Cramming Before the MCAT to Get a Higher Score is Pointless

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GallbLad

GallbLad

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The Medical School Admission Test is a test that quantifies your abilities in an attempt to place students in the 'best fit position', whether that be a tier 1 medical school or an osteopathic. Any attempt to try and cheat this ability test is only going to hurt you in the long run. Why try to cram for a better score when you don't actually know the material on a regular basis? Who cares if you know the material for only a couple weeks before the test... that won't help you if you're just going to forget it after the MCAT.

IMO, all you gunners taking all the prep classes and practice tests before the real thing are acquiescing to a stressful environment that will only hurt you all in the long run.

I know that I learned a lot during my academic career, and I'll gladly take the MCAT with only my abilities that I possess for the long-term.
 
GallbLad said:
The Medical School Admission Test is a test that quantifies your abilities in an attempt to place students in the 'best fit position', whether that be a tier 1 medical school or an osteopathic. Any attempt to try and cheat this ability test is only going to hurt you in the long run. Why try to cram for a better score when you don't actually know the material on a regular basis? Who cares if you know the material for only a couple weeks before the test... that won't help you if you're just going to forget it after the MCAT.

IMO, all you gunners taking all the prep classes and practice tests before the real thing are acquiescing to a stressful environment that will only hurt you all in the long run.

I know that I learned a lot during my academic career, and I'll gladly take the MCAT with only my abilities that I possess for the long-term.
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Seriously? So being well prepared for an important test is a bad thing? You do realize that medical students spend weeks to months studying for Step exams.

If you go into the MCAT solely relying on your baseline knowledge you will be selling yourself short. Admission committees will have little to no consideration whether you prepared for your MCAT or simply took it with your own abilities. If anything, it probably shows severe lack of maturity and foresight to not study for such an important exam.
 
Because people would never cram study for Ste... oh wait. There's a book for it. There's multiple. People will always do that for every exam. You learn for the exam, you take the exam. This is not a concept that is in any way new to professional/graduate schools.
 
so you plan on cracking zero prep books and taking the test with only the knowledge you've gained during your undergrad career? if anything, doing that would be more irresponsible on a high stakes exam than studying hard for 3 months. why not give yourself the best chance possible at doing well?
 
Say the guy who posted
Pre-med is a Waste of Our Time (Literally!)"


and boasts about coasting with Bs.
Anyone Stopped Caring About "A"s?

Since you don't want to go to medical school, why are you wasitng your time in a pre-med forum???



GallbLad said:
The Medical School Admission Test is a test that quantifies your abilities in an attempt to place students in the 'best fit position', whether that be a tier 1 medical school or an osteopathic. Any attempt to try and cheat this ability test is only going to hurt you in the long run. Why try to cram for a better score when you don't actually know the material on a regular basis? Who cares if you know the material for only a couple weeks before the test... that won't help you if you're just going to forget it after the MCAT.

IMO, all you gunners taking all the prep classes and practice tests before the real thing are acquiescing to a stressful environment that will only hurt you all in the long run.

I know that I learned a lot during my academic career, and I'll gladly take the MCAT with only my abilities that I possess for the long-term.
Click to expand...
 
Goro said:
Say the guy who posted
Pre-med is a Waste of Our Time (Literally!)"


and boasts about coasting with Bs.
Anyone Stopped Caring About "A"s?

Since you don't want to go to medical school, why are you wasitng your time in a pre-med forum???
Click to expand...
I'm just questioning as to how premed would be a figurative waste of time.

In regards to their posting on a premedical forum without an interest in being able to get into medical school, well,

tumblr_mdlowniYqm1r2nsz1o1_r1_500.gif
 
Goro said:
Say the guy who posted
Pre-med is a Waste of Our Time (Literally!)"


and boasts about coasting with Bs.
Anyone Stopped Caring About "A"s?

Since you don't want to go to medical school, why are you wasitng your time in a pre-med forum???
Click to expand...
I think he is just jealous and is trying to bring everyone else down with him.
 
