State your #1 MCAT Misconception

[RunawayMD]

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Mine:

#1: If you do well in your core science classes, you don't need to study much for the MCAT.
Fact: The MCAT tests on how well you take an exam. You need to study for this exam in a much different way than you would have for your classes. You need to have strategies and ways to understand and memorize many different things on many different levels than what you're used to from your undergrad classes.

#2: The Verbal section on the MCAT is not worth worrying about.
Fact: The verbal section can bring up your overall score if you consisently study for it. It is also very important in helping med school admissions boards know how well you can relate and communicate to a patient, in school, in possible publications, etc.

...just two to start with 🙂
What were your misconceptions about the MCAT?

 

[salim271]

The math on the MCAT is only algebra, therefore I should do really well on it.
Fact: Just because its algebra doesnt mean its simple to do without really knowing the concepts behind the math, especially with a strict time limit.

 

[liveoak]

Fact: The verbal section can bring up your overall score if you consisently study for it. It is also very important in helping med school admissions boards know how well you can relate and communicate to a patient, in school, in possible publications, etc.

really? this seems silly if they truly think this. there i go again pointing my finger at those in charge.

Myth: People that score well don't always study hard
Fact: People that score well ALWAYS are the ones that study the most hard.

 

[salim271]

Myth: People that score well don't always study hard
Fact: People that score well ALWAYS are the ones that study the most hard.

Agreed lol i really dont like when people lie about how much they studied, like it will make them look smarter or something, or they'd look stupid if they said they studied hard to get a 37 on the MCAT.

 

[CodeBlu]

really? this seems silly if they truly think this. there i go again pointing my finger at those in charge.

Myth: People that score well don't always study hard
Fact: People that score well ALWAYS are the ones that study the most hard.

No way, I studied for 2 hours and then rocked a 37....

actually...... JUST KIDDING

I studied my face off for 12 hours a day for a month straight. Soooooo yeah.

 

[Pre-Med Village]

That a difficult passage means difficult questions.

 

[JRGhatt]

Fact: your mindset on exam day is half the battle. You need to walk in and show that computer who's boss.

 

[RunawayMD]

Another one:

Skip the writing section during FL practice tests.


Fact: If you do that, then you will not be fit enough during the real MCAT and be worn out quicker when you do take writing somewhat seriously.

 

[hmh]

Myth: Memorize the information in prep books, and you should be fine. Knowing the information= doing well on the test.

Fact: You HAVE to do practice tests and passages to do well. Just memorizing the information in the books will not get you a high score, you have to master the style and timing of the test, and the concepts behind the information. I.e. Don't just memorize the physics equations. Understand how certain equations are related, the concepts behind the equations, etc.

 

[KurtLucas10]

Myth: The MCAT is based on a curve, so the scores depend on your fellow test-takers.

Fact: I don't have a solid answer because I have heard many things. I just know that the above statement is false. 👍

 

[salim271]

Myth: If you are ending up with 10 - 15 minutes of time to spare on your practice AAMCs, then you can expect to have that much time remaining on the MCAT.

Fact: Because of nerves, the fact that its the real thing, and many times, more difficult content, you will be lucky to have 5 minutes left to review on the MCAT. Practice bringing your time per passage even farther down.

 

[salim271]

Myth: The MCAT is based on a curve, so the scores depend on your fellow test-takers.

Fact: I don't have a solid answer because I have heard many things. I just know that the above statement is false. 👍

The curve is pre-set before anyone takes the test by the MCAT test makers. They decide which passages are the hardest and curve based on that, not based on how people actually did.

 

[KurtLucas10]

The curve is pre-set before anyone takes the test by the MCAT test makers. They decide which passages are the hardest and curve based on that, not based on how people actually did.

That is was I have heard. Thanks for the clarification. I think I shouldn't have used the word "curve." I was trying to convey the message that is doesn't matter who you test with or when you take it.

 

[mohad]

This isn't really a misconception or anything, but I wanted to know if anyone knows how the whole "omitted questions" thing works out? Do they choose which questions to omit while writing the exam, or do they do it if the answers were all over the place?

