I increased my MCAT score by 17 points in 3 weeks

[hopefulpsychiatrist]

This is just words of encouragement, I thought I wasn't smart enough. I increased my score by changing my mindset. 6 weeks into prep I scored the same score on my practice exam that I had on my diagnostic. I wanted to give up, before I study I tell myself that I can do this and I deserve that seat in medical school just as much as everyone else. My application and GPA is GOOD enough. If a medical school doesn't think I'm a good candidate then I probably don't need to go there!

We put so much stress on ourself as students and letting go of the stress is how I improved.

I started with an extremely low diagnostic, some people told me to give up already. My recent practice exam as of today 3 weeks later I increased my score by 17 points. I have done nothing different other than devoting 2 days for practice passages a week and 4 days for content / comprehension questions. I still have a little way to go but im closer and I want everyone to know you can do it!

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[efle]

This is just words of encouragement, I thought I wasn't smart enough. I increased my score by changing my mindset. 6 weeks into prep I scored the same score on my practice exam that I had on my diagnostic. I wanted to give up, before I study I tell myself that I can do this and I deserve that seat in medical school just as much as everyone else. My application and GPA is GOOD enough. If a medical school doesn't think I'm a good candidate then I probably don't need to go there!

We put so much stress on ourself as students and letting go of the stress is how I improved.

I started with an extremely low diagnostic, some people told me to give up already. My recent practice exam as of today 3 weeks later I increased my score by 17 points. I have done nothing different other than devoting 2 days for practice passages a week and 4 days for content / comprehension questions. I still have a little way to go but im closer and I want everyone to know you can do it!

What was the diagnostic score? What was the recent practice score? Are these exams from Kaplan/TPR/other companies, or are they all AAMC official materials?

 

[BombsAway]

Which 17 points? Easier to go from 472 to 489 than from 505 to 522. Congrats either way obviously

 

[YayPudding]

Awesome work, man. I went from 497 Kaplan diagnostic to 514 real thing. It is absolutely possible.

 

[slow twitch]

I'm going to be a party pooper and say this doesn't really mean much unless the two tests were actual MCATs or two AAMC practice tests.

 

[DameJulie]

This is impressive! Seeing more and more "acing the MCAT with only x (x<5) weeks of prep" gives us hope.

Although I think this is more likely to happen on trad-applicants who just finished classes, with most of the contents still fresh.

 

[DameJulie]

Awesome work, man. I went from 497 Kaplan diagnostic to 514 real thing. It is absolutely possible.

I got the same in the first part, let's hope the second part becomes true for me too!

 

[hopefulpsychiatrist]

I increased my score from 478 to 495 in 3 weeks. I do content review/studying about 5-6 hours per day.

I have been using all Kaplan materials and TPR practice passages.

Monday: Kaplan Biochemistry
Tuesday: Kaplan Biology
Wednesday: Kaplan Organic Chemistry / General Chemistry
Thursday: Kaplan Physics / Psychology
Friday: Test myself with all the Kaplan questions I looked at that week and I do passages from Princeton review or Khan academy. I review all questions I get wrong.
Saturday: REST
Sunday: I do passages from Princeton review or Khan academy. I review all questions I get wrong.

I try to do 2 CARS passages a day! I review each chapter and do the 15 comprehensive questions at the end of the chapter. If I have any more stamina I also use Varsity Tutors app it has a lot of knowledge check type of questions.

I have analyzed the test and I have increased my percentage in every category I have practiced in.

 

[efle]

I'm going to be a party pooper and say this doesn't really mean much unless the two tests were actual MCATs or two AAMC practice tests.

This is what I was getting at as well. The prep company diagnostics are notoriously deflated (like, by 10+ points) so that people feel like they got a lot out of the course when they end up scoring far higher on the real AAMC stuff.

 

[efle]

I increased my score from 478 to 495 in 3 weeks. I do content review/studying about 5-6 hours per day.

I have been using all Kaplan materials and TPR practice passages.

Ok it all makes sense now

 

[gyngyn]

I increased my score from 478 to 495 in 3 weeks. I do content review/studying about 5-6 hours per day.

I have been using all Kaplan materials and TPR practice passages.

Monday: Kaplan Biochemistry
Tuesday: Kaplan Biology
Wednesday: Kaplan Organic Chemistry / General Chemistry
Thursday: Kaplan Physics / Psychology
Friday: Test myself with all the Kaplan questions I looked at that week and I do passages from Princeton review or Khan academy. I review all questions I get wrong.
Saturday: REST
Sunday: I do passages from Princeton review or Khan academy. I review all questions I get wrong.

