OT: What is the hardest "Professional Entrance Exam" LSAT, DAT, or MCAT?

[DrJake@TheLake]

What is the hardest "Professional Entrance Exam" LSAT, DAT, or MCAT?

My lawyer buddies say the LSAT is the hardest.
My medical buddies say the MCAT is the hardest.
My dental buddies say the DAT is the hardest.

Which is pound for pound, the more challenging exam in your opinion?

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[EverStriving]

You're asking this in the MCAT forum? I can already tell you what the result will be .

 

[AnotherLawyer]

It really depends on what you mean by "hardest." In my opinion, the only thing that matters on these tests is your percentile, i.e. how well you do compared to your peers. If you believe MCAT takers are the hardest working and most talented of the three groups (as I do), then the MCAT is the hardest.

With that said, there is no content on the LSAT so your potential score range is more limited by your test taking skills. So if you define "harder" as "harder to significantly improve on," then there may be an argument that the LSAT is hardest.

For what it's worth, I scored in the 99.4th percentile on the LSAT, but that provides me no comfort when I think about taking the MCAT in the future.

 

[Ad2b]

I've taken:

LSAT
GMAT
GRE

Prepped for, and will take, MCAT.

LSAT >/= MCAT ... all others

With MCAT, there is a lot of knowledge baked into the exam; hence the prereqs making it "easier" while not "easy".

With LSAT? Think 4 sections of CARS and a logic "game"

 

[torontopharm]

Some of my buddies took the LSAT and the MCAT, and found them to be comparable in difficulty.
Since CARS is my weakest section, i'm pretty sure i'd get owned by the LSAT

No idea about the DAT... although i'm guessing i'd enjoy it more just because i'd much rather take a test full of discretes than the painful MCAT passages.

 

[GrapesofRath]

DAT: Test of memory recollection and facts. Perceptual section which many whine about is a test where learning specific tricks and practice will help a ton.
MCAT: Reading comprehension, critical analysis test. It doesn't even compare; the MCAT absolutely dwarfs the DAT in difficulty. Every person I know who has taken both has echoed similar sentiments.
LSAT: A test of logic and analysis. The personal consensus amongst the people I know who've taken both find the analysis required for the MCAT harder than the LSAT and the LSAT. I've only taken a released version of the LSAT from a couple years ago for fun not the real thing but my experience goes along similar to theres; even AAMC practice tests >>Recently released LSAT in terms of difficulty. I do find the LSAT recently released test to be more challenging than a recently released DAT I've done. I do think there are harder sections of the LSAT that definitely compare to the MCAT in difficulty; it's just the easier parts of the LSAT is no comparison.

 

[Apollo1]

LSAT isn't that difficult, it requires no knowledge beforehand and is solely focused on how you analyze/process information. From what I understand, you have to utilize these same strategies for the MCAT as well, combined with knowing the base material as well.

 

[nomdeplume1234]

If you do a google search you can find some forum discussions in some of the LSAT forums that address your question. Some interesting info.
Some of the arguments were in favor of the MCAT because not anyone can take the mcat whereas pretty much anyone can take the lsat. with mcat you have to know x semesters of science and be able to apply it and with LSAT you have to be able to think logically.

 

[Ad2b]

In less than 5 minutes, please do the following:
--------------------------------------
A panel of music historians ranked eight contemporary songwriters – Jackson, King, Lennon, Mitchell, Nicks, Prince, Simon, and Wonder – according to their relative impact on the evolution of the popular song form. No other songwriters were considered, and there were no ties in the final ranking. The ranking of the songwriters met the following conditions:

Nicks was ranked higher than Lennon but lower than Simon.

Prince was ranked lower than both Mitchell and Jackson.

Wonder was ranked lower than Nicks.

Jackson was ranked higher than Simon.

Nicks was ranked higher than King.

1. Which one of the following could represent the ranking of songwriters, listed from highest to lowest?

• (A) Jackson, Simon, King, Mitchell, Prince, Nicks, Lennon, Wonder
• (B) Jackson, Simon, Prince, Nicks, Mitchell, Wonder, Lennon, King
• (C) Mitchell, Simon, Jackson, Prince, Nicks, Lennon, Wonder, King
• (D) Mitchell, Jackson, Simon, Nicks, King, Wonder, Lennon, Prince
• (E) Mitchell, Jackson, Prince, Simon, Lennon, Wonder, Nicks, King

2. Each of the following could be true EXCEPT:

• (A) Wonder was ranked higher than King.
• (B) Lennon was ranked higher than King.
• (C) Mitchell was ranked lower than Lennon.
• (D) Prince was ranked lower than Simon.
• (E) King was ranked higher than Simon.

