Jump to content
Premed 101 Forums

Is it advantageous to write the MCAT in a particular month?


soggybread

Recommended Posts

Forgive my ignorance, before the MCAT was computerized, I had heard it would be to your benefit to write it during April instead of August if you weren't taking classes, because most people would have their university exams juggled in, and would do less well. Now with computerized testing from Jan to Sept, does it really matter so much when you take it?

 

Of course, ultimately, it doesn't _really_ matter which month you write it in, if you've prepared well enough for it. But this was something I was just curious about.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Umm I'm not completely sure. I wrote my second time last Friday, and everyone I talked to seemed way less prepared than when I took it in August. Most of the people had only done 2 practice tests, and didn't really know what to expect. When I wrote in August everyone I talked to had finished all the practice tests, taken weeks off of work, etc. So unless the people I wrote with last Friday were just brilliant, and didn't need practice, I'd say it would be easier to get a higher mark if you write just after classes end. I'll let you know in a month tho :P

Link to comment
Share on other sites

No there isn't a "best" time to write it. They put way too much time into their metrics systems for weighting the scores. You are either ready for the exam when you write it or you aren't. The thing to be careful about is the boisterous MCAT writer. The one who claims to have studied each section by reviewing their notes once or twice and maybe trying a test or two. They very well could be lying to you. They also might be fresh off Orgo (assuming they are from Ontario in Second Year) with their core sciences fresh from 1st year. Throw in the additional month of preparation to do a few tests and it can actually be just as beneficial.

 

Writing early can sometimes help but you can also get people who are overprepared who write at the end of the year.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There is tons of, probably useless, speculation on when to write the test. Some people say you should write it late in the summer as that is the typical rewrite time so there is a lot of people that didn't do well (and likely not to do well again) writing it. Some people say write in April because of exams as you mention. Its all over the map.

 

Personally I don't think it would make a difference. Any advantage one way has drawbacks the other way, and AAMC works really hard to prevent any sort of bias.

 

You have the right idea though! Take control of what you can manage - yourself - and do well :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm under the impression that your score is standardized against everyone else in the past who has completed those questions, so it's not only dependent on the group of people you write with, but past exam takers too. Assuming that AAMC's sample size is large enough, the preparedness of the group of people you write with won't make all that much of a difference.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm under the impression that your score is standardized against everyone else in the past who has completed those questions, so it's not only dependent on the group of people you write with, but past exam takers too. Assuming that AAMC's sample size is large enough, the preparedness of the group of people you write with won't make all that much of a difference.

 

That raises some thing I never considered - I was under the impression that they never repeat a question to prevent any cross over effects. Not that is matters much but it does make me curious :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

write early in the summer. If you don't get the score you want, re-write the following month as you can build on stuff previously studied and work on your weaknesses. Basically, ensure that come September, you have the score that you desire. Writing it later in the summer leaves you at risk of not having the score you want come application time.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That raises some thing I never considered - I was under the impression that they never repeat a question to prevent any cross over effects. Not that is matters much but it does make me curious :)

 

heh..well, i got that info from my kaplan teacher...who also claims that the official AAMC tests are NOT good practice for the actual MCAT :confused: (apparently he's the most senior teacher at the Kaplan centre in Toronto..makes me wonder)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Forgive my ignorance, before the MCAT was computerized, I had heard it would be to your benefit to write it during April instead of August if you weren't taking classes, because most people would have their university exams juggled in, and would do less well. Now with computerized testing from Jan to Sept, does it really matter so much when you take it?

 

Of course, ultimately, it doesn't _really_ matter which month you write it in, if you've prepared well enough for it. But this was something I was just curious about.

 

Absolutely no difference when you write your exam. You are not only graded against the thousands of people who are writing with you on that particular date, but also the tens/hundreds of thousands of people who has ever completed that passage/discrete. This is why AAMC sometimes puts out new questions on the MCAT but do not count them, but just to gather data for standardization purposes.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

heh..well, i got that info from my kaplan teacher...who also claims that the official AAMC tests are NOT good practice for the actual MCAT :confused: (apparently he's the most senior teacher at the Kaplan centre in Toronto..makes me wonder)

 

I don't agree with that assessment of the old AAMC tests. What I do agree with is that far too many people score well on the official AAMC tests and just assume that they will do well on the MCAT because of it. You aren't recreating the actual MCAT when writing it at home. You can mimic the scenario, but bottom line, if you score a 20 on Test #7 it doesn't matter, when you score a 20 on the actual thing, 275 bucks just went down the drain.

 

Practice tests can only test your knowledge of what was tested on that particular exam. The problem with the MCAT is there is far too much general material to get onto a single exam so you very well could have an MCAT that focuses on very little that you succeeded on with the practice exams. Any practice material is just there to help you get familiar with the types of questions you will face. Knowing the required material and applying it to the testing style is what you are supposed to take from the exams. Too many people take the exams and study off of them.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

http://www.aamc.org/students/mcat/preparing/understandingscores.htm

 

this page should answer all questions based on this.

 

Essentially, your scaled score is a value based on everyone writing in a year, not just everyone writing on the same day.

 

Med schools know that say 5-7% of students who wrote in any year will get a 34Q or higher etc. (man that scale is brutal eh :rolleyes: )

 

Edit: funny enough I didn't know this until after I wrote, I thought you were only competing against people of the same day.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...