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 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