GallbLad said:
The Medical School Admission Test is a test that quantifies your abilities in an attempt to place students in the 'best fit position', whether that be a tier 1 medical school or an osteopathic. Any attempt to try and cheat this ability test is only going to hurt you in the long run. Why try to cram for a better score when you don't actually know the material on a regular basis? Who cares if you know the material for only a couple weeks before the test... that won't help you if you're just going to forget it after the MCAT.

IMO, all you gunners taking all the prep classes and practice tests before the real thing are acquiescing to a stressful environment that will only hurt you all in the long run.

I know that I learned a lot during my academic career, and I'll gladly take the MCAT with only my abilities that I possess for the long-term.
Click to expand...

Most students do not dump their knowledge of the MCAT. I'd call it...active repression to avoid insanity.

Most people don't take prep classes RIGHT before the real thing. It's months of preparation....what the heck are you talking about? WAT?
 
While obviously the OP's suggestion is impractical for admissions, it does highlight a legitimate flaw in the way many of these tests are administered and interpreted by the appropriate powers that be. The reason no one cares if you studied a ton or a little for the MCAT is because everyone knows the actual knowledge itself is not as useful to them as its predictive ability. However, this is an incredible waste of human capital and time. The time spent studying for that test could be spent learning something productive and useful. A good comparison for me are actuarial exams. They're beastly exams, with increasing levels of exams that actuaries take throughout their careers. Ability to do well on the exam directly ties to their actuarial practice, and employers pay them more based on which exam levels they've completed. This is because they have created an exam tightly linked to the profession such that it is not "crammable", it's simply knowledge and reasoning ability that is required for the job so if you can do the test well, you can do the job.

Obviously medicine is hard to assess in such a format, and even harder to do for premeds with no medical training. However, this does not mean we should assume that the current method is the "best" method. Acknowledging its limitations is the first step in actually driving improvements, and too often we as a community brush away the shortcomings of these tests which bear insufficient resemblance to practice patterns or thinking.
 
...did you really make a thread just to say this o.o #toomuchtime
 
Narmerguy said:
While obviously the OP's suggestion is impractical for admissions, it does highlight an legitimate flaw in the way many of these tests are administered and interpreted by the appropriate powers that be. The reason no one cares if you studied a ton or a little for the MCAT is because everyone knows the actual knowledge itself is not as useful to them as its predictive ability. However, this is an incredible waste of human capital and time. The time spent studying for that test could be spent learning something productive and useful. A good comparison for me are actuarial exams. They're beastly exams, with increasing levels of exams that actuaries take throughout their careers. Ability to do well on the exam directly ties to their actuarial practice, and employers pay them more based on which exam levels they've completed. This is because they have created an exam tightly linked to the profession such that it is not "crammable", it's simply knowledge and reasoning ability that is required for the job so if you can do the test well, you can do the job.

Obviously medicine is hard to assess in such a format, and even harder to do for premeds with no medical training. However, this does not mean we should assume that the current method is the "best" method. Acknowledging its limitations is the first step in actually driving improvements, and too often we as a community brush away the shortcomings of these tests which bear insufficient resemblance to practice patterns or thinking.
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The question arises how we would even begin to accomplish this with medicine. There is simply so much information to be covered.
 
I can hardly blame OP for not wanting to study for the MCAT. With the immensely vast knowledge that he has demonstrated to all of us, I don't think I'd bother, either.

Keep it up, "GallbLad."
 
GallbLad said:
The Medical School Admission Test is a test that quantifies your abilities in an attempt to place students in the 'best fit position', whether that be a tier 1 medical school or an osteopathic. Any attempt to try and cheat this ability test is only going to hurt you in the long run. Why try to cram for a better score when you don't actually know the material on a regular basis? Who cares if you know the material for only a couple weeks before the test... that won't help you if you're just going to forget it after the MCAT.

