The day after the MCAT, students begin The Dreaded Wait. That interminable 4-6 week period after the MCAT is over but before you get your scores back can feel like years.

Once you finally get that email indicating that your test has been scored, you need to ask yourself, “Okay so what does this score mean?!”

The place to start understanding your score is the AAMC’s test history website: https://services.aamc.org/mcatthx/

You start just by facing the standard login page that the AAMC uses most everywhere. You should be able to log in with exactly the same username and password you used when you registered for the MCAT itself.

Once you log in, you’ll see all of your scores arranged by date for every MCAT you’ve ever taken. In my case, as an MCAT testing professional, my history stretches back into the 90’s. But in your case, there should hopefully only be one or two (or at most three!) scores listed here. You’ll see your section scores listed on the 1 – 15 scale for each section plus your essay score (if you took a version of the test with the essay) and an overall summary score. Note that the AAMC will also keep track of cancelled scores.

To get more details, you’ll want to click on the date itself:

Here’s where you get the important details – the percentile range of each sub-score. Remember that the percentile shows you what percent of test-takers scored below you (so the 70th %ile would mean that 70% of people scored below you and 30% of people scored above you). The MCAT is fundamentally a competitive test – you need to out-compete other people in the process of applying to med school and it’s the percentile score that shows you how many people you’ve out-competed.

If your scores are below your goals, then you’ll need to give a lot of thought to re-taking the exam. Check out our other blog posts for more info.