Does MCAT correlate with class performance

[Richanesthesiologist]

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Many of the medical schools I want to apply to have an average mcat score of around the 85th-95th percentile. I'm just worried how I can still accomplish this, if I'm performing in the 65th-75th percentile or so in most of the pre-req classes (Physics, Organic Chemistry, Biology, etc.).
I go to a large public top 10 university by the way. For those of you who've scored between a 510 and 515, did you always perform in at least the top 20% in a class?

 

[Gilakend]

I'm sure there's probably a correlation between high GPA/low GPA and MCAT score but by no means does one directly determine the other. The MCAT is like 90% a reading test with biology passages. IMO. I read somewhere that humanities majors do the best with math majors second because their majors generally require more reasoning which is what you need for the MCAT.

 

[Goro]

Many of the medical schools I want to apply to have an average mcat score of around the 85th-95th percentile. I'm just worried how I can still accomplish this, if I'm performing in the 65th-75th percentile or so in most of the pre-req classes (Physics, Organic Chemistry, Biology, etc.).
I go to a large public top 10 university by the way. For those of you who've scored between a 510 and 515, did you always perform in at least the top 20% in a class?

It's a weak predictor of med school performance.

But rather, it's a decent predictor of those who will fail out of med school and/or fail boards, IF one did poorly on the exam (< 25 on the old exam or 500 on the new one).

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

I'm sure there's probably a correlation between high GPA/low GPA and MCAT score but by no means does one directly determine the other. The MCAT is like 90% a reading test with biology passages. IMO. I read somewhere that humanities majors do the best with math majors second because their majors generally require more reasoning which is what you need for the MCAT.

You’re referring to Table A-17. And math majors score the highest with humanities majors close behind. Math majors also have the highest sGPA and cGPAs.

https://www.aamc.org/download/321496/data/factstablea17.pdf

 

[Lawpy]

Many of the medical schools I want to apply to have an average mcat score of around the 85th-95th percentile. I'm just worried how I can still accomplish this, if I'm performing in the 65th-75th percentile or so in most of the pre-req classes (Physics, Organic Chemistry, Biology, etc.).
I go to a large public top 10 university by the way. For those of you who've scored between a 510 and 515, did you always perform in at least the top 20% in a class?

Class structure varies greatly by university, department, professor etc. It's possible to get B's in all prereqs and yet crush the MCAT with a 520+. Doing well on the MCAT is much more important than doing well in classes.

 

[698344]

Many of the medical schools I want to apply to have an average mcat score of around the 85th-95th percentile. I'm just worried how I can still accomplish this, if I'm performing in the 65th-75th percentile or so in most of the pre-req classes (Physics, Organic Chemistry, Biology, etc.).
I go to a large public top 10 university by the way. For those of you who've scored between a 510 and 515, did you always perform in at least the top 20% in a class?

514 here. Slacked off hard in my freshman year classes. Will probably graduate with a 3.6c and BCMP. Point being, doing well in classes is more about effort than test taking skills. The MCAT is largely test taking ability given the pre-requisite background knowledge which isn't all that hard to obtain.

 

[AnatomyGrey12]

For those of you who've scored between a 510 and 515, did you always perform in at least the top 20% in a class?

Do you mean in undergrad? If so then no. I was an extremely average student in a lot of my undergrad courses (particularly early on) but scores 90%+ on my MCAT.

If you mean med school then no it doesn’t correlate to medical school performance, and it moderately correlated to boards.

 

[aldol16]

If you don't understand the material well, that's not going to help you on the MCAT. But if you get good grades, that also doesn't mean that you'll do well on the MCAT. There's a balance between knowing the material well enough to be able to apply it versus just knowing a bunch of facts. If your courses test you on your memorization of random facts, then you might not do well in them but might do well on the MCAT.

 

[Goro]

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I kind of disagree with the above statement. New MCAT came since in the old MCAT there was a weak correlation between the MCAT and success in USMLE/COMLEX. For example, 89% of students who had scores between 25 & 32 passed USMLE compared to only 88% USMLE pass rate for students who had scores from 32 to 40. I suspect a similar thing may happen even in new MCAT simply because MCAT is just one exam, where as GPA is a 4 year effort.

I have no idea what you're trying to say.

I repeat, there is decent data showing that a poor MCAT performance is a predictor of increased risk for failing out of med school, while once you get to to the high 20s and beyond, the predictor for good performance is weak OK, depending upon who is reporting the data. Maybe we will see a difference with the exam, but all I can go on is the published data.

 

[AnatomyGrey12]

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I kind of disagree with the above statement. New MCAT came since in the old MCAT there was a weak correlation between the MCAT and success in USMLE/COMLEX. For example, 89% of students who had scores between 25 & 32 passed USMLE compared to only 88% USMLE pass rate for students who had scores from 32 to 40. I suspect a similar thing may happen even in new MCAT simply because MCAT is just one exam, where as GPA is a 4 year effort.

What is your point? GPA has an even worse correlation to board pass rates than the MCAT....

You can disagree with what Goro posted but he is 100% correct and the published data shows that.