Personal curiosity research on MCAT scores...

[GreyBlueEyes]

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i'm doing some curiosity research. if anyone is interested in participating, let me know your MCAT scores (individual/comp) and SAT scores (individual/comp). obviously the MCAT is far more difficult than the SAT, but they're both standardized tests. I'm wondering if there's any correlation at all between the two results for people 🙂 i'd like individual SAT scores in particular because there's more likely to be a correlation between the MCAT and math scores than MCAT and verbal. you can post here or email me if you prefer to keep it private: ambyrle at gmail dot com. if i get enough responses to assemble meaningful results, i'll let y'all know what they are. i'm going to post this over in med students, too, since that forum probably has more readers with scores 😉

thanks to anyone who joins in,
amber

 

[GreyBlueEyes]

(x-posted to MCAT forum)

i'm doing some curiosity research. if anyone is interested in participating, let me know your MCAT scores (individual/comp) and SAT scores (individual/comp). obviously the MCAT is far more difficult than the SAT, but they're both standardized tests. I'm wondering if there's any correlation at all between the two results for people 🙂 i'd like individual SAT scores in particular because there's more likely to be a correlation between the MCAT and math scores than MCAT and verbal. you can post here or email me if you prefer to keep it private: ambyrle at gmail dot com. if i get enough responses to assemble meaningful results, i'll let y'all know what they are.

thanks to anyone who joins in,
amber

 

[RPedigo]

I don't really think there is much correlation because people take the MCAT more seriously than the SAT.

I walked into the SAT cold without preparation, or even seeing an SAT question.
I took the Princeton Review MCAT course for $1,600.

For what it's worth, I got a 1300 on the SAT (out of 1600, not any of this weird 2400 stuff). I haven't taken the actual MCAT, but my AAMS diagnostics are ~37.

The one with the bulletholes in my avatar was my first ever MCAT diagnostic, which wasn't as good.

 

[GreyBlueEyes]

i had the same thought, that people care more about the MCAT than the SAT. i'm still curious, though. it doesn't seem like there should be correlation, but you never know! i thought everyone might be curious to see results.

and interestingly enough, your SAT score and MCAT score (diagnostic scores are fine) ARE correlating. 1300/1600 = 81.25% and 37/45 = 82.2%

interesting 😉

i'm also curious to see if there's a correlation between SAT score and those who decide to go to med school.

 

[stiffany]

and interestingly enough, your SAT score and MCAT score (diagnostic scores are fine) ARE correlating. 1300/1600 = 81.25% and 37/45 = 82.2%

However, while this may be true by looking at the raw percentages, there's a big difference between the frequency of scoring a 1300+ on the SAT versus a 37+ on the MCAT.

Coming from an Ivy league school, I think it's hogwash to think that having a high SAT score gives someone the inclination to apply to medical school. Too many of my friends with SAT scores dozens (if not hundreds) of points above mine are pursuing so many other cool fields.

Finally, I agree with the previous poster who argued that studying for the MCAT is completely different from studying for the SAT. While I can't remember my SAT study approach (it's been 7 years or so since then for me), I spent the entire summer studying for the MCAT whereas I'm pretty sure I didn't even buy an SAT prep book way back when. AAMC is still out re: my MCAT score this August, but I know it took much more effort to start seeing 32-36's on my practice exams than it did to score a 1340 twice on the real SAT.

 

[deleted106503]

i had the same thought, that people care more about the MCAT than the SAT. i'm still curious, though. it doesn't seem like there should be correlation, but you never know! i thought everyone might be curious to see results.

and interestingly enough, your SAT score and MCAT score (diagnostic scores are fine) ARE correlating. 1300/1600 = 81.25% and 37/45 = 82.2%

interesting 😉

i'm also curious to see if there's a correlation between SAT score and those who decide to go to med school.

You need to use percentiles. A 37 would be around the 97th percentile. A 1300 out of 1600 is not.

Edit: I just saw the post above mine. I agree about the study approach. I dont' even recall studying for the SAT, but I did almost 2 months for the MCAT.

 

[BigRedPremed]

You need to use percentiles. A 37 would be around the 97th percentile. A 1300 out of 1600 is not.

