MCAT Percentiles for Every Score From 472 to 528, and 2027 Dates

Written by Nicholas. Checked on September 22, 2026.

MCAT percentiles come from one AAMC table, in effect May 1, 2026 to April 30, 2027. A total score of 508 is the 74th percentile, 500 the 48th and 515 the 91st, out of 305,494 scores from the 2023, 2024 and 2025 testing years, checked on September 22, 2026. All 57 score points are in the first table below, beside the 2025 ranks, with the section percentiles and the 2027 test dates under it.

MCAT percentiles 2026: every total score from 472 to 528

An MCAT total score of 508 is the 74th percentile: 74 percent of MCAT scores were at or below 508. Every percentile here comes from the AAMC table Summary of MCAT Total and Section Scores, in effect May 1, 2026 through April 30, 2027, checked on September 22, 2026. That table counts 305,494 total scores from the 2023, 2024 and 2025 testing years, mean 500.6, standard deviation 11.2.

A percentile rank is the percentage of scores equal to or less than that score point, and a 500, the midpoint, is the 48th percentile. MCAT percentiles 2025 sit in the third column: the ranks in effect May 1, 2025 to April 30, 2026, built on 293,882 scores from 2022, 2023 and 2024.

Source: AAMC, Summary of MCAT Total and Section Scores, the tables effective May 1, 2026 and May 1, 2025, checked on September 22, 2026.

The AAMC rewrites the ranks every May 1 from the three most recent testing years, on its percentile ranks page; the prior table is the one in the third column. Ten score points dropped one percentile point between the two: 490, 495, 499, 500, 504, 505, 506, 509, 513 and 524, this article's arithmetic on the two tables.

MCAT percentiles by section, 118 to 132

A section score of 125 is the 56th percentile in Chemical and Physical Foundations of Biological Systems and the 44th in Psychological, Social and Biological Foundations of Behavior, on the same AAMC table, checked on September 22, 2026. The other two sit between them: the 62nd in Critical Analysis and Reasoning Skills and the 53rd in Biological and Biochemical Foundations of Living Systems. Each section is scored 118 to 132 with a midpoint of 125, per the AAMC score scale page. Column headers below shorten those names to Chem/Phys, CARS, Bio/Biochem and Psych/Soc.

Source: AAMC, Summary of MCAT Total and Section Scores, section ranks effective May 1, 2026, checked on September 22, 2026.

Rank depends on the section: a 128 is the 90th percentile in CARS and the 76th in Psych/Soc. Section means run 124.9, 124.6, 125.1 and 125.9 in the column order above.

What is a good MCAT score for med school

The national MCAT figure the AAMC publishes for med school is 512.1, the mean total score of 2025-2026 matriculants to U.S. MD-granting medical schools, against 506.3 for applicants, from AAMC FACTS Table A-16, checked on September 22, 2026. The AAMC sets no good score, minimum or target: 512.1 is a center with a standard deviation of 6.5, so about half of matriculants scored below it. That cycle had 23,440 matriculants and 54,699 applicants, and the means cover only the people who applied with MCAT scores; about 2 percent of applicants each cycle apply without one. On the table above, 512 is the 84th percentile and 506 the 67th.

Source: AAMC FACTS Table A-16, applicants and matriculants to U.S. MD-granting medical schools, checked on September 22, 2026.

The matriculant mean moved 0.6 of a point across those six cycles, from 511.5 to 512.1, so a target set on 512 six years ago still holds. For 2025-2026 the AAMC counted scores through August, while earlier years stopped in April. A good MCAT score range for medical school sits between 506.3, the applicant mean, and 512.1, the matriculant mean, on Table A-16 for 2025-2026.

MCAT passing score and MCAT pass rate

The MCAT has no passing score, no pass mark and no published pass rate: the AAMC reports a scaled score of 472 to 528, where 500 is the midpoint and the 48th percentile, checked on September 22, 2026. A full-text read of the 27-page MCAT Essentials for Testing Year 2026 that day found no instance of passing score, pass or fail, pass rate or percentile.

