Anybody taking the MCAT soon and want to study a little bit?

8/14/2008 2:41:21 PM

One of my close friends got his scores back yesterday and is doing the whole *to retake or not retake* thing. His GPA sucks but he made a 36n. He really wanted at least a 38 to even things out. That test is so fricking hard, gl!

8/14/2008 6:41:05 PM

^ Wow. I'd say no to the retake. A 36 is quite good. There are ways to work on the gpa, by taking post-bacc classes or going to grad school.

8/14/2008 7:19:27 PM

aren't you basically fucked as far as medschool goes if your gpa sucks?

8/14/2008 10:26:38 PM

I think a good MCAT score and extra-curricular involvement can balance out a bad gpa

8/15/2008 12:19:39 AM

His GPA must REALLY blow if he got a 36 and needed to do better.

The thing about the MCAT is that once you get above the national average (which is terrible, like 23 or something), you have to get more questions correct to get the next point than you did for the point before. So its a hell of a lot easier to improve on a 28 than it is on a 34 (36 in this case). And they scale it based on the national average on that test date. Crazy stuff.

[Edited on August 17, 2008 at 6:50 PM. Reason : ]

8/17/2008 6:46:54 PM

The difference between a 34 and a 36 on the MCAT can be as few as 2 or 3 questions correct. If you score a 36 you could have just as easily scored a 34 or a 38 for that matter since the difference is literally +/- 1 or 2 questions on each of 3 sections. I would say if you scored a 36, you would be taking an extreme risk in attempting to increase your score by retaking the test.

The average score on the MCAT last year was a 26.
The average accepted applicant had a 31.
Last year, an MCAT score of 36 was in the 95th percentile

The average applicant had a 3.5 cumulative GPA (3.4 in Science and 3.6 in non-sciences)
The average accepted applicant had a 3.65 cumulative GPA (3.5 in Science and 3.7 in non-sciences)

*All that data was taken directly from the AAMC website.

[Edited on August 17, 2008 at 7:30 PM. Reason : .]

8/17/2008 7:29:06 PM

i bet aaprior got like a 40 on that shit

8/17/2008 7:31:26 PM

^^yeah I think I typed that wrong but you get the picture. Its not worth taking again with a score of 36.

8/18/2008 3:03:25 PM

I am taking the MCAT 9/05 and am game to study with anyone, pm me.

8/19/2008 1:24:33 AM