One of the surprises the MCAT has in store for students is the difficulty of the curve. Students expect a 30+ score — but soon find that 30+ scoring MCAT students are actually in the minority. Here’s the data:
The mean MCAT score for 2020 (including all test administrations of applicants) was 506.4. (In 2019, it was 506.1 so there is not a lot of variance). That means that the average MCAT test-taker gets a score that’s significantly lower than the golden 520 that most students aim for (and that most MD programs expect).
For some historical perspective:
- 2018, the average MCAT score of applicants was 505.6
- 2017, the average MCAT score of applicants was 504.7
- 2016, the average MCAT score of applicants was 501.8
Every year we hear from hundreds of students who took the MCAT previously and scored in the low 500s — and think their score was a disaster. That’s not the case — it’s an average MCAT score. Keep in mind that the pool of students taking the MCAT are generally high-achieving students who have made it to Junior year in a challenging pre-medical program. That means this is a massively more qualified pool than the SAT or ACT (or GRE for that matter).
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