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Larn 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 you're applying to medical school, the many application components you need to take care of, from your personal statement to your messages of recommendation, might make your medical schoolhouse application timeline feel similar a juggling act.

However, all premeds know to plan around 1 major milestone: the MCAT. Your score on this formidable examination, along with your college GPA, volition of course exist a huge cistron in determining which schools y'all get into.

We get a lot of questions most what MCAT score to aim for or what a adept MCAT score is, which are closely followed by questions about when to have the MCAT, variations of which include:

• When should I accept the MCAT?

• When is the best time to take the MCAT?

• When is the earliest I should take the MCAT?

• When is the latest I should accept the MCAT?

• What'southward the absolute latest engagement I can take the MCAT and still apply during a given application cycle?

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

While the AAMC offers around thirty MCAT test dates each year, some will be better options for you than others depending on where y'all are in your education and when y'all intend to apply to medical schoolhouse. In that location is no universal "best month" to take the MCAT.

In this guide, we'll answer the most common MCAT questions in order to assist you finer plan your medical school admissions process.

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

When is the earliest I should take the MCAT?

The earliest you should take the MCAT is sometime late in your sophomore yr or during the summertime betwixt your sophomore and junior years. Y'all'll take completed most of your medical school prerequisites past and so, thus minimizing the amount of content review you'll take to take on, regardless of which MCAT prep books or course you buy.

If you're an early bird when it comes to taking the MCAT, y'all'll have plenty of test appointment options, as 24 of the 30 or and then test dates autumn between Apr and September. Only make certain to requite yourself enough of study time—somewhere between two and four months, depending on your control of the materials and your ability to devote full effort—so y'all tin can do besides every bit possible during your showtime effort. Taking the MCAT isn't fun and retaking the MCAT is fifty-fifty less and so.

(If you're wondering how far in advance to study for the MCAT, nosotros suggest y'all read the post-obit guide: The Ideal MCAT Study Schedule.)

When is the latest I should take the MCAT?

You should plan to take the MCAT for the last time between January and April of your application year. For instance, if you'd like to enroll in medical school in Baronial 2024, yous'll want to take your MCAT during the first four months of 2023—that is, no later than April 2023.

You may wonder why you need that kind of window. Afterward all, AMCAS won't even permit y'all submit your primary application until belatedly May.

At that place are a few reasons why it's to your benefit to wrap up the MCAT by April:

• Y'all'll want to spend serious time writing your application essays. If you wait also long to accept your MCAT, yous won't be able to devote enough attending to your medical school personal statement, AMCAS Work and Activities section, and numerous secondary essays (including pre-writing secondary essays earlier secondary applications are released).

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

• Your MCAT score won't be released until nigh a month after the examination. If you want adcoms to review your applications with your full fix of scores in hand, and you desire to take full advantage of medical schools' rolling admissions process, you should complete your testing early.

We emphasize final fourth dimension because y'all may want to have the MCAT more than once. You can have it up to iii times during a testing year, four times during two sequent years, and seven times during your life. (Note: Voiding your exam or failing to testify upwards to a scheduled test date will however count towards these limits.)

That means that if you're not scoring equally loftier as you'd like on your diagnostics or practice tests by the end of the summer before your application year (by Baronial 2022, using our above example), it'due south a good idea to build in some time to accept the MCAT twice, but in case. Yous don't want to be rushing through the test while also writing your medical schoolhouse personal statement and secondary essays, prepping for CASPer, and (hopefully) readying yourself for medical schoolhouse interviews.

What year of college should I take the MCAT?

We sometimes become 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 take it during the summer afterward sophomore year at the primeval, and April of your application year at the latest. Sometimes, your "application year" corresponds to spring of your junior year; other times, it corresponds to the spring of your senior year or a gap year. Merely make sure to optimize for your best score in the fewest possible attempts.

A timeline for your final MCAT test engagement

Working backwards, here'due south a conservative program designed to give you your best shot at acing the MCAT:

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

• Fall before your awarding year (i.e., September): Have the MCAT once (Note: The MCAT is not offered between October and December)

• Winter of your application year (i.due east., January–April): Retake the MCAT, if necessary

If you're a terrific test taker and take been scoring well, you may not need to bake in that second try. Even so, if you lot're applying to med school while still in higher, plan to devote the summer before your application year (i.e., the summer between sophomore and junior year) to studying for the MCAT in lodge to requite yourself the greatest number of testing options going forward.