 

[salim271]

This isn't really a misconception or anything, but I wanted to know if anyone knows how the whole "omitted questions" thing works out? Do they choose which questions to omit while writing the exam, or do they do it if the answers were all over the place?

I'm almost certain that they write the exam and then set a baseline by looking at passages, not certain questions. They see which passages were hard and have corresponding hard questions and take the passage out, this never amounts, to my knowledge, more than 1-2 passages per section, if any. I think they might also grade easier exams with a slightly harder curve, but im not sure how that works.

 

[Grom]

Myth: People that score well don't always study hard
Fact: People that score well ALWAYS are the ones that study the most hard.

That depends on what you consider "study"; also keep in mind that luck can play a big factor. Of course, I doubt/hope you didn't mean always, as in ALWAYS.

Case in point: I know a guy who got a 38 on the MCAT, including a 15 in bio, after only studying for a week. How do I know? He was my roommate that summer, and I knew where he was and what he was doing 90% of the time. That said, he was working in an organic chem lab that whole summer, and lo a behold, his MCAT had particularly extensive and difficult orgo component to it. Which is also why I say luck can be a huge factor.

 

[kkoopman]

.

 

[whiteshadodw]

That depends on what you consider "study"; also keep in mind that luck can play a big factor. Of course, I doubt/hope you didn't mean always, as in ALWAYS.

Case in point: I know a guy who got a 38 on the MCAT, including a 15 in bio, after only studying for a week. How do I know? He was my roommate that summer, and I knew where he was and what he was doing 90% of the time. That said, he was working in an organic chem lab that whole summer, and lo a behold, his MCAT had particularly extensive and difficult orgo component to it. Which is also why I say luck can be a huge factor.

some people studied their ass off in undergrad and remember most of this stuff well. plus if you take upper division sciences, the gen chem/physics, bio all gets reinforced. its not hard to believe that people with 3.8+ can get a high score w/o studying that much.

however, people with ~3.5 and a high MCAT + little studying don't exactly make sense. unless they got lucky.

 

[vin5cent0]

Myth - The MCAT can be taken cold if you've just previously taken your pre-reqs
Fact - The MCAT is much more than just knowing random facts

 

[music2doc]

really? this seems silly if they truly think this. there i go again pointing my finger at those in charge.

Myth: People that score well don't always study hard
Fact: People that score well ALWAYS are the ones that study the most hard.

"Well" is relative and the fact is actually just the opposite: people who score well are NOT ALWAYS the ones who studied hard(est)

Sure, it sounds nice to say that studying for the MCAT correlates perfectly with one's score but it doesn't. I'm not saying I didn't study, but I know for a fact that there are people who pull of mid to high 30s with little or no studying. Are they common? Of course not! (But neither is a 35-40 score.) Regardless, quite a few people go and get a 30+ on their diagnostic. I personally had a 29 on my initial diagnostic, which is a score that could get me into quite a few medical schools (MD and DO). Not surprisingly, my score rose quickly after I began studying and taking practice tests. (My peak score was 11 points higher than my diag at 40.)

 

[timonski]

Some of what I've heard:
- That no preparation is needed on the written portion of the test.
- That calculators are allowed on the test.
- That the subsection scores from taking portions of a practice test in temporal isolation from the other sections predicts fairly well the subsection scores on the actual MCAT.

 

[Rabolisk]

Myth: The MCAT is very hard.
Fact: It's not.

 

[Flamen04]

Some of what I've heard:
- That no preparation is needed on the written portion of the test.

Either you know how to write or you don't. You can't prepare for an essay topic that you won't know until the test day. Sure, you can learn "styles" of essays and how you could structure yours to get a high score, but there's no other preparation besides that..

 

[ridethecliche]

Myth: The MCAT is very hard.
Fact: It's not.

Myth: If you're decent at orgo, you can get by without doing a ton of review.
Fact: Sometimes there's a lot more orgo on the BS section than you want there to be.

