SDN Success Rate Charts

[MadMax2018]

I'll be working on an update of this. Just a heads up.

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[Lawpy]

Here is the acceptance rate chart for the new MCAT based on 2018-2020 applicant data obtained from Table A-23. The lower value of each MCAT bin was used (so greater than 517 was plotted as 518, 514-517 = 514, 510-513 = 510 etc.).

Unfortunately, AAMC is no longer releasing the GPA-MCAT grids for each race as they have done for 2013-2015 data. The initial 2017 charts outlined in the initial posts should be used as a reference for this situation.

I'll look for more data and expand on the long-term GPA, MCAT and LizzyM score trends from 1992 to 2020. Hopefully the above chart is helpful.

 

[KanekiS1E12]

The high scores at WashU don't come from the student body being rich, but rather from the student body having high SAT/ACT scores, and being heavily weeded out during prereqs so that only the strongest students reach the MCAT. And it's not like WashU students study their course notes to prepare for the MCAT. We used the standard stuff (AAMC and Kaplan/Berkeley in my day, now AAMC and Khan) too.

What this study is looking at is only people who reached the MCAT, and who were equally likely to use the main prep resources. I guess the missing component here was control for previous aptitude tests. Maybe the effect would disappear if they only looked at rich vs poor students who had performed similarly on the SAT/ACT.

That leaves us in a pretty pessimistic spot if it's true - there's little we can do to fix the situation at the level of the MCAT itself, and would have to wait on the K-12 differences and SAT/ACT differences to be addressed.

Super late response, sorry. As a low SES current applicant, the biggest difference, in my opinion, is concurrent financial responsibilities during MCAT prep. Working 40 hours a week over the summer, or 1-2 part time jobs during the school year leaves much less time to focus on test preparation. It doesn’t matter how great your resources are if you don’t have the time to benefit from those resources.

*Anecdote: I did fine on the MCAT, but I’m sure that number bumps up a bit if I had the ability to take 3 weeks off work and do full length practice tests.

 

[efle]

Super late response, sorry. As a low SES current applicant, the biggest difference, in my opinion, is concurrent financial responsibilities during MCAT prep. Working 40 hours a week over the summer, or 1-2 part time jobs during the school year leaves much less time to focus on test preparation. It doesn’t matter how great your resources are if you don’t have the time to benefit from those resources.

*Anecdote: I did fine on the MCAT, but I’m sure that number bumps up a bit if I had the ability to take 3 weeks off work and do full length practice tests.

Interestingly enough repeated attempts to show the benefit of dedicated prep courses for things like the SAT and MCAT have repeatedly failed. I think for the SAT college board review article a few years back they found the average effect of a prep class was like 40 points (out of 2400). People buy into the idea for a lot of $$ but it's not worth it, your aptitude doesnt change

 

[MyOdyssey]

Interestingly enough repeated attempts to show the benefit of dedicated prep courses for things like the SAT and MCAT have repeatedly failed. I think for the SAT college board review article a few years back they found the average effect of a prep class was like 40 points (out of 2400). People buy into the idea for a lot of $$ but it's not worth it, your aptitude doesnt change

Preparation matters though and some people need the structure of a class to prepare the right way.

The studies you reference presumably use people preparing in their own for the same number of hours as the control.

 

[efle]

Preparation matters though and some people need the structure of a class to prepare the right way.

The studies you reference presumably use people preparing in their own for the same number of hours as the control.

There's been studies on self prep vs paid prep vs none. You get a good return on your first few hours of practicing to familiarize with the test (~90 points for ~8 hours practice with free materials) followed by a dropoff in response with only ~30-40 more gain from doing a multi week formal course or equivalent hours of self study.

You def still need some time on the side to do some practice forms and a pass through the refresher guides, but at least with the old MCAT you could easily fit that during a summer when you were also working or taking classes and not be very rushed. Maybe its different now. I hope we aren't trending towards "dedicated" periods where students are supposed to devote a summer just to the MCAT if they want to do well

 

[MyOdyssey]

There's been studies on self prep vs paid prep vs none. You get a good return on your first few hours of practicing to familiarize with the test (~90 points for ~8 hours practice with free materials) followed by a dropoff in response with only ~30-40 more gain from doing a multi week formal course or equivalent hours of self study.

You def still need some time on the side to do some practice forms and a pass through the refresher guides, but at least with the old MCAT you could easily fit that during a summer when you were also working or taking classes and not be very rushed. Maybe its different now. I hope we aren't trending towards "dedicated" periods where students are supposed to devote a summer just to the MCAT if they want to do well

The “new” MCAT added a lot of extra content with the inclusions of psychology, sociology and biochemistry.

Orgo and physics aren’t as heavily tested but that just means applicants have to prepare for all such topics though few will be tested.

Further, the emphasis on reading and interpreting scientific passages is something that requires getting used to.

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

The “new” MCAT added a lot of extra content with the inclusions of psychology, sociology and biochemistry.

Orgo and physics aren’t as heavily tested but that just means applicants have to prepare for all such topics though few will be tested.

Further, the emphasis on reading and interpreting scientific passages is something that requires getting used to.

I took the “new” mcat in 2018, and my c/p section was all physics and one biochem passage. You really just don’t know what you’re going to get.

 

[KanekiS1E12]

Interestingly enough repeated attempts to show the benefit of dedicated prep courses for things like the SAT and MCAT have repeatedly failed. I think for the SAT college board review article a few years back they found the average effect of a prep class was like 40 points (out of 2400). People buy into the idea for a lot of $$ but it's not worth it, your aptitude doesnt change

I was only commenting on the the fact that your time for preparation will be lower if you're a low SES self supporting student. I'm a proponent of self study, but the time you have available to self study is dependent on your financial situation, at least to some degree.