myst. stranger...good point

[bond007md]

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Are you sitting in my brain? I am definitely one of those ppl who never is ready enough and a total perfectionist (i know, i know i am unfortnately a typical pre-med so dont hit me😉 ) But anyways, I will take the PR course in a couple of weeks and see how it goes. But myst. stranger someone told me that that curve theory is totally overblown because AMCAS or something shows that that the MCAT score is nearly the same for both of the sessions? TRUE???!?

 

[The Mysterious Stranger]

When you receive your MCAT scores you don't get the breakdown--what raw score a 14 correlated to. The MCAT people don't give that out, and it kinda makes me wonder. Anyhow, Mcat scores are based on percents and the percents stay the same for both April and Aug. So the top 2% in each session get the same score. Aug MCAT takers have more preparation time so if only the top 2% can get the highest score it seems to me that the curve will jump. I have no statistical proof, it is just what seems logical to me. I'd be interested in any stats though. Good luck with everything!

 

[relatively prime]

Originally posted by The Mysterious Stranger
When you receive your MCAT scores you don't get the breakdown--what raw score a 14 correlated to. The MCAT people don't give that out, and it kinda makes me wonder. Anyhow, Mcat scores are based on percents and the percents stay the same for both April and Aug. So the top 2% in each session get the same score. Aug MCAT takers have more preparation time so if only the top 2% can get the highest score it seems to me that the curve will jump. I have no statistical proof, it is just what seems logical to me. I'd be interested in any stats though. Good luck with everything!

I think you're forgetting that the students that bomb the MCAT in April retake it in August. And since most people who retake the MCAT do worse or stay about the same, the scores of these students probably cancel out the affect of students having more time to prepare.

Besides, most people have jobs over the summer and so in reality have less or the same amount of time to study. I know I didn't study much more over the summer to take the August MCAT as I did during the school year to take the April MCAT.

The amcas people are very careful about these things... that's why it takes them so long to grade the tests.

 

[The Mysterious Stranger]

RP you have some interesting points but I guess I just disagree. The reason it takes AMCAS so long to grade our tests is because of the writing samples. I looked at the data on the aamc website and in August 2002, 12,737 people taking the MCAT were repeat testers while 19,205 were first-timers. So the majority of August MCATer's are not repeaters who bombed in April. Additionally, there were 6,319 repeat-testers at the April MCAT (25% of April MCAT takers). I just don't think you can make the generalization that people in the summer are just as if not more busy than people in APril. Sure there are individual circumstances, but it's not a generality. I don't think you can say MOST people have jobs in the summer but not during the school year. I think the majority of people fall in a category of either needing a job all-year-round or not needing a job at all. I've never heard someone say they will take the MCAt in April because they would be less busy, yet I hear that from Aug Mcat takers all the time. I guess we just disagree. This is really a debate that can't be concluded either way because the aamc does not provide the number of correct reposnses that determine each cut-off.

 

[bond007md]

i am so stupid...thanks for the input ms but i also pretty much said the same thing in the old thread because i did not know that i was starting a new thread...thanks though

 

[relatively prime]

Originally posted by The Mysterious Stranger
RP you have some interesting points but I guess I just disagree. The reason it takes AMCAS so long to grade our tests is because of the writing samples. I looked at the data on the aamc website and in August 2002, 12,737 people taking the MCAT were repeat testers while 19,205 were first-timers. So the majority of August MCATer's are not repeaters who bombed in April. Additionally, there were 6,319 repeat-testers at the April MCAT (25% of April MCAT takers). I just don't think you can make the generalization that people in the summer are just as if not more busy than people in APril.

I think these numbers actually PROVE my point. Look at what they are saying... in August, roughly 40% of the test takers were retakers. Whereas in April only 25% of the test takers. That's a BIG difference in the number of retakers. So assuming that retakers are generally poorer test takers, there are more poor test takers in August than in April. I'm assuming this because the statistics show that few people raise their MCAT score the second time around. HOWEVER, the august test takers do generally have more time to study (even if they have jobs...like you said). So I'm thinking the two things cancel each other out.

 

[The Mysterious Stranger]

ugh. I respect your opinion but I guess we just don't agree. I don't think a 15% difference makes your point because I don't think a 15% difference is a huge difference. I think it's insignificant. RP I've seen your posts before and I usually agree with you so I guess this is just one of the times I don't. It's just a difference of opinion because there is really no way to qualify either side.

 

[bond007md]

a lawyer😀 ....coming across as a person who knows his/her stuff...playing hardball too

 

[moviefreak]

Of course, the MCAT people would always claim the scores of the retakers did not substantially improve or otherwise the whole point of administering "standardized" tests such as the MCAT would be groundless.

 

[relatively prime]

Originally posted by The Mysterious Stranger
ugh. I respect your opinion but I guess we just don't agree. I don't think a 15% difference makes your point because I don't think a 15% difference is a huge difference. I think it's insignificant. RP I've seen your posts before and I usually agree with you so I guess this is just one of the times I don't. It's just a difference of opinion because there is really no way to qualify either side.

Yo, I'm not arguing with you because I want you to agree with me. I'm just having a healthy debate here. 🙂

I can tell you that a 15% is a lot... and far from insignificant. Think of it this way.... going from 40% to 25% is a 38% decrease in the percentage of students who are retakers. In august 2 in 5 students are retakes while in april only 1.2 in 5 are retakers. This really is a significant change.


here... let's map it out...

say the average retaker scores a 20 while the average non-retaker scores a 26...

In August the overall average score would be :
0.4(20) + 0.6(26) = 23.60
(which is a predictable overall average)

In April the overall average score would be :
0.25(20) + 0.75(26) = 24.50

That's almost a whole 1 point difference. And on the MCAT, one point difference in the average is a lot.

Now, those average MCAT scores are just educated guesses. But the main point is that if there is a significant difference in the average scores of retakes and nonretakers (which I think there is) then a 38% change in the number of retakers is significant.

However, I think that the negative affect of the extra retakers in august is canceled out by the fact that generally people ahve more time to study for the August test... so the averages for the two test dates comes out the same.