New MCAT: 9 hour day!

[Blueprint MCAT Tutor]

Ugh. The new MCAT is going to be atrocious. Scroll to the bottom of our Office Hours thread to see the specifics:

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/mcat-2015-discussion.1053559/

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[havocgene]

do you think this will mean only 8 AM tests?

 

[Blueprint MCAT Tutor]

Yes, almost certainly. They'll only be able to have a single batch - they may stagger start times as like 8am / 9am / 10am or whatever, but no more 1pm tests, I would think.

 

[Blueprint MCAT Tutor]

I took it in 2005 when it was on paper with a writing section. It's hard but remember, everyone from 2015 on is in the same boat.

Same here, but I took it even earlier in 1998.

Back then it was both better and worse. It was worse in that they gave you an HOUR for lunch, and there was no choice - since the test was on paper, you had to wait a full hour before they'd let you do the essay portion of the exam. That hour was pure torture. Since it only takes about two minutes to eat your PB&J sandwich and drink your diet coke, there was nothing to do for most of that time.

On the other hand, it was a much MUCH better experience than what students will be getting now. First and most importantly, the test was on paper and it's vastly easier on the eyes to spend an hour and a half reading on paper than on a computer screen. Second, you'd spend an hour on the stupid essay, and it was basically like a rest section for your brain before doing the bio sci section, since the essay was a joke that didn't matter for your application at all. Now, there's no essay and it's four scored sections, all of which matter, which have to be read on the computer screen.

If given a choice, I'd always pick the old paper test and would recommend it to others.