MCAT gauged by other standardized tests?

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verynice

verynice

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I heard an interesting comment today and thought I would ask the SDN community. Do you think that performance on tests such as the ACT or SAT correlate to scores on the MCAT?
 
verynice said:
I heard an interesting comment today and thought I would ask the SDN community. Do you think that performance on tests such as the ACT or SAT correlate to scores on the MCAT?
Click to expand...

[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1MLry6Cn_D4[/YOUTUBE]


"No."

But students who scored very high on the SAT/ACT might be likely to be smart/hardworking, so in the future they are probably likely to work pretty hard on the MCAT.

But getting a high SAT/ACT score does not mean one will get a high MCAT, and a low SAT/ACT doesn't equal a low MCAT.
 
Hahahaha! Love the video. I watched the whole thing. So entertaining.
 
If you use the search function you will find a few threads that discuss this. I remember there being an argument for a correlation between the ACT and MCAT on one of the threads.
 
Stumpyman said:
[YOUTUBE]1MLry6Cn_D4[/YOUTUBE]


"No."

But students who scored very high on the SAT/ACT might be likely to be smart/hardworking, so in the future they are probably likely to work pretty hard on the MCAT.

But getting a high SAT/ACT score does not mean one will get a high MCAT, and a low SAT/ACT doesn't equal a low MCAT.
Click to expand...

I disagree with this. If you didn't do well on the SAT/ACT, it is incredibly unlikely you will do well on the MCAT. Not impossible, but veeeerrrry unlikely.
 
Double Trouble said:
If you use the search function you will find a few threads that discuss this. I remember there being an argument for a correlation between the ACT and MCAT on one of the threads.
Click to expand...

Ahh, sorry. I didn't see it in my preliminary search.
 
dreamweaver1988 said:
I disagree with this. If you didn't do well on the SAT/ACT, it is incredibly unlikely you will do well on the MCAT. Not impossible, but veeeerrrry unlikely.
Click to expand...

Hmm, then why are people with low SAT scores still able to score high on the MCAT? Just how is it "very unlikely"? Is the SAT some kind of magical barrier that will hold you back from every further unrelated test you take in the future?

You know, people do change their habits. I was an unmotivated HS student, and completely went 180 degrees come college.
 
dreamweaver1988 said:
I disagree with this. If you didn't do well on the SAT/ACT, it is incredibly unlikely you will do well on the MCAT. Not impossible, but veeeerrrry unlikely.
Click to expand...

do you think it is just because of intelligence, testing ability, or some other lurking variable that hinders those low ACT/SAT scorers?
 
Stumpyman said:
Hmm, then why are people with low SAT scores still able to score high on the MCAT? Just how is it "very unlikely"? Is the SAT some kind of magical barrier that will hold you back from every further unrelated test you take in the future?

You know, people do change their habits. I was an unmotivated HS student, and completely went 180 degrees come college.
Click to expand...

I am the same way.
 
I think the only place it correlates is the verbal reasoning sections on the tests. I haven't taken my MCAT yet, but have been getting very high scores on practice tests, and scored in the 99th percentile for VR (or correlated name) on both the SAT and ACT.
 
Funny enough, I got the same score on the ACT and the MCAT... But then again, the scales are different.
 
I would bet money that if you ran a study comparing SAT/ACT scores to MCAT scores for everybody who took the MCAT, you would find a small, but statistically significant correlation. The reason being is that all of these tests, to a certain extent, test intelligence. There are probably other variables that correlate more strongly with MCAT scores than SAT/ACT scores, such as amount of time spent studying, efficiency of study plan, et cetera.
 
It's about the same for me with my MCAT percentile being about 1 or 2 percentage points lower. SAT was the same as PCAT (pharmacy test).
 
QuiteAConundrum said:
I think the only place it correlates is the verbal reasoning sections on the tests. I haven't taken my MCAT yet, but have been getting very high scores on practice tests, and scored in the 99th percentile for VR (or correlated name) on both the SAT and ACT.
Click to expand...

