EVERYONE should sit for the MCAt on SUNDAY!!

[dmitrinyr]

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I sat for the exam yesterday and I told my friend who is Jewish what is on the exam or at least what types of questions were on the form that I had. He called me today after his exam and told me that he had exactly the same form and exactly the same questions. On one hand, I want my friend to do well and I am happy that I helped him and he would do the same for me. On the other hand, why should the people that take the mcat on sunday have any additional advantage over all of us who take it on saturday.

First of all, AAMC and the MCAT program office, always talks about protocol and making sure that you can't cheat with the fingerprint bullsh*t during the exam and the picture ID and everything, but they didn't realize that a person who takes the test on sunday can make friends with someone who takes in on saturday and achieve a monumental advantage.

Second, to fix this whole problem, we all should take the exam on sunday not some of us on saturday and then the others on sunday. This will make the Jewish test takers happy because they can still sit out on their holy day and it will give NO ONE an advantage.

I really don't see why AAMC hasn't thought of this by now.

dmitri

 

[Columbia22]

what if he gets a different form than you??

 

[Soccrtrela]

Yeah, but if everyone takes on Sunday, I believe there will be a much larger group of people complaining about religious conflict.

I am Greek Orthodox, I had to take the April exam on Holy Saturday (the day before Easter, and in fact, the whole week prior to Easter in the Orthodox church is one big, religious event), and the Sunday option obviously wasn't any better in my situation. I dunno, I think sometimes test-takers should just suck it up and take the test (which is really a once or twice in a lifetime thing, when you put it in perspective) if that's what they really what they want to do with their life. Of course, once in a lifetime events (and/or emergencies) that also conflict w/the MCAT are excluded here.

 

[Herpeto]

Here's an idea. Just don't tell your friend any specific questions and he won't have an advantage. Especially if you know he is taking it the next day.


Herp

 

[dmitrinyr]

Guys,

First of all, even if I haven't told my friend, he and his friends could have gone to www.examkrackers.com and looked at their August 2003 MCAT forum where they disciuss every form of the test and any questions that gave people problems. I just think this is totally unfair and it shouldn't be this way. Fine if not on
sunday than the test has to be given on some other day where every can agree that they will take it on that day. I am just upset that I didn't say that I was Jewish and take it on sunday. I am Jewish by family ties (my mother and father are jewish) but I never knew that there was this much of an advantage.

dmitri

 

[Chronotropic]

I sat for the exam yesterday and I told my friend who is Jewish what is on the exam or at least what types of questions were on the form that I had.

What was the point of telling us he was Jewish? Just wondering.

 

[Chronotropic]

Wait nevermind I read the rest of the post

 

[zinjanthropus]

i think he was just explaining why the guy had to take the test on sunday vs. saturday (i.e. religous reason)

 

[Chronotropic]

hence my second post

 

[Mistress S]

Wow...that's kind of screwed up. I had assumed they used different test forms for Sun. test takers. Are the folks at the AAMC mildly ******ed or something? How could they not realize what an advantage this confers on Sun. test takers? They make us go through all this security bulls**t (fingerprinting, checking the test booklets, etc), adding hours and stress to our test, and for what? So anybody aware of this loophole can learn all about the test Sat. and go into on Sun. with at least a working knowledge of what it's going to cover (which would have been a huge benefit to any of us)? If I ever take this evil test again (god forbid), I will absolutely take it on a Sun. and spend all of the Sat. prior on examcrackers and SDN memorizing every single question and answer I can.

This whole experience has left me really annoyed with AAMC--if even half of what I have read on here is true, they are complete *****s when it comes to test security and providing a fair testing experience. This is a perfect example--they make test-takers go through overly involved security proceedings just to get into the room to take the test, then use the EXACT SAME FORMS for people taking the test the next day. When my sister took the NCLEX last month (RN licensure), they had much more efficient security measures AND she got her results back in 2 days. Maybe I should have been a nurse...🙄

 

[Mccarey]

You guys have seem to forgotten about the curve! If the scores are higher for the Sunday group than the Saturday group for the same form, I think the Sunday scores will be lowered.,..

