{"id":22598,"date":"2019-09-03T23:20:15","date_gmt":"2019-09-04T04:20:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.kaptest.com\/blog\/prep\/?p=22598"},"modified":"2020-09-11T20:40:55","modified_gmt":"2020-09-11T20:40:55","slug":"should-i-retake-the-mcat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wpapp.kaptest.com\/study\/mcat\/should-i-retake-the-mcat\/","title":{"rendered":"Should I Retake the MCAT?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">About 24% of MCAT test-takers between 2015 and 2017 took the exam more than once. So while retaking the MCAT isn\u2019t the norm, it\u2019s certainly not an anomaly. If you\u2019re considering retaking the MCAT because your <a title=\"mcat score\" href=\"https:\/\/www.kaptest.com\/study\/mcat\/whats-a-good-mcat-score\/\">score isn\u2019t competitive<\/a> for the medical schools you\u2019ll be applying to, or because you believe you can perform better, there are some things you\u2019ll want to keep in mind.<\/span><br \/>\n<br \/>\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Here are the rules:<\/span><br \/>\n&nbsp;<br \/>\n<div  style='height:1px; margin-top:-50px'  class='hr hr-invisible   avia-builder-el-1  el_after_av_sidebar  el_before_av_heading '><span class='hr-inner ' ><span class='hr-inner-style'><\/span><\/span><\/div><br \/>\n<div  style='padding-bottom:10px; ' class='av-special-heading av-special-heading-h4    avia-builder-el-2  el_after_av_hr  el_before_av_heading  '><h4 class='av-special-heading-tag '  itemprop=\"headline\"  >How often can you take the MCAT?<\/h4><div class='special-heading-border'><div class='special-heading-inner-border' ><\/div><\/div><\/div><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">AAMC rules limit how many times you can take the MCAT exam. Voids and no-shows count toward your lifetime limits. Tip: <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">you can only be registered for one seat at a time, so plan accordingly. One advantage to testing early in the year is that you\u2019ll have time to refocus and prep again, if needed, without worrying about missing application deadlines. <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You can take the MCAT up to 3 times in a single testing year<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You can take the MCAT up to 4 times in two consecutive testing years<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You can take the MCAT up to 7 times in a lifetime<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Just as important as the AAMC\u2019s rules are about retaking the exam, you should keep in mind how the medical schools view multiple MCAT scores.\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Check the policies for every school you\u2019ll be applying to before deciding to sit for the test again.<\/b><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> In some cases, it may be advantageous to retake the MCAT if you didn\u2019t reach your target score while in others \u2014 for example, schools that average scores \u2014 you may not see a great benefit. Here are some ways in which medical schools may view multiple MCAT scores:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Give more consideration to your most recent score<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Take your highest score<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Average all your scores<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cSuperscore\u201d, or take your highest section score from each test you sat for<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div  style='padding-bottom:10px; ' class='av-special-heading av-special-heading-h4    avia-builder-el-3  el_after_av_heading  el_before_av_heading  '><h4 class='av-special-heading-tag '  itemprop=\"headline\"  >DO retake the MCAT if:<\/h4><div class='special-heading-border'><div class='special-heading-inner-border' ><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<ol>\n<li><b>You did not reach a score that would make you a competitive applicant for your target schools.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Check out the AMSAR or the schools\u2019 websites for matriculants\u2019 average scores. If you\u2019re in that range for most of your schools, you could spend more time polishing other parts of your application, like your <a title=\"MCAT personal statement\" href=\"https:\/\/www.kaptest.com\/study\/mcat\/recommendation-letters-and-personal-statements\/\">personal statement<\/a>, or adding more patient-facing volunteer or shadowing time.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><b>You were not able to study and prepare for the exam as well as you would have liked <i>and<\/i> you have a solid, realistic plan in place to reassess your studying.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Pre-med life is extremely busy, and <a title=\"mcat study schedule\" href=\"https:\/\/www.kaptest.com\/study\/mcat\/build-an-mcat-study-schedule-to-meet-your-needs\/\">fitting MCAT prep into your schedule<\/a> is a challenge when there are so many obligations. So if you didn\u2019t have the chance to be your best, you should use what you learned to do better. <\/span><\/li>\n<li><b>You do not believe that your first MCAT score reflects your true ability.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Pre-meds are competitive and ambitious. They can also be very tough critics, especially when it comes to self-reflection. Is your MCAT score objectively not good enough, or do you simply wish you would have scored in the 95th instead of the 90th percentile? Try and focus on your own MCAT score, and not how your friends and classmates did. If your overall score doesn\u2019t reflect how well you prepared, or if one section is dramatically lower than others, you can consider retaking. Statistics from the AAMC show us that most people who retake the exam do see a score increase, but that this gain can be modest overall \u2014 only 2-3 overall score points for examinees with initial scores between 472-517. <\/span><\/li>\n<li><b>You have an understanding of what you could have done better <i>and<\/i> have an adequate amount of time to devote to prepping again.