What’s a Good MCAT^® Score in 2022?

Though your MCAT^® score is one of many factors that medical schools use to evaluate your application, it is generally regarded as the most important one. However, you’ll need to think about more than just your numerical score when determining what a good MCAT^® score is for your own educational and career goals.

Whether you’re still studying for the exam, or you have already taken it and are wondering whether you have achieved a competitive MCAT^® score, it is helpful to understand how the MCAT^® is scored, how to judge your own performance based on the MCAT^® score breakdown and MCAT^® percentiles, and how the average MCAT^® scores for certain medical schools can affect your chances of admission.

MCAT^® score range

In 2015, the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) introduced a new MCAT^® scoring system to evaluate and report MCAT^® scores. This MCAT^® score report shows how you performed on each of the exam’s four individual sections, and these scores are added together to make up your total MCAT^® score.

Here is the range of possible total MCAT^® scores:

• Lowest possible MCAT^® score: 472
• Median MCAT^® score: 500
• Highest possible MCAT^® score: 528

Though the maximum MCAT^® score is 528, there is no universally recognized passing MCAT^® score. However, the more competitive MCAT^® scores are widely considered to be those above 500. This number is no coincidence, since the AAMC devised the MCAT^® scoring system to place greater emphasis on median MCAT^® scores rather than on high or low MCAT^® scores.

So while it’s not wrong to say the MCAT^® is scored out of 528, it’s more accurate to say the MCAT^® is scored by a standard of 500.

MCAT^® section scores

The MCAT^® is separated into four sections, which are divided up based on the knowledge categories they test. Your MCAT^® section scores are reported individually to reflect your strengths with each particular set of skills and knowledge.

The four MCAT^® sections and their possible score ranges (arranged lowest-median-highest) are:

1. MCAT^® Chemical and Physical Foundations of Biological Systems: 118-125-132

2. MCAT^® Critical Analysis and Reasoning Skills: 118-125-132

3. MCAT^® Biological and Biochemical Foundations of Living Systems: 118-125-132

4. MCAT^® Psychological, Social, and Biological Foundations of Behavior: 118-125-132

It is important to have a competitive total MCAT^® score, but your MCAT^® section scores can be just as important because they help medical school admissions officers determine whether you are particularly strong or weak in any one of the four categories that the MCAT^® tests.

Here’s an example scenario:

Two applicants to the same elite medical school both achieve a highly competitive MCAT^® total score of 514. However, the first applicant’s MCAT^® section scores suggest a significant weakness in Chemical and Physical Foundations, while the second applicant’s section scores are more evenly distributed.

In this scenario, even though the first applicant may have scored higher in one or two MCAT^® sections than the second applicant, a medical school admissions officer might prefer the second applicant for showing a more well-rounded mastery of the knowledge tested on the MCAT^®.

At a different school, however, it may be their policy to evaluate applicants based on their highest MCAT^® section scores. If our med school hopefuls were applying here, the first applicant would be at an advantage—so it’s important to research a particular medical school’s MCAT^® evaluation practices before you apply.

MCAT^® score breakdown and percentiles

In addition to your total MCAT^® score and MCAT^® section scores, the AAMC also breaks down your MCAT^® percentile ranks, which compare your total and section scores on the MCAT^® with the scores of other examinees who have also taken the MCAT^® in recent years.

Your MCAT^® percentiles tell you what percentage of other examinees have achieved the same MCAT^® scores as your own or lower, which can give you a good idea of just how competitive your scores are. Percentile ranks for the MCAT^® also help admissions officers to evaluate your performance on the MCAT^® as fairly as possible.

MCAT^® percentile ranks have remained relatively stable and do not tend to shift significantly from year to year. However, over the course of the past several years, the average MCAT^® total and section scores achieved by all examinees have slowly and steadily increased.

MCAT^® total score percentiles

Total score percentiles for the MCAT^® compare your overall performance on the test with the whole-test scores of everyone else who has recently taken the MCAT^®. Your total MCAT^® score is labeled with a percentile value that tells you how your score ranks against other examinees’.

If you were to receive a total MCAT^® score of 508, for example, your MCAT^® percentile rank would be 74. This would mean that 74% of other test takers were able to achieve the same score or lower, but were not able to score higher than that. In other words, your score would rank you among the top 26% of all MCAT^® examinees.

Here is a sample range of MCAT^® total scores and how they measure up against the most current MCAT^® percentile ranks:

MCAT® total score	MCAT® percentile	Score competitiveness
499 or below	43 or below	Low
500	46	Below average
501	50	Average
502-507	53-70	Above average
508-514	74-89	High
515 or above	91 or above	Elite

It’s worth noting that even if you achieve a less-than-stellar MCAT^® score by these standards, that does not mean all your medical school applications will be denied.

