The MCAT is one of the biggest determinants of your competitiveness as a medical school
applicant and it’s not uncommon to see students take the exam multiple times to maximize their
scores.
That being said, retaking the exam isn’t without risk.
Here are three important questions to ask yourself when deciding whether or not you
should retake your MCAT.
Dr. Jubbal, MedSchoolInsiders.com First, determine if retaking your MCAT is
actually necessary.
Although some people will tell you that you need to retake the exam if you scored below
a certain score, or that you don’t need to retake it if you scored above a certain
score, the truth isn’t so black and white.
Instead, it will be largely dependent on the schools that you’re applying to.
When preparing your medical school list, look up the average GPA and MCAT scores for each
school.
If your scores are similar to the average matriculant, there may be a minimal upside
to retaking the MCAT.
If your scores are significantly below the average matriculant, however, you may want
to consider retaking it.
You should also assess your medical school list.
If you find that it consists primarily of top-tier medical schools and your scores aren’t
competitive enough, you should also consider changing your list.
Instead of spending time retaking your MCAT for an improved score, it may be more worthwhile
to include fewer “reach” schools and apply to more attainable schools.
Don’t let ego or prestige hold you back from getting accepted into medical school.
As we’ve discussed in previous videos on this channel, although medical school prestige
can play a role in your future career as a physician, it’s far from the most important
factor.
We discuss this topic in detail in our How to Choose a Medical School video - link in
the description.
You shouldn’t look at your MCAT score in isolation either.
It’s important to consider your application as a whole.
If your GPA is below average and you can’t improve it, you have weak letters of recommendation,
or you have less impressive extracurricular activities, repeating the MCAT and getting
an above-average score may help offset these weaknesses.
Once you’ve decided that retaking the MCAT makes sense for your situation, the next question
to ask yourself is whether or not you can actually improve your score.
Admissions committees see all of your MCAT attempts, so you shouldn’t retake the MCAT
unless you can guarantee a higher score.
Retaking the exam only to achieve a lower score can be a red flag for admissions committees.
It can come across like you didn’t learn from your mistakes or didn’t care enough
to improve your score.
Retaking the MCAT also comes with a great deal of opportunity cost.
You’ll need to commit a large amount of time and mental energy to study for your retake
– time and energy that you could’ve put into strengthening other aspects of your medical
school application.
The last thing you want to do is put in the effort to retake the MCAT, only to be worse
off than if you hadn’t retaken it at all.
Only retake the MCAT if you’re confident you can improve your score.
There are three factors to consider when determining if you can improve your score or not: time,
energy, and strategy.
Time is the first, and arguably the most important, factor to consider.
If you don’t have time to study, you won’t be able to improve your score.
Consider your other responsibilities and determine how much time you can realistically put into
studying for your retake.
If you’re too busy with extracurriculars or work, you’ll need to adjust your schedule
to free up time.
This can be accomplished in one of two ways, you’ll either have to spend less time on
your other responsibilities or you’ll have to extend your studying period.
Some students may even opt to take an entire gap year to improve their MCAT score before
applying to medical school, but we don’t recommend this.
Now you might be asking yourself, “How much time should I give myself to study for an
MCAT retake?”
Although the answer will depend on your starting point and your goal, here are some general
guidelines.
One of the most difficult aspects of studying for the MCAT is balancing learning new information
with forgetting what you already know.
When studying for this exam the first time, we typically recommend three months of full-time
studying, which is around forty to fifty hours per week, or five to six months of part-time
studying, which is around twenty to twenty-five hours per week.
We’ve found that these two study schedules are the sweet spot in terms of maximizing
learning and minimizing forgetting.
If you’re retaking the MCAT, however, you often won’t need as much time since you’ve
already been through the material before.
First, consider your goal score and how much it differs from your current score.
If you’re trying to significantly improve your score, you’ll need to drastically change
your approach.
Keep in mind that most people who score between 472 and 517 only improve their scores by two
to three points when they retake the exam.
Next, consider how long ago your exam was and when you plan to retake it.
If you’re retaking the exam soon after your first attempt, you won’t need as much prep
time.
In contrast, if it’s been over a year since your first attempt, you should be ready to
set aside more time.
Lastly, consider why you’re retaking the exam.