Agreed.

It is much more difficult to score in the same percentile on the MCAT. Everyone and their grandmother takes the SAT's. For the most part, only the students smart/driven enough to survive the weeding out process take the MCAT. Thus, scoring in the 98th percentile on the MCAT is more impressive than scoring in the 98th percentile on the SAT.

Here are my scores (might as well brag when I have the chance 😉 ):

SAT: 760 Math 790 Verbal (took around 5 practice tests; that was the extent of my studying)

MCAT: 15PS, 10VR, 12BS (took approx. 10+ practice tests and studied approx. 6 hours a day for the entire summer)

Interestingly, my SAT verbal score was 99th percentile while my MCAT verbal score was only 80th? percentile. I took both the SAT and the MCAT only once if that matters.

 

[GreyBlueEyes]

i agree that looking at percentile rating gives better information. if i was doing an in-depth study, that's what i'd do. i'm more interested in quick-and-dirty results per individual. i think this winds up accommodating the preparation factor a little bit. the kind of person who needs no prep work to score a 1300 on the SAT is often the kind of person who would seek the prep work to do as well as they can on the MCAT. again, that's a pretty broad statement, but i'm looking at it from the standpoint of what each person can do as an individual and how it compares.

and i didn't mean to imply that anyone with a high SAT score would want to go to med school. of course that's crazy! more, i wondered if everyone (or most) who wanted to go to med school scored above a certain point.

this is more about curiosity regarding standardized tests than anything else. i'm not trying to predict, judge, conclude what-have-you. i'm just curious about where the numbers fall.

fwiw, i'm a nontrad student who graduated from high school 11 years ago and still have a couple of years before i apply to med school.

 

[erasable]

This is interesting, but I think it will have limited applicability given that many students who have taken the MCAT took the *old* SAT. Therefore, there would be little applicability to students who have taken the new, improved (read: harder) SAT.

anyhoo. I don't think my SAT was at all a good predictor of my MCAT.

 

[GreyBlueEyes]

now see, i was under the impression that the new SAT is easier 😉

when did they start administering the new SAT?

i can still use the data as long as people tell me which SAT they took. i'm not comparing people to each other, just each individual's SAT score to MCAT score. i can even use ACT scores.

 

[MWillie]

Why don't you toss step 1 scores into the mix?

 

[GreyBlueEyes]

Why don't you toss step 1 scores into the mix?

because i know nothing about them yet 😉

 

[linuxizer]

Aw, what the hell:
MCAT- 11B,13V,15P
SAT (older version, but post-rescaling)- 800V, 750M
and just for kicks:
SAT2- MathII 800, Chem 780, Writing 730
GRE- 800Q (math), 730V, 5.5W

Note that the GRE is scaled very differently from the others. Thus my verbal score is much better than my Q score, irongically enough.


Having divulged all that, realize that what you'll get here is a horridly unrepresentative sample--to post here, people have to be members of SDNet (a skewed population that is both more informed and more concerned about med school admissions in the first place, and presumably also about academic achievement in general) and be willing to post their scores (a skewed population if for no other reason than the paranoia many have here about being personally identified by giving too much information).
Even were your correlation representative, interpretation is almost impossible. They will be correlated highly, but what does that mean? In part it means that standardized test taking ability is a skill in and of itself. In part it means that people who are good at doing the kind of material on the SATs are also good at doing the kind of material on the MCATs. And so on and so forth.

That said, good luck to 'ya, and I suppose this will be an interesting thread to check in on.

