Is it true that the boards are more knowledge based vs. the MCAT

[bubabugster]

I read somewhere that the MCAT is more about tricks, but the boards test knowledge and understanding of given subject matter. What have you guys heard?

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[mj1878]

Obviously you've never taken an MCAT.

-The MCAT is not about tricks; it's about testing your critical thinking and problem solving abilities. Those that aren't prepared for the MCAT will come out of it claiming that it's nothing but tricks and traps, but only because they did poorly and know it.

-Study well, get a review book that you don't have to wrestle with in order to get the information to stick(I, for example, found that Kaplan and I didn't get along, but Examkrackers and I were fast friends) and be prepared to face your own problem solving abilities. No, the MCAT doesn't test knowledge in the conventional way that you're used to in undergraduate, where they ask you a question from the text that you either studied or didn't. Knowing the material for the MCAT isn't enough; you have to know how to manipulate and navigate through a data set to come up with:

1)What the question is REALLY asking
2)How to solve it
3)What info is necessary and what's extraneous.

Take a couple of practice tests. See what you get wrong and why. I'm betting you'll find out that you don't miss questions because they were "tricky"; on the contrary, you'll probably find that you missed a question because you didn't fully critically think your way around a problem.

 

[Law2Doc]

I read somewhere that the MCAT is more about tricks, but the boards test knowledge and understanding of given subject matter. What have you guys heard?

Both are knowledge based. The boards (step 1) cover more and different and more volumninous courses (i.e. those you had in the first two years of med school).
And the verbal section of the MCAT is a very different kind of animal than anything you will see on the boards -- with it's emphasis on reading comprehension.
I wouldn't really worry about the boards until you are in your second year of med school.

 

[MacGyver]

MCAT is a joke compared to Step I

Step I covers over 10,000 pages of GRADUATE SCHOOL LEVEL MATERIAL.

 

[bubabugster]

Thanks!

 

[QofQuimica]

Moving to the USMLE forum....most of the MCAT forum readers are pre-meds, OP. They haven't ever taken Step 1.

 

[dara678]

i don't even know how/why you would compare them ... the MCAT is a test based on knowledge you have but ALSO based on how you can interpret passages and apply your knowledge to the answers. step 1 is more concrete, it's about testing your basic fund of knowledge in order to qualify you to practice medicine (in conjunction with steps 2 and 3, which test applications of clinical knowledge). these are very very different tests, and they each serve their purpose well.