MCAT 

The Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) is a standardized examination that consists of three multiple-choice sections and a writing assessment. Its purpose is to test the skills and knowledge that medical educators and physicians have identified as key prerequisites for success in medical school and the practice of medicine. The exam has been part of the medical school admissions process for more than 60 years, and today all medical schools in the United States and most in Canada require applicants to submit recent MCAT exam scores for entry level medical programs. In addition, many other health professions and graduate programs accept MCAT exam scores in lieu of other standardized tests. Considering its widespread acceptance, it is no surprise that more than 70,000 students sit for the exam each year.

The Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), in conjunction with its member U.S. medical schools, develops and administers the MCAT exam and owns all aspects of it. Consequently, the AAMC may use scores for research and reporting, but only you, as the examinee, may receive your individual test scores and authorize their release to others. Please research the specific application and admissions policies for the institution(s) in which you are interested for their current requirements. Unfortunately, the AAMC cannot grant refunds of MCAT exam fees for failure to comply with school policy.

Exam Content

Beyond testing for the mastery of basic concepts in biology, general and organic chemistry, and physics, the exam also assesses capacity for problem solving and critical thinking as well as general writing skills. By testing for these varied skills, medical school faculty hopes to encourage undergraduates with broad educational backgrounds to consider careers in the health professions and to persuade premedical students to explore a wide variety of course offerings outside of the natural sciences—as well as to identify those candidates most likely to be successful in the study of medicine. That is why the exam consists of the following diverse sections:

• Physical Sciences,
• Verbal Reasoning,
• Writing Sample, and
• Biological Sciences

Physical Sciences and Biological Sciences

The Physical Sciences section assesses problem-solving
ability in general chemistry and physics, and the Biological
Sciences section evaluates these abilities in the areas of
biology and organic chemistry. Each section contains 7
passage-based sets of questions and 13 independent questions. Each passage-based set consists of four to seven questions. The questions, both passage-based and independent, evaluate your knowledge of basic physical and biological science concepts and your facility at problem solving using these concepts. They do not test your ability to memorize scientific facts.

Verbal Reasoning

The Verbal Reasoning section evaluates your ability to understand, evaluate, and apply information and arguments presented in prose style. The test consists of seven passages, each of which is about 600 words long, taken from the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences. Each passage-based set consists of five to seven questions, assessing your ability to extrapolate information from the
accompanying passage. Please note that each multiple-choice section will include some experimental items that do not count toward your score.                                             

Writing Sample

The Writing Sample consists of two 30-minute essays, each of which addresses specific topics that require an expository
response and assesses skill in the following areas:
• Developing a central idea,
• Synthesizing concepts and ideas,
• Presenting ideas cohesively and logically, and
• Writing clearly, with the ability to follow accepted rules of
grammar, syntax, and punctuation consistent with the level of a timed, first-draft composition.
Topics do not assess subject-matter knowledge in or pertain to the content of biology, chemistry, or physics; the medical school application process or reasons for the choice of medicine as a career; or social and cultural issues not in the general experience of college students.

Registering for MCAT

The MCAT exam is administered multiple times from late January through early September, and offered at hundreds of test sites in the United States, Canada, and throughout the world. After you have read the material in MCAT Essentials, you will be able to register online for the exam at the AAMC web site.

When Should You Take the Exam?

You will want to take the exam the year in which you will apply for medical school, so that, for example, if you are applying in 2009 for entrance to medical school in 2010, you should take the exam in 2009. (Medical schools will, however, accept scores dating back two or three years. In the event you have
taken the exam previously, we recommend that you check the application policies of each school in which you are interested.)

Eligibility

You may sit for the exam if you are preparing to apply to a health professions school. These include schools of:
• Allopathic,
• Osteopathic,
• Podiatric, and
• Veterinary Medicine.
You may take the exam up to three times in one calendar year, although you may register for only one test date at a time.
At the time of registration you will be required to accept a statement verifying that you are taking the exam solely for the purpose of applying to a health professions school. If, however, you are not applying to a health professions school, or if you are a currently enrolled medical student, you may obtain “special permission” to register for the exam.

International Students

International student are eligible to register for the exam provided that they meet the eligibility requirements described above.

Exam Scoring

The four sections of the MCAT exam each result in a separate score. The Physical Sciences, Verbal Reasoning, and Biological Sciences sections, each comprised of multiple-choice questions, are scored between a low 1 and a high of 15; the Writing Sample section, consisting of two essays. Each essay is
scored twice on a scale of 1-6 (and ultimately converted to an alphabetic scale). The following explains the scoring in more detail and highlights certain aspects of the process:

• Physical Sciences, Verbal Reasoning, and Biological Sciences
• Although all test forms of the exam measure the same basic skills and concepts, each form contains different questions. Since one form may be slightly more difficult or slightly easier than another, we convert the raw scores to a scale that takes into consideration the difficulty of test questions. Regardless of the particular test form used, equal scaled scores will represent the same level of skill mastery.
• Your raw score on the Writing Sample is the sum of four individual scores. Two scores are
  assigned to your first essay, and two are assigned to your second essay.
• There is no penalty for guessing.
• Taking into consideration the relative difficulty or ease of specific questions on your form as described above, your raw scores are converted to a scaled score ranging from a low of 1 to a high of 15. This conversion minimizes variability in test scores and tends to provide a more stable and accurate assessment of your abilities, since two examinees of equal ability would be expected to get the same scaled score even though there might be a slight difference in their raw scores. 

Writing Sample

• Each essay is scored twice and your total raw score on the
• Writing Sample is the sum of the four individual scores.
• Each individual score ranges from 1 to 6.
• Your total raw score is converted to an alphabetic scale
  ranging from J (the lowest) to T (the highest).
• The same alphabetic score can result from different
  combinations of individual scores. For example, a candidate whose individual scores are 4 and 5 on the first topic and 4 and 4 on the second—for a raw score of 17—would receive the same alphabetic score as a candidate who scored 3 and 3 on the first topic and 5 and 6 on the second.

AMCAS

The American Medical College Application Service (AMCAS) is a non-profit, centralized application processing service for applicants to the first-year entering classes at participating U.S. medical schools. For the 2009 entering class, almost all renowned medical schools are participating in AMCAS.

AMCAS does not render any admission decisions and does not advise applicants where to apply. Each participating school is completely autonomous in reaching its admissions decisions. AMCAS provides only the application processing service.
Regardless of the number of AMCAS schools to which you apply, you submit just one application to AMCAS via the Web. You must also request an official transcript from each college of registration in the United States and Canada. AMCAS then assembles your application file, verifies it and forwards the application to your designated medical schools. AMCAS also sends your MCAT scores for tests taken since April 1991, provided you have released them to AMCAS.