MCAT and USMLE

[rsaab1234]

Although I didn't do as well as I hoped to do on the MCAT, I still got into AUC. Getting into AUC is great, but are they fooling me into thinking that I can do well on future standardized tests? Not only do I have to pass, but score very well to get into a good residency in the US. There is no real "passing" grade for the MCAT, so I am a little worried about how it will corelate to the USMLE. I understand it will take a lot of hard work, but is my thinking completely wrong? Any advise from anybody who knows anything about the USMLE, or took the exam, will be greatly apprecited. THanks!

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[McGillGrad]

Although the two exams are similar in the structure and purpose (i.e. measure of general knowledge of required subjects), they differ in one important way.

The MCAT focuses on some subjects that are abstract with an esoteric relationship to medicine, at best. That results in many students doing very well in the BS or PS section while suffering in Verbal or any combination, thereof. It just seems that some people have interest in certain subjects and others are only crammed into your skull for the exam and then purged soon thereafter.

The USMLE does test all of your basic science courses but it does with a more tertiary approach. You will take information from a few courses and apply them to answer pertinent questions about medicine. Of course, some questions will be rote memorization or straight fact retrieval.

You can do well on the USMLE but it is important to learn the material and do not just cram the information for the exam. Follow-up on USMLE style questions during the semester with course-specific questions and you should do great.

Don't psychologically handicap yourself by thinking that your performance on the MCAT will have power over your USMLE scores. You control that.

 

[billydoc]

Although I didn't do as well as I hoped to do on the MCAT, I still got into AUC. Getting into AUC is great, but are they fooling me into thinking that I can do well on future standardized tests? Not only do I have to pass, but score very well to get into a good residency in the US. There is no real "passing" grade for the MCAT, so I am a little worried about how it will corelate to the USMLE. I understand it will take a lot of hard work, but is my thinking completely wrong? Any advise from anybody who knows anything about the USMLE, or took the exam, will be greatly apprecited. THanks!

Congrats on geting in AUC! I don't think they fooled you into anything. There are many, many folks in the Carib schools who did subpar in unrergrad and MCAT, and still have managed to score very high on USMLE. It has a lot to do with your personal study habits than what school, or where geographically you are studying, IMHO.
If you don't mind my asking....What's on your MCAT score, and breakdown by the sections? (pm me if you don't want to post in public).

Thanks and best of Luck

 

[spartanwarrior]

Well, I agree with the posts on here to an extent, but I have to say, that there is no substitute for good test taking strategies. In general, most people's test scores from their SAT/ACT to MCAT/GRE etc...then to USMLE are going to be the same within a certain range. The reason is simply, most people don't study for the test in the right way. They never change their study habits to do better on standardized tests. Some perform brilliantly and beat the odds; for example, many people on these forums, post they scored like a 24 on the MCAT, but a 240 on the STEP 1. Bravo, but most people will still basically study the same way for each kind of test without actually addressing how they need to improve not for the subject matter, but on how to improve their test taking skills. This usually is immutable, with little fluctuation.
My point is, find help for test taking strategies in general, increase you analytical thinking ability even while taking the basic science classes, and do USMLE practice questions for your benefit while taking the courses to prepare long term for the test. That way, you will have at least 1 year before the test to study for the style of questions they have and integrate the knowledge you are learning now in the classroom to the test. Just don't forget to find your weakness in test taking and improve those. You can memorize all the material, but score average if you don't hav the right skills for the test.