 

[Bancrofti]

before prep:

Myth: Verbal should be the easiest section to raise your score in since there is no content knowledge associated with it.
Fact: Now hitting 12s -14s in PS and BS while I still can't break a 10 in Verbal -_-

 

[music2doc]

Myth: If you're decent at orgo, you can get by without doing a ton of review.
Fact: Sometimes there's a lot more orgo on the BS section than you want there to be.

I'm going to have to disagree with this "fact." If you're good at Ochem and really get it, you won't need to review much because MCAT Ochem is ridiculously conceptual. That said, I never suggest going in cold.

 

[stsa84]

I agree about OChem...I took OChem I and II the two semesters before I took the MCAT, and got a 100 and a 99 in them. I just basically read over the orgo section in my prep book, but did not need any real studying to be up to par on that stuff. As music2doc said, so much of orgo is patterns and trends...easier to retain in my opinion that two semesters of physics or something else.

Myth: All of the information you need to answer verbal questions can be found in the passage.
Fact: The answer to many of the questions lies not in the passage itself but in your ability to reason and infer from limited information. Even given all the time in the world, there are many questions that simply come down to how well you can think through something as opposed to being able to search and find the correct answer in the passage. Wrong answer choices are also often pulled from facts in the passage and distorted.

 

[ridethecliche]

I'm going to have to disagree with this "fact." If you're good at Ochem and really get it, you won't need to review much because MCAT Ochem is ridiculously conceptual. That said, I never suggest going in cold.

Speaking from my experience on the test.

Ton of review was hyperbole. I got an orgo heavy test. My 11-12 in BS-->10.

I had a ton of stuff that was unexpected that wasn't just 'ridiculously conceptual' in terms of organic chem. Many technique based discretes/pseudo discretes that were hard to prepare for and I had actually studied for orgo. Apparently not enough.

That's all I can say without giving away specifics. As always, YMMV.

FYI: Nothing you said disagreed with my 'fact'. Orgo heavy BS sections exist. The AAMC practice exams don't really reflect them though.

I agree about OChem...I took OChem I and II the two semesters before I took the MCAT, and got a 100 and a 99 in them. I just basically read over the orgo section in my prep book, but did not need any real studying to be up to par on that stuff. As music2doc said, so much of orgo is patterns and trends...easier to retain in my opinion that two semesters of physics or something else.

Myth: All of the information you need to answer verbal questions can be found in the passage.
Fact: The answer to many of the questions lies not in the passage itself but in your ability to reason and infer from limited information. Even given all the time in the world, there are many questions that simply come down to how well you can think through something as opposed to being able to search and find the correct answer in the passage. Wrong answer choices are also often pulled from facts in the passage and distorted.

And I'm going to disagree with you here. If you have to pull in outside info for verbal, you're setting yourself up for trouble. Distorted facts=wrong answers. Outside info= what they want to trick you to go for.

 

[timonski]

Either you know how to write or you don't. You can't prepare for an essay topic that you won't know until the test day. Sure, you can learn "styles" of essays and how you could structure yours to get a high score, but there's no other preparation besides that..

I disagree. Writing is a skill that everyone had to learn. If it's an acquired skill, then it definitely is something that can be polished before the test day depending on the timeframe the individual has. Sure, writing seems harder to improve over a short period of time than compared to improving one's knowledge base that would benefit one for the other sections of the test, but it's not as black and white as you put it.

And in fact, you can prepare for an essay topic you don't know on test day. Consider taking the sample prompts on the AAMC website and spending a few minutes coming up with supporting examples for each of them. Before you know it, you will have a few examples that are capable of being used in a variety of different essay prompts. Granted they may not be the best, having supporting examples ready in the back of your mind would save you time on the test. Preparing for an unknown prompt is definitely possible.

 

[stsa84]

And I'm going to disagree with you here. If you have to pull in outside info for verbal, you're setting yourself up for trouble. Distorted facts=wrong answers. Outside info= what they want to trick you to go for.

I was not meaning to say that you need to pull in outside information (although I see how what I wrote could sound like that)...I agree that that is a way they trick you into selecting a wrong answer...choosing an answer that sounds correct but isn't based on the passage.