Best,
Ari

 

[Dunce]

Aw, what the hell:
MCAT- 11B,13V,15P
SAT (older version, but post-rescaling)- 800V, 750M
and just for kicks:
SAT2- MathII 800, Chem 780, Writing 730
GRE- 800Q (math), 730V, 5.5W

Here is a fact for your study:
Scores like these are highly correlated with people who blow tests out of the freakin' water! 😱

 

[GreyBlueEyes]

SAT (older version, but post-rescaling)- 800V, 750M
Even were your correlation representative, interpretation is almost impossible. They will be correlated highly, but what does that mean? In part it means that standardized test taking ability is a skill in and of itself. In part it means that people who are good at doing the kind of material on the SATs are also good at doing the kind of material on the MCATs. And so on and so forth.

that's one of the reasons i'm doing this 🙂 i know standardized test taking is a skill in and of itself. i'm wondering how much of that applies to the MCAT.

when i was in 8th grade, i took the SAT with the Duke Univ. talent identification program. i made a 1050. i'd had half a year of pre-algebra, yet i managed to score a 550 on the math section. did i know what those answers were? hell, no. i was a good guesser. as a "gifted" kid we learned a lot about the gift of guessing and taking standardized tests. don't get me wrong, i intend to study the hell out of the MCAT. but after being out of school for a long time, i don't feel as "gifted" as i did back then. i'm wondering if there's a point at which the natural ability with standardized tests stops applying. i don't know if this makes any sense to anyone but me...it just made me curious about the experiences others have had.

now, can you explain to me this scaling thing? i've been totally out of the loop having babies and whatnot the last 10 years or so. i know that when i took the SAT in high school i made a 1420 (760M, 660V), but when i got back into school awhile ago and saw my transcript from GA Tech (where i first started after high school), it had my SAT score down as 1510 or something like that. does this have to do with the "scaling?"

thanks 🙂

 

[Law2Doc]

if i get enough responses to assemble meaningful results, i'll let y'all know what they are.

Agree with the prior couple of posters -- You will not get meaningful results because of the self selection involved. It is not a random cross section of SDN users. It is just folks proud to share their numbers, or else maybe even make some up.

 

[linuxizer]

when i was in 8th grade, i took the SAT with the Duke Univ. talent identification program. i made a 1050. i'd had half a year of pre-algebra, yet i managed to score a 550 on the math section. did i know what those answers were? hell, no. i was a good guesser. as a "gifted" kid we learned a lot about the gift of guessing and taking standardized tests. don't get me wrong, i intend to study the hell out of the MCAT. but after being out of school for a long time, i don't feel as "gifted" as i did back then. i'm wondering if there's a point at which the natural ability with standardized tests stops applying. i don't know if this makes any sense to anyone but me...it just made me curious about the experiences others have had.

I think everyone here will agree that there is a certain component that is standardized test-taking ability. There are also many other factors...studying for instance. I decided to take the GREs on Sunday and took them Tuesday. By contrast, for the MCATs I studied for eleven weeks, two hours a day, six days a week. That's probably more time for that one test than I studied for every test in four years of college--and it shows (GPA 3.66).

now, can you explain to me this scaling thing? i've been totally out of the loop having babies and whatnot the last 10 years or so. i know that when i took the SAT in high school i made a 1420 (760M, 660V), but when i got back into school awhile ago and saw my transcript from GA Tech (where i first started after high school), it had my SAT score down as 1510 or something like that. does this have to do with the "scaling?"

Yes, probably. The SAT you likely took was harder. Average scores were slowly drifting downwards on the SAT. The result was that 500 was no longer the 50th percentile (almost by definition given the previous statement). So they basically shifted the numbers upwards, so that the same number of the same questions right on the old test meant a higher score on the new test. It's called "renorming." In other fields, it's called "grade inflation" 😛.
As far as the GRE goes, for some reason they scale their verbal and quantitative scores differently. My Q score is 92nd percentile, for instance, whereas my V score is 98th. Truly odd.

GA Tech rocks btw.

Ari

 

[GreyBlueEyes]

i hated GA Tech with every fiber of my being.

thanks for all the great info! it's really interesting. fyi: i took the SAT in 1994.

 

[linuxizer]

i hated GA Tech with every fiber of my being.
thanks for all the great info! it's really interesting. fyi: i took the SAT in 1994.

From what I understand, Tech is probably not the best place to be a girl. Of course, it's probably not a great place to be a guy either, for exactly the same reason (scarily few girls)! 😛

1994 would definitely have been the old SAT. It looks like the change was 1995:
http://www.kitchentablemath.net/twiki/bin/view/Kitchen/SatRecenteredScores?skin=plain
Check out the table in that link. Some pretty serious renorming!

