MCAT is more of a comprehension test

[thestrokes14]

Of course the verbal section is reading comprehension, but I found the Biological Sciences section to be extremely odd on the real MCAT (took it last August). It seemed to contain awkward questions that could only be answered from reading and making inferences from the passage, rather than from general knowledge of biology. I also noticed many questions were almost optical illusions (like chirality questions) and just trying to trick you. Physical Sciences was more on par with what we saw in the AAMC practice tests, which were heavily knowledge based, with a few oddball passages, which again can be answered just be comprehending the passages.

My point? It seems doing countless problems on physics, chemistry, and biology almost do you no good on the MCAT. The ability to critically read seems probably benefits a test taker the most. Just my thoughts.

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[tttgo]

It's kinda hard to develop this critical ability when you're lacking it. I think people do mcat-style questions in hopes of improving their mcat intuition. You're right in that just doing problems probably doesn't help. That's why people stress doing quality passages over discrete. something like ek 1001 only helps you nail down the basics.

 

[jckut10]

This reflects my experience, particularly on the biology section - most if the information you need to answer the questions is in the passage and figures, and if you did reasonably well in your classes you'll rarely have to recall obscure facts. Practice so that you can read passages, understand figures, and answer the questions quickly. You want to finish so you have time to review your work.

I've come to believe that the MCAT is a test of thinking and reasoning ability, not memorization skills. Maybe you'll forget a lot of what you learn in medical school, but you need to be able to make logical inferences based on what you do remember and what you see before you. That's the skill the MCAT is designed to evaluate.

 

[RogueUnicorn]

Of course the verbal section is reading comprehension, but I found the Biological Sciences section to be extremely odd on the real MCAT (took it last August). It seemed to contain awkward questions that could only be answered from reading and making inferences from the passage, rather than from general knowledge of biology. I also noticed many questions were almost optical illusions (like chirality questions) and just trying to trick you. Physical Sciences was more on par with what we saw in the AAMC practice tests, which were heavily knowledge based, with a few oddball passages, which again can be answered just be comprehending the passages.

My point? It seems doing countless problems on physics, chemistry, and biology almost do you no good on the MCAT. The ability to critically read seems probably benefits a test taker the most. Just my thoughts.

critical thinking and science knowledge are each necessary, and neither is sufficient alone to do very well on the MCAT. good for you to get it.

 

[apumic]

This reflects my experience, particularly on the biology section - most if the information you need to answer the questions is in the passage and figures, and if you did reasonably well in your classes you'll rarely have to recall obscure facts. Practice so that you can read passages, understand figures, and answer the questions quickly. You want to finish so you have time to review your work.

I've come to believe that the MCAT is a test of thinking and reasoning ability, not memorization skills. Maybe you'll forget a lot of what you learn in medical school, but you need to be able to make logical inferences based on what you do remember and what you see before you. That's the skill the MCAT is designed to evaluate.

I always thought this was common sense. Of course the MCAT isn't testing your ability to memorize. Probably 80-90% of the information needed for the question set can be found in the passage. The fact that they are testing at the first yr science level should indicate this quite well. They cannot test you on memorization because the details memorized in 1st yr courses are going to vary from course to course and school to school (beyond the absolute basic equations in, say, physics).

Additionally, who really cares how well you understand ochem. It's not going to be very valuable to you as a physician in the way you learned it in class. While it is crucial you have an instinct for how new things might work, your knowledge of the transition metals and the exceptions to trends they exhibit will be virtually worthless to you as a physician (in most any specialty). However, the test writers want to know that you can figure things out. If they give you information, can you absorb, integrate, and synthesize quickly enough to keep up? It's a test of critical thinking, plain and simple.

 

[jckut10]

I always thought this was common sense.

One would think that...