The MCAT score range is 472 to 528 for the total score and 118 to 132 for each of the four sections, with midpoints of 500 and 125. An MCAT failure rate and an MCAT failing score are figures the AAMC never publishes.

Wrong answers score the same as unanswered questions, so leave none blank. Scaling and equating, not a curve, set the scores, so a score means the same thing on any date, per the AAMC page on how the MCAT is scored, checked on September 22, 2026.

MCAT test dates 2026 and 2027 with score release dates

The AAMC lists 35 U.S. MCAT test dates in 2027, January 15 to September 11, in the 2027 Schedule for the MCAT, checked on September 22, 2026. Scores post by 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time on the release date. The AAMC publishes a 30 to 35 day wait, and the 35 printed 2027 date pairs run 31 to 33 days, counted here.

Source: AAMC, 2027 Schedule for the MCAT, and the AAMC U.S. MCAT calendar, checked on September 22, 2026.

No MCAT runs in October, November or December 2027, and the start time is 8 a.m. Scheduling for 2027 opens October 20 to 22, 2026 at noon Eastern Time by testing center location.

The 2026 MCAT testing year is finished: the last seven U.S. test days ran August 15 to September 12, 2026, and only two 2026 score releases are still ahead, on the AAMC U.S. calendar read on September 22, 2026. August 15, 2026 scored September 15; August 21 and 22 scored September 22; September 3 and 4 score October 6; September 11 and 12 score October 13, 2026.

Three change deadlines govern every appointment, at 60, 30 and 10 days before the exam date, all 11:59 p.m. local test center time; 10 days out is the last day you can schedule.

MCAT fees in USD, and where the MCAT is offered

Standard MCAT registration costs USD 355 and Fee Assistance Program registration costs USD 145, the 2026 testing year figures in the MCAT Essentials and on the AAMC scheduling fees page, checked on September 22, 2026. No 2027 fee was published by that date, so budget on the 2026 table.

Source: AAMC, The MCAT Essentials for Testing Year 2026, and the AAMC scheduling fees page, checked on September 22, 2026.

The AAMC territories and international calendar, read on September 22, 2026, names the U.S. territories and the international locations. Canada has its own AAMC calendar and pays no international fee.

• No international fee: Guam, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands.
• With the USD 130 fee: Australia, China (Hong Kong), France, Germany, Israel, Japan, Jordan, Lebanon, Singapore, South Africa, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United Arab Emirates. The United Arab Emirates is on the 2027 list and not on the 2026 list.
• Qatar was on the 2026 list and is not on the 2027 one, read on September 22, 2026.

India, Pakistan, Nigeria and the Philippines are not on that list, so testing from any of them means a flight plus USD 130.

MCAT attempt limits: 3 in a testing year, 7 in a lifetime

The MCAT attempt limit is 3 tries in one testing year, 4 across two consecutive testing years and 7 in a lifetime, and the count starts at the April 2015 test dates, per the MCAT Essentials for Testing Year 2026, checked on September 22, 2026.

A no-show counts as one attempt whatever the reason, and the scheduling fee is not refunded, so a missed morning costs one of seven lifetime attempts plus USD 355 standard, or USD 145 with the Fee Assistance Program.

On test day you get one chance to score or void the exam, and the choice is final. No AAMC page read that day says whether a voided exam counts toward the seven. Limits for the other exams are in the post on how many attempts each exam allows.

How long to study for the MCAT, and how long the MCAT is

The one published MCAT study figure on an AAMC page is six to eight hours a day for a minimum of six weeks, from Dr. Sunny Nakae in How to Train for a Marathon or the MCAT Exam, checked on September 22, 2026. That is 42 to 56 hours a week and 252 to 336 hours in total, this article's arithmetic on her numbers. The AAMC sets no study hour count, so treat hers as one dean's advice.

The MCAT is 230 questions in 375 minutes: Chem/Phys 59 questions in 95 minutes, CARS 53 in 90, Bio/Biochem 59 in 95 and Psych/Soc 59 in 95, per the AAMC page on what is on the MCAT exam, checked on September 22, 2026. Total content time is 6 hours and 15 minutes and total seated time about 7 hours and 30 minutes. 375 minutes over 230 questions is 97.8 seconds each, so run practice blocks at that pace.