Ari

 

[GreyBlueEyes]

you're right; big changes. it does explain the different score reported on my transcript.

and yeah, ga tech was a HORRIBLE place to be a girl. especially a really sheltered girl who'd gone to an all-girls high school.

 

[Knickerbocker]

I haven't taken the actual MCAT, but my AAMS diagnostics are ~37.

Liar!!!!!

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?p=4046131#post4046131

 

[linuxizer]

you're right; big changes. it does explain the different score reported on my transcript.

and yeah, ga tech was a HORRIBLE place to be a girl. especially a really sheltered girl who'd gone to an all-girls high school.

Ha. I can see that. Still, academically it's really nice to see a public school kick the butts of most fancy private e-schools.

Best,
Ari

 

[Anastasis]

14/13/14 on the MCAT
and a 1430 (730 Verbal/700 Math, I *think* )

BTW, looked up that SAT score just for you 😉

 

[GreyBlueEyes]

14/13/14 on the MCAT
and a 1430 (730 Verbal/700 Math, I *think* )

BTW, looked up that SAT score just for you 😉

awwww, thank you 😉 let's hope my MCAT score is as comparable to yours as my SAT is 😉

and i just pasted your sig line into about 3 instant message windows, such is the extent of its hilarity.

 

[AmoryBlaine]

Careful about asking questions like this on SDN. The people that volunteer to post scores are usually the people that crushed the tests. I doubt you're going to see very many 1100/27s on here. If you need proof, scroll over to the Step1 results thread - you will be under the impression that most medical students are 1 std dev about the mean...

 

[psipsina]

I think standardized testing skill is more than just being a good at guessing the answers, it being able to understand the "game" that each standardized test has and learning to play by them. I don't think my SAT and MCAT correlate at all, because my life situations were so different when I took each of these. For the SAT my mom (who suffers from severe mental disease) had thrown me out of the house on a whim the night before which I'm sure altered my performance. Also in high school I was highly unmotivated because I made straight A's without every having to expend any real effort or attend classes, so I didn't prepare for the SAT at all. Fast foreward 4 years and I have a stable home situation and had evolved into a focused, motivated, hard working pre-med and did a prep calss for the MCAT and studied my pants off. I got a 1250 (680 verbal, 530 math) and a 32Q on the MCAT (9P,11V,12B).

 

[GreyBlueEyes]

Careful about asking questions like this on SDN. The people that volunteer to post scores are usually the people that crushed the tests. I doubt you're going to see very many 1100/27s on here. If you need proof, scroll over to the Step1 results thread - you will be under the impression that most medical students are 1 std dev about the mean...

Yeah, I was hoping my suggestion to email me privately would keep me from just hearing from those who did extremely well. i won't hold my breath, though 😉

i'm taking all this with a grain of salt. it IS the internet, after all. it was just idle curiosity 😉

 

[GreyBlueEyes]

I don't think my SAT and MCAT correlate at all, because my life situations were so different when I took each of these. For the SAT my mom (who suffers from severe mental disease) had thrown me out of the house on a whim the night before which I'm sure altered my performance.

this is an excellent point. for the first 2.5 years of high school i had an undiagnosed case of severe clinical depression. i had a mediocre (by my standards) GPA and PSAT result. i was diagnosed and went on meds during my junior year and my GPA and scores all shot up. i really wish my parents had caught on to the problem sooner. they should have. i was practically walking around with a sign that said "something is seriously wrong with me." 😉

but my experience is part of why i want to be a psychiatrist now, so it all works out in the end.

thanks for sharing your story with me 🙂

 

[Callogician]

Sat: 570v; 550m
Mcat: 8p, 9b, 9v (26r)

 

[GreyBlueEyes]

Sat: 570v; 550m
Mcat: 8p, 9b, 9v (26r)

Thank you for your contribution 🙂

btw, right now my plan is to pursue psychiatry, but i'm interested in neurology as well.

 

[lattimer13]

SAT: 1569
ACT: 69
MCAT: 69F
STEP I: 269

 

[redsoxfan]

the other thing too is preparation. ie in highschool i didn't know the importance of scores as much and never took a SAT prep class. hell i even forgot my calculator. i did above avg but prob could have done alot better if i actually prepared for it. mcat is more info based and needs to be taken more seriously.

