MCAT score

[sunfest]

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A quick question to those who know more than me--

How old can a MCAT score be? How recent does the MCAT score have to be when you apply to medical school?

I am asking because I got a scholarship to take the Princeton Review's MCAT preparation course this Spring, and would like to take advantage of this opportunity, but I made not apply to med school for at least another year or possible two. Any input?

Thanks so much!!

Lin

 

[SaltySqueegee]

locate a book called the MSAR: Medical School Admission Requirements, and look up the corresponding schools that you are interested in applying to. The MSAR will give the number of years ago it will take an MCAT score set.

The Average number of years is around 3.

 

[JohnHolmes]

MDTom is right. Some schools (very few) limit it to two years. Generally, you are encouraged to take the MCAT in the Spring of the year you apply to medical school. In your case, you are probably ok for most schools.

Some schools do not have a limit (New Jersey), some schools have a five year limit.

Coops

 

[bewitched1081]

if the course is free, you might want to take the course and focus on doing the practice exams. dont let it cut into your studying for other classes. you want to take the mcat the spring before applying. the reason is because the mcat is curved. so a 13 in verbal from one year might be in the same percentile as an 11 in verbal from another year. since most applicants take the mcat the spring before applying, it is convenient for the adcom to compare their scores. you definitely want to do well on the mcat your first time around and take it closer in time to when you apply. so maybe think about taking the course again the spring before you apply.

 

[Amy B]

I took the MCAT in 2001 and applied this year with no problems. If you read the web pages of a lot of the schools, they will post info under the MCAT part telling you what is the earliest tests they will still accept. If I hadn't gotten in this year I would have had 1 more year at a few schools but then I would have had to take the MCAT again. This was the last year I could have applied at a number of schools.

 

[JohnHolmes]

Originally posted by bewitched1081
if the course is free, you might want to take the course and focus on doing the practice exams. dont let it cut into your studying for other classes. you want to take the mcat the spring before applying. the reason is because the mcat is curved. so a 13 in verbal from one year might be in the same percentile as an 11 in verbal from another year. since most applicants take the mcat the spring before applying, it is convenient for the adcom to compare their scores. you definitely want to do well on the mcat your first time around and take it closer in time to when you apply. so maybe think about taking the course again the spring before you apply.

Scaled scores are set to represent comparable performances among comparable groups of students. They are standardized with an error of +/- 1. Statistically, if the percentile from an 11 and 13 were in the same bracket, obviously the 11 group would have more, top-end students in it.

The percentiles do vary somewhat for a scaled score between Aug and April, but AAMC takes this into account for retesters. There is no statistically significant advantage to taking the test at one time versus another from a mathematical standpoint.

Coops

 

[bewitched1081]

Originally posted by Cooper_Wriston
Scaled scores are set to represent comparable performances among comparable groups of students. They are standardized with an error of +/- 1. Statistically, if the percentile from an 11 and 13 were in the same bracket, obviously the 11 group would have more, top-end students in it.

The percentiles do vary somewhat for a scaled score between Aug and April, but AAMC takes this into account for retesters. There is no statistically significant advantage to taking the test at one time versus another from a mathematical standpoint.

Coops

i am not really sure why you quoted me. the point of what was written was that adcoms like to compare students from the same population (that is, students taking the mcat at the same time).

 

[AlternateSome1]

Originally posted by bewitched1081
i am not really sure why you quoted me. the point of what was written was that adcoms like to compare students from the same population (that is, students taking the mcat at the same time).

I don't mean to be rude, but I've never heard that before, and I'm not sure how much intuitive sense it makes. The MCAT is given twice a year, so why would an ADCOM deem august better than april, or vice versa? In an individual test administration there are already many different test formats, so even scores from one test session can't be assumed to be from the exact same test. Also, the test is standardized, so an 11 from one test is approximately an 11 from another. Has anyone else heard this?

~AS1~

 

[Gleevec]

Originally posted by AlternateSome1
I don't mean to be rude, but I've never heard that before, and I'm not sure how much intuitive sense it makes. The MCAT is given twice a year, so why would an ADCOM deem august better than april, or vice versa? In an individual test administration there are already many different test formats, so even scores from one test session can't be assumed to be from the exact same test. Also, the test is standardized, so an 11 from one test is approximately an 11 from another. Has anyone else heard this?

~AS1~

The MCAT is standardized, so that would make no sense whatsoever. Adcoms already have enough variables to deal with, and the variation between administrations is so slight that they are not going to care about it. The MCAT is standardized for this reason, and I can say with almost certainty that the only difference between an August and April score is the month listed on the score report. The only disadvantage you hear about August MCATers is that if they are applying the same year they have to submit their applications later (after they get their score) which is a disadvantage.

 

[bocai]

I took my MCAT in Aug. 2000, and only found about 7 or 8 schools that still accepted it for application to the 2004 entering class:

Univ. of Miami
Wake Forest
Case Western
Univ. of Vermont
Univ. of Maryland
SLU
Rush
Albany Medical College

Not too bad of a selection if you're desperate not to take it again.

 

[bewitched1081]

Originally posted by Gleevec
The MCAT is standardized, so that would make no sense whatsoever. Adcoms already have enough variables to deal with, and the variation between administrations is so slight that they are not going to care about it. The MCAT is standardized for this reason, and I can say with almost certainty that the only difference between an August and April score is the month listed on the score report. The only disadvantage you hear about August MCATers is that if they are applying the same year they have to submit their applications later (after they get their score) which is a disadvantage.

it was never an august/april issue. if you read the original post it was about taking the mcat a year or more in advance. thus, my reply was written accordingly. if you dont believe that an 11 would be in a different percentile in different administrations, this may be because it is difficult to access the percentile information. probably the only way you could access this information is if you received your score in the mail. but you could compare the percentiles as matched to the scaled score on cards for different administrations and see for yourself. also, if the test was perfectly standardized then why wouldnt the curves for each section be nearly perfect bell curves and how is it possible that in some years scores as high as 42 are achieved and in other years the highest score is a 40? nevertheless, for the person who sought advice, most med schools advise taking the april mcat before applying.