How big were the screens of the computers at the MCAT testing center

[beattheprocess]

Probably depends on the testing center but I personally like to zoom out to where I can see most of the passage without scrolling (will we be able to do this?). I think this saves me some time and I've been cutting it pretty close on some of the sections (I hate you CARS) so I'm wondering if I should practice with the page zoomed in which would result in a more realistic simulation.

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[Kardio]

Probably depends on the testing center but I personally like to zoom out to where I can see most of the passage without scrolling (will we be able to do this?). I think this saves me some time and I've been cutting it pretty close on some of the sections (I hate you CARS) so I'm wondering if I should practice with the page zoomed in which would result in a more realistic simulation.

I don't know the answer to your question but I agree it's smart to try and find this out. The exam-screen resolution, and distance of the screen from my face, felt like it impacted my performance when I took the real exam

 

[Hi_I'mPaul]

Probably depends on the testing center but I personally like to zoom out to where I can see most of the passage without scrolling (will we be able to do this?). I think this saves me some time and I've been cutting it pretty close on some of the sections (I hate you CARS) so I'm wondering if I should practice with the page zoomed in which would result in a more realistic simulation.

Pretty sure it's test center specific. If you know where you're testing, give them a call to see if they know that info. If it's close, you can maybe even stop by and see the facility before test day.

 

[Seihai]

Pretty sure it's test center specific. If you know where you're testing, give them a call to see if they know that info. If it's close, you can maybe even stop by and see the facility before test day.

Facilities are locked and basically totally inaccessible to everyone before test day. Don't bank on getting in.

 

[Hi_I'mPaul]

Facilities are locked and basically totally inaccessible to everyone before test day. Don't bank on getting in.

I drove to my test center weeks in advance, walked in, looked around, and asked questions. I couldn't go through the check-in process and such [I hear you can at some centers, though] but you can go to the facility for sure. I didn't mean the "day before test day" if that's how you interpreted it. Just anytime before test day.

 

[Caterpillar34]

24 inches I believe. My screen at home is 27 and it was a bit smaller at the test center. Also the resolution was **** like 1024 X 768 and it was stretched out to fill the widescreen. I remember walking out of the facility and looking at my phones text and wondering why it was so tall (Ive been looking at a horizontalystretched screen for 7 hours)

 

[deleted688779]

This may sound silly but I felt like the exam conditions affected my performance in a negative way. I usually have my screen brightness on a very low setting, my texts are usually pretty small, and my screen is my height. I do this because my eyes cannot handle lights that are too bright for 30+ minutes without getting tired and I start getting drowsy and lose focus. This is the same reason why I don't wear glasses in class despite needing them because I start losing focus.

Exam day: brightness was on max and I could not change the settings. The monitor was 2x my laptop and about half a foot above my head. I came out feeling like those factors alone affected my score.

Never really got that off my chest lol but this seemed like a good thread to do so.

 

[907914]

This may sound silly but I felt like the exam conditions affected my performance in a negative way. I usually have my screen brightness on a very low setting, my texts are usually pretty small, and my screen is my height. I do this because my eyes cannot handle lights that are too bright for 30+ minutes without getting tired and I start getting drowsy and lose focus. This is the same reason why I don't wear glasses in class despite needing them because I start losing focus.

Exam day: brightness was on max and I could not change the settings. The monitor was 2x my laptop and about half a foot above my head. I came out feeling like those factors alone affected my score.

Never really got that off my chest lol but this seemed like a good thread to do so.

Honestly, not trying to be rude here, but this is why you take you practice tests in real conditions. You don’t get the comfort of everything being nice and just how you want it on test day...

 

[deleted688779]

Honestly, not trying to be rude here, but this is why you take you practice tests in real conditions. You don’t get the comfort of everything being nice and just how you want it on test day...

I agree. It's good that OP is learning about test day conditions. I was too accustomed to my own settings that it didn't even cross my mind that test centers may do something different (who turns the brightness to max?!?!?)

 

[Engrailed]

Wow this thread is the neuroticism of sdn to its fullest haha

 

[rdyotz]

Definitely seems to be center specific. Mine was maybe 20" and low resolution. It wasn't stretched, but instead, it had black bars on the sides.

I found the lack of natural sunlight in the areas we were allowed to be in (testing room, break room, hallway to the bathroom) more disrupting than the poor quality monitor.

 

[JustAUser]

You can't zoom in or out during the exam, so when you take it under test conditions, don't zoom out. Also ctrl+f doesn't work on the exam.

 

[Seihai]

Wow this thread is the neuroticism of sdn to its fullest haha

It's actually a fair question. If I hadn't prepped using close-enough screen resolutions and sizes, I would have probably have had a massive headache after my exam from the eye strain. Even then, I remember having my eyes be a bit messed up because of the distortion of the text in some ways.

 

[907914]

It's actually a fair question. If I hadn't prepped using close-enough screen resolutions and sizes, I would have probably have had a massive headache after my exam from the eye strain. Even then, I remember having my eyes be a bit messed up because of the distortion of the text in some ways.

Those screen covers that allow only you to see it from straight on...those hurt my eyes...