 

[Jonassen]

First and only SAT score: 1530 (790 verbal, 740 math), just did my first practice MCAT from Kaplan and got a 28 (8-11-9). 🙁

I don't think it's strongly correlated, seeing as how MCAT tests a lot of content (I predict my practice scores to shoot up in the coming months if I study my butt off), whereas the SAT does not. But there is probably some correlation nevertheless, especially in the verbal section. Someone who had repeat 450-500 scores on SAT math (just trig and the basics) probably would do average or below average in the MCAT physical sciences section unless they really hauled arse in college.

I think the MCAT is more heavily correlated with the USMLE Step 1; at least, I believe that was the whole point of the MCAT.

 

[Kikaku21]

awwww, thank you 😉 let's hope my MCAT score is as comparable to yours as my SAT is 😉

and i just pasted your sig line into about 3 instant message windows, such is the extent of its hilarity.

What you are doing is not quick and dirty. It is just wrong. You cannot compare scores like that... Its comparing apples to oranges. The two exams are scored completely differently, and the ratio of the scaled score to the highest possible scaled score is completely meaningless even by itself. --Much less compared to another scaling scheme. Quick and dirty has to as least be moving in the right direction.

Furthermore, even if you did compare percentiles, the control group for SAT is different that the control group for the MCAT. One is harder than the other and presumably there is some self selection in the MCAT pool.

Point being, its difficult to derive a meaningful relationship in this way. What you need to do is a regression on the percentiles of each to try and determine the corellation.

 

[Jonassen]

What you are doing is not quick and dirty. It is just wrong. You cannot compare scores like that... Its comparing apples to oranges. The two exams are scored completely differently, and the ratio of the scaled score to the highest possible scaled score is completely meaningless even by itself. --Much less compared to another scaling scheme. Quick and dirty has to as least be moving in the right direction.

Furthermore, even if you did compare percentiles, the control group for SAT is different that the control group for the MCAT. One is harder than the other and presumably there is some self selection in the MCAT pool.

Point being, its difficult to derive a meaningful relationship in this way. What you need to do is a regression on the percentiles of each to try and determine the corellation.

You could probably control the regression with high school and college GPA, high school class rank, science or non-science major, average courseload, part-time job hours, university tier, time gap between highest SAT and MCAT test sessions, age at MCAT session, race, gender. Don't forget interaction terms also.

It's definitely possible, not comparing oranges with apples. You don't need to do percentiles; scaled scores are just as good in their predictive power when properly controlled. A study like this probably already exists; if not, it would be a good paper topic for people taking statistics or econometrics classes. The problem with asking on SDN though is that you don't have a random sample, your prediction will be biased. But it's "quick and dirty" so whatever.

 

[indo]

You can do a search and find this has already been done. There is a rough corelation between mcat and sat scores but there are tons of outliers. High school kids, on average, are not the most motivated bunch while pre-med dorks are incredibly motivated.

If you want, I'll save you the trouble and just guess what score you'll get on the mcat. I'd say 30. Unless english isn't your first language; then I'd say 30.

 

[GreyBlueEyes]

what does it matter if it's just to satisfy my own curiosity? i'm not trying to draw conclusions here. i was just curious.

 

[indo]

I think we should study the relationship between high SAT scores and getting laid.

 

[GreyBlueEyes]

If you want, I'll save you the trouble and just guess what score you'll get on the mcat. I'd say 30. Unless english isn't your first language; then I'd say 30.

heh.

 

[GreyBlueEyes]

I think we should study the relationship between high SAT scores and getting laid.

i've never had a problem 😉

 

[indo]

i've never had a problem 😉

With SAT scores?

 

[njbmd]

Merged the Allo thread with this one in MCAT. Everyone can post their answers there.

To the OP: Please do NOT cross post. It is annoying and burns up server space. Pick a forum and post your thread but not to multiple forums. Thanks.

