When Should You Take the MCAT? The Ideal Timeline
/Learn 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 letters of recommendation, might make your medical school application timeline feel like a juggling act.
However, all premeds know to plan around one major milestone: the MCAT. Your score on this formidable exam, along with your college GPA, will of course be a huge factor in determining which schools you get into.
We get a lot of questions about what MCAT score to aim for or what a good MCAT score is, which are closely followed by questions about when to take the MCAT, variations of which include:
When should I take 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 take the MCAT?
What’s the absolute latest date I can take the MCAT and still apply during a given application cycle?
So, when should you take the MCAT to maximize your score and improve your admissions odds?
While the AAMC offers around 30 MCAT test dates each year, some will be better options for you than others depending on where you are in your education and when you intend to apply to medical school. There is no universal “best month” to take the MCAT.
In this guide, we’ll answer the most common MCAT questions in order to help you effectively 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 year or during the summer between your sophomore and junior years. You’ll have completed most of your medical school prerequisites by then, thus minimizing the amount of content review you’ll have to take on, regardless of which MCAT prep books or course you purchase.
If you’re an early bird when it comes to taking the MCAT, you’ll have plenty of test date options, as 24 of the 30 or so test dates fall between April and September. Just make sure to give yourself plenty of study time—somewhere between two and four months, depending on your command of the materials and your ability to devote full effort—so you can do as well as possible during your first attempt. Taking the MCAT isn’t fun and retaking the MCAT is even less so.
(If you’re wondering how far in advance to study for the MCAT, we suggest you read the following guide: The Ideal MCAT Study Schedule.)
When is the latest I should take the MCAT?
You should plan to take the MCAT for the final time between January and April of your application year. For instance, if you’d like to enroll in medical school in August 2025, you’ll want to take your MCAT during the first four months of 2024—that is, no later than April 2024.
You may wonder why you need that kind of window. After all, AMCAS won’t even let you submit your primary application until late May.
There are a few reasons why it’s to your benefit to wrap up the MCAT by April:
You’ll want to spend serious time writing your application essays. If you wait too long to take your MCAT, you won’t be able to devote enough attention to your medical school personal statement, AMCAS Work and Activities section, and numerous secondary essays (including pre-writing secondary essays before secondary applications are released).
Your MCAT score(s) will be a primary factor in determining which medical schools you should apply to. You don’t want to spend valuable time and money applying to certain med schools and find out after the fact that your MCAT score doesn’t even put you in the running for consideration.
Your MCAT score won’t be released until about a month after the exam. If you want adcoms to review your applications with your full set of scores in hand, and you want to take full advantage of medical schools’ rolling admissions process, you should complete your testing early.
We emphasize final time because you may want to take the MCAT more than once. You can take it up to three times during a testing year, four times during two consecutive years, and seven times during your life. (Note: Voiding your exam or failing to show up to a scheduled test date will still count towards these limits.)
That means that if you’re not scoring as high as you’d like on your diagnostics or practice tests by the end of the summer before your application year (by August 2023, using our above example), it’s a good idea to build in some time to take the MCAT twice, just in case. You don’t want to be rushing through the test while also writing your medical school personal statement and secondary essays, prepping for CASPer, and (hopefully) readying yourself for medical school interviews.
A timeline for your final MCAT test date
Working backwards, here’s a conservative plan designed to give you your best shot at acing the MCAT:
Summer before your application year (i.e., June–August): Study for the MCAT
Fall before your application year (i.e., September): Take the MCAT once (Note: The MCAT is not offered between October and December)
Winter of your application year (i.e., January–April): Retake the MCAT, if necessary
If you’re a terrific test taker and have been scoring well, you may not need to bake in that second try. Nevertheless, if you’re applying to med school while still in college, plan to devote the summer before your application year (i.e., the summer between sophomore and junior year) to studying for the MCAT in order to give yourself the greatest number of testing options going forward.
When should you not take the MCAT?
Since the MCAT is so important, you’ll want to be adequately prepared for the MCAT each time you take it. Therefore, here are some considerations for when not to take the exam:
If you haven’t studied many of the topics on the test in college (we recommend having completed at least 80 percent of your prerequisites)
If you’re scoring poorly on the AAMC practice exams and need more time to study
If you feel spread so thin with other priorities that you may need separate time solely allotted for MCAT studying
What’s the absolute latest date I can take the MCAT without delaying my medical school application?
To avoid causing any application delays, the very latest date by which you’ll want to take the MCAT is the last test date offered in May of your application year. MCAT scores are released roughly one month after you take the exam, and since AMCAS applications aren’t released to schools until late June, taking the MCAT on the last May date won’t delay review of your application in any way.
Be aware that AACOMAS (the DO 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 also submitting applications within these systems, you’ll most likely want to take the MCAT by mid-May or the end of April, at the very latest.
Of course, most medical schools don’t really review your application until you submit their secondary application. Therefore, the real answer to this question is: The absolute latest date you can take the MCAT is whichever test date has a score release date closest to your secondary application submission.
Nevertheless, we still don’t recommend that you 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. DO: The Biggest Differences (And Which is Better))
What factors should you consider when deciding when to take the MCAT?
The decision as to when you should take the MCAT is not a light one, and there are several factors you should consider when making that determination. These factors include your academic readiness, personal circumstances, application timelines, and test registration fees and deadlines. Each of these factors impacts your test-taking strategy in a different way.
