All premeds face the moment when, after finishing their MCAT, they are prompted by a final screen that presents two options: to have their exam scored, or to have their exam voided. With one click, the entire test can be discarded. When an MCAT is voided, the test will not be graded or recorded and, come application season, no medical school will know you took the MCAT on that date. The test will, nevertheless, count towards your limit on retakes, bringing the number of additional tests you can take from three to two in a calendar year, and seven to six lifetime administrations.

Honest Evaluation

Making such a decision under uncertainty is incredibly difficult, let alone during the high pressure environment of test day. When my students ask me when they should consider voiding the MCAT, I tell them that, while they can never truly know what the right answer is, taking several moments to honestly evaluate their exam experience can help them make this choice with confidence. Students should consider the following four questions. If the answer to each question is “no,” you can be confident in your choice to score your exam.

• In general, did passages and question stems feel different – and significantly harder – in presentation compared to the practice materials you have been using? It’s important to stress that you should be thinking about your exam generally and not dwell on a single question or passage that tripped you up. One reason is because on each section of the exam, there are several “beta” experimental questions that are not actually counted for your score. Thus, you may have encountered a handle of questions that, because they are experimental, are unusually obtuse and difficult. Do not catastrophize one or two tough questions that you encountered, but be honest with yourself if most passages felt more complex and challenging than usual.
• Did you confront more than a handful of scientific concepts or terms that you were wholly unfamiliar with? Anything more than a couple unfamiliar structures, processes, or reactions that forced you to guess on questions is likely a red flag indicating significant gaps in knowledge.
• Were there any major mishaps during your test? Examples of this include running out of time, which forced you to skip a passage.
• Were you distracted during the test? Did you have to screen out some annoying sensory stimuli during the test: noise, smell, lighting, sticky keyboard, dry mouth? Or were you worried about a headache, gastrointestinal signals, a situation in your life? Distractions can prevent you from retrieving stored information and higher level problem solving.

Your Best Effort

Only if the answer to these four questions is “no,” should you ask yourself one last question:

Did you honestly give your MCAT preparation your best concerted and dedicated effort over the past several months?

If you can honestly answer “yes” to that final, critical question – that you did give your MCAT studying your all – then you should trust in your best efforts and score the exam.

This post was written by Doug Russ, an MCAT tutor for Altius Test Prep who also privately mentors students preparing for the MCAT. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a B.A. in Biology and he has extensive experience tutoring college-level organic chemistry and high school science. Doug helps his students formulate and execute an effective and rigorous study plan that will help make their individual MCAT score goal a reality. He will be matriculating to medical school in the fall of 2019. You can reach him at druss94@gmail.com.

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