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Home / Registering for the Mcat. If I Took It Once

Registering for the Mcat. If I Took It Once

Learn when to take the MCAT, including the earliest date and the absolute latest date you should take the exam

(Note: This resource also appears in our MCAT Ultimate Guide.)

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Introduction

If yous're applying to medical schoolhouse, the many application components y'all need to take care of, from your personal statement to your messages of recommendation, might make your medical schoolhouse awarding timeline feel like a juggling act.

However, all premeds know to plan around 1 major milestone: the MCAT. Your score on this formidable exam, along with your college GPA, will of course be a huge factor in determining which schools you become into.

We get a lot of questions nearly what MCAT score to aim for or what a practiced MCAT score is, which are closely followed by questions nigh when to take the MCAT, variations of which include:

  • When should I accept the MCAT?

  • When is the best time to have the MCAT?

  • When is the primeval I should take the MCAT?

  • When is the latest I should take the MCAT?

  • What's the absolute latest date I can take the MCAT and still apply during a given awarding cycle?

So, when should y'all have the MCAT to maximize your score and improve your admissions odds?

While the AAMC offers effectually 30 MCAT test dates each twelvemonth, some volition exist better options for yous than others depending on where you are in your education and when you intend to apply to medical schoolhouse. There is no universal "best month" to take the MCAT.

In this guide, we'll respond the most common MCAT questions in club to help y'all effectively plan your medical school admissions process.

(Suggested reading: Average GPA and MCAT Score For Every Medical School)

When is the earliest I should have the MCAT?

The earliest y'all should have the MCAT is sometime late in your sophomore year or during the summertime between your sophomore and junior years. You'll have completed most of your medical school prerequisites by and then, thus minimizing the amount of content review you'll accept to take on, regardless of which MCAT prep books or course you purchase.

If you're an early on bird when information technology comes to taking the MCAT, you'll accept plenty of test appointment options, equally 24 of the 30 or so test dates fall between April and September. Simply make sure to requite yourself enough of study time—somewhere between two and four months, depending on your command of the materials and your ability to devote full effort—so you can do as well as possible during your commencement attempt. Taking the MCAT isn't fun and retaking the MCAT is fifty-fifty less so.

(If yous're wondering how far in accelerate to report for the MCAT, we suggest you lot read the following guide: The Platonic MCAT Study Schedule.)

When is the latest I should take the MCAT?

You should plan to take the MCAT for the final time between Jan and April of your application twelvemonth. For instance, if yous'd like to enroll in medical schoolhouse in Baronial 2024, you'll want to accept your MCAT during the first iv months of 2023—that is, no afterwards than April 2023.

You may wonder why you demand that kind of window. After all, AMCAS won't even let you submit your primary application until late May.

In that location are a few reasons why it's to your benefit to wrap upwardly the MCAT by Apr:

  • Y'all'll desire to spend serious time writing your application essays. If you wait too long to accept your MCAT, you won't exist able to devote enough attention to your medical school personal statement, AMCAS Piece of work and Activities section, and numerous secondary essays (including pre-writing secondary essays before secondary applications are released).

  • Your MCAT score(s) will be a primary factor in determining which medical schools yous should apply to. You don't want to spend valuable time and money applying to certain med schools and notice out after the fact that your MCAT score doesn't even put you in the running for consideration.

  • Your MCAT score won't be released until about a month afterwards the exam. If you lot want adcoms to review your applications with your full prepare of scores in hand, and yous want to take total advantage of medical schools' rolling admissions process, you should complete your testing early.

We emphasize final time because you may want to take the MCAT more than in one case. You tin take it upwards to three times during a testing year, 4 times during two consecutive years, and seven times during your life. (Note: Voiding your examination or declining to show up to a scheduled test appointment volition still count towards these limits.)

That means that if you're not scoring as loftier every bit you'd like on your diagnostics or practise tests by the stop of the summer before your application twelvemonth (past August 2022, using our above example), it's a good idea to build in some time to take the MCAT twice, only in example. You don't want to be rushing through the test while also writing your medical school personal argument and secondary essays, prepping for CASPer, and (hopefully) readying yourself for medical school interviews.

What year of college should I take the MCAT?

We sometimes get this variant of the "What is the earliest/latest I should take the MCAT?" question. While you can technically take the MCAT any time, you should accept it during the summer afterward sophomore year at the earliest, and April of your application twelvemonth at the latest. Sometimes, your "application year" corresponds to leap of your junior year; other times, information technology corresponds to the jump of your senior year or a gap twelvemonth. Just brand sure to optimize for your best score in the fewest possible attempts.

A timeline for your concluding MCAT test date

Working backwards, here's a conservative program designed to give y'all your best shot at acing the MCAT:

  • Summer before your application year (i.e., June–Baronial): Study for the MCAT

  • Autumn before your application year (i.due east., September): Accept the MCAT once (Note: The MCAT is not offered between October and December)

  • Wintertime of your awarding year (i.e., Jan–April): Retake the MCAT, if necessary

If you're a terrific test taker and have been scoring well, you may not need to bake in that 2nd effort. Nevertheless, if you're applying to med school while still in college, programme to devote the summer before your application year (i.e., the summer between sophomore and junior twelvemonth) to studying for the MCAT in order to requite yourself the greatest number of testing options going forward.