I disagree based on personal experience. I got an 800 on SAT verbal, but struggled alot with MCAT verbal. It was mostly because of time which is weird because I always finished SAT verbal with tons of time. I had practice ALOT of MCAT verbal, and still only got an 11.
 
What's so interesting about the SATs correlating with the MCAT? wouldn't it just make logical, intuitional sense tha if somebody does really well on one standardized test, they would do well on another one? And same thing goes for someone doing poorly. There's really nothing at all interesting about that notion.
 
I scored a 21 on the ACT and a 32 on the MCAT. Not that a 32 is amazing, but I do believe it is a big jump from my ACT score.
 
Habits Change. I did a 180 when starting college, it's not that I wasn't intelligent. My actual MCAT score is 8 points higher than than the one predicted by my SAT scores.
 
Stumpyman said:
Hmm, then why are people with low SAT scores still able to score high on the MCAT? Just how is it "very unlikely"? Is the SAT some kind of magical barrier that will hold you back from every further unrelated test you take in the future?

You know, people do change their habits. I was an unmotivated HS student, and completely went 180 degrees come college.
Click to expand...

Which is why it won't apply to everyone Stumpy. I was like you as well, and I didn't even study for the SAT. Even so, I only went from ~80th percentile SAT to ~86th percentile MCAT. I think there is a decent correlation. I don't know anyone that got above 1450 on the SAT (Avg. entering for my school; writing doesn't count people) that didn't break 30 on the MCAT (Avg. score for pre-meds at my school). There are other things that go into that though...
 
Hotshy said:
Habits Change. I did a 180 when starting college, it's not that I wasn't intelligent. My actual MCAT score is 8 points higher than than the one predicted by my SAT scores.
Click to expand...

Lol. Yeah, I checked that predictor out too. It said I'd get a 22 😉.
 
Vandy Premed said:
Which is why it won't apply to everyone Stumpy. I was like you as well, and I didn't even study for the SAT. Even so, I only went from ~80th percentile SAT to ~86th percentile MCAT. I think there is a decent correlation. I don't know anyone that got above 1450 on the SAT (Avg. entering for my school; writing doesn't count people) that didn't break 30 on the MCAT (Avg. score for pre-meds at my school). There are other things that go into that though...
Click to expand...

I had no idea my SAT score put me in the 85th percentile (not that 85th is killer or anything). I considered it pretty lackluster but I didn't really care what I got back then. The sad (or just different from back then) thing is I don't even need to look at what percentile my MCAT is to know now.
 
Mine wasn't too correlated (although I took the ACT and SAT super young). I think it comes down to intelligence and hard work--if you understand it and put in a sufficient amount of time, you should do well on the MCAT...
 
There are a few older studies which have looked at this, but only for particular institutions, and some of the statistically-minded SDN posters have thrown stones at them. But for what it's worth, here's what the studies found:

1985 Dawson-Saunders paper based on a large Midwestern university: "the ACT composite score was strongly related to MCAT performance, although the predictability was enhanced by inclusion of information on the student’s grade point average in science subjects"
http://www.eric.ed.gov/PDFS/ED263176.pdf

1993 Montague paper based on small university: "The students' SAT scores and GPAs proved to be statistically reliable predictors of MCAT scores"
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8466617

2000 Delahunty paper based on a small LAC post-bacc program: "A strong correlation exists between the total MCAT score and the total SAT score"
http://www.naahp.org/Default.aspx?tabid=2588 see also discussion at http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/pre-med-topics/80275-mcats-5.html

2002 Eisen paper: "the ACT composite score was strongly related to MCAT performance"
journal cite only at http://www.naahp.org/Default.aspx?tabid=2599 see discussion and criticism at http://forums.studentdoctor.net/archive/index.php/t-616244.html
 
Stumpyman said:
But students who scored very high on the SAT/ACT might be likely to be smart/hardworking, so in the future they are probably likely to work pretty hard on the MCAT.
Click to expand...

So...you think they're correlated.

A standardized test is a standardized test is a standardized test.
 
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