Posted by: Tim on: August 10, 2008
After every year’s MCAT score release date, the question of whether one should rewrite the MCAT comes up or what can I do with this (insert number+letter here). This question is so common that several forums are dedicated to answering this question including one for Canadian Students and one for American Students. I have decided to write a guide to help people who are in this situation figure out what their next steps should be. I will be writing this for Canadian audiences, but the ideas and principles should work the same with American Schools. I will update this in the future to provide examples from both countries.
This step should be pretty self-explanatory for all test-writers. Your score should be a number ranging anywhere from 8-43 (I’ve never heard of any score <8 or similarly the other extreme >43) and a letter from J-T. A key fact about the MCAT is it is a curved test. That means that your grade is a reflection on how well you did on the test relative to other students who took the same test. The median of the test will always be 24 because AAMC sets it up this way. In other words, what really matters is your percentile score and how well you did compared to other test-takers. It’s set up this way to ensure that all the tests are standardized so even if you find one sitting of the MCAT harder than another sitting, you won’t be punished for answering less questions correct because your fellow test takers will have found it just as hard. Regarding the letter score, it is sometimes looked at by schools and sometimes totally disregarded by other schools.
Most medical schools require their students to be above average. A score of 24 will not cut it for almost all schools. A standing in the 80th percentile is a solid score, but there are more factors to consider than just the percentile, which brings us to the next point.
