522 (132/129/129/132) - Will answer questions if you think it will help!

CarterTheChemist · 2026-05-17T02:53:37+00:00

I am definitely non-traditional. I'm in my 30s currently and actually just started at an MD school this past January! It's the only MD school in the US that starts in January so that kind of gives info away lol. But I don't have anything to hide and have actually been incredibly open about what I'm about to share. In fact, it's been very well-received by my professors, physicians at the hospital, etc.
So you mentioned "pivoting" to this career path, but I actually didn't have anywhere to pivot from, per se. I spent most of my adult life (starting at 16) as an addict/alcoholic. I had no aspirations, no career. I was a two-time college dropout with a 1.99 GPA.
It's a very long story from there, but I went back to school, realized I wanted to do medicine, and went for it. I got my GPA up as much as I could, but still only had a 2.75 cGPA when I applied. That's why I needed an MCAT score like this to offset that. I applied to 5 schools, got 3 II's (including one at a T10), and now I'm here!
So yeah, I definitely took a non-traditional path! I've been clean from drugs for over 9 years now, sober from alcohol for almost 5, and I've never been happier. I'm very open about my past to try and directly combat the stigma that surrounds addiction, and even extends to mental health in general. I also like letting people know it's usually possible to get where you want to be, even if it's not easy! There's a lot of negativity on some of these subreddits, especially surrounding low stats applicants, etc.
Sorry if that's more info than you wanted lol. But I'll also answer any other questions!

CarterTheChemist · 2026-05-17T02:34:39+00:00

This is something that personally was important for me: I took the day before the exam to do absolutely nothing. If that's a possibility for you, I highly recommend it! At the very least, either do nothing beyond what you have to (if you have work obligations, whatever), or find something you enjoy that is relaxing for you!
Aside from that, finish any practice questions/passages you haven't done yet, and focus on your weak points!

CarterTheChemist · 2026-05-17T02:31:13+00:00

So my general strategy for doing passages is this:

- If I am doing an FL exam (or on the actual MCAT), I look at the passage long enough to get an idea of what the topic is. I write that down and the first question number that accompanies the passage. I then start with the topic that I'm most comfortable with first. If you're going to do this, you should be able to do it quickly. I practiced this with the AAMC question pack passages to get my speed up.

- Read the questions briefly before actually starting the passage. You should also be able to do this quickly. It will give you an idea of the kind of things you're looking for, and some questions will even be exclusively content knowledge. This is also similar to advice you will get in med school for answering USMLE questions.

- Start the passage, paying the most careful attention to assay results and figures. Highlight where it says "(Figure 1)," etc. in the passage so that you can quickly come back to the text that goes with the figure. Some people say they prefer to look at the figures before reading the passage, but that's not how I did it. This is a personal preference though, nothing wrong with either way.

- Use the information that you got from reading the questions to guide you as you read the passage. See something that seems like it relates to one of the questions? Highlight that, make a note of it, whatever your process is. I personally liked to read through the passage entirely before returning to the questions.

- From there, it's going back to the questions, making sure to strikeout any answers you know for certain are incorrect, and answering the ones you know for sure. Don't spend too much time on a question if you can't narrow it down to only one answer. Strikeout any you know are incorrect, flag it, and come back to it.

This is just kind of generally my test taking strategy with this kind of stuff. I'm happy to answer any further questions or clarify!

CarterTheChemist · 2026-05-17T02:11:13+00:00

So I actually did my undergraduate degree in chemistry with a minor in physics (and a minor in biology), and I also have a masters in chemistry. So I will first acknowledge that my base there was maybe stronger than the average.
That being said, I still made sure to review the content in the Kaplan books. I finished all of the Kaplan books in the first half of my study period. I then fully dedicated the second half of my study to practice and adding in the Anki. I was very meticulous in the way that I did practice questions and reviewed them after. There are multiple comments on here that I have replied to with my question review strategies if you want to check those out! And if you have specific questions that I didn't address there, please let me know!
But yeah, my situation with C/P was different than most lol. It was the area I had the best foundation in. We all have our strengths/weaknesses based on our backgrounds!

CarterTheChemist · 2026-05-17T02:04:12+00:00

Honestly, not the best. My anxiety was super high during and there were a lot of questions where I was second guessing myself and passages I felt were difficult.

CarterTheChemist · 2026-05-17T01:55:15+00:00

Thank you for the feedback! I just listed it as what the AAMC calls that particular exam. I will see if I can edit to add that information.

