Sounds like August MCAT screwed everyone....

[Eiano]

Is this the case? Is it like the SAT's where The January one everyone does well in but October everyone gets like a 43% on each section? What do you all think was the problem?

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[IndyZX]

i dont know what youre saying really, but youre probably not right. most likely, the mcat screwed everyone to the extent that they would be normally be screwed.

 

[neuronerd]

Is this the case? Is it like the SAT's where The January one everyone does well in but October everyone gets like a 43% on each section? What do you all think was the problem?

All the MCAT prep course orientation thingies that I went to made it a point that the August MCATs are harder than the April. I don't know if that was bull but from other students I've heard from . . it seems true.

 

[evajaclynn]

All the MCAT prep course orientation thingies that I went to made it a point that the August MCATs are harder than the April. I don't know if that was bull but from other students I've heard from . . it seems true.

Since the scores are scaled, it doesn't really matter if the test is harder in august than in april. You can miss more and still get a decent score if others also miss more (which they probably will if the test is harder).

 

[blz]

The august scores are generally lower because the vast majority of them are retakers from April who, statistically speaking, should not improve much.

 

[mr. sparkle]

the grade is scaled. it doesn't matter when you take it.

 

[constructor]

the grade is scaled. it doesn't matter when you take it.

one caveat... in a multiple choice test, scaling is NOT considered by statisticians to completely overcome the differences in difficulty levels between different versions of the test simply because of the fact that it's multiple choice and you can end up guessing correctly even if the test is hard. guess right on a few questions and it can make a big difference. on a non-multiple choice, there's no getting lucky so the situation is ideal with regards to scaling. AAMC either is naive and ******ed or this is just another of their smoke blowing practices.

 

[DualSuperLead]

If you pull up the AAMC test data for the April and August tests, its shows that the April average was a 25.0, August was 24.3
About 7,000 more people took the August than the April.
I don't really know what that says about anything, but those are the numbers.

 

[RaistlinMajere]

i dont know what youre saying really, but youre probably not right. most likely, the mcat screwed everyone to the extent that they would be normally be screwed.

I think what the OP was getting at, is that most of the posts on this website have been "Do I have a chance with a (insert score below 30)?". It seemed after the April MCAT people were posting with higher numbers. Of course, this is only anecdotal and probably means nothing significant, but it's interesting to note nonetheless.

 

[bkmonkey]

the mcat is a curved test. trust me, there are plenty of people out there who scored high, but they haven't posted. yes, the august mcat is harder, but only in the sense that the curve is steeper, not that the questions are harder...

 

[waitman192]

I wasn't screwed over! (Just to break the thoughts there) I am an August 2004 retaker and went up 4 points from an April test (2003... waited awhile to retake cause I thought I was good enough with the first set).

I was actually pretty surprised to see the average was down to 24.3 (I always thought the average was around 26) and even more surprising was that the verbal section average was like 7.5. So maybe some people got screwed, but I'm pumped. Hopefully I'll now be part of a class of 2009!!!

 

[striped sweater]

i have a hard time fathoming that the test is any easier/harder than the april version. could it not more likely be the makeup of the people who take the test in august?

 

[leechy]

i have a hard time fathoming that the test is any easier/harder than the april version. could it not more likely be the makeup of the people who take the test in august?

I've thought about this. On the one hand, many August takers are actually super-pumped sophomores... on the other hand there are also many April re-takers as well, who (as one other poster mentioned) are not statistically likely to improve as much. Also, the fact that the August test is over the summer might mean that at least some people have more time to study...

 

[leechy]

the mcat is a curved test. trust me, there are plenty of people out there who scored high, but they haven't posted. yes, the august mcat is harder, but only in the sense that the curve is steeper, not that the questions are harder...

Interesting point. Why is the curve steeper? (sometimes i just wonder if I would have done better on the April MCAT)

 

[bkmonkey]

Interesting point. Why is the curve steeper? (sometimes i just wonder if I would have done better on the April MCAT)

The curve is steeper because people who took the April MCAT have already gotten their scores and many retake it in August. Since many of these people didn't do so hot the first time around, they usually do some intense preparation before the August MCAT and consequently do much better, thus pushing up the curve...

 

[jeffsleepy]

The curve is steeper because people who took the April MCAT have already gotten their scores and many retake it in August. Since many of these people didn't do so hot the first time around, they usually do some intense preparation before the August MCAT and consequently do much better, thus pushing up the curve...

I don't think so. Weren't there statistics out saying that people usually don't do much better after retaking it?

 

[grw0o]

I don't think so. Weren't there statistics out saying that people usually don't do much better after retaking it?

Of course the MCAT is harder to score a higher score in August because thousands of people are studying all summer without classes unlike the April MCATers, thus people are more prepared and the curve is harder.

 

[kahoo99]

i think it's easier to score higher in august because you're competing against people who haven't done well, while not competing against the people who did do well. my two cents

 

[45408]

I doubt either one is different, really. It's just that the low-scoring people retake it again in August and don't do much better than they did the first time around (with exceptions). There's also people like me - taking it after only two years, and those who just didn't want to take it in April, but it'll be nearly impossible to ever get a complete answer (does summer let you study more? are you less motivated to study in the summer?).....

The only other person I know the score of IRL did even better than me, and I'm quite satisfied with my score.

 

[45408]

i think it's easier to score higher in august because you're competing against people who haven't done well, while not competing against the people who did do well. my two cents

Doubtful. If that were so, the average wouldn't change.