What are the most important MCAT subsections?

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waynerooney1994

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Hey guys I was just wondering how adcoms view an MCAT. Do they put more weight on certain subsections than others? My gut says that C/P and B/B are most important because the material is most directly related to what you learn in med school. Does that mean that they give more leeway for CARS and P/S? Finally are equal scores considered the same? Like when they see two 517s are they considered equal even with different subscores?

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The overall score is most important. Then it is important that it be a balanced score. That doesn't mean you have to get the same score in each subsection, just that one+More sections are not substantially lower than the rest. If you look at the MSAR, you will see that for all schools the distributions of accepted Psych/Soc and CARS scores is much broader than those for C/P and Bio. This could mean two things: 1) everyone who took the exam was more likely to do worse on those sections than all the others or 2) schools are willing to forgive lower scores in those sections more than they are willing to forgive lower scores in Bio, C/P.

While this is speculation, it is my opinion that 2 is far more likely.
 
For CARS I believe it's a little bit of both 1 and 2. Because CARS has the lowest national average out of all the subsections and the corresponding percentages give you a lower score (90% for CARS is a 128 while for every other section its closer to a 129) I think people just tend to do worse on CARS. And also looking at the 10 - 90th accepted students range for P/S, it actually has the lowest range out of all the subsections (comparable to the B/B range) and the highest mean.
 
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I thin the psych section has a wide range since adcoms may not know how to interpret it yet? I think this section has the highest scores with the lowest percentiles, as in I got a 128 on it but its only 84%ile. 128 is 90%ile in cars and 87%ile in the other sections. Also I took without taking a psych class at all, not sure how many students did this so maybe they don't weigh it as heavily since its new?
 
Any subsection becomes important if you score below a 125... For real tho B/B is hands down the most important subsection because it has the strongest correlation with future step 1 performance.
 
Hey guys I was just wondering how adcoms view an MCAT. Do they put more weight on certain subsections than others? My gut says that C/P and B/B are most important because the material is most directly related to what you learn in med school. Does that mean that they give more leeway for CARS and P/S? Finally are equal scores considered the same? Like when they see two 517s are they considered equal even with different subscores?
I demand decent performance on the Bio section, and I'll autoreject anyone who score < 50th %ile. It tells me that they learned nothing in college.

I also worry if I see people with poor scores in two subsections. This tells me that that can only lift some things, but not all. A bad deficit for a medical student. Luckily, my school has been getting good applicants lately.
 
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What section is a 99%ile or 100%ile most impressive (131/132)? I feel like it would be CARS but I don't know
 
What section is a 99%ile or 100%ile most impressive (131/132)? I feel like it would be CARS but I don't know
Definitely not Psych/Soc, its not even worth trying to get a high score in that one./s
 
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Do well in CARS because Med schools love to see how well read you are, after all you're going to medical school to read history books
 
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I demand decent performance on the Bio section, and I'll autoreject anyone who score < 50th %ile. It tells me that they learned nothing in college.

I also worry if I see people with poor scores in two subsections. This tells me that that can only lift some things, but not all. A bad deficit for a medical student. Luckily, my school has been getting good applicants lately.
Dear @Goro what do you mean when you say "poor score" in a mcat section approximately? :) Thanks a lot for all the great info you provide :happy:
 
Hey guys I was just wondering how adcoms view an MCAT. Do they put more weight on certain subsections than others? My gut says that C/P and B/B are most important because the material is most directly related to what you learn in med school. Does that mean that they give more leeway for CARS and P/S? Finally are equal scores considered the same? Like when they see two 517s are they considered equal even with different subscores?
Based on different things I have read...my guess would be: B/B > C/P > CARS > P/S .

I am pretty confident P/S is weighed least heavily.

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If a low section score is a red flag, how does a high section score look? My sections are unbalanced because I scored perfect in CARS.
 
If a low section score is a red flag, how does a high section score look? My sections are unbalanced because I scored perfect in CARS.
127 and above is usually in the clear . Anything below 125 will be a cause for concern. Total score should also be kept in mind. perfect scores on 3 sections and a 125 will not usually be cause of concern.
 
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