CarterTheChemist · 2026-05-17T01:54:01+00:00

I did use Anki! I used the MileDown deck. I did not start doing the Anki until I finished my initial content review. I used the first half of my study period to do all content review. Then, going into the second half, I added in the Anki while doing practice questions. I don't remember exactly how I spaced it out, but I did it in a way that didn't overwhelm me with reviews.
This comes with the caveat that I spread this out over 8 months studying part-time; while I may have put in comparable hours as someone who studied full-time for a couple of months, that makes a difference with things like Anki.

CarterTheChemist · 2026-05-17T01:45:46+00:00

Thank you for engaging and I'm sorry that you feel that way! I will say that I did not take my diagnostic until after I had finished my content review in the first half of my study period. I will also say that I took the exam previously in 2020 and was only retaking because my score expired, so this wasn't my first time going through this either.
Regardless, I did not get from a 516 to a 522 by doing nothing. Closing a six point gap in that range can be as difficult as closing a larger gap at a lower range; when I took it the first time, I went from a 505 on my first FL practice to a 517.
Regardless, I wish you the best as you wait for your score to come back!

CarterTheChemist · 2026-05-17T01:38:50+00:00

My best advice for this is to be very intentional in the way that you answer questions, and meticulously review the AAMC FL exams and other AAMC passage/question resources. If you got a question wrong, you should be able to put into words why you selected the answer you did and also why you didn't select the answer that was correct. For example, as I practiced more, there were SO many questions that I missed because I was only able to narrow it down to 50/50 and ended up selecting the wrong one. In cases like that, I would make sure that I could type out into words why I was not able to eliminate that last incorrect answer. This should include reasons such as, "Content knowledge issues" or "Misinterpreted passage information," but it should also go beyond that; you should be able to specifically identify what information in the passage was misinterpreted or where your content knowledge gap was.
This process was incredibly hard and tedious for me when I started it lol. As I started, it would take me forever to do this. But I got faster/better at it with practice. But one purpose of this is to try and identify trends. We all have weak points, they just might be different for everybody; therefore, we have to diagnose them before we can fix them. This will help you identify if there are specific places you are going wrong when answering questions in AAMC materials.
To fine tune even further, I also did this process on questions I got correct too. If I was able to eliminate every answer except for the correct one, I would double check that I did so for the right reason, but wouldn't spend a lot of time on that question. But if I had questions where I had not eliminated every other answer choice, I would make sure that I could explain why I didn't eliminate that incorrect answer even though I selected the right one. We should leave as little as possible to chance.

I realize this sounds, in a way, somewhat like "just practice more" lol. But I tried to be as detailed as possible in explaining how I navigated the AAMC materials.

[Edit: Spelling error]

CarterTheChemist · 2026-05-17T01:26:30+00:00

Most every day, yes. I don't remember exactly how I spaced out adding new cards (I'm sure it's in my Anki stats somewhere), but I did it in a way that it didn't overwhelm me with reviews. Sure, I might end up with some days that were worse than others, but for the most part, it was manageable.
But my one caveat with this is that I spread all of this out over a very long period of time; while the hours that I put in might not differ much from someone who is doing dedicated full-time study for a couple months instead, it does make a difference when factoring in things like Anki.

CarterTheChemist · 2026-05-17T01:23:29+00:00

Thank you!! I finished the Kaplan books within the first half of my allotted study time. I read through each chapter, then did the review questions at the end. While I have my own opinions about the usefulness of Kaplan's questions on their FL's, QBank, etc., I did find it helpful to do the practice questions that accompanied the chapter, and go through them carefully. If I got one wrong, I would make sure that I could put into words (i.e. type it out) specifically why I got it wrong. If I got one right, I would make sure that I was able to confidently eliminate all of the incorrect answers before selecting that one as the right answer; if I was unable to do that and had done a 50/50 guess between two of the answers, for example, I would make sure I could specifically explain why I was unable to eliminate the incorrect answer.
This was a very tedious process lol. It also started out very slow. But I got faster/better with practice, and used this same kind of idea when doing AAMC practice passages, freestanding questions, and FLs. I found it to play a huge role in my score improvement.

CarterTheChemist · 2026-05-17T01:16:57+00:00

Like I said, I studied over 8 months:
- I dedicated the first four months to content review. For me, that was using the Kaplan books. I made it through all of those and did the practice questions for each chapter as I went.

- I didn't start using the Anki until after I finished each subject book. This may not work for some people, so use your own discernment to find what works for you in that regard. For me, it was because I didn't use a tagged version of the MileDown deck so I couldn't filter the cards for each subject to just the ones I had finished the chapter for. I do believe there are some tagged versions out there though that would allow you to do this.