When should you non accept the MCAT?

Since the MCAT is so important, you'll want to exist adequately prepared for the MCAT each time you accept it. Therefore, hither are some considerations for when non to take the exam:

  • If you haven't studied many of the topics on the test in college (nosotros recommend having completed at to the lowest degree 80 percent of your prerequisites)

  • If you're scoring poorly on the AAMC practice exams and need more time to study

  • If you feel spread and so thin with other priorities that you may demand separate time solely allotted for MCAT studying

What'due south the absolute latest engagement I can accept the MCAT without delaying my medical school awarding?

To avoid causing whatsoever awarding delays, the very latest date by which you lot'll want to accept the MCAT is the terminal test date offered in May of your application year. MCAT scores are released roughly one month afterward you take the exam, and since AMCAS applications aren't released to schools until late June, taking the MCAT on the terminal May date won't delay review of your application in any way.

Be aware that AACOMAS (the Exercise medical school awarding) and TMDSAS (the Texas medical school application) have slightly earlier timelines: AACOMAS starts transmitting applications to med schools on June 15th, and TMDSAS begins on June 1st. So, if you're likewise submitting applications within these systems, you'll almost likely want to take the MCAT by mid-May or the end of April, at the very latest.

Of class, most medical schools don't really review your application until y'all submit their secondary application. Therefore, the real respond to this question is: The absolute latest date you can take the MCAT is whichever test date has a score release date closest to your secondary application submission.

Nevertheless, we still don't recommend that you consider MCAT test dates after than May of your awarding twelvemonth for the reasons discussed above.

(Suggested reading: TMDSAS: The UItimate Guide and Medico vs. Do: The Biggest Differences (And Which is Improve))

How many times should I take the MCAT?

As few times every bit possible. Even so, this doesn't mean that taking the MCAT multiple times necessarily looks bad. And then far as your scores meaningfully increase from administration to administration, med schools will probable be fine with it. For example, suppose you start out with a 508 on your first attempt and get a 518 on your second try. We would all concord that your retake was worth information technology. However, if yous get-go with a 508 and get a 509 on your second attempt, we would probably say that your retake wasn't worth it.

If you lot're considering a 2nd (or third) attempt or simply want to learn more about how how adcoms view multiple MCAT attempts, we suggest you read our guide on retaking the MCAT.

How long are MCAT scores valid?

At the majority of medical schools, MCAT scores earned within the past 2 to three years are considered valid. Withal, to brand matters more complicated, some med schools require a score accomplished inside two to iii years of the date of application, whereas others count backwards from matriculation—this tin event in a discrepancy of a year or more between schools.

It's worth noting that, in and of themselves, MCAT scores technically don't "expire" every bit far every bit the AAMC is concerned. Rather, the window of acceptable score dates is set up by each individual medical school.

That's why you should wait up in advance the primeval test appointment accepted by each med schoolhouse that interests you lot. MSAR or schools' admissions websites will exist able to provide this information.

(Suggested reading: How to Use MSAR to Build Your Medical Schoolhouse List)

How does my graduation twelvemonth touch on the expiration of my MCAT score?

Sometimes students who programme to graduate early or take a gap yr ask usa how those plans will affect the expiration dates of their MCAT scores. The answer is: they don't. So, regardless of when you graduate (including if you're a nontraditional bidder), remember that what matters when determining score validity is when you want to begin medical schoolhouse.

For instance, let's say you'll be graduating in May 2024 and plan to take a gap yr earlier inbound med school in August 2025. Based on the reasons outlined above, nosotros'd recommend taking the MCAT no after than Apr 2024. Setting a foolproof earliest test date is more complicated; nevertheless, summer 2022—between sophomore and junior twelvemonth—would likely be the earliest date you'd want to consider.

Deport in mind, however, that if you didn't make it anywhere and had to reapply to medical school the following year, a summertime 2022 engagement would exist expired in the optics of some medical schools, thus potentially forcing you lot to have the MCAT over again.

Final thoughts

Students oftentimes enquire when is the best time to take the MCAT. The respond depends on when you lot tin fairly prepare for the test and when y'all want to enter medical school.

Don't rush the studying procedure and take a chance a lower score, and don't spend so much time studying that you end upwardly delaying your applications. The same thinking applies to the question, "What year of college should I take the MCAT?"

We propose building your medical schoolhouse awarding timeline around your MCAT test dates. Remember that it'south just the starting signal, though, and that in one case you take your ideal score in manus, you'll want to turn your whole attention to the many essays that yet remain. That simply makes information technology all the more important that you lot get the timing correct for this crucial test.

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Source: https://www.shemmassianconsulting.com/blog/when-to-take-the-mcat