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Is there a reasonable date for you to retest that will allow you enough time to do better and not push you into the next application cycle? It\u2019s important that you\u2019re not rushing your prep to beat a deadline, and it\u2019s also essential that you give yourself a fair chance to reprep. After all, you wouldn\u2019t want to sit through a grueling day all over again if you didn\u2019t have time to address your MCAT content, strategy, or timing gaps. If you\u2019re not sure where you fell behind, a <a title=\"mcat prep\" href=\"https:\/\/www.kaptest.com\/mcat\">prep course or a tutor<\/a> can help you home on your specific areas for improvement. <\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<div  style='padding-bottom:10px; ' class='av-special-heading av-special-heading-h4    avia-builder-el-4  el_after_av_heading  el_before_av_sidebar  '><h4 class='av-special-heading-tag '  itemprop=\"headline\"  >Do NOT retake the MCAT if:<\/h4><div class='special-heading-border'><div class='special-heading-inner-border' ><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<ol>\n<li><b>You won\u2019t have enough time to study again in a way that addresses what you may have missed the first time around. <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Since you can only hold one test date at a time, and it can take a month to get your MCAT score, you\u2019ll need to plan strategically. Ideally, if you\u2019re reading this before you ever take the MCAT, you\u2019ll <a title=\"when to take the MCAT\" href=\"https:\/\/www.kaptest.com\/study\/mcat\/when-should-i-register-for-the-mcat\/\">plan on testing in early spring<\/a> \u2014 January, March, or April. This gives you a wide margin of error in case you do retake the MCAT. If your school, work, or life schedule won\u2019t allow you enough time to take on studying for the MCAT again in earnest, you won\u2019t do yourself any favors. And, even though most students who retake the MCAT end up scoring higher, there is a chance that you score could actually decrease. <\/span><\/li>\n<li><b>Scored higher than 518 and your current score is in the range of all the schools you\u2019re applying to.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> The median score gain for students who sat for the MCAT again after scoring 518 or higher is only one point. That means a lot of time and effort that could have gone into other parts of your application have gone to make a very small movement in your overall percentile ranking.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><b>You think the people in your class or post-bac program did much better than you.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Everyone\u2019s path to medical school is different, as is everyone\u2019s definition of their dream school. More than that, medical school admissions committees look at your application holistically, i.e. you\u2019re not just your MCAT score. Although a low MCAT score is usually the biggest application killer, if your score is in the range of admitted students for your dream school, you should be proud of your work and consider carefully whether you want to sit for the exam again. Your application and your credentials are unique, so don\u2019t worry about anyone else. They may envy your GPA, clinical experience, or stellar recommendations<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Looking to boost your MCAT score? Check out <a title=\"MCAT\" href=\"https:\/\/www.kaptest.com\/mcat\">Kaplan&#8217;s MCAT prep resources<\/a>!<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><div  class='avia-builder-widget-area clearfix  avia-builder-el-5  el_after_av_heading  avia-builder-el-last '><div id=\"text-72\" class=\"widget clearfix widget_text\">\t\t\t<div class=\"textwidget\"><p><code><br \/>\n<span data-sumome-listbuilder-embed-id=\"412169cd3aa9977143b6f06c0fae300dfc947b95c5705249ca54c9f4a812a953\"><\/span><br \/>\n<\/code><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div><div id=\"text-73\" class=\"widget clearfix widget_text\">\t\t\t<div class=\"textwidget\"><p><code><br \/>\n<span data-sumome-listbuilder-embed-id=\"69112752ce12d39d65c983f7db76907ae236d4cb30c38eaf7538c5f1d3530ae0\"><\/span><br \/>\n<\/code><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div><\/div><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>About 24% of MCAT test-takers between 2015 and 2017 took the exam more than once. So while retaking the MCAT isn\u2019t the norm, it\u2019s certainly not an anomaly. If you\u2019re considering retaking the MCAT because your score isn\u2019t competitive for the medical schools you\u2019ll be applying to, or because you believe you can perform better, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":27282,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2],"tags":[3],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpapp.kaptest.com\/study\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22598"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpapp.kaptest.com\/study\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpapp.kaptest.com\/study\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpapp.kaptest.com\/study\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpapp.kaptest.com\/study\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22598"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/wpapp.kaptest.com\/study\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22598\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34436,"href":"https:\/\/wpapp.kaptest.com\/study\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22598\/revisions\/34436"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpapp.kaptest.com\/study\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27282"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpapp.kaptest.com\/study\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22598"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpapp.kaptest.com\/study\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22598"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpapp.kaptest.com\/study\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22598"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}