No search function on the real mcat

[berkpremed]

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ok, I don't know why AAMC would do this but

WHY ON EARTH WOULD YOU PUT A SEARCH FUNCTION ON YOUR PRACTICE TESTS, WHEN THE REAL TEST DOESN'T HAVE A SEARCH FUNCTION?!!!

Seriously, are they just trying to screw with us?

I know it's my fault for not reading through the tutorial but come on! The practice tests are supposed to be representative of a real test. Why would you add an extra feature that isn't on the real thing?!

I just wanted to warn everyone else who's taking the mcat. THERE IS NO SEARCH FUNCTION FOR THE REAL MCAT! I seriously spent 1 minute when I got to VR trying to find that sucker...

With my face looking something like this, when I realized what had happened.

 

[da Vincis World]

Yeah I thought that was odd as well. If you are doing the VR section correctly you will never need to use a search anyway. Had my real MCAT had a search feature and I used it, I would have run out of time.

During practices tests I was finishing the VR section with about 7 minutes to spare. On the real thing, I finished the section as time expired.

 

[jlo9011]

ok, I don't know why AAMC would do this but

WHY ON EARTH WOULD YOU PUT A SEARCH FUNCTION ON YOUR PRACTICE TESTS, WHEN THE REAL TEST DOESN'T HAVE A SEARCH FUNCTION?!!!

Seriously, are they just trying to screw with us?

I know it's my fault for not reading through the tutorial but come on! The practice tests are supposed to be representative of a real test. Why would you add an extra feature that isn't on the real thing?!

I just wanted to warn everyone else who's taking the mcat. THERE IS NO SEARCH FUNCTION FOR THE REAL MCAT! I seriously spent 1 minute when I got to VR trying to find that sucker...

With my face looking something like this, when I realized what had happened.

There's no notes dropping on the real thing either.

 

[J ROD]

Yeah, it does not make sense. I never used the function anyway.

 

[CN85]

Yeah, it does not make sense. I never used the function anyway.

What about the Review button? Does it come up readily when you load the first passage or is it only available when you finish answering the last question and is revisiting the test from the Review screen?

 

[Protactinium]

The search function is really really useful if you know how to use it. My best practice test scores came from the search function (saves me TONS of time)...but it's understandable that they do not have it on MCAT. You wouldn't have it reading off paper like before and it makes certain questions way to easy (mostly definition or vocabulary in context ones).

 

[hqt331]

What about the Review button? Does it come up readily when you load the first passage or is it only available when you finish answering the last question and is revisiting the test from the Review screen?

review button is there. read the tutorial for what is and isn't there

 

[da Vincis World]

The search function is really really useful if you know how to use it. My best practice test scores came from the search function (saves me TONS of time)...but it's understandable that they do not have it on MCAT. You wouldn't have it reading off paper like before and it makes certain questions way to easy (mostly definition or vocabulary in context ones).

Very, very few of the VR questions on my REAL MCAT were answered strickly from the passage...it was much harder than the practice tests. Had I wasted time going back to the passages, with or without a search function, I would have lost several points. Your goal for practice AAMC's should be to finish the section with 5-10 minutes to spare without going back to the passage much at all...this will prepare you for the real thing.

 

[Compass]

It is a studying tool. Questioning its existence is moot since people have been passing the MCAT since before computers were really all that big of a deal.

 

[berkpremed]

Yes, I wasn't questioning it's usefulness. Different people approach different problems in different ways. The search button seemed useful to me but it may not to others.

I was just trying to warn everyone that there isn't a search button on the real mcat. When I searched online, there seemed to be a lot of misinformation. This was before I found SDN. When I googled search function on the mcat, there were people who said, "It's on the practice test, so it must be on the real test." That was what I went in thinking.

I just don't want others to get the same surprise I did especially when you're already stressed out enough as it is going into the test.

 

[Vihsadas]

Yeah this is one of those topics that keeps on coming up. I think that as many people as possible should e-mail the AAMC and tell them that they don't like this feature. Occasionally they listen to suggestions.

If it was me, I would enable another test-taking option in the practice test interface called "Simulated Exam Conditions" where it would be as close to the real thing as possible. Then, if you wanted to use the other study features that didn't show up on the real exam like the search function, there could be other options.