CARS is the outlier at 102 seconds a question, and each science section carries 15 independent questions, 45 across the exam. Counts for the other exams are in the post on how many questions each medical exam has.

MCAT science practice written from your own review chapter

Those 45 independent science questions are what you can rehearse from your own material. Upload the chapter you are reviewing on the MCAT page, ask for 15 discrete single best answer items, and set a 24 minute timer, the pace of 59 questions in 95 minutes. Daily volume is its own question: the post on how many practice questions a day is enough works through the counts. Each question prints the line of your chapter it came from and its page. This is not an AAMC item pool and has no connection to the AAMC.

The sample exam runs with no upload and no account. A guest gets 60 verified questions, an account 300 a month free, and pricing carries a 90 day Exam Pass at USD 19.99 and a 500 question pack at USD 5.99. Neither renews.

Questions people ask

How long is an MCAT score valid?

Medical schools generally accept MCAT scores dating back two or three years, per the AAMC page on how long MCAT scores are valid, checked on September 22, 2026. AAMC rules set no expiry, so the window is the school policy rather than a rule. Check the oldest year each school on your list accepts before you plan a retake, because a score two cycles old may be live at one school and stale at the next.

Is the MCAT hard?

Hard in a measurable way: 230 questions across 6 hours and 15 minutes of content time, about 7 hours and 30 minutes seated, at roughly 98 seconds a question. Mean total score is 500.6 with a standard deviation of 11.2 across 305,494 scores from 2023 to 2025. About 48 percent of MCAT scores are below 500.6, and the people who get in average 11.5 points above it.

How many questions are on the MCAT CARS section?

Critical Analysis and Reasoning Skills has 53 questions in 90 minutes, per the AAMC, checked on September 22, 2026. That is 102 seconds a question, the slowest pace of the four sections. All 53 hang off nine passage-based sets of five to seven questions, with no independent questions at all, so the section tests reading a text you have never seen rather than recalling content.

What MCAT score do I need for Harvard Medical School?

The AAMC national FACTS Table A-16 does not break MCAT scores out by school. The AAMC MSAR database does, school by school, and each school posts its own class profile. What the AAMC publishes nationally, checked on September 22, 2026, is one figure: matriculants in 2025-2026 averaged 512.1, which is the 84th percentile, against 506.3 for everyone who applied.

What is the MCAT failure rate?

There is no MCAT failure rate. The MCAT is scored 472 to 528 and the AAMC never reports a pass or a fail, so no share of test takers can fail it. The number that does the same job is the percentile rank, checked on September 22, 2026: 500 is the 48th, 508 the 74th and 515 the 91st. Score 490 or below and you are in the bottom fifth of the 305,494 scores in the current table.

How many hours a week should I study for the MCAT?

No AAMC page gives a weekly hour figure. Dr. Sunny Nakae, in the marathon article checked on September 22, 2026, recommends six to eight hours a day for a minimum of six weeks, which works out to 42 to 56 hours a week and 252 to 336 hours in total. She also argues that six hours a day for six weeks beats 12 hours a day for three weeks.

When does MCAT registration open for 2027?

Scheduling for the 2027 test dates opens October 20 to 22, 2026 at noon Eastern Time, split by testing center location: Group A on Tuesday, October 20, Group B on Wednesday, October 21 and Group C on Thursday, October 22, per the AAMC, checked on September 22, 2026. The 2027 year runs 35 U.S. dates from January 15 to September 11, with no testing from October through December 2027.

What happens if you miss your MCAT test date?

A no-show counts as one of your attempts regardless of the reason, and the scheduling fee is not refunded, per the MCAT Essentials for Testing Year 2026, checked on September 22, 2026. Canceling instead returns USD 175 of the standard USD 355 if you do it 30 or more days out, and USD 0 inside 30 days. With only seven lifetime attempts, canceling early beats missing the morning.

Published September 22, 2026.