

<p><a href=“https://www.aamc.org/students/download/175214/data/timeline.pdf[/url]”>https://www.aamc.org/students/download/175214/data/timeline.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

3

<p>

My son took his MCAT at the end of the winter break in his junior year. His room-mate and another friend took during the summer after their sophomore year. All of them did very well (35+) and all of them are first time traditional applicants in 2014 cycle finishing up their junior year. You should take it when you are ready and should try your best to avoid taking it again. You should set yourself a target and use AAMC practice tests to see how you measure up. Most folks’ real score ends up within a 2 point range of the average of their scores on AAMC tests 9-11. My son’s score was exactly equal to the average on tests 8-10. He used AAMC 11 as a diagnostic test at the beginning of his MCAT preparation.</p>

<p>P.S:
Practice tests from TPR and Kaplan tend to be harder than AAMC tests. My son’s scores on TPR tests were about 2 points below his scores on the AAMC tests.</p>

4

<p>Wow, congratulations to your son! Also, thank you for the wealth of information!!!</p>

5

<p>I took it in August of the summer after my junior year. I was originally planning on applying that summer but realized it would be too late and I would be much more competitive if i took a gap year and instead I applied right after graduating.</p>