Will they penalise on taking MCAT twice?

[admin]

You may have seen the following thread comparing GS scores with AAMC practice test scores:

http://www.mcat-prep.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=313

Usually students scored a bit lower on GS tests but the difference that you had is very unusual. Did you do the practice AAMC tests according to the schedule? No pause during a test, no taking a peek at study materials, etc? Also, was it the first time that you saw the AAMC tests?

Which of the AAMC tests did you use for practice? Most students find AAMC tests 8, 9 and 10 to be quite indicative of their actual scores.

Without the answers to the above questions, I have no opinion about rescheduling.

As a rule, there is no penalty to repeat the MCAT. The AAMC permits multiple attempts per year and medical schools, as a rule, are only interested in the best score in any complete test that you can achieve. Medical schools will be aware if you have had multiple attempts, but again, as a rule, that does not feature as a factor in admissions.

[admin]

AAMC tests 3 and 4 are not the best indicators of future performance.

You should simulate the actual test day and try AAMC Practice Test 10. This will let you know if you are ready for the real thing.

After that, ideally you would be taking a practice test every second day to ensure that, in between tests, you had alot of time to do a complete review of the test, mistakes, and lessons learned. Your schedule is clearly very compressed so you should try to do Practice Test 10 within the next 24 hours so you can decide what is next.

[admin]

Your performance in PS is encouraging. VR is odd since you have done much better in the past. I would suggest 1 month delay because your past includes AAMC practice tests of 9/15 and 10/15 in VR and BS. 1 month should be enough to help you become more consistent in expressing knowledge and strategy.

[admin]

Don't purchase another program yet. Work on technique to see if it will help you first. If that fails, only then consider the Verbal Reasoning program.

This is what I wrote in the Verbal Reasoning thread:

There are 2 basic techniques to try to improve VR scores. You need to try both to see which works best for you. Either you follow the intuitive route: read the passage first, highlighting key words, and then answer the questions. Or you quickly read the questions to get an idea of what they are asking for, then you read the passage once while answering questions as you go along.

There is one basic concept you should keep in mind while reading the passage. Imagine that as soon as you are finished the passage, you will need to explain it to your favorite cousin who is a high school student, or, that you will have to present a summary of the passage in front of class. By visualizing the importance of getting "the main idea", it will help you sift through the passage and see the most important elements.

If you are part of the Writing Sample program, you can email your WS to help@mcat-prep.com. Anyone can view corrected WS's and scores in the MCAT Writing Sample thread.