Deciding whether or not you should void your MCAT can be an exhausting and nerve-wracking experience. Many factors must be accounted for before you can confidently make that decision.
Before we dive into the 4 factors to consider before deciding to void your MCAT, let’s first answer, what are the implications of voiding your MCAT exam?
Fortunately for pre-meds, medical schools do not see that you voided your MCAT. However, your voided attempt counts toward your 7 lifetime MCAT attempts as well as your three attempts per year. Another thing to mention is that your voided attempt is non-refundable.
Should I Void My MCAT Score if My Practice Exams Scores Were Bad?
The best way to gauge where you’re at in your MCAT preparation is by taking practice exams. If you’re satisfied with your practice exam scores, then you’re adequately prepared for test day. An important thing premeds tend not to understand is that it’s normal to get the jitters on test day, pre-med students should simply ignore this feeling and proceed onwards with their exam. More likely than not, you’ll score in the same ballpark as your practice exams.
Now of course pre-med students should take this advice with a grain of salt. If you’re taking your exam and are completely lost on passages while leaving multiple questions unanswered, then this situation calls for a void.
If Something Happened to Me Just Before My Test, Should I Void My Score?
Imagine you’re on your way to your MCAT testing center and you receive a phone call telling you that a loved one was involved in an accident and is in critical condition. This is substantial news to take in, let alone right before arguably the most important exam of your career. Despite this heart-wrenching news you decide to push through and still take your exam. However, throughout the exam, your focus is gone and you can’t help but think about how that loved one is doing.
If You Were Not Full Focused On Your Exam, You Should Likely Void.
Your mind isn’t on the exam, an unprecedented event happened that threw you off. Now everyone is different and some of us might still be able to tackle the MCAT despite hearing heart-wrenching news. But for the majority of us, it’s too much to handle. Other unprecedented events might include sudden sickness, a fire alarm, or a power outage. If you feel that your focus is off and you’ve lost the rhythm/groove you were in, voiding your MCAT exam would be a viable option.
My MCAT Seemed Harder Than I Prepped For, Should I Void or Will the Scale Help Me?
If you find yourself taking the MCAT and are quickly caught off guard by the difficulty of the questions, more likely than not other pre-med students taking the exam that day feel the same way as you do. Because the MCAT is scaled, your performance is based relative to how everyone who took the exam that day did. Essentially you’ll need fewer questions marked correct to get the score you were hoping for.
What If I’m Not Ready to Apply to Medical School Yet?
Something important to consider when deciding to void your MCAT or not is where in the medical school application cycle you are. If you’re taking your exam before the admission cycle commences, then voiding your MCAT is a plausible option. However, if you’re in the middle of your application cycle, voiding can have detrimental effects on your success in matriculating into medical school. Remember medical schools admit on a rolling basis, the faster you get your test scores and transcripts submitted, the greater your chances of getting an acceptance into a medical school.
