The MCAT is already gruesome to many premeds, why are they making it worse? It totally makes sense if Orgo is replaced by Biochem, but this--Seriously!?
Thanks.
Don't expect this section to be straightforward or easier than VR. Chances are, it will be written by psychogists to break your nerves just like they did with VR.
is the 2015 date for certain? I seem to remember reading elsewhere that the changes would happen "no sooner than 2014," but this looks more recent.
re: actual changes, good thing they're getting rid of that UTTERLY USELESS WRITING SECTION, but I imagine that'll be little consolation in the face of all the other topics they plan to cram into that thing.
Actually, considering how poor many premeds' understandings of research methods are (even as evidenced here), I think some stats and research methods testing is crucial (probably moreso than many of the types of questions we get on VR and PS, although the BS does have some good application stuff).
(I kid. I kid. Although ETS has talked about doing this w/ the GRE. Not sure if they ever did make the modification, but there was talk of such a thing.)
Apparently as more useful than the WS. Considering the difficulty so many science students have w/ VR and the inability some have to cope w/ difficult social science and humanities courses, I think such a section would be quite useful.
It also encourages a multidisciplinary approach to learning about medicine (esp. considering the recent trends toward preventive medicine and more personal approaches to pt care).
. I'm taking the MCAT next weekend so I don't know for sure, but I haven't had any trouble with the VR section, so IDK which parts of it trouble otherwise good students. I don't why an 11 in VR is the same as 12 in the other two sections. It's strange how they scale that section.Interesting. I didn't know that. The USMLE is now 7 48-question sections each an hour in duration I think, so it's interesting that the MCAT used to be longer.
As a former psych major (now neuro), I'm all in favor of it
I don't know. All I know is I hated the VR on the MCAT I score ridiculously well on verbal exams (ACT. GRE, SAT...). MCAT VR was an absolute pain. Sometimes, it seemed like I disagreed with the practice materials' answers almost as often as I agreed (begrudgingly) that they were at least somewhat correct.
. At times it is true, but often it's baffling. I'm just hoping to get my average 
from practices.
. But does this mean they're still going to require premeds to take organic chemistry? (or maybe they'll just require the first semester or something). .
I took it the last year you could do paper and pencil, and that's absolutely no exaggeration. As you can imagine, much energy was devoted to trying to find the "best" site to take the test...I was in NYC, so the art was to find a location with the least amount of city noise craziness. Entire threads were devoted to the debate of college lecture hall vs. hotel ballroom (I went the latter). And advisors would in all seriousness devote a portion of their "about the MCAT" sessions to the craziness that might ensue and the need to block it out and push on through. My premed advisor had a story that a few years before my year someone had an MI (although in retrospect was probably Takotsubo's)...but legit crushing chest pain, collapsed on the the floor requiring EMS...and even then the other test takers had to continue on as if all that wasn't going on in the room and didn't receive any breaks or additional time.
My session was relatively calm...meaning we only had various people running out in the middle of sessions to vomit and several others having legit nervous breakdowns. A classmate at my session *bawled* through the entire exam--all 8 hours--only to decide to void at the end. The upside was that directly across the hall from the ballroom was a Tex-Mex bar with gallon-sized margaritas.