IMO, all you gunners taking all the prep classes and practice tests before the real thing are acquiescing to a stressful environment that will only hurt you all in the long run.

I know that I learned a lot during my academic career, and I'll gladly take the MCAT with only my abilities that I possess for the long-term.
Click to expand...
...and this is exactly why I switched to making Anki flashcards instead of taking notes, and why I studied for the MCAT by making an extensive, thorough, Anki deck. The test is over and done with, but I have those cards on rotation and pretty well lodged in my memory at this point.
I've been doing this for all classes over the past 2yrs, and I have to say that it is very satisfying to look back and see statistics showing that I still have 90-95% retention on the material I took a few summers ago. That would never have happened in the past, but I hope to ensure that it happens consistently in the future.
 
Nothing on the MCAT is important for med school or really anything you do as a doctor, so you are really wasting your time.
 
Why are yall even entertaining OP? This post was booty right from the beginning...OP stahhppp the crap, I'm bored zZzZzzZ
 
Last edited:
In next post the OP is going to claim that med school is a waste of time.

Just go into medical billing already!!
 
Boolean said:
The question arises how we would even begin to accomplish this with medicine. There is simply so much information to be covered.
Click to expand...

It's definitely a good question. I have some thoughts, and I'm sure a lot of smart people have better ones, but there's no desire to change without pressure to change.
 
No wait actually

If you falsely inflate your score with studying and end up in a school full of other people who falsely inflated their scores, don't you end up exactly where you should be, among a bunch of people who didn't retain it either?

On the flip side, if you can take the MCAT unstudied and make a 30 something, you'll probably be more capable than your peers of similar scores who were study-inflated.
 
efle said:
No wait actually

If you falsely inflate your score with studying and end up in a school full of other people who falsely inflated their scores, don't you end up exactly where you should be, among a bunch of people who didn't retain it either?

On the flip side, if you can take the MCAT unstudied and make a 30 something, you'll probably be more capable than your peers of similar scores who were study-inflated.
Click to expand...
Setting aside the preposterousness of equating 'studying' with 'inflation'...I'll give you the bolded, but those are the people who score 40+ when they study. Sure, maybe if the MCAT topped out like the SAT, where far more people score very highly and it is possible to score 2300+ without studying, the unstudied scores would be meaningful, but with the MCAT, the entire top 7pts are reserved for sifting through the 99th percentile students, and that is WITH studying.
 
Studying is inflation, it increases your performance on an area you (in the case of the MCAT) explicitly know can/will be tested instead of reflecting a sample of your general understanding (for example, after studying, you're a lot weaker in all the other gen chem topics not tested by the MCAT). Hence the concept of a "pop quiz" to assess whether you have a general knowledge of recently covered concepts without allowing targeted preparation.

Unstudied scores are meaningful in that they reflect your knowledge and ability based on your years of coursework and natural reasoning, rather than ability to memorize a few prep books cover to cover and practice answering certain question formats (esp in Verbal). The supposed purpose of the MCAT is to assess the former, so people who go up from their first practice test to the real deal using the latter are inflating their scores and taking a little validity out of the exam.
 
efle said:
Studying is inflation, it increases your performance on an area you (in the case of the MCAT) explicitly know can/will be tested instead of reflecting a sample of your general understanding (for example, after studying, you're a lot weaker in all the other gen chem topics not tested by the MCAT). Hence the concept of a "pop quiz" to assess whether you have a general knowledge of recently covered concepts without allowing targeted preparation.

Unstudied scores are meaningful in that they reflect your knowledge and ability based on your years of coursework and natural reasoning, rather than ability to memorize a few prep books cover to cover and practice answering certain question formats (esp in Verbal). The supposed purpose of the MCAT is to assess the former, so people who go up from their first practice test to the real deal using the latter are inflating their scores and taking a little validity out of the exam.
Click to expand...