When should y'all not take the MCAT?

Since the MCAT is then important, you'll want to be adequately prepared for the MCAT each fourth dimension you take it. Therefore, here are some considerations for when not to have the exam:

• If you oasis't studied many of the topics on the test in higher (we recommend having completed at least 80 percentage of your prerequisites)

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

• If you experience spread so thin with other priorities that y'all may need dissever time solely allotted for MCAT studying

What'south the absolute latest engagement I tin can take the MCAT without delaying my medical school application?

To avoid causing whatsoever application delays, the very latest appointment by which y'all'll desire to take the MCAT is the last examination date offered in May of your application year. MCAT scores are released roughly one calendar month subsequently you take the exam, and since AMCAS applications aren't released to schools until late June, taking the MCAT on the final May engagement won't delay review of your application in any way.

Be aware that AACOMAS (the Practice medical school application) 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 too submitting applications inside these systems, yous'll about likely want to take the MCAT by mid-May or the end of Apr, at the very latest.

Of course, nigh medical schools don't really review your application until you submit their secondary application. Therefore, the real reply to this question is: The accented latest date you lot tin take the MCAT is whichever test engagement has a score release date closest to your secondary awarding submission.

Nevertheless, nosotros still don't recommend that you lot consider MCAT test dates later than May of your application year for the reasons discussed above.

(Suggested reading: TMDSAS: The UItimate Guide and MD vs. Exercise: The Biggest Differences (And Which is Better))

How many times should I take the MCAT?

As few times as possible. However, this doesn't hateful that taking the MCAT multiple times necessarily looks bad. So far as your scores meaningfully increment from assistants to administration, med schools will probable be fine with it. For example, suppose you starting time out with a 508 on your first effort and become a 518 on your second attempt. Nosotros would all agree that your retake was worth it. Yet, if yous starting time with a 508 and become a 509 on your 2nd endeavor, we would probably say that your retake wasn't worth information technology.

If yous're considering a second (or third) effort or merely want to acquire more than 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 bulk of medical schools, MCAT scores earned within the past two to three years are considered valid. However, to brand matters more complicated, some med schools crave a score accomplished within two to three years of the date of application, whereas others count backwards from matriculation—this can effect in a discrepancy of a twelvemonth or more between schools.

It's worth noting that, in and of themselves, MCAT scores technically don't "expire" equally far as the AAMC is concerned. Rather, the window of acceptable score dates is ready past each individual medical school.

That'due south why you lot should look up in advance the earliest test appointment accepted by each med school that interests you lot. MSAR or schools' admissions websites will be able to provide this information.

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

How does my graduation year affect the expiration of my MCAT score?

Sometimes students who programme to graduate early on or take a gap year enquire the states how those plans will affect the expiration dates of their MCAT scores. The answer is: they don't. So, regardless of when yous graduate (including if you lot're a nontraditional applicant), recollect that what matters when determining score validity is when you lot want to brainstorm medical school.

For example, permit's say you lot'll be graduating in May 2024 and plan to take a gap year before inbound med school in August 2025. Based on the reasons outlined in a higher place, we'd recommend taking the MCAT no later on than April 2024. Setting a foolproof earliest exam date is more complicated; however, summer 2022—between sophomore and inferior year—would likely be the earliest engagement you'd desire to consider.

Carry in mind, however, that if yous didn't go far anywhere and had to reapply to medical school the post-obit year, a summer 2022 date would exist expired in the eyes of some medical schools, thus potentially forcing you to take the MCAT again.

Last thoughts

Students oft enquire when is the all-time time to take the MCAT. The answer depends on when you can fairly fix for the exam and when you want to enter medical school.

Don't rush the studying process and risk a lower score, and don't spend so much time studying that you end up delaying your applications. The same thinking applies to the question, "What twelvemonth of higher should I accept the MCAT?"

We suggest building your medical school awarding timeline around your MCAT examination dates. Remember that it's just the starting signal, though, and that once you have your platonic score in mitt, you'll want to plough your whole attention to the many essays that still remain. That just makes it all the more important that you get the timing right for this crucial exam.

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