test is curved by passages not by the whole raw score?!

[coralfangs]

?!?

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[kypdurron5]

?!?

Where did you read that at?

 

[coralfangs]

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=275617



that threw me off, seriously

 

[lastrun82]

curve by passage is something i heard when i took the mcat last year
i don't know if it's true or not, but it definitely makes sense because the sample size is much larger that way (which results in a more normal distribution)
you'll find that there are a ton of test forms, but there's significant overlap of passages among the forms

either way you have to make sure that you don't get stuck on one passage (cause either way, if you get spend too much time on the first few passages and there are easy passages at the end, your score will suffer)

 

[kypdurron5]

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=275617



that threw me off, seriously

Yeah, I saw that after your post. I'm not sure where that's coming from, but it shouldn't matter....you shouldn't be skipping passages anyway. Still, it makes a certain amount of sense if it is that way.

 

[medschool22]

The test is not scored by passage. That's ridiculous.

It's scored by how many answers you get right. If you get the first 60 questions right, and the last 17 wrong....you're score won't be hurt because you missed "passages"...it would be hurt because you missed questions, plain and simple

 

[DrCurious]

Curving it by passage would make the test a bigger crapshoot then it is...

 

[kypdurron5]

Curving it by passage would make the test a bigger crapshoot then it is...

Not necessarily. It would be easier for them to curve by passage since each set of questions on the VR section is tied to a particular passage. Thus, they could mix and match passages from test to test and base the total curve off of the curves for each of the passages. I'm not at all saying that's the way it is, simply that it could be done that way. In the end the final curve is based upon how well everyone does anyway, so no matter which way it's done it should all even out in the scaled score and percentiles.

 

[GujuMD]

going with the test is scaled by the passage: is it true that there are experimental passage in the verbal section? (ie- passages that are not graded?)

 

[kypdurron5]

going with the test is scaled by the passage: is it true that there are experimental passage in the verbal section? (ie- passages that are not graded?)

I have read that that is NEVER true of any section or question on the MCAT. It just wouldn't make sense; it would mean your score is graded out of only 54 or 50 questions....as it is there are only 60. There is no reason for an experimental section with the MCAT since it's only offered twice a year. That means even if they are using a new section, the sample size will be large enough to perform statistical analysis without first using it experimentally. Finally, there would be no reason for AAMC not to tell us if it were so. The LSAT does a whole experimental test section; you just have no way of knowing which section it is.

 

[DrBowtie]

I have read that that is NEVER true of any section or question on the MCAT. It just wouldn't make sense; it would mean your score is graded out of only 54 or 50 questions....as it is there are only 60. There is no reason for an experimental section with the MCAT since it's only offered twice a year. That means even if they are using a new section, the sample size will be large enough to perform statistical analysis without first using it experimentally. Finally, there would be no reason for AAMC not to tell us if it were so. The LSAT does a whole experimental test section; you just have no way of knowing which section it is.

There is definitely experimental passages. You are indeed scaled out of 53 or so.

 

[MasterMD]

there are definitely "test" questions.... look at AAMC's website.

 

[DrCurious]

Yea, there are most definitely experimental passages, it says it at the aamc website. So in actuality we do get scaled out of 53 in verbal, and 70 or so in physical and biological sections.

 

[kypdurron5]

Yea, there are most definitely experimental passages, it says it at the aamc website. So in actuality we do get scaled out of 53 in verbal, and 70 or so in physical and biological sections.

Ack, that sucks! Means I can likely miss even fewer than I was counting on!