LOL! Have you even taken the MCAT??? Yes, it is founded on the concepts learned in the required classes but it is in no way a test of regurgitated general knowledge! Why do you think that 90% of the information included in the passages is completely novel, or at least presented in a novel way, for most test takers? They present the information in a way that you have never seen before, and the object is to see if you can use your critical thinking skills and previously acquired conceptual knowledge to come to a reasonable conclusion for each question. It's not like every question is just a basic "What does this hormone do?" and in fact those questions are only 1/4 of the science sections (14/52 questions). You can't just memorize prep books and expect to do well. You have to have strong reasoning skills.

The other fact of the matter is that you CAN improve your critical thinking and reasoning skills. These skills are extremely extremely important in medicine and you will be expected to continually work to refine these skills in order to be a better doctor. The reason they test these skills on the MCAT is to see who has the ability to adapt and think clearly in high pressure situations. If you study beforehand and increase your score, its not just because you learned a few new science facts. Its also because you learned how to think analytically.

The misconceptions surrounding the MCAT can be pretty frustrating, especially when you have people coming on here and degrading the test and trying to say that it is pointless. If you actually knew what the MCAT really is, then you probably would have done better on it and you wouldn't be on here complaining about it because you think its unfair.
 
lol wut...OP take it from a guy who initially tried to "take the MCAT with only my abilities"….it doesn't work
 
FindMeOnTheLinks said:
LOL! Have you even taken the MCAT??? Yes, it is founded on the concepts learned in the required classes but it is in no way a test of regurgitated general knowledge! Why do you think that 90% of the information included in the passages is completely novel, or at least presented in a novel way, for most test takers? They present the information in a way that you have never seen before, and the object is to see if you can use your critical thinking skills and previously acquired conceptual knowledge to come to a reasonable conclusion for each question. It's not like every question is just a basic "What does this hormone do?" and in fact those questions are only 1/4 of the science sections (14/52 questions). You can't just memorize prep books and expect to do well. You have to have strong reasoning skills.

The other fact of the matter is that you CAN improve your critical thinking and reasoning skills. These skills are extremely extremely important in medicine and you will be expected to continually work to refine these skills in order to be a better doctor. The reason they test these skills on the MCAT is to see who has the ability to adapt and think clearly in high pressure situations. If you study beforehand and increase your score, its not just because you learned a few new science facts. Its also because you learned how to think analytically.

The misconceptions surrounding the MCAT can be pretty frustrating, especially when you have people coming on here and degrading the test and trying to say that it is pointless. If you actually knew what the MCAT really is, then you probably would have done better on it and you wouldn't be on here complaining about it because you think its unfair.
Click to expand...

Whoa there buddy.

I took the MCAT in August, 41 (14/13/14). First practice tests I took were 36 and 37, after studying my AAMC FL 9, 10, 11 averaged 40.66. Improvement was due to memorization for the discretes and learning a lot of Physics for the first time (never had optics, buoyancy, and a few other things in my class, which instead did quantum and very in depth E&M not tested).

It's absolute BS to say the test isn't hugely impacted by targeted memory/experience with the topics. Many of the passages in PS/BS can be merely glanced at before moving directly to the questions if you have truly mastered the material beforehand. Learning how to dissect certain questions and related tactics (again, esp in verbal) in no way represents an improved fluid intelligence/reasoning as you claim, but does boost your score (hence Princeton hyperlearning and related books' wild popularity).

We can agree to disagree, but don't assume I'm ignorant of the topic because you had a different experience. The MCAT is an incredibly study-impacted test which allows differences in ability/general understanding of the sciences to be hidden behind differences in effective standardized test prep.
 
efle said:
Whoa there buddy.

I took the MCAT in August, 41 (14/13/14). First practice tests I took were 36 and 37, after studying my AAMC FL 9, 10, 11 averaged 40.66. Improvement was due to memorization for the discretes and learning a lot of Physics for the first time (never had optics, buoyancy, and a few other things in my class, which instead did quantum and very in depth E&M not tested).

