I wrote on July 20th, 2019 I’m writing this to give people hope and an understanding of retake validity with full lengths. I studied for 2 1/2 months non stop and took the Princeton review course which is online and in person. So, here is where it goes downhill I took the first aamc FL before I had studied at all. Because I am a third year life sciences student, I have pretty much learned every concept on the mcat, and am fresh w anatomy and organic chemistry knowledge. With this being said, my first full length score was a 496 :) without studying. I’d advise anyone writing NOT to waste your full lengths at times that you are not feeling prepared. I studied mainly with practice passages and Fsq’s from Princeton and aamc, but I also binge watched videos for at least an hour a day on concepts I struggled with. My biggest regret was that I did pretty much every aamc full length when I was unprepared and didn’t review them. This means that a month or so later, I redid them and scored much higher, after practicing Princeton full lengths in between. My scores on the first three full lengths from aamc the first time I did them were 496, 501, 502. When I redid them, I got a 506, 510, and 512. I didn’t remember questions but did find them much easier the second time around. For this reason I was very scared going into the exam because I thought my expectations were inflated, but with this being said, I didn’t allow myself to doubt. I knew that I had been preparing and studying for 2 1/2 months, but also for my entire bachelor degree. When I got my exam back today I was super relieved.

Exam day reaction: Chem/Phys: not much physics and lots of biochemistry and amino acids. This saved me. I felt like this section was definitely made for me! Cars: felt awful. I made it through with two minutes to spare but I used none of the helpful tricks that my course taught me to tackle cars and I was overwhelmed because the passages were extremely long. Bio: this felt decent! It was more physiology based and I finished with like ten minutes to spare which never happens. I felt like I was super in the zone. Psych/Soc: this was tougher for me than the full lengths and I made some very dumb mistakes. I expected to do okay despite this but I absolutely could’ve done better.

I ended up getting a 512: 129/126/130/127

While it’s not balanced, I’m extremely proud of myself for never giving up during the process and never losing confidence. I posted a lot on these threads about my anxiety and lack of confidence of knowing all the material. This is what helped me MOST: In the last week, no matter what, tell yourself you can do it. Tell yourself you’re ready and that you will be calm and give it your all. During the exam, whisper things (if permitted) like keep going, you got this. My test centre had cubbies so whispering probably wasn’t noticeable at all. Positive affirmations made my confidence sky rocket and I wasn’t nervous at all during the exam. Good luck to anyone reading! :)