Academic readiness
Though most premeds will adhere to similar med school requirements and will generally take the same courses, each student is different regarding how prepared they are. Some will complete courses feeling very prepared, while others may feel overwhelmed and uneasy. In any case, you should wait until you are feeling confident in your ability to do well in all content areas that are covered on the MCAT—even if that means taking time to enroll in MCAT study prep courses beforehand.
Personal circumstances
Another important factor in determining whether the time is right for you to take the MCAT is your personal life and whether there are circumstances going on that might distract you from doing your best. For example, if you know you’re making a cross-country or long-distance move in one month, that might not be the best time to take the MCAT, since you’ll need to spend time preparing for the move and might have many of your belongings packed up for weeks beforehand. (Additionally, some students don’t do well when their personal space is cluttered or limited, which often happens in the process of a move.) While you cannot always predict every circumstance that may arise, if you do know of something that is supposed to happen, take that into consideration when scheduling your MCAT.
Application timelines
Depending on whether you plan to take a gap year or not, your entire application timeline may look different from the next student’s. In this guide, we mentioned that the earliest you should take the MCAT is the summer following your sophomore year, and that recommendation was for someone who is not planning to take a gap year. If you do plan to take a gap year, you will have a bit of a buffer and some more time. If you are going to take more than one gap year, you’ll have even more time. In any case, keep this in mind as you decide when it would be best for you to take the MCAT.
Test registration fees and deadlines
Finally, it is important to consider test registration fees and deadlines. As of September 2023, the initial registration fee for the MCAT exam was $335. For many students, this is a lot of money that may take some time to save up. That fee must be paid when you schedule your exam, and the latest you can schedule the exam is 10 days prior to the exam date. Thus, you’ll want to be sure you have the needed funds in time to register for the exam for your chosen test date, so you’ll need to take this into consideration when deciding when you can take the MCAT. If the registration fee is simply too steep, the AAMC offers a Fee Assistance Program (FAP) with a reduced rate registration fee of $140.
The AAMC further recommends considering three distinct questions:
When do you want to attend medical school?
Will you be taking the MCAT more than once?
Have you mastered the material covered on the MCAT?
As long as you’ve completed most of the prerequisites for medical school, you’ll want to consider the year you would like to matriculate into medical school and then work your way backward—possibly accounting for multiple attempts at a high MCAT score.
For instance, if you plan to matriculate in the fall of 2025, you must apply during the cycle that opens in May 2024. To ensure that you’re including your MCAT score, the latest you can take it would be April 2024. If you think you’d like to allow for two opportunities to take the MCAT, then you’ll need to take the first MCAT no later than February or March 2024.
Can I apply to med school before taking the MCAT?
While it is certainly possible to apply to med school before taking the MCAT, most medical schools require applicants to take the MCAT before they finish reviewing their application. Postponing the MCAT until you apply to med school can significantly disadvantage you.
Cost
Applying to med school is expensive, so you should limit your applications to schools where you stand a realistic chance of gaining acceptance. If you complete your primary application before taking and receiving your MCAT score, you may apply to schools where you otherwise would not have chosen to apply.
Delays
Most schools won’t even complete a review of your application without an MCAT score. If you were sending in your application early—to take advantage of rolling admissions, for example—not having your MCAT score to send can greatly delay a review of your application.
Errors
Finally, if you’re planning to retake the MCAT, sending your application materials ahead of your retake MCAT score can potentially cause confusion and an inaccurate evaluation of your application. Naturally, you’d want to inform the school that you are taking the MCAT soon and will have your latest score sent to them before the application deadline.
However, since your previous MCAT score will show up with your application, the school may think that that score is the one with which you’re applying. Adcoms are only human, and mistakes can happen. For that reason alone, it’s definitely worth waiting until you have your latest (and, hopefully, higher) MCAT score to send along with your application.
How long are MCAT scores valid?
At the majority of medical schools, MCAT scores earned within the past two to three years are considered valid. However, to make matters more complicated, some med schools require a score achieved within two to three years of the date of application, whereas others count backwards from matriculation—this can result in a discrepancy of a year or more between schools.
It’s worth noting that, in and of themselves, MCAT scores technically don’t “expire” as far as the AAMC is concerned. Rather, the window of acceptable score dates is set by each individual medical school.
That’s why you should look up in advance the earliest test date accepted by each med school that interests you. 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 plan to graduate early or take a gap year ask us how those plans will affect the expiration dates of their MCAT scores. The answer is: they don’t. So, regardless of when you graduate (including if you’re a nontraditional applicant), remember that what matters when determining score validity is when you want to begin medical school.
For example, let’s say you’ll be graduating in May 2025 and plan to take a gap year before entering med school in August 2026. Based on the reasons outlined above, we’d recommend taking the MCAT no later than April 2025. Setting a foolproof earliest test date is more complicated; nevertheless, summer 2023—between sophomore and junior year—would likely be the earliest date you’d want to consider.
Bear in mind, however, that if you didn’t get in anywhere and had to reapply to medical school the following year, a summer 2023 date would be expired in the eyes of some medical schools, thus potentially forcing you to take the MCAT again.
Final thoughts
Students often ask when is the best time to take the MCAT. The answer depends on when you can adequately prepare 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 year of college should I take the MCAT?”
We suggest building your medical school application timeline around your MCAT test dates. Remember that it’s just the starting point, though, and that once you have your ideal score in hand, you’ll want to turn 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.
About the Author
Dr. Shirag Shemmassian is the Founder of Shemmassian Academic Consulting and one of the world's foremost experts on medical school admissions. For nearly 20 years, he and his team have helped thousands of students get into medical school using his exclusive approach.
