Is 506 a Good MCAT Score? – MedLife Mastery (2024)

• Should I retake a 506 MCAT score?
• Is 506 a bad MCAT score?
• Is 506 a good MCAT score?
• Can I get into med school with a 506 MCAT score?

• A 506 is 67 percentile rank on the MCAT.*
• The current average MCAT score is at the 501 mark, and a 506 is 5 points ahead of that score.*
• A competitive score on the MCAT is 511+ on the MCAT, and a 506 is 5 points away from that score.*

Most Recent Percentile Ranks for the MCAT Exam

Most Recent Applicants & Matriculants Data

• Chemical and Physical Foundations of Biological Systems
• Critical Analysis and Reasoning Skills
• Biological and Biochemical Foundations of Living Systems
• Psychological, Social, and, Psychological, Social, and Biological Foundations of Behavior

Each section has a score range from 118 to 132.

A balanced MCAT score is always preferred.

For a 506, a balanced distribution would be 127, 127, 126, and 126. Or individual section scores very close to those numbers.

Any section score that is much lower than the other sections acts as a red flag for medical school admission committees.

Also, the MCAT uses a scaled scoring system. It is not graded on a curve, so it doesn’t matter when you take the exam and who takes it with you.

More details are in the following articles:

• MCAT Test Scoring Complete Guide
• How Do MCAT Scoring Percentiles Work?
• What are MCAT RAW Scores?
• What are MCAT Score Confidence Bands?

• What are Score Profiles in MCAT Scoring?

If you scored a 506 on the MCAT, this means you performed in the 67th percentileaccording to most recent AAMC statistics, and are 5 points away from a competitive 511.

Therefore, if aiming to maximize chances of admission into most North American medical schools, a 506 is not the best score as most applicants will be scoring around this mark.

Medical schools have different minimum score requirements for students based on being in-state, out-of-state, in particular programs, socioeconomic backgrounds, and more.

Considering that a 506 is quite close to the average MCAT score of a 501, it’s not very competitive for med-school admission. With a 506, you might make some med-school score cutoffs, but the rest of your application needs to be very competitive to make you a viable candidate for most med-schools.

Once you know which medical schools you aim to get into, you’ll better understand whether a 506 will get you accepted.

You will need to go to your target medical school’s website and see their MCAT score cutoffs and average MCAT scores for matriculants.

To make your search a little easier, in the articles below, you’ll find lists of the top medical schools in the US and Canada and their average MCAT scores:

According to recent AAMC data, a score above 501 will put you in the above-average category of testers.

A score above 511 will make your application competitive, as that is the average MCAT score of matriculants over the last few years.

That said, a good MCAT score depends on several factors, including your target med-school and the score distribution among the MCAT sections.

For example, some medical schools automatically accept students from specific programs if they hit certain scores.

Additional reading:

• What Are The Highest MCAT Scores? How To Be In The Top 10% of Test-Takers
• What Is A Competitive MCAT Score? How To Be In The Top 25% of Test-Takers
• What Is A Good MCAT Score? How To Be In The Top 50% of Test-Takers

If you want to maximize your chances of achieving medical school acceptance, and if your overall application is not strong, we recommend you retake the MCAT if your score is 506.

Seeing how a 506 on the MCAT is very close to the average MCAT score, it will be in your best interest to improve your score, as most medical schools seek students with above-average credentials.

Passing the 50 percentile mark on the MCAT means improving your score will no longer be about learning the content, it’ll be about testing strategy.

Once you learn how to apply the right strategies to take a test like the MCAT, and are scoring 501+, scores increase very fast.

We know because many of us on The MedLife Mastery Team are retakers and really struggled to improve our MCAT scores until we started applying the right strategy.

Today we all have 515+ scores, and we’ve helped hundreds of students with improving their scores as well.

So we know you can improve your MCAT score with the right strategies and guidance

To get you started with improving your MCAT score, we’ve created a lot of free resources on this website to help you with your MCAT strategy.

MCAT Mastery Free Strategy Crash Course

Additional Reading:

• How To Improve Your MCAT Score Fast
• How To Improve Your CARS MCAT Score
• How To Improve Your Chem/Phys MCAT Score
• How To Improve Your Bio/Biochem MCAT Score
• How To Improve Your Psych/Soc MCAT Score