What I meant was that you can't go back to the passage and pick out some piece of information to answer every question. Questions asking what profession the author likely had, for example. This is a question testing more of your ability to reason, based upon inferences and limited information from the passage, than on your ability to go back to the passage and find "the answer".

 

[Digs]

Myth: Something that represents a large field of study will be covered by a large number of questions on the exam.

Fact: I recently took the MCAT, and things I learned in an entire semester of my required pre-med science courses accounted for about 3 low-level questions, none of them passage based. However, a different, much smaller sub-discipline of the same basic science, which no college course I took covered in any depth, was mentioned very heavily, with 2 passages mostly about it, a freestanding question or two, and, believe it or not, a verbal reasoning passage also describing one principle in action.


I'm not a huge fan of either topic at all, and was angry at the first for not appearing after I re-learned it, and angry at the second for being so prominent when I sort of didn't want to learn it in the first place.

Fact: The MCAT can be evil. You must take the test like you (hopefully)study: diligently and with an air of serenity toward the things you cannot change.

 

[KurtLucas10]

Either you know how to write or you don't. You can't prepare for an essay topic that you won't know until the test day. Sure, you can learn "styles" of essays and how you could structure yours to get a high score, but there's no other preparation besides that..

.

 

[Gnomes]

however, people with ~3.5 and a high MCAT + little studying don't exactly make sense. unless they got lucky.

I'll be honest with you, as someone with a 39R MCAT / 3.57 GPA who studied for a bit over two weeks, I kinda dislike the insinuation that my MCAT score was a fluke.

I may be a slacker, but I consistently got similar scores on practice AAMC MCATs (avg 37.3; max: 41, min: 35 - and not bothering to run out the clock in most cases) and felt that the real MCAT I got was a fairly poor match for my skill areas. MCAT and GPA are not testing the same quality... anyone can get a great GPA if they have the will to live in the library and the ability to strategically plan their premedical education around easy professors and easy classes, or go to a college with serious grade inflation.

So, you need both, I suppose - high MCAT/low GPA = smart but lazy; high GPA/low MCAT = hard-working but dumb. Ideally, doctors are both smart and hard-working, and likewise the ideal premed has a high GPA and high MCAT. At least, that's how I see it.

 

[dancerdoc89]

Myth: If you're not back by the end of each 10-minute break, the exam will start for you.

Fact: The exam waits lol.

...honestly, in preparing for my first take of the MCAT, ppl kept telling me how you just have to be back in less than 10 minutes or the clock will start ticking and blah blah blah...that never happened to me...is that right??

 

[mohad]

Just because someone has a low MCAT score doesn't mean they're dumb. Studying for the MCAT is just like studying for a class. If you put in the time and the effort, you will do well. Simple as that.

 

[Gnomes]

Just because someone has a low MCAT score doesn't mean they're dumb. Studying for the MCAT is just like studying for a class. If you put in the time and the effort, you will do well. Simple as that.

It is one possible explanation, though. I emphasize that this is strictly in a relative sense; someone with a below-average MCAT score may well be fairly bright compared with the general population.

I admit readily that there are many paths to a low MCAT; test anxiety, insufficient studying or taking of practice tests, distractions, etc. So on that level too, a low MCAT doesn't mean you're dumb.

However, it is not true that lots of studying will give you a high MCAT the same way lots of studying will give you a high GPA. The MCAT requires you to think on your feet like the hardest of analytically-oriented classes you encounter as a pre-med. Even if you memorized everything that might be covered, you will still need to apply that knowledge, and do so within a very restrictive time limit. Studying is very good at enhancing your knowledge, but at the end of the day, the MCAT is mainly a test of intelligence applied to analysis of scientific questions.

I suppose you might be able to improve your intelligence by working lots of difficult analytical problems. That would be something interesting to investigate.

 

[Hastur]

What constitutes studying hard is different with different people.

I have ADD, and tend to be either on or off when I'm studying: when I see a concept, I either grasp it instantly and deeply, or it just doesn't go in at all. So the 'curve' between time spent studying and gains realized looks different for me than most people - because rather than a linear relationship between study time and information retained, I wind up doing this careful dance of 'productive procrastination', looking for the best learning moments so I can seize them when they occur. Getting on a stable regimen of medication has made the relationship a little more linear (fewer "super-productive moments" but more overall productive time) but it's still not an exact fit to the study pattern I see other people engaging in.