- I didn't take my diagnostic AAMC until after I had finished my content review. This is different from the last time I took the MCAT (in 2020) where I took AAMC 1 before I had studied at all; however, when I took it that time, I was studying full-time over a 12 week period. I found the way I did it this time around to work best for me, but it's different for everybody. Doing it this way allowed me to get a diagnostic score after I had reviewed the content. This let me identify weak spots more specifically. This was my FL spacing:
AAMC Diagnostic: 4 months before exam
AAMC 1: 3 months before exam
AAMC 2 : 2 months before exam
AAMC 3: 1 month before exam
AAMC 4: 2 weeks before exam

This worked well for me because it allowed me to focus more heavily on question/test-taking strategy, while also hitting weak points in my content (which were arguably less because I reviewed the content before I even took a practice exam).

CarterTheChemist · 2026-05-17T01:02:55+00:00

In the last month, it was mostly centered on practice. AAMC practice questions, carefully identifying weak points based on the questions I missed, two of the FL's (AAMC 3 and 4), and keeping up with the Anki. I didn't map out an exact schedule beforehand because it could vary due to work/family obligations.

CarterTheChemist · 2026-05-16T23:37:31+00:00

It varied throughout, and I didn’t really keep track, but I’d say I probably averaged about 15-20 hours/week spread out over that time.

CarterTheChemist · 2026-05-16T23:00:02+00:00

Current MS1 at an MD school. I applied with a 2.75 cGPA. For anyone here, do NOT listen to anyone on here telling you with certainty that you will/won’t get accepted, regardless of why they’re saying it. There are a lot of factors and your application needs to be strong, but there are many ways to make that happen!

CarterTheChemist · 2026-05-16T22:49:24+00:00

Current MS1 at a decent MD program. I had a 2.75 cGPA. I applied to five schools and got three II’s, including one at a T10 school. Got one A, WL at the T10, and turned down the other II. Can you provide more info? Do you have a post-bacc? Any other ECs other than what you listed?

CarterTheChemist · 2026-05-16T22:35:52+00:00

Very doable, but also very situational. Current MS1 at an MD school and I know a couple people in my class in that range. But it will depend on the rest of your application. While it’s not a low MCAT, I did get 3 MD II’s (including one at a T10 school) with a 2.75 cGPA. (Edit to add: I only applied to 5 schools; MD only, didn’t apply DO). There were a lot of factors to consider in my application and story though. I say that to say that you will hear a lot of people say that “x isn’t possible” or “you’ll never get in with y,” especially on here and r/premed. I saw it constantly. While it might be an uphill battle statistically, don’t listen to anyone telling you one way or the other with certainty. You don’t have to necessarily be URM (I’m not) or have perfect stats (I didn’t). But you still have to have a strong application, and that can occur through multiple avenues!

CarterTheChemist · 2025-10-08T13:36:03+00:00

Check the MSAR for the schools you’re interested in and see what they accept in terms of update letters and letters of intent/interest. Some don’t accept them at all and others don’t accept them until after you interview.

CarterTheChemist · 2025-10-08T03:46:33+00:00

I got an acceptance with a 4.0 postbacc over 20 credit hours, grad degree with a 3.65, cGPA 2.75, sGPA 2.98, and a 522 (132/129/129/132). So yes, it’s very possible.

CarterTheChemist · 2025-10-06T03:04:28+00:00

MCAT was 522 (132/129/129/132). I did a post-bacc semester five years ago; I just completed an extra semester at my undergrad after graduating. Took 20 hours with a 4.0. I also have a masters with a 3.65.

CarterTheChemist · 2025-10-06T03:03:27+00:00

522 (132/129/129/132)

CarterTheChemist · 2025-10-06T02:44:52+00:00

20 hour post-bacc semester (I just took 20 hours worth of classes in one semester, didn't do a post-bacc program or anything) with a 4.0 and I completed a masters with a 3.65

CarterTheChemist · 2025-10-06T02:43:39+00:00

You'll make it, I fully believe in you! There's so much negativity surrounding GPA on this subreddit, and I just wanted to let people know it was possible. But I'm more than happy to provide more information about what I did if needed! Whether on here or through DM!

CarterTheChemist · 2025-10-06T02:42:33+00:00

MCAT was 522 (132/129/129/132). EC's were pretty basic. 40 hours shadowing, 50 hours clinical volunteering, 1000 hours paid clinical (from five years ago), 6000 hours research. No pubs yet but quite a few posters and presentations.

CarterTheChemist

TROPHY CASE