3. If Simon was ranked fourth, which one of the following must be true?

• (A) Prince was ranked third.
• (B) Jackson was ranked first.
• (C) Wonder was ranked sixth.
• (D) Nicks was ranked sixth.
• (E) Lennon was ranked last.

4. If Prince was ranked fourth, each of the following could be true EXCEPT:

• (A) Nicks was ranked fifth.
• (B) Lennon was ranked seventh.
• (C) Mitchell was ranked second.
• (D) Jackson was ranked third.
• (E) Wonder was ranked sixth.

5. Which one of the following must be true?

• (A) At least two songwriters were ranked lower than Mitchell.
• (B) At least two songwriters were ranked higher than Simon.
• (C) At least two songwriters were ranked higher than Nicks.
• (D) At least two songwriters were ranked lower than Wonder.
• (E) At least three songwriters were ranked higher than Prince.

6. If the condition that Nicks was ranked higher than Lennon but lower than Simon is replaced with the condition that Nicks was ranked lower than both Lennon and Simon, and if all other conditions remain in effect, which one of the following must be true?

• (A) Lennon was ranked no lower than fifth.
• (B) Lennon was ranked no higher than third.
• (C) Simon was ranked no higher than third.
• (D) Nicks was ranked no lower than fifth.
• (E) Simon was ranked no lower than fourth.

 

[Ad2b]

LSAT isn't that difficult, it requires no knowledge beforehand and is solely focused on how you analyze/process information. From what I understand, you have to utilize these same strategies for the MCAT as well, combined with knowing the base material as well.

So you make a broad statement, then support it with only hypothesis and conjecture? You don't know. You haven't taken both.

I say LSAT >/= to MCAT only because the MCAT you DO have to know crap or fail; but you also have to know crap and how to apply it. With LSAT, you need to be able to think... critically. Like CARS. For a few hours. Most MCATers are whining about 1.5 hours of CARS... wonder how that'd pan out with 6 hours of CARS.

From MY pov, @ LSAT.

 

[deleted407021]

Since the MCAT is passage based, I think it's incorrect to suggest that critical thought only applies to the CARS section. The whole purpose of the passage based system is to assess one's ability to apply scientific concepts to complex problems, drawing on clues provided in the passages, tying it in with background knowledge and assessing the legitimacy of the conclusions you draw.

So, if the LSAT is a big CARS section and tests critical thinking skills, and the MCAT tests critical thinking skills and broad and deep scientific competences as well as CARS skills, I'm presume that the MCAT is the tougher of the two.

The DAT has a quantitative section, which sounds horrendous, but it's rinkidink verbal section is only 3 passages. Hmm, I'm assuming that the MCAT is more challenging an exam in terms of depth and breadth of knowledge required and because I hear more people complain about the MCAT and seem intimidated by it than about and by the DAT.

 

[Apollo1]

So you make a broad statement, then support it with only hypothesis and conjecture? You don't know. You haven't taken both.

I say LSAT >/= to MCAT only because the MCAT you DO have to know crap or fail; but you also have to know crap and how to apply it. With LSAT, you need to be able to think... critically. Like CARS. For a few hours. Most MCATers are whining about 1.5 hours of CARS... wonder how that'd pan out with 6 hours of CARS.

From MY pov, @ LSAT.

Few people here actually know from completing both, so I guess we might as well shut down the thread eh?

LSAT is just repetition over time; eventually your mind doesn't feel any different, because you've done so many practice passages that it becomes second nature. Doing this while drawing back on specific material would make for a more difficult examination.

 

[ZPakEffect]

I have taken both the LSAT and the MCAT and have scored above the 99th percentile on both. I am of the opinion that the MCAT is the more demanding test. Yes, the logic games, or Analytical Reasoning, section of the LSAT can seem intimidating at first. However, with enough practice, it turns out to be the easiest section to master and absolutely crush. After a dozen or so practice LSATs, I got to the point where I never missed any AR questions. This is because every logic game has very clear rules and established relationships and it is very easy to verify that you have selected the right answer.

With the MCAT, you have to figure out the rules and relationships of the experimental passages on your own. They are not spelled out for you like the rules in the LSAT logic games. And there are many more gray areas that you have to deal with in the MCAT experimental passages whereas the LSAT logic games have black-and-white rules.