It's absolute BS to say the test isn't hugely impacted by targeted memory/experience with the topics. Many of the passages in PS/BS can be merely glanced at before moving directly to the questions if you have truly mastered the material beforehand. Learning how to dissect certain questions and related tactics (again, esp in verbal) in no way represents an improved fluid intelligence/reasoning as you claim, but does boost your score (hence Princeton hyperlearning and related books' wild popularity).

We can agree to disagree, but don't assume I'm ignorant of the topic because you had a different experience. The MCAT is an incredibly study-impacted test which allows differences in ability/general understanding of the sciences to be hidden behind differences in effective standardized test prep.
Click to expand...
They're not hidden...since it is the default that people study, and we are still able to achieve fine discrimination of scores within the top .1%, it is doing just fine.
Also, since when is the purpose of the MCAT to look at ability/general understanding of the sciences only? Many people reference the MCAT also as a demonstration of your ability to study and prepare yourself - which is not unimportant considering we will have to go through a similar process for Step 1 prep.

If you want to look at a test of raw ability with no studying, try the SAT. The MCAT is more than that.
 
mehc012 said:
They're not hidden...since it is the default that people study, and we are still able to achieve fine discrimination of scores within the top .1%, it is doing just fine.
Also, since when is the purpose of the MCAT to look at ability/general understanding of the sciences only? Many people reference the MCAT also as a demonstration of your ability to study and prepare yourself - which is not unimportant considering we will have to go through a similar process for Step 1 prep.

If you want to look at a test of raw ability with no studying, try the SAT. The MCAT is more than that.
Click to expand...

We aren't able to achieve fine discrimination of top scores; mid-curve 70% CIs span 5 points when a single point represents ~3 more incorrect answers. At scores of 40+ each point is ~1 question so it follows that confidence there is TERRIBLE (thought I'm sure there is no data since people do not often retake top percentile scores).

The mission statement for the MCAT is to "assess the examinee's problem solving, critical thinking, and knowledge of science concepts and principles prerequisite to the study of medicine." I think my description of testing reasoning and general science education is spot on. It certainly doesn't list "ability to study intensely for a stressful standardized test" but sure, that's become a huge component of adcoms weighting the scores so much, a whole different debate that I'd argue should include the sGPA more than the MCAT.

I don't know about MCAT telling you more than the SAT; I think they try to get at the same thing, and the SAT does it better, but unfortunately doesn't focus enough on science to be useful to adcoms.
 
efle said:
We aren't able to achieve fine discrimination of top scores; mid-curve 70% CIs span 5 points when a single point represents ~3 more incorrect answers. At scores of 40+ each point is ~1 question so it follows that confidence there is TERRIBLE (thought I'm sure there is no data since people do not often retake top percentile scores).

The mission statement for the MCAT is to "assess the examinee's problem solving, critical thinking, and knowledge of science concepts and principles prerequisite to the study of medicine." I think my description of testing reasoning and general science education is spot on. It certainly doesn't list "ability to study intensely for a stressful standardized test" but sure, that's become a huge component of adcoms weighting the scores so much, a whole different debate that I'd argue should include the sGPA more than the MCAT.

I don't know about MCAT telling you more than the SAT; I think they try to get at the same thing, and the SAT does it better, but unfortunately doesn't focus enough on science to be useful to adcoms.
Click to expand...
So, wait, studying for a bunch of nonstandardized grades which are not necessarily test-based (I had science courses without a single exam) is a better metric for the ability to prepare yourself for and rock a standardized test than...studying for and rocking a standardized test?
 