What were your areas of weakness and how long will it take you to improve upon them?
Were you lacking in a particular topic or section?
Or was it mostly test-day nerves?
If your problem was test-day anxiety, you likely won’t need to set as much time aside
compared to someone who lacks a fundamental understanding of the material.
If you feel you underperformed on test day due to external circumstances, consider retaking
the exam as early as you can while the material is still fresh.
Take a little bit of time to recharge to avoid burning out, and then schedule your new test
date.
Now that we’ve covered time, the second factor to consider is energy.
In short, do you have the motivation to commit the amount of time and effort required to
do well on the MCAT?
Consider how much you want to improve your score, and if that potential score jump is
worth the effort.
Consider the other ways that you can improve your medical school application.
If your MCAT score is average, your energy may be better spent elsewhere.
Lastly, consider your study strategies.
You can’t study the same way you did the first time and expect to earn a higher score.
You need to figure out what your deficiencies are and how you can optimize your study strategy
to target those weaknesses.
Start by analyzing your performance on practice exams and on your previous MCAT attempt.
Was there a particular section that you underperformed on and can improve?
If so, focus the bulk of your studying on those sections while maintaining your knowledge
in the other sections.
As long as you’re scoring at least 125 or 126 on all sections, don’t worry about having
an uneven score distribution.
If you’re not willing to re-examine and improve upon your study strategies, then you
should consider focusing your efforts elsewhere.
There are a variety of strategies you can use to improve your score.
The important thing is to focus on high-quality, high-yield resources.
The AAMC practice materials are a great place to start, but you’ll also want to supplement
with some sort of spaced repetition software to help you retain information over the long
term.
There are a variety of Anki decks covering various MCAT topics available online; however,
there are some issues with them.
To start, the cards may contain errors or out-of-date information which can be incredibly
detrimental when learning and reviewing information.
In addition, they may also contain a large amount of low-yield information.
Finally, the design of Anki and other spaced repetition software promotes memorizing facts
rather than integrating contextual understanding.
This is why it’s easy to confuse similar topics you studied with flash cards.
If you’re looking for a high-quality, high-yield memorization tool that cuts through the fluff,
then check out Memm.
When you sign up, you’ll also get access to comprehensive review sheets that help keep
information organized, implement another source of active recall, and provide context to avoid
confusing similar topics.
Med School Insiders viewers get a special discount for a limited time.
Try Memm, no credit card required, using the link in the description.
Once you’ve determined that you should retake the MCAT and you can improve your score, the
last thing to consider is how many times you’ve taken the MCAT.
While the AAMC allows you to take the MCAT up to three times in a year, and seven times
in a lifetime, that doesn’t mean that you should rely on that.
Admissions committees can see how many times you’ve taken the MCAT, and the fewer attempts
you have, the better.
So while you can retake the exam, you should plan on taking it as few times as possible
and making each attempt count.
That being said, we know that sometimes things don’t go according to plan, and you might
not get the score you want on your first try.
But if you fail to score high enough after three attempts, there may be a larger problem
that can limit your chances of getting into medical school.
Taking challenging standardized exams is a regular part of medical education, and medical
professionals need to be able to deal with these exams.
If you’ve taken the MCAT and aren’t satisfied with your score, you need to change something.
It’s not about studying harder, it’s about studying smarter – and a great way to do
that is to work with a tutor who scored above the 98th percentile and has helped countless
students in your shoes.
They can help you determine what went wrong and help you improve your study strategy.
At Med School Insiders, we offer premium MCAT tutoring with personalized study schedules
and strategies to suit your strengths and weaknesses.
We’ve distilled the elements that make for top scores on test day and have created a
repeatable process by addressing the four key domains that drive MCAT success: content
mastery, application of knowledge, test-taking skills, and test day optimization.
We also have a diagnostic process that evaluates how you can make the greatest improvements
and matches you with a top-scoring tutor for one-on-one mentorship.
Our tutors have been through this process before and have excelled on the MCAT themselves,
averaging higher than the 98th percentile.
If you’re ready to take the next step on your journey to becoming a future doctor,
check us out at MedSchoolInsiders.com.
Thank you all so much for watching.
If you enjoyed this video, check out 5 Things I Wish I Knew About the MCAT or this other
video.
Much love and I’ll see you there.