Many of you are planning on taking the MCAT or the DAT more than once. One
of my colleagues at another school suggested the following and many medical
school admissions officers concurred.
Before you make such a decision you should ask yourself the following
questions:
Looking at your past history, how have you tended to perform on standardized
tests?
How well did you prepare? Did you thoroughly review and take many, many
practice tests?
How did you score on practice tests?
How did you feel the actual test went for you? Were you sick? Were you
overly anxious? Did you run out of time before answering all the questions?,
etc.
Do you feel your scores accurately represent your ability?
How competitive are the other aspects of your candidacy? Grades, activities,
recommendations, etc.
Are there other important contexts for interpreting your scores? Are you
disadvantaged, learning disabled, a first-generation college student, or a
member of an underrepresented minority with lower average scores?, Was
English your second language?, etc.
Where would you like to go to school? Admissions guides usually list average
test scores for accepted candidates. Schools also have different policies
for how they will use the scores from multiple tests.
What was your overall performance? Dental schools usually use the academic
average, but differ in how they use the perceptual ability score. Optometry
schools usually use the academic average. And, medical schools usually use
the total of the verbal, physical and biological science sections.
Are there individual scores which might be seen as significant weaknesses?
Whether or not a score is seen as weakness depends on the evaluator and the
context (grades in related courses, English as a 2nd language, etc.).
What happened to other people who re-took the test with similar initial
scores? In general, those who scored lower than average tend to improve,
while those who scored higher than average, often score lower on a re-take.
Hint for medical school applicants, there is some helpful data at
<http://www.aamc.org/students/mcat/examineedata/tables.htm>
www.aamc.org/students/mcat/examineedata/tables.htm.
How thoroughly could you prepare for a retake? Because most students are out
of an academic mode in the summer, it is especially important to thoroughly
prepare for an end-of-summer test.
What opportunities would you miss out on by re-taking the test? Would your
time, effort and money be better spent strengthening other aspects of your
candidacy, or do you really need an improved score to be competitive?
Do you want to retake the test? Are you energized enough to do the
preparation and practice necessary to improve your scores?
And, if you do decide to take the test again, don't fall into the trap of
studying just for the test you already took. It's important to re-review for
all the topics that could be sampled!
In general, if you scored lower than average for admission, you have
indications you can do significantly better, and you are motivated to
thoroughly review and practice, then signs point to re-taking.
Hope this helps, Mrs. Wood-Hill
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