sari

(Warning: This is a typical CC post)
I'm a senior in HS but I want to do really well on the MCAT (well, well, doesn't everyone? but you know what I mean)...so is the data here http://www.aamc.org/students/mcat/ex...combined07.pdf saying that basically no one got a score of 43 or above? Is that even possible? I know that the MCAT is years away for me, but I still know that there are things that I can do to improve my score that will only work with time. For example, with the SAT, if someone wants to prep really hard I would suggest learning vocabulary and reading a lot starting freshmen year because it is unlikely that you will be able to increase your vocabulary by that much 6 months prior to the test. Or, if only I had known, I would have consistently taken practice tests i.e. per Xiggi method starting from my freshmen year. Anyways, advice please!

bluedevilmike

1.) Yes.
2.) Yes.
3.) Eh. Do some reading if you want -- make sure you're getting the structure of the passages as you read. Economist is a good magazine to start with.
4.) Do NOT open practice tests and books explicitly designed for the MCAT. That's ridiculously premature.

chaz90

Why does no one get a 43 or up? I understand that it would be ridiculously hard to achieve perfect scores in all categories, but it just seems like with the huge number of people taking this test, there will be some incredibly intelligent people among them. I'm not saying all intelligent people will be able to get a 43 or above, but zero just seems like a ludicrous number. Everything I know about statistics suggests that in such a large body of people, someone will defy expectations.

bluedevilmike

If I remember correctly, there are about 70,000 MCAT test-takers. The top 50 or so on any given section (an average) will score a fifteen on said section.

So if, in a pool of 70,000, the same kid managed to be in the top fifty on every single section, he would get a 45.

This is unlike, say, the LSAT, where the sections are all lumped together in the end. Somebody has to get a perfect score, because that's how it's scored.

On the MCAT, somebody has to get a perfect score on any given section. But that's not going to translate to a perfect score overall.

Chedva

During all your preparations and studying, remember the German adage (loosely translated): Man plans, God laughs.

Too much will happen to you between now and the MCATs. At this stage, it is more important that you do well in your college courses than that you do well on the MCATs.

chaz90

I suppose that's a good thing. I guess the MCAT test makers just make it hard on purpose. If you have a test that is that hard to get even close to a perfect score on, you really can get a good feel for the abilities and find the really talented students. In stark contrast to this school of thought, the college admissions tests leave hundreds of top kids with perfect scores and the colleges with limited ways to differentiate them.

shades_children

chaz90:

Keep in mind that the MCAT is only a limited part of your application. A great MCAT score isn't a good way to differentiate your application. In fact, if that's the best thing about your application, it's a bit troublesome. You need to excel in other ways as well.

bluedevilmike

SC is of course right, but Chaz does have a point. As nightmarishly arbitrary as medical school is, it is MUCH better than graduate school (which uses the GREs), business school (the GMATs), or undergrad (the SATs), all of which have horrible standardized examinations -- high standard deviations and VERY easy to max out the scale.

The only school with more predictable admissions than medical school (and it is MUCH more) is law school, which also has a pretty good exam. Also a low standard deviation, also hard to max out the score.

sari

sorry, but what does max out the score mean?

norcalguy

Get a perfect score.

I agree with BDM. The only thing you should really be doing right now is reading something like the Economist.

bluedevilmike

Or a score which is statistically indistinguishable from perfect -- within two standard deviations.

sari

Lol...ok I will try to get a subscription to the Economist...now I know what I want for my birthday!

Anyways, let's say I go to a school (for undergrad) that's competitive and therefore it is difficult to get A's in classes there and therefore, or in addition, the school has grade deflation. Also, let's say I earn a pretty good score on the MCAT. What is the lowest GPA I can have so that my school's reputation and MCAT scores will make up for it? Sorry, I know this is a specific question. Conversely, what is the highest my MCAT score would have to be so that it is all balanced out? I'm not looking for exact numbers but ranges (even though exact numbers would be more helpful).

norcalguy

In my very subjective opinion, the prestige/difficulty of your school will afford you 0.2 on your GPA at the very most but usually adcoms don't care. I think school difficulty is overblown anyway since everyone seems to think they go to a tough school. In the event you have exact the same MCAT score, essays, recs, interview, EC's, PS as someone else, then your school might be a tip factor. From my experience, >50% of the people interviewing at top med schools come from a US News Top 20 undergrad so a prestigious college is the norm, not the exception.

sari

What do you mean by 0.2? A 0.2 GPA??? That's really low!
Maybe you meant 2.0...

norcalguy

I mean your 3.5 from engineering at MIT might be equivalent to a 3.7 someone got doing underwater basketweaving at a state school. 0.2.

Basically, in most cases, it doesn't matter. You'll still need a 3.5-3.6 to be competitive for med school. If you want to get into a top med school, you'll need 3.7+.