This was a major curse when doing ochem - I understood the underlying concepts very well, but memorizing reactions was counterintuitive and wore on me - although I've now developed study tricks that work for memorization (drawing mind-maps, making it a kinesthetic experience...) - but it's a boon to me on standardized tests, because the environment encourages a mental state of peak arousal and because they tend to test underlying understanding more than fiddly bits.

While I spent months preparing for the MCAT, my practice test scores remained mainly consistent throughout rather than steadily improving... but I felt that my preparation meant I was prepared for a wider range of possible questions and less likely to "freak out" when I got to the real thing, so I'm glad I did it.

 

[whiteshadodw]

I'll be honest with you, as someone with a 39R MCAT / 3.57 GPA who studied for a bit over two weeks, I kinda dislike the insinuation that my MCAT score was a fluke.

I may be a slacker, but I consistently got similar scores on practice AAMC MCATs (avg 37.3; max: 41, min: 35 - and not bothering to run out the clock in most cases) and felt that the real MCAT I got was a fairly poor match for my skill areas. MCAT and GPA are not testing the same quality... anyone can get a great GPA if they have the will to live in the library and the ability to strategically plan their premedical education around easy professors and easy classes, or go to a college with serious grade inflation.

So, you need both, I suppose - high MCAT/low GPA = smart but lazy; high GPA/low MCAT = hard-working but dumb. Ideally, doctors are both smart and hard-working, and likewise the ideal premed has a high GPA and high MCAT. At least, that's how I see it.

i'm not saying it was a fluke, but i find it hard to believe that my friend scored a 41 with a very mediocre GPA with just 2 weeks of studying. i'm saying that he either lied or got lucky. i'm gonna assume you actually studied pretty 'hard' for more than 2 weeks. if i'm wrong, well then i apologize. i'm just envious.

Myth: If you're not back by the end of each 10-minute break, the exam will start for you.

Fact: The exam waits lol.

...honestly, in preparing for my first take of the MCAT, ppl kept telling me how you just have to be back in less than 10 minutes or the clock will start ticking and blah blah blah...that never happened to me...is that right??

LOL. seriously?

Just because someone has a low MCAT score doesn't mean they're dumb. Studying for the MCAT is just like studying for a class. If you put in the time and the effort, you will do well. Simple as that.

i rocked my premed courses by studying effectively. some people try to memorize everything, but i found it easier to just understand the concepts. most of my friends who found undergrad courses difficult were always trying to find shortcuts and just memorize stuff, they felt it the hardest. i honestly think 'dumb' is tantamount to lazy and/or study wrong. i tutor tons of kids in undergrad and they don't want to think at all. they'd rather plug and chug than think. sad.

 

[Bancrofti]

Myth: If you're not back by the end of each 10-minute break, the exam will start for you.

Fact: The exam waits lol.

...honestly, in preparing for my first take of the MCAT, ppl kept telling me how you just have to be back in less than 10 minutes or the clock will start ticking and blah blah blah...that never happened to me...is that right??

Just as with what occurs during the practice exams there's a glitch. I never got around to emailing AAMC about it, mostly because I'm sure it wouldn't have affected my score much, but I saw it happen when I sat for the exam last year. Twice I overran my time limit, one of the times I got back and it was on the VR page, with time already counting down as I assumed it would do. The second time the prompt of you have ran out of time was up on the screen when I got back, leaving me to think that I had just made it in time. But at the end of the section with about 15 seconds I swear my clock went from 10 seconds straight to 0 seconds. Maybe it was test day anxiety, but I took that as "oh you thought you were going to get extra time out of us did you, think again." Luckily I had already filled everything in for BS.

 

[mohad]

It is one possible explanation, though. I emphasize that this is strictly in a relative sense; someone with a below-average MCAT score may well be fairly bright compared with the general population.

