About the MCAT

1
About the MCAT

• Given twice a year, in April and August
• You can take it more than once, but strive to do
  better the 2nd time because schools will know all
  your scores
• Tests your reading comprehension and writing
  (which is not as heavily emphasized) skills, as
  well as knowledge in general and organic
  chemistry, physics, biology.
• Being able to read well that is, quickly and
  thoroughly, is so very important!!!
• It lasts 5 hrs 45 minutes, not including 1 hr
  lunch break and 10 min breaks in between
  sections.
• The paper version will only be given through
  2006. That means that anyone taking the MCAT
  afterward, will be taking it on computer.
• 3 major sections Physical Sciences, Verbal
  Reasoning, Biological Sciences 2 essays
• No penalty for guessing. Woohoo!!!

2
Physical Sciences

• 100 minutes for 77 questions
• Covers general chemistry (what you learn in
  ch301, ch302) and physics (i and ii)
• The ratio of gchem to physics is not always the
  same. You may have more gchem than physics,
  unlike the person next to you, who has more
  physics.
• Passage questions
• Independent questions

3
Verbal Reasoning

• Its just as important as Bio and Physical, if
  not more.
• 85 minutes for 9 passages. Reading well is
  critical
• Passages are on topics from social and natural
  sciences and humanities
• Types of questions include The thesis of the
  passage is that, Which of the following would
  strengthen the authors argument X the LEAST.
  They also like to have questions with roman
  numeral answers (I only, I and II, I and III,
  none of the above, that mess)
• Take a reading and/or writing component class to
  improve your reading skills.

4
Biological Sciences

• 100 minutes for 77 questions
• Covers biology basic cell/molecular bio,
  genetics, evolution, physiology and organic
  chemistry (ch310m and ch310n)
• Also contains passages, which have info that you
  can/need to use to answer the questions
  independent qs
• Again, ratio of bio to ochem may vary

5
The Essays

• The 2 essays dont weigh that much, which is why
  most people dont know theyre on the test
• 30 minutes per essay
• Scored from J-T, T being the best
• Topics are fairly simple, similar to SAT II
  Writing prompts. Usually have to defend and
  qualify a particular statement

6
Scoring

• 45 is max. To my knowledge, no one has scored a
  45 before.
• 15 is max for each of the 3 sections.
• J-T for essays
• Generally, you want to aim for 10 or higher on
  each section and also be even. A score like 11,
  10, 10, is probably better than 14, 8, 9

7
What else should I know?

• http//www.aamc.org/students/mcat/studentmanual
• Many people take prep courses such as Kaplan or
  Princeton during the school year or summer. You
  are given study materials and workbooks for each
  of the subjects and taught strategies for taking
  the test. It also includes taking diagnostic
  exams (how many depends on which company youre
  with) Kaplan 1549 Princeton 1599. pricey but
  we have half scholarships
• OR you can choose to study on your own if you
  have the initiative and drive
• What did I do to study?

8
MCAT Scores
9
Mean score 24.7 6.4 Physical Sciences 8.1
2.4 Verbal Reasoning 8.1 2.4 Biological
Sciences 8.5 2.5 Writing Sample 75th
percentile Q 50th percentile O 25th
percentile M
Info on MCAT data from 1991 2005 http//www.aam
c.org/students/mcat/examineedata/pubs.htm
10
Medical School Applicants and Matriculants

• 2,800 med school applicants in TX in 2004 (up
  2.3)
• 1,100 (39.2) matriculated while 1,550 (55.3)
  were denied admittance
• 80-95 of the matriculants are in-state and are
  about 50 males and 50 females

Average Applicant VR 8.9 PS 9.0 BS 9.4 WS
O GPA science 3.36 GPA non-science 3.6 GPA
total 3.47
Average Matriculate VR 9.7 PS 9.9 BS 10.3 WS
P GPA science 3.56 GPA non-science 3.7 GPA
total 3.62
11
Medical School Statistics
Info on Med School Applicants, Matriculates and
Graduates http//www.aamc.org/data/facts/start.ht
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