Does the new MCAT have a more lenient scale?

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centillion

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Considering how there's an extra chunk of questions in each section now, the test is longer, emphasizes different material, and has a completely new section, is it reasonable to assume that the amount of questions you can get wrong on each section is a little bit larger now? (i.e. you can miss more questions to get a 129, equivalent to a 12 on the old exam, despite it being roughly the same percentile score it once was)

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Technically, yes, you can get more questions wrong and still achieve a certain % correct. But, you also now need to get more Qs correct to achieve that same % correct as well. Before the MCAT shortened and went on computer in 2007, the sections were about the same length they are now (there were only 3 multiple choice sections + an hour for essays + lunch and breaks) so it was still ~ 7 hour day, but less testing.

As for will it be easier to achieve a specific percentile score, I doubt it. The science it expects of you and how it tests you on that science really hasn't gotten any "easier" and even if you want to argue that it has (if you think Psych/Soc makes it easier, or that more biochem/less physics makes it easier), that means on average, other test takers will likely find it easier as well. The MCAT is still graded on a curve, so while for the next couple years the %-iles and what % correct corresponds to a given percentile may fluctuate slightly, according to the AAMC even if the early testers see a slightly different scale, eventually we will get a similar raw-to-scaled score/ percentile performance as on the older exam. So in the end, I would imagine that no, it will not be easier to get a 129 than it was to achieve a 12, assuming a 12 and 129 represent the same %-ile (right now a 129 is the 93rd percentile across all sections, while a 12 varied, being ~95th percentile in both PS and BS, 98th percentile in VR).

Long story short, to score in the top X% or better you are still going to need to beat 100-X% of all other test takers, and that's not getting any easier. Good luck!
 
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"We recognize that the first test takers on the new exam may be different from test takers who sit for the exam later in the year. It is possible that early test takers will be higher scoring than those who test later."

https://www.aamc.org/students/download/378098/data/mcat2015scorescaleguide.pdf#page=12

So it does appear possible that the first batch of testers get a lenient scale. After this first transition year though, it'll be just as hard as the old test. Even if raw scores are vastly different (eg maybe 60% right would now be an awesome score) it all ends up translated to percentiles, and unless the population of premeds has gone down in ability that makes the test just as tough.
 
^Exactly. I would expect taking the MCAT in two years from now will require more right for higher scores. Prep companies will probably put out better material too. For the old MCAT, I remember reading somewhere that 33+ was considered like what a 35-36+ was in the past 3-4 years while that old format still existed. I read through a 2002 MCAT forum randomly and people were really hyped about 30+s (all of them now listed as residents and attendings haha) mostly because the average MCATs for top schools back then were around 33? I think.
 
at the end of the day (minus the weird calibration the first year) the thing that matters isn't how many you get right from a raw % but how you do relative to the rest of the test takers......adcoms will soon learn what a 50th percentile, 80th percentile, 90th percentile (etc) is and will judge accordingly

it's all about beating the herd
 
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