Magic number for new MCAT

[NP545]

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I know for the old MCAT, people say it looks bad to retake a 33+, but what's the cutoff for the 2015 MCAT (since it's out of 60)? Or is it too early to say?

 

[Goro]

They haven't even given the damn thing yet! Chill!

I know for the old MCAT, people say it looks bad to retake a 33+, but what's the cutoff for the 2015 MCAT (since it's out of 60)? Or is it too early to say?

 

[hoihaie]

if you get a 60, you shouldn't retake.

Jus sayin' !

 

[IL Pre Med]

I thought it was scored in the 100s, I could be wrong though

 

[Lamel]

12.

 

[claduva94]

Its ranges from 472-528. So probably around a 515ish? But, as Goro said, that is speculation.

 

[Narmerguy]

It's not out of 60 or 45 anymore. Each section is between 118 and 132, which you'll note is nothing more than adding 117 to current section scores. Essentially it's still out of 15, only you add 117 to your score.

Test takers will receive five scores from their MCAT exams: one for each of the four sections and one combined total score.

Section Scores: Each of the four sections—Chemical and Physical Foundations of Biological Systems; Critical Analysis and Reasoning Skills; Biological and Biochemical Foundations of Living Systems; and Psychological, Social, and Biological Foundations of Behavior—will be scored from a low of 118 to a high of 132, with a midpoint of 125. Test takers will receive scores for each of the four sections.

Total Score: Scores for the four sections will be combined to create a total score. The total score will range from 472 to 528. The midpoint is 500.

For example, if an examinee scores 125 on the Chemical and Physical Foundations of Biological Systems section; 127 on the Critical Analysis and Reasoning Skills section; 128 on the Biological and Biochemical Foundations of Living Systems section; and 129 on the Psychological, Social, and Biological Foundations of Behavior section, the total score will be 509.

https://www.aamc.org/students/applying/mcat/mcat2015/admins/scores/

Don't bother thinking about the scores, just use the percentiles. The MCAT, as before, will give schools percentile scores for test results, such that whatever percentile equates to 33 will likely be treated similarly in the new test.

Here's an example score report that the MCAT would provide:
https://www.aamc.org/students/download/382754/data/mcat2015scorereportgraphic.pdf

One nice change is that school are given "confidence bands", which reflects that the test is not a perfect estimator of a student's "true" MCAT score and there is some variability around any one test result. This can be seen in the example score report above. However, it remains to be seen if adcoms will actually interpret these confidence bands differently or simply look at a student whose band is 505 to 509 and another whose band is 507 to 511 and say the latter student is "better".

In 2013 a score of 33 was 90.6th percentile (https://www.aamc.org/students/download/361080/data/combined13.pdf.pdf) so whatever is ~90-91st percentile will likely be treated similarly.

Hopefully this helps clear up confusion.

 

[Lawpy]

It's not out of 60 or 45 anymore. Each section is between 118 and 132, which you'll note is nothing more than adding 117 to current section scores. Essentially it's still out of 15, only you add 117 to your score.


https://www.aamc.org/students/applying/mcat/mcat2015/admins/scores/

Don't bother thinking about the scores, just use the percentiles. The MCAT, as before, will give schools percentile scores for test results, such that whatever percentile equates to 33 will likely be treated similarly in the new test.

Here's an example score report that the MCAT would provide:
https://www.aamc.org/students/download/382754/data/mcat2015scorereportgraphic.pdf

One nice change is that school are given "confidence bands", which reflects that the test is not a perfect estimator of a student's "true" MCAT score and there is some variability around any one test result. This can be seen in the example score report above. However, it remains to be seen if adcoms will actually interpret these confidence bands differently or simply look at a student whose band is 505 to 509 and another whose band is 507 to 511 and say the latter student is "better".

In 2013 a score of 33 was 90.6th percentile (https://www.aamc.org/students/download/361080/data/combined13.pdf.pdf) so whatever is ~90-91st percentile will likely be treated similarly.

Hopefully this helps clear up confusion.

The AAMC sure knows how to make things way more complicated than necessary

 

[wholeheartedly]

@Narmerguy thanks, been looking for that info.

 

[Time Table]

Add 468 (117*4) to whatever breakdown of the current MCAT you deem as satisfactory. For example, a 33 would breakdown to 11 per section, so for the new MCAT, there are fourr sections, making the number 44 + 468 = 512. A 30 on the current MCAT would be the equivalent of 40 + 468 = 508. A 500 is the equivalent of 8 on each section.

 

[tokeneconomy]

I'm sure they have their reasons, so why does anyone think they're making the scoring scale higher but keeping the differences essentially the same? From my perspective, it seems to mitigate the MCAT's importance (Not sure it will for adcoms, though). The difference between a 515 and a 507 might not seem huge, but that's the difference between a 29 and a 37 on the current MCAT.

 

[claduva94]

From what I've read its to distinguish the score from previous versions and other standardized tests. i.e. they want it to be obviously distinct from the old MCAT to avoid confusion.

 

[Time Table]

They added 117. Either that's completely arbitrary or they have some reason behind it. they could've added 110 or even 100, but they added 117. The only I could think of, was 125 is a Clean center between 132 and 118.

 

[Narmerguy]

The AAMC sure knows how to make things way more complicated than necessary

I'm sure they have their reasons, so why does anyone think they're making the scoring scale higher but keeping the differences essentially the same? From my perspective, it seems to mitigate the MCAT's importance (Not sure it will for adcoms, though). The difference between a 515 and a 507 might not seem huge, but that's the difference between a 29 and a 37 on the current MCAT.

It's a good question. There's no way to truly know, but they've said a few things about a more holistic interpretation of the MCAT score. Indeed, a 515 vs 507 seems less drastic than a 37 and 29. They've also stated that they centered each score distribution around 125 because they've found that's the score above which students seem to do well in medical school and graduate in 4 to 5 years. To be honest, I don't buy a lot of the rhetoric they're trying to dish on this, even though I overall support the new MCAT over the old one. I won't droll on about it and repeat myself here, I've talked about it a bit already here: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/avoiding-the-2015-mcat.1068631/#post-15186243