How is the official MCAT scored?

[Kayce]

How is the official MCAT scored? For instance, how many problems from each section would I need to get right to get a 125? And, is my score being compared to other test-takers that day?

Thanks!

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[Kayce]

It would be great if someone can answer this question!

 

[aldol16]

The answer to your first question is that there's no set raw score for a given scaled score. It doesn't work like that. There are multiple versions of the MCAT (maybe even multiple versions of each passage marked by different questions) and the raw score will be weighed by the difficulty of your passages. For instance, you might get a really difficult passage and based on historical performances, the top 10% of test-takers only got 3/6 of the questions associated with that passage correct, on average. So for that passage, you would only need a 3/6 to score in the 90th percentile. For another passage, that number might be 5/6. So it depends on your individual exam.

The answer to your second question can be found by searching other threads in this forum. In summary, you're not going to be compared with test-takers from your day. Your raw score will be scaled based on previous test-takers who have taken your version of the exam and this "curve" has already been established before your exam date.

 

[Kayce]

The answer to your first question is that there's no set raw score for a given scaled score. It doesn't work like that. There are multiple versions of the MCAT (maybe even multiple versions of each passage marked by different questions) and the raw score will be weighed by the difficulty of your passages. For instance, you might get a really difficult passage and based on historical performances, the top 10% of test-takers only got 3/6 of the questions associated with that passage correct, on average. So for that passage, you would only need a 3/6 to score in the 90th percentile. For another passage, that number might be 5/6. So it depends on your individual exam.

The answer to your second question can be found by searching other threads in this forum. In summary, you're not going to be compared with test-takers from your day. Your raw score will be scaled based on previous test-takers who have taken your version of the exam and this "curve" has already been established before your exam date.

Thank you so much for the reply! This completely makes more sense!

 

[DaAlienist]

The answer to your first question is that there's no set raw score for a given scaled score. It doesn't work like that. There are multiple versions of the MCAT (maybe even multiple versions of each passage marked by different questions) and the raw score will be weighed by the difficulty of your passages. For instance, you might get a really difficult passage and based on historical performances, the top 10% of test-takers only got 3/6 of the questions associated with that passage correct, on average. So for that passage, you would only need a 3/6 to score in the 90th percentile. For another passage, that number might be 5/6. So it depends on your individual exam.

The answer to your second question can be found by searching other threads in this forum. In summary, you're not going to be compared with test-takers from your day. Your raw score will be scaled based on previous test-takers who have taken your version of the exam and this "curve" has already been established before your exam date.

So the time of year or "difficulty" of my own exam will not significantly affect my ultimate percentile? I read the AAMC website a bit but it comes across as "there is not really a curve, but blah blah blah cohort, advanced comparison, yeah there is kind of a curve"

Is it pointless to push my exam spot ahead or back to pick a "better" time of year?

 

[aldol16]

So the time of year or "difficulty" of my own exam will not significantly affect my ultimate percentile? I read the AAMC website a bit but it comes across as "there is not really a curve, but blah blah blah cohort, advanced comparison, yeah there is kind of a curve"

The difficulty of your exam will affect your percentile. If you have a hard exam, the "curve" will be easier. But when I say "curve," it may not be the same meaning as when somebody else says "curve." Specifically, "curve "to me means that you will be compared to other people who have taken your version of the exam in the past. You're not being compared to people who took the test with you that day, which is how a curve would be constructed in an undergraduate course. In this way, the "curve" is already set when you take it - your score on the test just puts you somewhere on that scale and your scaled score is converted from that. In other words, if you have a hard version of the exam and the 75th percentile score corresponds to 70% of the questions answered correctly, then you can answer 70% of the questions correctly and get that 75th percentile score. If you have an easy version and the 75th percentile corresponds to 90% answered correctly, then you have to get that many right to get the 75th percentile score. This is greatly simplified, of course. My hypothesis is that each passage is either easy, medium, or hard and your answers for each specific passage are compared to past test-takers who got the same set of questions.

Is it pointless to push my exam spot ahead or back to pick a "better" time of year?

Yes. If you are well prepared and scoring well on the AAMC FLs, then you should score well on the real thing, no matter when you take it.

 

[Altius Premier Tutor]

Basically, it is 100% curved in the way most people think of that word, but the curve is set in stone before exam day. There will be a set formula for each exam form (of which there are many) that "x questions missed" (raw score) = Y scaled score. Since that is already in place before exam day, nothing that you or anyone else does on that day is going to change that raw->scaled formula. If you miss 20 questions you will get x score. If 100% of the examinees on that day somehow miraculously all missed 20 questions too, 100% of people that day would get the same score.