MCAT 2015 is dumb

[fishieFDR]

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I will be taking the 2015 MCAT and I have no problems with the changes for the most part. What I think IS a huge problem is the Psychology section. It seems like they want you to know a lot of Psychology terms and use them to identify their example situations (I've been looking at their 2015 MCAT stuff). I'm just confused, because, they would NEED to provide a list of these terms. I remember in AP Psychology, there were a few textbooks and on the test sometimes you'd be unlucky and see a term you've never seen before. Psychology is a study with a ridiculous amount of terms (I think I had 2000 notecards by the end of the class). I'm certain this would be true for the MCAT.

Also, any idea when new materials for the new sections will come out?

 

[DoctorWhoo]

I will be taking the 2015 MCAT and I have no problems with the changes for the most part. What I think IS a huge problem is the Psychology section. It seems like they want you to know a lot of Psychology terms and use them to identify their example situations (I've been looking at their 2015 MCAT stuff). I'm just confused, because, they would NEED to provide a list of these terms. I remember in AP Psychology, there were a few textbooks and on the test sometimes you'd be unlucky and see a term you've never seen before. Psychology is a study with a ridiculous amount of terms (I think I had 2000 notecards by the end of the class). I'm certain this would be true for the MCAT.

Also, any idea when new materials for the new sections will come out?

You are correct, the MCAT 2015 is a computerized test and consequently lacks the ability to speak.

 

[Flashfan]

Princeton Review and Kaplan already have materials available. TBR will not have their review material out until early next year.

 

[fishieFDR]

Princeton Review and Kaplan already have materials available. TBR will not have their review material out until early next year.

Still don't know how they have any idea how the Psychology section is going to be like.

 

[La Presse]

Princeton Review and Kaplan already have materials available. TBR will not have their review material out until early next year.

How do you know this lol?

 

[Flashfan]

I emailed them to know when the material will be available.

How do you know this lol?

 

[Ismet]

I fail to see why they "need" to provide you with a list of psychology terms. The content categories are extremely well outlined here: https://www.aamc.org/students/services/343550/mcat2015.html.

Just like they expect you to know the equations to solve physics problems, they expect you to know the relevant terms for the psych/soc concepts that will be tested.

 

[fishieFDR]

I fail to see why they "need" to provide you with a list of psychology terms. The content categories are extremely well outlined here: https://www.aamc.org/students/services/343550/mcat2015.html.

Just like they expect you to know the equations to solve physics problems, they expect you to know the relevant terms for the psych/soc concepts that will be tested.

So how am I supposed to know affective forecasting is the same as hedonic forecasting? How am I supposed to know that I'm supposed to know what it is in the first place? I don't know... but I saw an example question that had a term never mentioned in that link.

 

[gettheleadout]

So how am I supposed to know affective forecasting is the same as hedonic forecasting? How am I supposed to know that I'm supposed to know what it is in the first place? I don't know... but I saw an example question that had a term never mentioned in that link.

Was there a passage?

 

[fishieFDR]

Was there a passage?

Yes and it asked you to identify what the person/people were experiencing (a term). I'll try to find it.

 

[fishieFDR]

Okay, so I think the first one is from Kaplan: http://www.mcat2015.com/how-should-i-prepare/ (practice problem #1) and then I think the actual one is from Princeton Review, but the site is down.

Nowhere in the AAMC booklet is conflict theory mentioned..

 

[gettheleadout]

Okay, so I think the first one is from Kaplan: http://www.mcat2015.com/how-should-i-prepare/ (practice problem #1) and then I think the actual one is from Princeton Review, but the site is down.

Nowhere in the AAMC booklet is conflict theory mentioned..

Conflict theory is explicitly listed under Content Category 9A: Understanding Social Structure in the section content PDF available on this page.

 

[maxilofacial]

They want individuals with the skills to perform enough research to know what is coming in the MCAT 2015.

 

[fishieFDR]

Conflict theory is explicitly listed under Content Category 9A: Understanding Social Structure in the section content PDF available on this page.

Ah! Control F failed me, thank you.

 

[fishieFDR]

They want individuals with the skills to perform enough research to know what is coming in the MCAT 2015.

I think I'll stick to and hurry to take the old one. Seems like the new sections will be either ridiculously easy (definitions) or scattered.

 

[Anicetus]

Man I feel old for saying this (and haven't even started medical school yet this summer), but with the new MCAT these days I wouldn't have gotten in. One verbal section for me sucked but looking at these new sociology questions, it would be not one but TWO sections that would be the bane of my existence.

 

[WillburCobb]

Psychology is a study with a ridiculous amount of terms (I think I had 2000 notecards by the end of the class)

If you're using note cards and trying to memorize "terms" for psych you're doing it wrong.

 

[masaraksh]

If you're using note cards and trying to memorize "terms" for psych you're doing it wrong.

This. Psych is best studied via coloring book.

 

[Reckoner]

This. Psych is best studied via coloring book.

Paint by number Rorschach blots

 

[Being]

 

[WillburCobb]

This. Psych is best studied via coloring book.

On a more serious note, learning/understanding psych by relying rote memorization of field specific jargon is very low yield. Anyone I know who relied on this either worked twice as hard as everyone else or struggled immensely in psych courses. You're much better off just learning concepts which for psych isn't too hard. If there is any jargon on the MCAT the meaning and context will more than likely be provided within the passage.

