September MCAT question

[weanprednisone]

Another premed came up to me today and said that the September MCAT is the hardest out of the whole year due to curving. And Jan MCAT is the easiest. I didn't really believe them, but just curious. I'm taking a gap yr, so I don't really care if I take it in Sep or Jan.

Anyone have stats? lol
Not trolling

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[theonlytycrane]

this doesn't completely answer the question, but is a similar thread: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/mcat-scoring.1183296/#post-17633287

 

[Mad Jack]

This has been addressed a million times.

The MCAT is not curved.

The MCAT is standardized.

The MCAT uses a large bank of questions that are slightly modified from previous exams that they know have a particular degree of difficulty.

They construct an exam that has a mix of easy, average, and difficult questions.

After your exam is complete, they ensure that no anomalies occurred in regard to the test, hence the waiting period. Sometime a question might be thrown out because everyone and their mother got it wrong, for instance, but this is very, very rare because the test is so predictable at this point. Patterns consistent with cheating as well as site complaints are reviewed, etc.

At the end of the day, literally every single person that took a test could fail, or everyone could get a 515 if they did well. But that never has and never will happen, because there is a natural curving to the MCAT due to the carefully selected difficulty of questions and the level of preparation of applicants (hence, normalized, not curved).

 

[aldol16]

Another premed came up to me today and said that the September MCAT is the hardest out of the whole year due to curving. And Jan MCAT is the easiest. I didn't really believe them, but just curious. I'm taking a gap yr, so I don't really care if I take it in Sep or Jan.

I had the same question a while before and dug for a bit before coming upon what I believe is the answer. The AAMC "curves" the exam based on others who have taken the same version of the exam before you. So some people you take the exam with can get completely different versions that may be easier, similar to, or harder than the exam you take. The curve for the easier exams will be easier, etc. So when you take the exam, the curve has already been set.

 

[Altius Premier Tutor]

Well said aldol16. I would only add a bit of clarification. The way that most people use the term "curved" the MCAT could said to be curved. But as far as your score on your actual exam being improved or worsened by how other examinees taking it the same day performed...absolutely NOT. The exam is "curved" in that the score scale is adjusted based on how other examinees have performed previously. The closest thing would be to say "The MCAT is curved on examinees from previous years." The AAMC then adjust annually.

Yes, there are many operational exam forms and you and your neighbor get different ones. The statistics are supposed to make it all even out because of the standardization and score equating between exams, but if you know statistics well that is NOT true. It is close, but cannot be perfectly true because the idiosyncrasies of each form will absolute impact individual examinees differently EVEN THOUGH the scored scale for that exam form has taken previous student performance into account.

 

[weanprednisone]

Thanks all!

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[aldol16]

Yes, there are many operational exam forms and you and your neighbor get different ones. The statistics are supposed to make it all even out because of the standardization and score equating between exams, but if you know statistics well that is NOT true. It is close, but cannot be perfectly true because the idiosyncrasies of each form will absolute impact individual examinees differently EVEN THOUGH the scored scale for that exam form has taken previous student performance into account.

Exactly. Say somebody is good at A/P or biology and somebody else is good at biochemistry. Even though they are curved based on difficulty, that difficulty does not take into account individual strengths and weaknesses. So if the biochem guy gets the biology-heavy exam, he's screwed even though it's curved based on previous test-takers' results.