 

[jiy76]

you guys are missing something. The test is STANDARDIZED that means its not curved it has a built in curve based on perceived difficulty by the AAMC. Dmitrinyr it doesnt matter how your friend did it has no bearing on your score besides dont you think AAMC is smart enough to realize that we post info on this website regarding the test. The point is they dont care for various reasons but mainly because it has no effect on one student to the next.

So chill out you made it through and hopefully you did ok

 

[sgilani]

the curve on the test is predetermined and set before anyone takes the test by good old aamc. so i don't think your theory works.

 

[OrthoFixation]

It wouldn't surprise me if the MCAT eventually became computerized and you can take it any day you want. So they would probably have a test question pool that randomly assembles a test for you John Q Public on XX day.

I think board exams have variable test dates.

the curve on the test is predetermined and set before anyone takes the test by good old aamc.

sgilani, where have you developed this information? I would expect just the opposite. That each test would probably be graded by Friday and the next month would be spent on score analysis, then some scalar curve set based on score distributions and normalcy.

 

[DAL]

Originally posted by sgilani
the curve on the test is predetermined and set before anyone takes the test by good old aamc. so i don't think your theory works.

Is there proof of this anywhere on the AAMC site? Why create a theoretical curve when no one has even taken the test? That's like doing statistical analysis on experimental data....with no data. That just does not make sense.

 

[Wilford Brimley]

You guys are forgetting that if you took it on Sunday with all the Orthodox Jews, you would get SCHOOLED! I'm GLAD I took it on Saturday with a real (more representative) section of the population. So many complaints in this forum... Dang! 😀

 

[uthopeful]

I called amcas, they said they give people on Sunday's a totally different test because people can get questions from those that took it Saturday. So I don't know how your friend could of gotten the same test.

Also the man said that the curve is PRE-determined. They already have the scale made for each test and do not change the scale after it is set. Obivously the harder tests will have a better curve.

 

[sgilani]

uthoepful.... thanks for answering the questions people had regarding my previous posts.
aamc when they write all the forms decide for us how difficult they are and adjust the respective curves accordingly. how nice of them.

 

[farleyisgod]

people take the MCAT while standing up?

that's just plain silly.

 

[gibna]

I know this kid who took the MCAT yesterday saying the same thing as the original poster.
He said that there were many similar questions to the ones asked on my form. So are you sure you talked with the AAMC about this or are you just making stuff up.
Maybe the questions we had in common were the experimental ones, who knows?

 

[sgilani]

i know there are experimental passages but are there also experimental discrete questions?

 

[uthopeful]

No, I am not making stuff up, that's what he told me. Maybe he really does no know and just assumed that they would not, but he told me there is no way they would to that.

 

[dmitrinyr]

I doubt the fact that there is a PRE-determined scale curve for each form of the mcat because if this was true then it wouldn't take 2 months to get our scores back from AAMC. I believe that the reason why it takes so long to get the scores back is because the are making up the scale curves and determining the grades that everyone will get. Still I don't care what the guy on the other end of the line told uthopeful, I know for sure that my friend who took it on sunday had the same exact form with the same exact questions as my test on saturday.

dmitri

 

[biffbuddy]

yeh, that wouldn't seem to make much sense if there was a predetermined scale- that would assume that if everyone did bad, the AAMC would not have any problem giving everyone 7's and 8's, but if you look at the data, there is always a similar distribution of scores

 

[gibna]

dmitr, I wasn't saying that you were lying. I actually was supporting what you already said.
Well I think atheists deserve having a special day in the week, I am choosing saturday. If I'll have to take it again it will be on sunday.

 

[gibna]

Or what the hell, I'll convert to judiasm.
Most of the jewish people I know are agnostics anyway.

 

[jiy76]

there is a predetermined scale. remember they gotta read writing samples for approx 25000 people thats 50000 short essays!and at least 2 people read each essay! so you can understand why it takes time. I dont know exactly how aamc works (no one does) but rest assured your score does not depend on others doing bad or good.