I feel old asking this...

[SLC]

Will someone please explain the new MCAT scoring system to me? What's considered a good score these days?

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[SLC]

The topic caught my attention and actually made me laugh. Scores range from 472 to 528, 118 - 132 each section. A good score is about 508 which is the equivalent of 30 on the old scale, give or take but unlike the old test this scoring system seems to let people hit extremely high scores/percentiles. Like it isn't uncommon to see people with 516- 528 etc compared to how rare it was to see 37, 38 on the former scale. Anything else you wanna know, ask away.

So what's the DO range vs MD range now?

 

[AnatomyGrey12]

So what's the DO range vs MD range now?

The early estimate is a 503+ (~27) for DO and a 510+ (~31) for MD. If you want a true range for DO schools then I would say about 499-502 for newer schools, 502-506 for most everyone else, and 507-509 for the midwesterns and coastal Touros.

**This is all my own speculation as most schools haven't put out their averages yet for the new MCAT.

 

[WedgeDawg]

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/thr...centile-comparison-conversion-tables.1143689/

Thanks to @efle

If you want rough benchmarks, 510 is around a 30 or 31, 515 is 35, 518 is a 36, 521 is 38 (these are the lower bounds)

 

[SLC]

Strange stuff. I wonder who thought it would be a good idea to change the scoring system and why?

 

[sdhere1234]

508 is EXACTLY the new 30

both 79th percentile

It's also very easy to think of it this way.

1 - 15 = 118 - 132

So it's essentially just.. (these are rough estimates, percentiles vary by section but this is an easy way of looking at it.)
118 = 1
122 = 5
125 = 8
127 = 10
130 = 13
132 = 15

 

[Espressso]

Strange stuff. I wonder who thought it would be a good idea to change the scoring system and why?

The big changes were adding a social science section that's really heavy on research/study design and methodology regarding scientific studies. I think this is a move in the right direction, myself.
The other big change was adding biochem into the core concepts.. rather than the bio sci section being just biology and organic, it's now biology and biochem with orgo mixed in there. But in reality, to know biochem well, you need a good foundation of orgo so the need to truly know your organic chem is still there.

Basically, by adding a whole new section, the entire scoring system had to be revamped in a way. But when you decipher the ranges and the totals, not much (in terms of scoring) has changed.

I took both the old and the new mcat and while there's much more you need to look over with the new one, I prefer it. The old one was, in my opinion, way too focused on physical sciences like motion physics and inorganic chemistry and not enough emphasis was placed on both understanding biochem and the importance of fluent research designs. Granted, the new one is now like, 7.5 hours long which is hell on earth. But I think in a few years, once all the schools have shifted to the new mcat and the old one is phased out, it'll make much more sense.

 

[scpod]

....Granted, the new one is now like, 7.5 hours long which is hell on earth. But I think in a few years, once all the schools have shifted to the new mcat and the old one is phased out, it'll make much more sense.

The MCAT I took was on paper, but it was 8 or so hours long as well. That "shortened" MCAT has only been around as long as computer testing.

 

[Spikebd]

The big changes were adding a social science section that's really heavy on research/study design and methodology regarding scientific studies. I think this is a move in the right direction, myself.
The other big change was adding biochem into the core concepts.. rather than the bio sci section being just biology and organic, it's now biology and biochem with orgo mixed in there. But in reality, to know biochem well, you need a good foundation of orgo so the need to truly know your organic chem is still there.

Basically, by adding a whole new section, the entire scoring system had to be revamped in a way. But when you decipher the ranges and the totals, not much (in terms of scoring) has changed.

I took both the old and the new mcat and while there's much more you need to look over with the new one, I prefer it. The old one was, in my opinion, way too focused on physical sciences like motion physics and inorganic chemistry and not enough emphasis was placed on both understanding biochem and the importance of fluent research designs. Granted, the new one is now like, 7.5 hours long which is hell on earth. But I think in a few years, once all the schools have shifted to the new mcat and the old one is phased out, it'll make much more sense.

I agree that adding stats and some biochem is a smart idea. No student should have to sit through more than one semester of organic chemistry to succeed in medical school though.

Also I'm surprised at how long the new MCAT is.. 7.5 hours? Sheesh. Get used to it though guys, the testing never ends in this career.

 

[bigindian4891]

I took both the "old" CBT and the new one. I did considerably better on the new one, though that may be because of the extra three years of wisdom and graduate school. I will say that I felt more ready for medical school with this new test, because it turned from a knowledge test from the old one to a reasoning test with the new. Its not longer plug-and-chug equations, but applying the equations and seeing if you really understand what's going on.

 

[ortnakas]

Also I'm surprised at how long the new MCAT is.. 7.5 hours? Sheesh. Get used to it though guys, the testing never ends in this career.

Yep. For step/level 1 USMLE is ~7 hours, COMLEX is ~8.

 

[Spikebd]

Yep. For step/level 1 USMLE is ~7 hours, COMLEX is ~8.

Don't forget step 2 and step 3 either!

 

[IslandStyle808]

Don't forget step 2 and step 3 either!

step 2: 9 hours

step 3: 2 days (day 1: 8 hours, day 2: 9 hours)

**including break time

 

[MADD!!!]

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/thr...centile-comparison-conversion-tables.1143689/

Thanks to @efle

If you want rough benchmarks, 510 is around a 30 or 31, 515 is 35, 518 is a 36, 521 is 38 (these are the lower bounds)

+1 for this. @efle's chart is the best.

 

[Scrubs101]

I've never read any of the old MCAT passages but I've heard that the new MCAT passages try to relate the basic sciences to medicine a lot more. Like I said I'm not sure if this was really a change from the old one, as I just read that this was apart of the change from a Kaplan article. But I definitely did enjoy reading a good portion of the passages. They did a good job of making them interesting, in my opinion at least.


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile

 

[lnguyen1412]

I like the new MCAT for a few reasons:

1. The new Chemical Foundation section gives you less RAW physic passages, but incorporate those into more biochem concepts.
2. CARS in my opinion is kinda easier to read
3. Biological foundation with biochemistry focus is interesting and more relevant to medicine.

Just my 0.02c