Many medical schools in the United States report that the average MCAT^® score for their accepted applicants is 500. So unless you’re applying to one of the most competitive medical schools in the country, a moderately competitive MCAT^® score should serve you just fine.

MCAT^® section score percentiles

MCAT^® section scores also have their own percentile ranks. However, since each MCAT^® section’s percentile ranking scale is different based on how all MCAT^® examinees perform on that particular section, one MCAT^® section score may be more or less competitive than the same score received for another MCAT^® section.

For example, a score of 125 in Chemical and Physical Foundations has an MCAT^® percentile rank of 53, but a 125 in Critical Analysis and Reasoning carries a rank of 60.

Here are sample ranges of scores for each of the four sections of the MCAT^® and how competitive they are based on the most current MCAT^® percentile ranks:

1. MCAT^® Chemical and Physical Foundations of Biological Systems

MCAT® section score	MCAT® percentile	Score competitiveness
124 or below	43 or below	Low / below average
125	53	Average
126	65	Above average
127-128	76-85	High
129 or above	91 or above	Elite

2. MCAT^® Critical Analysis and Reasoning Skills

MCAT® section score	MCAT® percentile	Score competitiveness
123 or below	35 or below	Low
124	48	Below average / average
125	60	Above average
126-127	72-82	High
128 or above	90 or above	Elite

3. MCAT^® Biological and Biochemical Foundations of Living Systems

MCAT® section score	MCAT® percentile	Score competitiveness
124 or below	39 or below	Low / below average
125	50	Average
126	62	Above average
127-128	73-83	High
129 or above	90 or above	Elite

4. MCAT^® Psychological, Social, and Biological Foundations of Behavior

MCAT® section score	MCAT® percentile	Score competitiveness
124 or below	35 or below	Low
125	45	Below average
126-127	57-68	Average / above average
128-129	79-87	High
130 or above	94 or above	Elite

Medical schools’ average MCAT^® scores and GPAs

Though your MCAT^® scores and percentile ranks can help you judge whether you have achieved a competitive MCAT^® score compared to all other test takers, they don’t give you all the information you need to determine what a good MCAT^® score is.

There are two important factors you still need to consider:

Average MCAT^® scores by school

First, you’ll want to look up the average MCAT^® score for people who have been accepted to the school at which you’re considering applying. Average MCAT^® scores by school are listed on multiple websites and are easily found with a quick search. If your MCAT^® total score is near or (ideally) higher than the average MCAT^® score for that school, you may be a promising candidate.

It may also be helpful to know that, as a rule of thumb, matriculants to allopathic medical schools (those that confer M.D. degrees) tend to have higher MCAT^® scores on average as compared to matriculants to osteopathic medical schools (those that confer D.O. degrees).

Average GPA by school

You should also look up the average GPA for matriculants to your target medical school (these are usually listed on the same charts as average MCAT^® scores). The same rule applies here—compare yours to the average.

Your undergraduate GPA is the second most important factor that medical school admissions officers use to evaluate your application, so a high GPA could positively offset a low MCAT^® score and increase your chances of admission. Conversely, a low GPA could negatively offset a high MCAT^® score and lower your odds of being accepted.

The AAMC’s MCAT^® and GPA Grid for Applicants and Acceptees is a great tool for visualizing the relationship between your MCAT^® score and your GPA—and how they may help or hinder you in realizing your med school dreams. However, though receiving a low MCAT^® score or having a low GPA should not necessarily make you start considering a different career, the data on this grid show that there is a hard limit to just how low either of these can be.

It is all but guaranteed that applicants with numbers lower than these will not be accepted to any medical school in the United States:

• Minimum MCAT^® score of U.S medical school matriculants: 490
• Minimum GPA of U.S. medical school matriculants: 2.8

What is a good MCAT^® score?

Simply put, a good MCAT^® score is one that matches or surpasses the average MCAT^® scores of people who have been accepted to the school at which you’re applying. It can be easy to get lost in score ranges, percentiles, and other information that can give you an idea of what a good MCAT^® score is—just remember that the MCAT’s purpose is to help get you admitted to a medical school.

While it is good to have a target school in mind, it’s best to be both realistic about where you are most likely to be accepted with the MCAT^® score you receive, and to be flexible with where you’re willing to go. Out of all applicants, roughly 40% are accepted to even one medical school. That said, achieving any MCAT^® score that makes you a competitive candidate for a U.S. medical school is a monumental accomplishment and fulfills the purpose of taking the test.

For more in-depth information on the MCAT^® and medical school acceptance rates, check out the AAMC’s FACTS page of data on applicants and matriculants.