seriously. we could leave the testing center with our score.. have time to retake if we need it without seriously delaying the app. wishful thinking..
how much easier would our lives be if the MCAT could be scored immediately?
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Your life would be about 1 month easier. It's one of the longest months of your life, though, so maybe it counts as two.
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I do not think I would want it to appear on my screen at the testing center. Think about all the people that would either 1) freak out cause they got that 35 (or whatever) they were hoping for or 2) cry cause they got a 25. This would be VERY distracting to the people still finishing their bio section. Now if you want to email it to me or put it online the next day, I would be okay with that.
It's an agonizing 5 weeks.. But yes an email later that day would be ideal...
There were people in the same room as me taking the GRE while I took the mcat, which gives you your score as soon as you're done. I think people can hold in their emotions at least until they're out of the room, I know the moderators wouldve had your head if you yelled out or made a huge scene in that room...
There were people in the same room as me taking the GRE while I took the mcat, which gives you your score as soon as you're done. I think people can hold in their emotions at least until they're out of the room, I know the moderators wouldve had your head if you yelled out or made a huge scene in that room...
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Yeah, I think it's kinda unlikely a significant number of people are going to start shouting or bawling the moment they see their scores, especially people who plan to go into a field like medicine. I was pretty happy with my GRE score but I didn't rip off my shirt and go streaking around the test center or anything
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With the test being computer based we should really get our score if we choose not to void. It makes sense, a computer should be able to give us the raw score, and why do we such a long wait time? We should be told the raw score online instantly.
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This makes me wonder, considering the writing section will be gone in 2013 and 2014, do you think the score reporting times will be reduced?
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No I think its going to increase to about a 50 day waiting period until the score comes out.
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Yea probably haha. Man I don't understand AAMC at ALL. I mean they have so many questions, but only give us 8 out-dated exams. (and don't even get me started on AMCAS confusion). I would like to see the head of the AAMC take today's MCAT and score in the 90+ percentile--impossible. I think the current generation of doctors at the AAMC want to make us live through hell.
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Pretty much.
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Nah. If the WS was what delayed scoring they would probably just release the rest of it early and add the WS on later.
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I disagree. Releasing the scores in two parts would be more complicated procedure with zero benefit for them. Considering that there are no alternatives to the test, I doubt customer satisfaction is high on their list of priorities.
I would bet that the delay time for the scores will decrease when WS goes away, I just would bet something fairly small/cheap. 😉
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I'm going to be that guy... here we go 😀
There is just no way AAMC does not take into account the performance of the test takers on the day of administration. From a purely statistical standpoint there is no analysis they can do to have consistent "standardized" results without administering the exact same sections to other students in the same order because this is a passage based test. Unfortunately, how is it possible the first "sample" group of students gets a standardized score ? It's not. Unless they have an imaginary group of sample testers whom would get better and better at these exams, how else can you put weight behind the scales you give?
AAMC says that we are graded on a pre-set scale and I think this is partially true and a necessary white lie (leaving out some truth). I have a feeling the question type, question difficulty rating and so on is mathematically factored in as a backbone to give them some foundation. But even administering one passage at a time on previous exams would not give consistent results because of the heavy influence on timing from the other passages and even more-so discretes. We all know that the difference between 12 minutes and 7 minutes for the "tough one" is enormous and that kind of swing for a tough passage will happen on an easier exam versus a harder exam. Compare AAMC 11 Ebola passage with one more hypothetically difficult passage thrown in... that changes everything about the success on the ebola passage. Also, how do you avoid having a re-taker seeing the exact same passage as in the past?
Why would AAMC say this then? They don't want people scheming. If people knew that the test was graded even partially against others taking the exam, people would try to figure out a way to cheat the system. When do students take the exam and not know what they are doing? When have the most re-takers taken their first try? This is one of the largest conglomerations of type A personalities trying to excel in an extremely competitive process that has clear benefits in doing well. By writing one or two sentences in a PDF (MCAT essentials), they take that all away which is a clear necessity. I hate that their scaling is a big black box, but I also know it is important. It's like the dark night of the MCAT.
I think they take a decent amount of time reviewing the statistics of the results. You have a huge sample size taking the exam and an even larger one for the past exams to compare to. Questions and section lengths do not always go as planned and if they just dropped an entire test date for that, people would know it and they would lose credibility. Especially if this happened multiple times a year (which is likely if they just pre-scaled according to "what they think is fair before hand". That would be equivalent to going out to buy a house, looking at the fliers and picking the one to buy before you see them. Then you go out to see them and although you disliked the one you picked, you picked it before so you stick with it. AAMC is not this dumb, I assure you. There is no example of similar processes that any other person or company partake in that they take this approach successfully. Why would I believe they would? They have a LOT of data sitting in front of them and there is no way they don't use it.