I try to do 2 CARS passages a day! I review each chapter and do the 15 comprehensive questions at the end of the chapter. If I have any more stamina I also use Varsity Tutors app it has a lot of knowledge check type of questions.

I have analyzed the test and I have increased my percentage in every category I have practiced in.

When starting at the 11th percentile, 17 points brings one all the way up to the 22nd percentile.
The difference between 472 and 494 is 22 points but it does not affect odds of acceptance, I'm afraid.

 

[efle]

^ And being prep company materials makes the scores inaccurate to begin with. Your first AAMC practice exam will also be your first useful gauge of where you're at.

 

[Skenti]

Awesome work, man. I went from 497 Kaplan diagnostic to 514 real thing. It is absolutely possible.

I wanted to say, in case anyone doesn't know, Kaplan tests HUGELY underestimate your abilities. There's a correlation thread on SDN somewhere and I think the results were that you have to add like 15 points to your Kaplan score to predict your real score. Personally, I scored 17 points higher than I got on a kaplan test that I took just a couple weeks before the real thing.

 

[hopefulpsychiatrist]

I am comparing my recent score with Next Step Prep with my first AAMC full length practice exam.

 

[hopefulpsychiatrist]

When starting at the 11th percentile, 17 points brings one all the way up to the 22nd percentile.
The difference between 472 and 494 is 22 points but it does not affect odds of acceptance, I'm afraid.

I did say I was applying to medical school with this score, I am not done preparing.

 

[efle]

You're already using up an AAMC full length now, when you're at ~33rd percentile?? You've got to save those until you've finished all your content review!

 

[mwsapphire]

Ok it all makes sense now

^ And being prep company materials makes the scores inaccurate to begin with. Your first AAMC practice exam will also be your first useful gauge of where you're at.

I wanted to say, in case anyone doesn't know, Kaplan tests HUGELY underestimate your abilities. There's a correlation thread on SDN somewhere and I think the results were that you have to add like 15 points to your Kaplan score to predict your real score. Personally, I scored 17 points higher than I got on a kaplan test that I took just a couple weeks before the real thing.

Well, with all this taken into account, OP can definitely score 512+ on the real thing! ( If these were Kaplan tests) !!

 

[DrHart]

When you start at the bottom, there is nowhere to go but up! (or grad school)

 

[efle]

Well, with all this taken into account, OP can definitely score 512+ on the real thing! ( If these were Kaplan tests) !!

Unfortunately it sounds like the 495 was AAMC official. But, they're also only 3 weeks into studying.

Again OP, make sure to save the remaining AAMC official tests! You need those at the end of your review to get an accurate idea of how you'd score for the real deal.

 

[mwsapphire]

Unfortunately it sounds like the 495 was AAMC official. But, they're also only 3 weeks into studying.

D:

 

[hopefulpsychiatrist]

478 AAMC
3 weeks later
495 next step

 

[BombsAway]

TPR diagnostic before content content review: 500. TPR FL1 after content review: 495. It's like an old-school scale where if you're over the max reading it just goes around twice, right?

 

[gyngyn]

478 AAMC
3 weeks later
495 next step

Don't waste your AAMC's like this!

 

[slow twitch]

478 AAMC
3 weeks later
495 next step

Come back after content review and another AAMC then we can get all excited.

 

[Goro]

I am comparing my recent score with Next Step Prep with my first AAMC full length practice exam.

Good luck

 

[STcmOCSD]

It's possible! My diagnostic was a 478. 6 weeks later my real MCAT was a 513. Don't ever underestimate how test day can change how you test.

 

[mannybutt101]

My first diagnostic was 490, then I went to 502, finally now making 510s.
Used my 2nd aamc mcat practice test yesterday.
I've only unfortunately had 5 weeks for the whole thing - grad program apps need my score ASAP!
I've found it super helpful to use the tests as guidelines for determining areas of weakness - for example, mine is definitely physics/chem.

 

[stanfordhereiam]

Unfortunately, people on SDN are super negative I went from 499 on AAMC FLE 1 to 509 on FLE 2 to 514 on FLE 3 in two weeks. I did qpacks, section bank, sample test, flashcards-AAMC, 300 pg. p/s doc. Its possible trust me. However, I was super dedicated and studied 14 hours a day. Only breaks were for eating and sleeping.

 

[mariposas905]

Unfortunately, people on SDN are super negative I went from 499 on AAMC FLE 1 to 509 on FLE 2 to 514 on FLE 3 in two weeks. I did qpacks, section bank, sample test, flashcards-AAMC, 300 pg. p/s doc. Its possible trust me. However, I was super dedicated and studied 14 hours a day. Only breaks were for eating and sleeping.

How exactly did you structure the 14 hrs per day time-wise? I'm trying to do 10 hrs and it's pretty hard.

