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[tericarper]

Oh yeah, I'm posting again. Deal with it.

I have heard mixed things about MCAT scores. One friend tells me it is better to score a 10 10 10 than an 8 10 14. So hypothetically if I had an 8PS, 10BS, and 14VR, would the huge gaps between the numbers actually harm me?

Comments

[stutterbird]

The only thing I've really heard consistently is that it's important to score above a 7 in all your sections. So even if you get a high score, but one of your sections is below a 7 (for example, a 6, 12, 14) then it won't look good.

[thelilyqueen]

An 8 isn't awful, so it might only knock schools' perception of your score down slightly, but in general you do want a good score - preferably 10 or over - on each section. They're looking for people who can perform well (preferably VERY well) in all three sections, because not doing so likely indicates a real weakness in one of the foundational areas.

A 10 10 14 is definitely preferable to a 6 14 14, even though the total score is the same and you've got 2 14s.

[8wishes]

Well, your total in the second case is 32, which is better than 30, so it's kind of hard to really compare. But I would think you'd want to do better on the science sections rather than verbal, if you were to have such a discrepancy between the sections. It's been a while since I took my MCAT, but that's what I remembered.

[tericarper]

Yeah I realize the second score is higher. That was the question I was asking - isit better to have a lower score with similarscores in each section or a higher score with bigger differences between individual sections. I haven't taken my mcat yet but 8 10 14 is what I am making on my last two practice kaplan tests. I honestly don't know if I can do anything about my ps section before my real exam and I'm just trying to see if I should bother sending in secondaries to a few of the schools I applied to.

[thelilyqueen]

My suggestion? Take at least one of the AAMC practice tests. They're the best at predicting what your score will be. Not that the Kaplan ones were *far* off, but...

[8wishes]

Ahh, I see the dilemma now. I thought you were saying 8 10 14 hypothetically, not realizing those were your practice test scores. I don't think 8 10 14 should stop you from sending in secondaries. More even scores or improvement in PS might be better, but 32 should get you into the door for interviews unless you're applying to top tier schools. Good luck!

[kaitlyn37]

Oh hey, that looks pretty much like my score... I was worried about it and considered re-taking, but the application/admissions process ended up going really well for me. They take so many other things into account that I think as long as you have good science grades and maybe a good rec from a science prof, it's not going to break you.