I admit readily that there are many paths to a low MCAT; test anxiety, insufficient studying or taking of practice tests, distractions, etc. So on that level too, a low MCAT doesn't mean you're dumb.

However, it is not true that lots of studying will give you a high MCAT the same way lots of studying will give you a high GPA. The MCAT requires you to think on your feet like the hardest of analytically-oriented classes you encounter as a pre-med. Even if you memorized everything that might be covered, you will still need to apply that knowledge, and do so within a very restrictive time limit. Studying is very good at enhancing your knowledge, but at the end of the day, the MCAT is mainly a test of intelligence applied to analysis of scientific questions.

I suppose you might be able to improve your intelligence by working lots of difficult analytical problems. That would be something interesting to investigate.

Ok, maybe I was being a bit vague. Obviously both a good GPA and a good MCAT score have their importance, but I think that dealing with absolutes is never really a good thing. For some reason it always makes me mad when someone uses a standardized test score to flaunt themselves (I've encountered this a ton in high school) I'm not saying you were, but what I was trying to get at is that I think that if someone studies correctly and prepares properly with good focus and determination, they can do well. The only person that can stop you from being successful is yourself.

 

[salim271]

i rocked my premed courses by studying effectively. some people try to memorize everything, but i found it easier to just understand the concepts. most of my friends who found undergrad courses difficult were always trying to find shortcuts and just memorize stuff, they felt it the hardest. i honestly think 'dumb' is tantamount to lazy and/or study wrong. i tutor tons of kids in undergrad and they don't want to think at all. they'd rather plug and chug than think. sad.

Hear hear. Then when they dont understand the basics, they're stuck trying to relearn (or really, rememorize) them while trying to memorize the new material in the next level of classes.

I still remember the motto of my old analytical chem study group, when no one knew why something worked... 'Just memorize it, just memorize it!'

 

[btown8908]

Myth: Cram heavily and study for hours on end until the day of the exam.
Fact: You can actually perform worse, especially if you get burnt out. Studying a lot will help, but you need to study effectively and also manage your stress level. Best course of action is to relax the day before and do something good for yourself so that you have a positive attitude going into test day.

Note: Not sure if this is a myth but it sure seems like a lot of people try to over-study this exam. You can study a lot but in the end it comes down to your confidence level and your ability to think through the exam problems.

 

[Digs]

Fact: You can actually perform worse, especially if you get burnt out. Studying a lot will help, but you need to study effectively and also manage your stress level. Best course of action is to relax the day before and do something good for yourself so that you have a positive attitude going into test day. QUOTE]


This may not be the right course of action for those with more limited funds, but one way to help acheive this pre-test relaxation is to schedule your test in another city. I'm from Georgia, and scheduled my MCAT in San Antonio. The night before my test, I had a wonderful Tex-Mex dinner with mariachis, bought a neat lucha libre mask at the Mexican Market and strolled the River Walk. Does wonders for the nerves.

 

[Pre-Med Village]

Fact: You can actually perform worse, especially if you get burnt out. Studying a lot will help, but you need to study effectively and also manage your stress level. Best course of action is to relax the day before and do something good for yourself so that you have a positive attitude going into test day. QUOTE]


This may not be the right course of action for those with more limited funds, but one way to help acheive this pre-test relaxation is to schedule your test in another city. I'm from Georgia, and scheduled my MCAT in San Antonio. The night before my test, I had a wonderful Tex-Mex dinner with mariachis, bought a neat lucha libre mask at the Mexican Market and strolled the River Walk. Does wonders for the nerves.

If you're in Atlanta and a river walk is what it takes to relax you, with limited funds, you could wait until metro Atlanta takes over Chattanooga. Then we'll have a riverfront.

 

[stsa84]

The night before my test, I had a wonderful Tex-Mex dinner

Wow, you're quite the risk taker. I had nothing but PB&J, fruit, crackers, juice, and water for two days before the exam.

 

[ucsfstudents]

"You only need 2 weeks to study". That applies to any test really. Well, yes, some people can, but most cannot just take 2 weeks to study for this or any other board exam. Know yourself and plan accordingly.