 

[gujuDoc]

i had the same thought, that people care more about the MCAT than the SAT. i'm still curious, though. it doesn't seem like there should be correlation, but you never know! i thought everyone might be curious to see results.

and interestingly enough, your SAT score and MCAT score (diagnostic scores are fine) ARE correlating. 1300/1600 = 81.25% and 37/45 = 82.2%

interesting 😉

i'm also curious to see if there's a correlation between SAT score and those who decide to go to med school.

Its not as simple as dividing the scaled score over the total scaled score. A 37 out of 45 is actually considered being in the 95th to 97th percentile.

There has been many threads on this subject. The MCAT may have a slight positive correlation but definitely not near one and hence totally irrelevant.

I got a decent score on the MCAT without studying for it but had to study my but off for an even semi decent score on the MCAT.

 

[gujuDoc]

First and only SAT score: 1530 (790 verbal, 740 math), just did my first practice MCAT from Kaplan and got a 28 (8-11-9). 🙁

I don't think it's strongly correlated, seeing as how MCAT tests a lot of content (I predict my practice scores to shoot up in the coming months if I study my butt off), whereas the SAT does not. But there is probably some correlation nevertheless, especially in the verbal section. Someone who had repeat 450-500 scores on SAT math (just trig and the basics) probably would do average or below average in the MCAT physical sciences section unless they really hauled arse in college.

I think the MCAT is more heavily correlated with the USMLE Step 1; at least, I believe that was the whole point of the MCAT.

Ok while I agree with you that there isn't a heavy correlation, I wouldn't say using your example with you would be the best case scenario for proving that point because those who start out with 24+ on first diagnostics are the people who generally end up in the 35-40+ range since there is often a 12-14 point increase with maximal studying for people who actually realized how to change their weak points into stronger ones.

Furthermore, I've heard the USMLE scores are no more as heavily correlated with MCAT scores then MCAT scores are with SAT scores.

 

[DCDAWG]

Agreed.

It is much more difficult to score in the same percentile on the MCAT. Everyone and their grandmother takes the SAT's. For the most part, only the students smart/driven enough to survive the weeding out process take the MCAT. Thus, scoring in the 98th percentile on the MCAT is more impressive than scoring in the 98th percentile on the SAT.

Here are my scores (might as well brag when I have the chance 😉 ):

SAT: 760 Math 790 Verbal (took around 5 practice tests; that was the extent of my studying)

MCAT: 15PS, 10VR, 12BS (took approx. 10+ practice tests and studied approx. 6 hours a day for the entire summer)

Interestingly, my SAT verbal score was 99th percentile while my MCAT verbal score was only 80th? percentile. I took both the SAT and the MCAT only once if that matters.

This makes sense. You are 99th percentil among SAT takers, which is a much wider population sample than the MCAT. You are 80th percentile among MCAT takers, who have gotten into college, were pre-med students-who are generally higher achievers than other majors, completed all pre-med coursework without being weeded out, are about to graduate from college, and felt confident enough in their abilities to study and sit for the MCAT. The caliber of students taking the MCAT is much much higher than SAT takers.
To further elaborate, GRE takers are said to have an average IQ of 115, which is much higher than the average IQ of 100. I would say MCAT takers are around this, if not higher. You are scaled in comparison to higher achievers. It makes sense for your percentile to be lower.

 

[R.P. McMurphy]

i'm doing some curiosity research. if anyone is interested in participating, let me know your MCAT scores (individual/comp) and SAT scores (individual/comp). obviously the MCAT is far more difficult than the SAT, but they're both standardized tests. I'm wondering if there's any correlation at all between the two results for people 🙂 i'd like individual SAT scores in particular because there's more likely to be a correlation between the MCAT and math scores than MCAT and verbal. you can post here or email me if you prefer to keep it private: ambyrle at gmail dot com. if i get enough responses to assemble meaningful results, i'll let y'all know what they are. i'm going to post this over in med students, too, since that forum probably has more readers with scores 😉

thanks to anyone who joins in,
amber

In general, higher SAT score most likely correlates to a higher MCAT score

 

[Jonassen]

Furthermore, I've heard the USMLE scores are no more as heavily correlated with MCAT scores then MCAT scores are with SAT scores.

