When applying for medical school, it’s no doubt that the MCAT is one of the most important factors in admissions. Another contribution to applicants’ stress is the belief that they only have one chance to take the MCAT. It is a widespread notion that retaking the MCAT hurts an applicant’s chance in admissions. However, there is no evidence of any detriment in taking the MCAT multiple times.
If you’re faced with a decision to retake the MCAT, you should make a careful evaluation about whether you could realistically improve and what you should do differently the second time.
Here are a few points that should be considered when you are deciding:
1. How Long Did You Study?
As they always say, the MCAT is a marathon, not a sprint. There is so much content that it is impossible to learn and remember everything by last-minute studying, especially for critical thinking questions on the MCAT. If you prepared for the exam in less than 1 month, chances are, you did not solidify the information or absorb the MCAT’s patterns. For the second exam attempt, you should spend at least a few months making sure you patch up knowledge gaps and to become familiar with topics and questions that are high yield on the MCAT.
2. What Study Resources Did You Use?
There is a plethora of resources for MCAT studying, and it’s important to know what resources work best for you. If you were only relying on one or two resources for your first attempt, that may be where you fell short. For example, there are many different companies for practice exams and content review that certain people prefer. Some of the most popular resources for practice exams and questions include the AAMC official full-length tests and question banks, UWorld, and Blueprint Prep. Review books and resources include The Berkeley Review, Princeton Review, and Jack Westin.
3. What Study Strategies Did You Use?
Study strategies include your study schedule and review practices. As previously mentioned, you should not rush your studying, but you should also determine how long and how often you want to study and adjust your commitments based on that study schedule. If you found yourself busy with many other commitments at the same time as your preparation, that may be a contributor to poorer performance on the MCAT and could be changed for a second attempt of the exam.
Content review is usually less emphasized for MCAT studying; however, it should not be overlooked, and it is still essential to make sure that you have a good understanding of all the topics on the AAMC MCAT outline. Practice tests are one of the most important parts of studying for the MCAT, but you should prioritize the quality of your review over the quantity of tests you take. Each practice exam that you take should be reviewed afterwards for both incorrect and correct answers so that you understand the logic of every single possible question. Additionally, you could review content at the same time in the context of the questions so that you remember the high yield topics on the outline. If you skipped over either content review or test review during your studying for your first attempt on the MCAT, consider whether changing your approach could increase your score.
4. Were You Taking Care of Yourself?
It’s important to make sure that you don’t burn out while studying for the MCAT. Were you getting enough sleep? Were you eating? Were you taking breaks during your study days? All of these can also impact your performance on the day of the exam. Lastly, everyone’s stamina is different; for example, if you were taking one practice exam every week but did not have time to review all the questions before you took another the next week, consider taking practice tests less frequently so that you can fully review all the questions in time and take a breather before you take another exam.
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