Visual Analysis of MCAT Re-tester Results

Photo by CRASH-candy

I was accepted into Medicine, more about that in a later post... I am truly overwhelmed right now. On top of everything, I cannot enjoy myself as fully as I wished to because of finals. I will start posting more stuff after the 22nd of April.


I remember I promised a couple more posts about the MCAT, and, indeed, this one is. However, we will zone in on a rather narrow topic. Numerous times I came across forum posts asking whether or not people should re-take the test. And every time a multitude of opinions seemed to confirm the lack of general consensus. As you may or may not know, the AAMC has (in fact, had) a relatively elaborate dataset about people who re-take the MCAT. How does (maybe, did?) this help us? Well, observe below and decide for yourself, based on large number stats whether or not you should re-take the test.
A couple of notes about the tables and my analysis:

• On the left you should look for your original score
• The top row is the possible change in this score upon retaking the MCAT
• The rows below indicate the percent of people who obtained this difference (increase or decrease)
• I color coded the difference (Green = Highest percent of people, Red = Lowest percent of people)
• The last column indicates the absolute number of people who obtained the score (which just tells you the distribution of marks according to the AAMC curving scheme)

DISCLAIMER: All the data is the property of AAMC, I have only presented it here with visual enhancements for your convenience. It was available at the following address: http://www.aamc.org/students/mcat/examineedata/tables.htm (not anymore, as of April 12, 2009).

Update: Until the next time AAMC changes the link, it seems to be back on their website.

Physical Sciences Score Change
Initial PS Score	-4 or more	-3	-2	-1	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7 or more	N
1					0	0	43	43	14	0	0	0	7
2				0	0	52	33	4	7	0	4	0	27
3			0	2	16	33	32	13	3	1	0	0	213
4		0	1	9	24	32	22	9	2	0	0	0	743
5	0	0	3	12	28	30	16	8	2	0	0	0	1476
6	0	1	4	15	31	28	15	5	2	1	0	0	2738
7	0	1	5	17	28	27	13	7	1	0	0	0	3331
8	0	1	7	19	30	20	14	5	2	0	0	0	3244
9	0	2	10	25	24	23	9	5	1	0	0		1704
10	1	6	19	22	26	15	9	2	1	0			1317
11	3	8	16	27	20	15	8	2	0				510
12	5	13	22	21	24	10	5	0					227
13	7	14	22	33	15	9	1						88
14	7	18	29	25	18	4							28

Verbal Reasoning Score Change
Initial VR Score	-4 or more	-3	-2	-1	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7 or more	N
1					10	36	29	16	4	6	0	0	70
2				2	24	28	26	13	5	1	1	0	349
3			1	11	18	23	19	19	6	3	1	0	617
4		0	4	10	18	22	25	13	6	3	1	0	1137
5	0	1	5	11	16	29	19	12	5	2	0	0	1293
6	0	1	5	10	24	22	19	13	5	1	0	0	2640
7	0	2	5	15	23	22	20	10	3	0	0	0	2462
8	1	2	10	17	22	25	15	7	1	0	0	0	2529
9	1	4	11	16	29	23	13	1	0	0	0		2368
10	1	5	10	24	29	25	5	2	0	0			1342
11	2	6	17	25	34	10	7	0	0				725
12	2	12	23	35	16	12	0	0					86
13	5	11	34	29	21	0	0						38

Writing Sample Score Change
Initial WS Score	-4 or more	-3	-2	-1	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7 or more	N
J					46	20	19	10	3	2	1	1	477
K				11	24	29	23	7	3	3	1	1	752
L			5	13	22	33	10	7	6	3	2	0	1630
M		2	5	16	33	15	11	8	7	2	0	0	3384
N	1	3	9	28	15	16	12	11	5	1	0		1928
O	1	6	21	13	17	15	16	8	2	0			2047
P	4	16	13	15	17	20	12	3	0				1740
Q	11	9	14	17	27	17	5	0					1904
R	12	9	12	27	28	12	1						1310
S	6	8	18	33	28	7							419
T	4	7	30	30	28								46

Biological Sciences Score Change
Initial BS Score	-4 or more	-3	-2	-1	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7 or more	N
1					12	14	33	21	9	5	2	5	43
2				2	16	28	20	17	10	5	2	1	186
3			1	8	22	24	21	15	7	2	1	0	407
4		1	2	9	18	27	22	11	8	4	1	0	870
5	0	1	4	10	17	24	17	18	7	3	0	0	1346
6	0	1	5	12	20	21	23	14	4	1	0	0	1841
7	0	1	4	13	18	27	23	10	2	0	0	0	2489
8	0	2	5	11	24	28	21	6	2	0	0	0	3186
9	0	2	5	16	27	32	12	5	1	0	0		2802
10	1	2	8	21	33	22	10	3	1	0			1748
11	1	3	12	34	25	18	6	0	0				529
12	3	8	29	30	16	11	3	0					152
13	4	13	29	27	18	9	0						45
14	36	27	18	18	0	0							11

As you can see, with increasing scores, re-taking the MCAT means you will drop in points, not increase. This is evidenced by the skewing of the green pattern to the left from the midline (0 change) as you go lower in the table (increasing original score). In fact, for most sections, increasing by more than 1 point above 7-8 is nearly impossible.

In conclusion, I suggest you contemplate very hard the outcome of re-taking the MCAT and the impact it can have on your application. There is no doubt that scores below 9 are not optimal for most medical schools, at least in Canada. Nevertheless, some schools don't require the MCAT altogether or look only at a specific aspect of it (McMaster -> verbal only, anyone have a clue???!!!). Of course, every school is different it their cutoffs and if your scores are good in all but one section, maybe it is better to forgo 1 school and try your luck with the current score than to drop and lose the opportunity you had previously.

P.S.
Regardless of your chances, I wish you all good luck with taking and re-taking this test. If you went this far, you already have a lot of courage. You need to keep pushing and never give up until you reach your dream. I know people who only got a great score after sitting 2, even 3 times.