On the MCAT site, I think they have several studies showing MCAT's correlation with USMLE Step 1. I haven't really bothered to check the extent though. I would assume it would be pretty impressive considering its on the MCAT site.

Ok while I agree with you that there isn't a heavy correlation, I wouldn't say using your example with you would be the best case scenario for proving that point because those who start out with 24+ on first diagnostics are the people who generally end up in the 35-40+ range since there is often a 12-14 point increase with maximal studying for people who actually realized how to change their weak points into stronger ones.

I hope so... as I really need it since my GPA sucks arse (SAT was a piss poor predictor of my undergrad GPA lol) 😳 But my point is still rather valid, that is you can take the SAT cold (with maybe one day of studying) and still do quite well (since it's not so content/subject-oriented), whereas for me the MCAT is a different beast. The MCAT score probably correlates more with hard-work/dilligence than the SAT (what I mean is, the more effort you put into to study, the better your "critical reasoning" performance will be on the MCAT).

There are some people who say "high MCAT, low GPA suggests laziness." I disagree, a strong performance on the MCAT means that person knows his material cold and most likely worked his butt off studying for the MCAT to overcome his low GPA. He may be a procrastinator, but ultimately he got the job done at the deadline. There's nothing to be proud of a 4.0 GPA if you can't remember and apply general concepts from your basic sciences by your 4th year.

Alright, I'm going to study my MCAT.

 

[deleted106503]

My high school GPA (unweighted) was good at predicting my college GPA. We shall see how ACT and SAT scores of mine compare to MCAT in about a month.

I don't know where to look up my SAT and ACT scores. I know the scores, but not details like percentiles...I looked up the SAT compro to ACT and the two are said to be the same, interesting...

 

[MasonPrehealth]

You aren't the only one who has ever asked the question about correlating SAT's and MCAT's.

Montague, J. R; Frei, J. K. (1993). A twelve-year profile of students' SAT scores, GPAs, and MCAT scores from a small university's premedical program. Academic Medicine, 68;306-8.

Okay... so it may have been before they did weird things like recentering scores and adding the writing sample into the SAT and the MCAT... but still...

The full research bibliography that AAMC posts.

 

[gujuDoc]

On the MCAT site, I think they have several studies showing MCAT's correlation with USMLE Step 1. I haven't really bothered to check the extent though. I would assume it would be pretty impressive considering its on the MCAT site.


I hope so... as I really need it since my GPA sucks arse (SAT was a piss poor predictor of my undergrad GPA lol) 😳 But my point is still rather valid, that is you can take the SAT cold (with maybe one day of studying) and still do quite well (since it's not so content/subject-oriented), whereas for me the MCAT is a different beast. The MCAT score probably correlates more with hard-work/dilligence than the SAT (what I mean is, the more effort you put into to study, the better your "critical reasoning" performance will be on the MCAT).

There are some people who say "high MCAT, low GPA suggests laziness." I disagree, a strong performance on the MCAT means that person knows his material cold and most likely worked his butt off studying for the MCAT to overcome his low GPA. He may be a procrastinator, but ultimately he got the job done at the deadline. There's nothing to be proud of a 4.0 GPA if you can't remember and apply general concepts from your basic sciences by your 4th year.

Alright, I'm going to study my MCAT.

Thanks for clarifying. I agree with this post above too. But in a sense the fact that you CAN study for the MCAT makes it a bit easier to approach. The SAT is something you either can do well or won't do well but can't really study for whereas the science sections actually act as an advantage with the MCAT because its possible to do well if you know the material well enough.

Oh and I believe you'll do real well because you seem to do well at standardized tests from what I see.

28 is not typical of a person taking the first diag for Kaplan or TPR. People scoring in the 23-28 or higher on a first Kaplan or TPR diag are in the upper echelon of testers because the average at most centers is between 14 and 17 with some people scoring as low as a 10 or 11 on their first diag.

I knew a girl who went from a 12 on diag 1 to 31 S on the real deal. I know most TPR students I talked with went 12-14 points up with maximal studying. I believe the same was true of many of the Kaplan students as well. Good luck.