Of course this is all speculation... and it will forever be speculation. I'm fine with that and I'm fine with others believing what they say verbatim. It makes no difference because there's no way to know and despite all that, you just have to go in and do you best. With that said, I think the 30 day wait has more going on during it than we think. I sure hope so, cause the 5/12 exam was terrible
There is just no way AAMC does not take into account the performance of the test takers on the day of administration. From a purely statistical standpoint there is no analysis they can do to have consistent "standardized" results without administering the exact same sections to other students in the same order because this is a passage based test. Unfortunately, how is it possible the first "sample" group of students gets a standardized score ? It's not. Unless they have an imaginary group of sample testers whom would get better and better at these exams, how else can you put weight behind the scales you give?
AAMC says that we are graded on a pre-set scale and I think this is partially true and a necessary white lie (leaving out some truth). I have a feeling the question type, question difficulty rating and so on is mathematically factored in as a backbone to give them some foundation. But even administering one passage at a time on previous exams would not give consistent results because of the heavy influence on timing from the other passages and even more-so discretes. We all know that the difference between 12 minutes and 7 minutes for the "tough one" is enormous and that kind of swing for a tough passage will happen on an easier exam versus a harder exam. Compare AAMC 11 Ebola passage with one more hypothetically difficult passage thrown in... that changes everything about the success on the ebola passage. Also, how do you avoid having a re-taker seeing the exact same passage as in the past?
Why would AAMC say this then? They don't want people scheming. If people knew that the test was graded even partially against others taking the exam, people would try to figure out a way to cheat the system. When do students take the exam and not know what they are doing? When have the most re-takers taken their first try? This is one of the largest conglomerations of type A personalities trying to excel in an extremely competitive process that has clear benefits in doing well. By writing one or two sentences in a PDF (MCAT essentials), they take that all away which is a clear necessity. I hate that their scaling is a big black box, but I also know it is important. It's like the dark night of the MCAT.
I think they take a decent amount of time reviewing the statistics of the results. You have a huge sample size taking the exam and an even larger one for the past exams to compare to. Questions and section lengths do not always go as planned and if they just dropped an entire test date for that, people would know it and they would lose credibility. Especially if this happened multiple times a year (which is likely if they just pre-scaled according to "what they think is fair before hand". That would be equivalent to going out to buy a house, looking at the fliers and picking the one to buy before you see them. Then you go out to see them and although you disliked the one you picked, you picked it before so you stick with it. AAMC is not this dumb, I assure you. There is no example of similar processes that any other person or company partake in that they take this approach successfully. Why would I believe they would? They have a LOT of data sitting in front of them and there is no way they don't use it.
Of course this is all speculation... and it will forever be speculation. I'm fine with that and I'm fine with others believing what they say verbatim. It makes no difference because there's no way to know and despite all that, you just have to go in and do you best. With that said, I think the 30 day wait has more going on during it than we think. I sure hope so, cause the 5/12 exam was terrible
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Well people taking the DAT get their scores immediately after. There's no reason AAMC couldn't do the same but who knows; perhaps since the WS has to graded separately they figure that there's no point in releasing the numerical score when they can just send everything together. Wonder if the removal of the WS next year will affect this.
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I wonder if they do it so that you don't tell people the material and what you thought was right/wrong.
You're less likely to remember the specific questions or convey accurate info if a month has passed.
You're less likely to remember the specific questions or convey accurate info if a month has passed.
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No.
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Which really sucks... but not as much as having acid sit in your stomach for 30+ days
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Only sucks if you have to retake it. I don't ever want to know what I got wrong on my most recent MCAT. I already know one thing and it has bothered me almost everyday since then.
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I just remembered I had finals a week ago and my last one was on Wednesday and grades come out by today at the latest (I got all of mine on Saturday), but those 3 days of waiting were some of my worst nights I have ever experienced. I had nightmares that I failed my exams, and then I would wake up and grab my phone and try to check my grades 4-5 times a night. I honestly dont even want to think about the 1 month wait time.
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you, sir/madam are a pun genius
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Most definitely, when I took my national registry for radiology I got the immediate results, as well as when I took the GRE. Both of these immediate results were "unofficial" but there weren't any changes when I got my official results back in the mail.
