MCAT

(Medical College Admissions Test)

The Medical College Admissions Test is a standardized exam required by medical schools across the country.  The exam is designed to assess competencies in areas important for success in medical school and a career as a physician.  Currently there are four sections to the MCAT: biological sciences, physical sciences (including chemistry and physics), verbal reasoning, and a writing section. The total testing time of the MCAT exam, including intermittent, scheduled breaks, is about 5.5 hours.

Start preparation for the MCAT early. In fact, think of all your coursework as helping you prepare for the MCAT. Look at sample MCAT problems in biology, chemistry, and physics while you are taking the recommended premed coursework in these areas. Consider also taking biochemistry before the MCAT.  In addition, completing a physiology course can sometimes help in preparation for the biology portions of the MCAT exam.

You should use your undergraduate education to become a skilled, critical reader. Take some challenging, advanced-level coursework in the humanities or social sciences to give you exposure to theoretical writings in different disciplines. This will help you in the verbal reasoning section of the MCAT. For the verbal reasoning section of the MCAT you need to be able to read a densely-written theoretical text in some unfamiliar field and make sense of it. The best way to prepare for this aspect of the MCAT is to be widely-read in a range of disciplines. Be a little adventuresome and take challenging courses in a wide range of subjects.

The MCAT exam is not just a test of your knowledge in biology, chemistry, physics, and English. Rather, the MCAT is a test of your reasoning skills, and your ability to independently apply the principles you have learned through your coursework. Your preparation for the exam must go beyond review of the content of the required courses in the sciences. You must develop your reasoning skills to an advanced degree to be successful in mastering the MCAT.

We recommend that students complete all the premedical recommended coursework in biology, general/inorganic chemistry, organic chemistry, and physics and prepare thoroughly before taking the MCAT.  Most students need to do considerable preparation beyond mere completion of the recommended coursework to be successful on the MCAT.

If you plan to go straight to medical school after you complete your senior year of college you should plan to complete the recommended premedical coursework in biology, chemistry, and physics by the spring of your junior year (or earlier) so that you will be ready to take the MCAT and apply early in the summer between your junior and senior year.

However, if you cannot complete the coursework by this time, or you have not thoroughly prepared, you would be better off revising your plans and delaying the exam and application to medical school. It is more important that you prepare thoroughly and be successful in gaining admission to medical school than to stick to a preconceived plan and fail to gain admission at all.

The MCAT is weighed heavily by medical school admission committees. Even a student with a 4.0 GPA will need to have an MCAT score of a sufficient level to have a chance for admission to medical school. The MCAT plays a far more important role in medical school admissions than the SAT or ACT plays in college admissions, and it requires much more concentrated preparation.

Although you may re-take the exam, ideally, you prepare thoroughly and only take it once. It is not all over if you get a low score the first time you take the MCAT, but you will need to prepare carefully to re-take the exam and do things differently the second time to be successful.

Do not wait until a few months before the exam to begin preparing for the MCAT. We recommend looking at the test format and some sample questions while you are beginning to take your first premed required courses, so that you can understand how the scientific principles you are learning in your courses will be used on the MCAT.

You should plan to take a full-length practice exam one year to eight months before taking the actual MCAT. Use this practice exam to assess your strengths and weaknesses and create a concrete plan to prepare for the exam. Even if you plan to enroll in a prep course, you can begin some preparation ahead of time.

MCAT preparation with lots of practice testing is critical. You should prepare intensively through repeated, timed MCAT practice exams and thorough review of the test questions and solutions.

Do not just review. Take lots of practice tests. Do not just take practice tests. Study them. Go over each problem to see where your reasoning was correct and where it went wrong, in order to improve your problem-solving skills. If you must cut back on other activities for a time, do so.

You should use practice testing to gauge your preparedness in deciding if you are ready to take the MCAT. Practice testing can give you an idea of the approximate score you will obtain on the real MCAT.

The average score of all students who take the MCAT is usually around a 25. The average score of all students admitted to allopathic medical schools is usually around a 30, although many students are admitted with scores a few points below this average score. Therefore, as a general goal, it is advisable to aim for a score of 30 or above if you are seeking admission to an allopathic medical school.

HPPLC has paper versions of the AAMC MCAT practice exams available for check-out overnight. Just come to the HPPLC front desk in Maxwell Hall 010 and ask to check one out. These exams are in the older, paper-and-pencil format, but they are still quite useful in providing a sample of the range and type of questions that appear on the MCAT exam. Practice exams in the new, computerized format are available for purchase from the AAMC.

A review of the MCAT exam is currently underway.  A new, revised version of the MCAT exam is planned to be introduced no earlier than 2014.  Preliminary indications are that this new, revised exam will include additional content in the areas of biochemistry, cellular/molecular biology, and research methods and statistics concepts.  For updates on the review of the MCAT and potential changes please consult the Association of American Medical Colleges MCAT Review 5 (MR5) page. 

If you have questions about preparing for the MCAT, or you have received your MCAT scores and would like advice on your individual situation and the next steps you should take, please make an appointment to meet with a premedical advisor in the Health Professions and Prelaw Center.

For more information on the MCAT exam, please click here.

For information on HPPLC's MCAT Prep Workshop please click here.