 

[bromedical]

On a more serious note, learning/understanding psych by relying rote memorization of field specific jargon is very low yield. Anyone I know who relied on this either worked twice as hard as everyone else or struggled immensely in psych courses. You're much better off just learning concepts which for psych isn't too hard. If there is any jargon on the MCAT the meaning and context will more than likely be provided within the passage.

I don't know whether you actually know what you are talking about or not, but the fact that you are saying it with such a smug sense of superiority really rubs me the wrong way.

 

[WillburCobb]

...but the fact that you are saying it with such a smug sense of superiority...

😕

 

[maxilofacial]

I think I'll stick to and hurry to take the old one. Seems like the new sections will be either ridiculously easy (definitions) or scattered.

The AAMC have released some practice questions. You should take it and make a decision based in your performance and confidence about these sections.

IMO, the current one seems more predictable and "easier".

 

[bromedical]

Conflict theory is explicitly listed under Content Category 9A: Understanding Social Structure in the section content PDF available on this page.

Also, it's one of the videos on Khan Academy.

 

[circulus vitios]

The psych/soc section is a joke. Whatever justifies AAMC salaries, I guess.

 

[gettheleadout]

The psych/soc section is a joke. Whatever justifies AAMC salaries, I guess.

bro u 2 cynical

 

[fishieFDR]

The psych/soc section is a joke. Whatever justifies AAMC salaries, I guess.

But why would they make it easy? I'm just so lost!

 

[fishieFDR]

The AAMC have released some practice questions. You should take it and make a decision based in your performance and confidence about these sections.

IMO, the current one seems more predictable and "easier".

But whyyyyyyyyyyy? I guess more emphasis on GPA... which is not good for me.

 

[deleted407021]

But why would they make it easy? I'm just so lost!

It would be rather difficult to make intro to psychology very difficult. I have no exposure to sociology but, based on what I have read around here, it would be similar to psychology with respect to the difficulty. From the AAMC:

This section tests your knowledge and use of the concepts in psychology, sociology, biology, research methods, and statistics that provide a solid foundation for learning in medical school about the behavioral and socio-cultural determinants of health and health outcomes.

Understanding the behavioral and socio-cultural determinants of health is important to the study of medicine. You will be tested on your knowledge of the ways in which psychological, social, and biological factors influence perceptions and reactions to the world; behavior, and behavior change; what people think about themselves and others; the cultural and social differences that influence well-being; and the relationships between social stratification, access to resources, and well-being.

Exposure to research methods a cognitive psych would be helpful, given the above information. Abnormal psych would expand on the basics touched on in the intro class, but all you really need is the latter, and I'm not yet convinced that they could really use that little bit of information in that class to make a "hard" test section.

 

[CpnClwVie]

On a more serious note, learning/understanding psych by relying rote memorization of field specific jargon is very low yield. Anyone I know who relied on this either worked twice as hard as everyone else or struggled immensely in psych courses. You're much better off just learning concepts which for psych isn't too hard. If there is any jargon on the MCAT the meaning and context will more than likely be provided within the passage.

I wholeheartedly disagree but to each his own.

 

[WillburCobb]

I wholeheartedly disagree but to each his own.

I realize this argument is contingent on student, professor, class, department, and school, however, at what point(s) ? I'd honestly like to know. And not to make this into a pissing contest, but credentials would be nice as well. I'm fine if you'd rather PM me to avoid thread derailment.

 

[CpnClwVie]

I realize this argument is contingent on student, professor, class, department, and school, however, at what point(s) ? I'd honestly like to know. And not to make this into a pissing contest, but credentials would be nice as well. I'm fine if you'd rather PM me to avoid thread derailment.

In speaking from my own experience, prior to college I had never taken a psychology class. I took psych 1 as a freshman and set the curve for a mass assembly class with over 500 students in it on both the midterm and final. To do so I literally just crammed the night before each exam. Now for neuropharmacology, neuroanatomy, and other neuroscience classes it was different. Those took prolonged effort. But for psych I honestly found that by just knowing general vocab it was easy enough to just common sense your way through it. Everyone intuitively knows what a schema is but not everyone might know what the term means or is referring to.

 

[WillburCobb]

In speaking from my own experience, prior to college I had never taken a psychology class. I took psych 1 as a freshman and set the curve for a mass assembly class with over 500 students in it on both the midterm and final. To do so I literally just crammed the night before each exam. Now for neuropharmacology, neuroanatomy, and other neuroscience classes it was different. Those took prolonged effort. But for psych I honestly found that by just knowing general vocab it was easy enough to just common sense your way through it. Everyone intuitively knows what a schema is but not everyone might know what the term means or is referring to.

I'm not talking about general psych, I'm referring to psych as a whole (my general psych experience was pretty identical to yours). I'm also basing my previous statement(s) on what the AAMC has listed as testable material. I was a psych and neuroscience minor who took almost every psych class at my undergrad (not by choice). I also took the psych GRE, and almost went to grad school for psych instead of med school. Had I kept the same approach of "studying" for anything beyond my 100-200 level classes, my GPA would have been an atrocity, and I wouldn't have retained anything from any of my classes.

 

[deleted480308]

you don't have to know all the terms....just more terms than 90% of the people psychotically driven by hopes of a career that will make them hundreds of thousands of dollars per year.

may the odds be ever in your favor

 

[mrh125]

I agree with the topic title, whoever decided to make the 2015 mcat the way it was probably paid too much to make to make a good decision.