There is a lot of information all over the internet for premeds, but a lot of it is questionable, to put it nicely. Savvy Premed is a welcome exception. They have great material covering all aspects of the premed journey, including some helpful MCAT information.
I recommend anyone preparing for med school applications check out Savvy Premed, and that they start with 6 Ways to Level Up for Medical School Application
All six tips are important, but as an MCAT CARS tutor, I want to focus on #2: MCAT percentiles. Here we have a nice chart that shows us the 50th, 80th, and 95th percentiles for combined and sectional scores of the MCAT, as well as a link to the newest stats from the AAMC.
Let’s discuss some of important things that jump out about the AAMC’s newest MCAT CARS data. As usual, CARS is the lowest. The reasons why are best saved for another post, but this trend is the very definition of consistent. Consequently, an important conclusion about the MCAT remains: the best place to make significant improvements to an applicant’s MCAT score is in CARS. For the vast majority of students, it is the section with the most room for growth. You will want to study for each of the sections of the MCAT, but don’t neglect how much CARS can do for your combined score.
The last thing I noticed from the AAMC data is that, once again, the number of MCAT takers has increased, now to 52,777. As the number of MCAT takers continues to grow, you will want to get every edge over your competition.