I suppose your experience with science coursework makes my statement pretty nonsensical. At my university science courses are almost purely exam-based and grades are assigned on a percentile curve, so a 3 or 4 year history of acing very in-depth science courses should communicate ability to land at the far right of a science-ability bell curve much better than a highly variable, shallow, short and predictable test. Seriously, it would be in my benefit to believe in the validity and usefulness of the MCAT, but I think it is absolutely ridiculous that it will be given as much weight as my sGPA. YMMV if your university's science coursework does not include exams.
 
efle said:
I suppose your experience with science coursework makes my statement pretty nonsensical. At my university science courses are almost purely exam-based and grades are assigned on a percentile curve, so a 3 or 4 year history of acing very in-depth science courses should communicate ability to land at the far right of a science-ability bell curve much better than a highly variable, shallow, short and predictable test. Seriously, it would be in my benefit to believe in the validity and usefulness of the MCAT, but I think it is absolutely ridiculous that it will be given as much weight as my sGPA. YMMV if your university's science coursework does not include exams.
Click to expand...
Right, but that lack of standardization between schools is exactly why the MCAT is included and given weight. Hell, some undergrads actually have multiple choice on their examinations. What kind of joke is that? How could the score on that possibly be compared to an actual, well-written exam?

Besides, if they're looking to see how you'll do on the Steps, it's important to have a similar comparison. It is not uncommon to see someone who can score well in school but can't crack a standardized exam to save their lives.
 
Sure, it's a necessary evil since universities are so different. I still think it does a very poor job of measuring inherent reasoning ability/quality of your science background (as its primary purpose ought to be) because it depends so much on people studying specifics of the test to boost their score. This is really going to get out of control with the MCAT 2015 and become even more a measure of study habits than of your aptitude for reasoning and science.
 
Guys...stop arguing about the MCAT if you've taken it already and did well. There is no point because it will never become an ideal standardized exam within our professional lifetimes.
 
efle said:
Sure, it's a necessary evil since universities are so different. I still think it does a very poor job of measuring inherent reasoning ability/quality of your science background (as its primary purpose ought to be) because it depends so much on people studying specifics of the test to boost their score. This is really going to get out of control with the MCAT 2015 and become even more a measure of study habits than of your aptitude for reasoning and science.
Click to expand...
Why does it matter when you learned the info, as long as you did learn it? If I study for the MCAT and learn more about the topics covered, how is that less meaningful than if I learned the information during a class?
 
Ace Khalifa said:
Guys...stop arguing about the MCAT if you've taken it already and did well. There is no point because it will never become an ideal standardized exam within our professional lifetimes.
Click to expand...
Why? I find this interesting, and it's not hurting anyone. Why should we stop discussing it?
 
mehc012 said:
Why does it matter when you learned the info, as long as you did learn it? If I study for the MCAT and learn more about the topics covered, how is that less meaningful than if I learned the information during a class?
Click to expand...
Because the MCAT tests only a select few, rather shallow science topics. You can ace the MCAT PS with zero understanding of Maxwell's equations, or relativity, or how wave behaviors of electrons give rise to orbital shapes, etc. You need strong grades in dedicated science coursework to really show mastery of physics/chem/bio/ochem fundamentals.
 
efle said:
Because the MCAT tests only a select few, rather shallow science topics. You can ace the MCAT PS with zero understanding of Maxwell's equations, or relativity, or how wave behaviors of electrons give rise to orbital shapes, etc. You need strong grades in dedicated science coursework to really show mastery of physics/chem/bio/ochem fundamentals.
Click to expand...

And those will help you in medical school how...? At least some of the topics (Orgo, Biology, Gen chem) on the MCAT have a tangential relationship to the topics in your basic science courses of MS1-2.

Honestly, are you sure you want to go to medical school? You sound more suited for a PhD program. The first two years of medical school are basically covering a shallow understanding of a ridiculous amount of clinical/basic science material. The material covered in it is less complex than probably many of the topics you covered in undergrad, it's just a lot more of it.