 

[stanfordhereiam]

6:00 a.m. woke up and got ready, ate breakfast
7:00 a.m.-12:00 aamc material
12:00-12:30 p.m. eat
12:30- 3:00 pm. 60 pgs from the 300 pg. P/S
3:00-4:00 nap
4:00-7:00 more aamc material
7:00-7:30 eat
7:30-8:00 go for a walk
8:00-11:30 p.m. more aamc material
12:00 a.m go to sleep

This is an approximation of my two week schedule. I sometimes got behind on the 60 pages a day but I tried my best to pick myself up. I don't recommend this schedule to anyone, because it was insane. I had mental breakdowns throughout the day, but still kept pushing. Also, I did not waste anytime surfing on social media, talking to people, going on youtube, listening to music.

 

[Tobi222]

Unfortunately, people on SDN are super negative I went from 499 on AAMC FLE 1 to 509 on FLE 2 to 514 on FLE 3 in two weeks. I did qpacks, section bank, sample test, flashcards-AAMC, 300 pg. p/s doc. Its possible trust me. However, I was super dedicated and studied 14 hours a day. Only breaks were for eating and sleeping.

6:00 a.m. woke up and got ready, ate breakfast
7:00 a.m.-12:00 aamc material
12:00-12:30 p.m. eat
12:30- 3:00 pm. 60 pgs from the 300 pg. P/S
3:00-4:00 nap
4:00-7:00 more aamc material
7:00-7:30 eat
7:30-8:00 go for a walk
8:00-11:30 p.m. more aamc material
12:00 p.m go to sleep

This is an approximation of my two week schedule. I sometimes got behind on the 60 pages a day but I tried my best to pick myself up. I don't recommend this schedule to anyone, because it was insane. I had mental breakdowns throughout the day, but still kept pushing. Also, I did not waste anytime surfing on social media, talking to people, going on youtube, listening to music.

I really wish I could have seen this a week ago.. I have 1 week left till exam day and I need my scores to increase the way yours did. I'm currently scoring like 495 (yeah, I know.. pretty ****ty score considering the time I have left) and I need to break 500. I'd be more than happy with a 505 to be honest.

 

[Blanky]

You should be very proud of your improvements, although it is false promise to promote an improvement of 17 points in that short time as something normally achievable. Also be aware that just because you began with a low baseline you can score as high as you want (within reason.) You should be mentally prepared that your improvements will start to slowdown at 500-505 and again another slowdown is likely at around 510 but if you continue to do the awesome job your doing you will get there!

 

[mariposas905]

6:00 a.m. woke up and got ready, ate breakfast
7:00 a.m.-12:00 aamc material
12:00-12:30 p.m. eat
12:30- 3:00 pm. 60 pgs from the 300 pg. P/S
3:00-4:00 nap
4:00-7:00 more aamc material
7:00-7:30 eat
7:30-8:00 go for a walk
8:00-11:30 p.m. more aamc material
12:00 p.m go to sleep

This is an approximation of my two week schedule. I sometimes got behind on the 60 pages a day but I tried my best to pick myself up. I don't recommend this schedule to anyone, because it was insane. I had mental breakdowns throughout the day, but still kept pushing. Also, I did not waste anytime surfing on social media, talking to people, going on youtube, listening to music.

Thanks for sharing! I found that I perform very poorly without 8 hours of sleep for some reason. Even 7 hours, and the whole day I'm sleep-deprived :/

I think I can do ten hours though if I focus, stop surfing the internet (sdn lol), and quit worrying about the test. My time schedule will be:

Study times:
8-10am
11-1pm
2-4pm
5-7pm
8-10pm

 

[Shotapp]

Thanks for sharing! I found that I perform very poorly without 8 hours of sleep for some reason. Even 7 hours, and the whole day I'm sleep-deprived :/

I think I can do ten hours though if I focus, stop surfing the internet (sdn lol), and quit worrying about the test. My time schedule will be:

Study times:
8-10am
11-1pm
2-4pm
5-7pm
8-10pm

Confidence is equally as important as your preparation. Don't worry you got this. Eat right, exercise, and get enough sleep.
I haven't started studying yet for my MCAT. I will begin around October for a January test.

 

[stanfordhereiam]

Confidence is equally as important as your preparation. Don't worry you got this. Eat right, exercise, and get enough sleep.
I haven't started studying yet for my MCAT. I will begin around October for a January test.

I agree, confidence is key. I think motivation is super important as well. What motivates you? your future? the white coat? your family and friends? Remind yourself why you started. Being premed is difficult, but once you become a doctor I think all that hard work you have put in is the most rewarding feeling ever.

"Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow is the that leads to life, and only a few find it." Matthew 7:13-14.