Verbal-SAT and MCAT correlation?

[alansda]

Was your Verbal score on the SAT as good(/bad) as it was on the MCAT?
Looking through some verbal passages on the MCAT, it looks to me like the SAT questions were a bit harder, but I'm not so sure.
PS: I really hope this topic hasn't been discussed to the death before.

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[ctv1116]

Was your Verbal score on the SAT as good(/bad) as it was on the MCAT?
Looking through some verbal passages on the MCAT, it looks to me like the SAT questions were a bit harder, but I'm not so sure.
PS: I really hope this topic hasn't been discussed to the death before.

I got a 770 on the Verbal of the SAT (the old version), and I pretty much got 10/11 (one question away either way) on all my MCAT practice tests. It's a different kind of test. I think one could say that they eliminate all the gimme vocab questions and the easy reading comprehension questions, and stick with tough SAT Verbal questions. Also, the MCAT has questions where they give you new information in the question stem and you have to use that new information and see how it relates to the passage argument. It's different and (obviously) harder.

 

[QofQuimica]

We have discussed this issue on SDN before, and the general consensus is that there is not a strong correlation between scores on these two tests. There was even a thread where people tried to come up with a formula to calculate theoretical MCAT score based on SAT or ACT score, but it wasn't a very good predictor in many cases. If you want to gauge where you're at on MCAT VR, take a practice test under timed conditions and score it. You can get practice tests from a bookstore, from a test prep company, or from the AAMC. I will caution you though that many students underestimate the difficulty of the MCAT VR, and to their own detriment. So make sure that your MCAT study plans contain plenty of VR practice; VR is the one section that tends to be the hardest for the vast majority of students.

 

[HessExpress]

Was your Verbal score on the SAT as good(/bad) as it was on the MCAT?
Looking through some verbal passages on the MCAT, it looks to me like the SAT questions were a bit harder, but I'm not so sure.
PS: I really hope this topic hasn't been discussed to the death before.

The short answer is "yes" but with a "but". The long answer is "no" with a "however".