The MCAT is really testing your ability to prepare for a high stakes exam. The topics have a limited relationship to the topics in MS1 and MS2 of medical school, but there is a little overlap. It's not perfect, but it's a standardized way of assessing your test taking abilities applying a flavor of the topics you will have in your first two years of medical school. Just because you don't think it should be weighed heavily doesn't make it so. You would be well advised to prepare for it based on how the ADCOM's think it should be weighed, rather than yourself. If you choose not to, then ADCOM's will have less confidence that you can have success on the other high pressure standardized exam medical schools care about, Step 1.
 
xffan624 said:
And those will help you in medical school how...? At least some of the topics (Orgo, Biology, Gen chem) on the MCAT have a tangential relationship to the topics in your basic science courses of MS1-2.

Honestly, are you sure you want to go to medical school? You sound more suited for a PhD program. The first two years of medical school are basically covering a shallow understanding of a ridiculous amount of clinical/basic science material. The material covered in it is less complex than probably many of the topics you covered in undergrad, it's just a lot more of it.

The MCAT is really testing your ability to prepare for a high stakes exam. The topics have a limited relationship to the topics in MS1 and MS2 of medical school, but there is a little overlap. It's not perfect, but it's a standardized way of assessing your test taking abilities applying a flavor of the topics you will have in your first two years of medical school. Just because you don't think it should be weighed heavily doesn't make it so. You would be well advised to prepare for it based on how the ADCOM's think it should be weighed, rather than yourself. If you choose not to, then ADCOM's will have less confidence that you can have success on the other high pressure standardized exam medical schools care about, Step 1.
Click to expand...

Very little of the premed coursework is intended to be used throughout a medical career. Even the tangentially related things will be mostly re-learned in med school and in far greater depth where actually used. Its the type of learning and material which makes it a useful metric. I have no problem with learning a little of many topics; I do have a problem with being tested in a shallow, predictable manner on challenging topics we learned in great depth.

Like I said above, even if proving one's ability to take high-stakes stressful exams was the primary purpose of the MCAT (and it isn't) the sGPA would be a better metric of this unless I am the only one who had curved exams deciding my grades. I already took the MCAT, got 99.9th %ile, and adamantly believe it is a terrifically bad way to summarize an applicant's reasoning ability and ability to understand and be tested on science material.
 
efle said:
Because the MCAT tests only a select few, rather shallow science topics. You can ace the MCAT PS with zero understanding of Maxwell's equations, or relativity, or how wave behaviors of electrons give rise to orbital shapes, etc. You need strong grades in dedicated science coursework to really show mastery of physics/chem/bio/ochem fundamentals.
Click to expand...
Right, I'm talking about your earlier point where doing well on the MCAT due to your coursework is good, yet doing it due to studying is somehow bad.
I don't see the difference: you either learned the material or you didn't, who cares when you learned it?
 
efle said:
Very little of the premed coursework is intended to be used throughout a medical career. Even the tangentially related things will be mostly re-learned in med school and in far greater depth where actually used. Its the type of learning and material which makes it a useful metric. I have no problem with learning a little of many topics; I do have a problem with being tested in a shallow, predictable manner on challenging topics we learned in great depth.

Like I said above, even if proving one's ability to take high-stakes stressful exams was the primary purpose of the MCAT (and it isn't) the sGPA would be a better metric of this unless I am the only one who had curved exams deciding my grades. I already took the MCAT, got 99.9th %ile, and adamantly believe it is a terrifically bad way to summarize an applicant's reasoning ability and ability to understand and be tested on science material.
Click to expand...
Efle, stop. You must understand that the vast majority of peopole who take the MCAT are not Wash U students or anyone of equal caliber. Only at Wash U and maybe some Ivy's would you learn all the "challenging topics in great depth." At other schools, the basics are covered and that's fine and dandy for everyone. And no, you are not the only one who had curved exams. I did, your peers did, and so do all the people at state schools who had exams curved much harder than ours ever were. For a 99.9th percentile scorer, yes, the MCAT is not the best way to test your abilities, but for average joes who want to go into medicine and don't give a sh** about going in depth for all the prereq's, the MCAT is enough of a hurdle already. There is no reason to change the MCAT to make it even harder than it already is, unless you think that only extremely smart people should become doctors, which would be a highly selfish thing to claim.
 
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