Knowledge vs Passages? (advice from April/May testers appreciated!)

[655703]

Hi April/May test-takers,

Congratulations! Without going into too much detail, of course, I was wondering if you could share whether your experience of the MCAT was such that we should have extensive background knowledge/content info in order to answer most of the questions, or whether the passages themselves provided sufficient info?

Basically, I am trying to gauge the answer to the question: What does the new MCAT seem to be emphasizing: 1) how much you know, or 2) how well you are able to apply information provided to you (in passages)?

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[BLACKMD]

For me it was about 25% pure knowledge. 75% passaged based where you can extrapolate an educated guess.

 

[XxThaDoggxX]

May had a bunch of random recall questions, so IMO ~ 40% knowledge, 60% passage

 

[Dreamstoo]

It varies a lot from test to test.

For example from the old MCATs, I have heard tests where the PS section was all math or PS section was all conceptual or it was a mix of both. One MD student I personally know still recalls the brutal math heavy PS section he had on his MCAT (the old one).