What is so hard about the MCAT?

[jkhamlin]

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I have never taken the MCAT, but I will be next April.

I have read a lot of the advice on this board, and I am very good at test taking anyway. However, I have a different kind of question. Maybe someone mathematically inclined who has taken the test can explain it to me.

I honestly don't understand this: By my calculations, a 30 on the MCAT is a 66%; why is it so rare for anyone to break 66% on this test? What is it about this test that makes it so elusively difficult?

TIA

 

[kaikai]

because the people you are competiting against are smart...or should i say REALLy smart. That's why it's hard. You are trying to be the top 30% of all these SMART ppl. it's REALLy hard ;p

 

[kaikai]

oh, i guess i got ur question wrong, u are talking about the difficulty of the exam itself eh?

um, it's not that hard. But the time restriction is .... putting pressure on you and then it's hard to make clear decision under stress 😉

good luck

 

[daffy726]

A score of a 30 would be more like 75%...

but this isn't like ur average college test... It's 80% passage-based and u have to interpert data, not spit it back... It's a totally different way of thinking...
And the time limit is impossible... basically, the MCAT just tests how fast u can pick out the right answer under pressure...
The scores only reveal a very unique type of intelligence that has very little to do with how well u do in med school and how good a doc u'll be...

 

[deez4life]

a combined score of 30 is usually 78-80th percentile, as stated by the aamc. the scores ARE NOT absolute, but rather normalized using z-scores and a normal bell-shaped curve. so then, as you move above or below the mean score of 24 (~50th percentile), each score will become increasingly rare, with 45's and 3's constituting two most rare scores.

 

[....]

Here is how i see it..

Quel huere et il? (not sure if spelled that right)

hard question huh? Well I just asked you what time it was...
The problem is, if you dont speak french, you dont understand the question. Similarly, on the mcat you must KNOW the science or else you cant even read the language. That in itself is tough and takes studying. THEN you must be able to figure out the answer. That takes brains.

The mcat is tough beacause you need both, knowledge and the ability to manipulate what you know to answer what you were never explicitly taught.

Its like organic chemistry. You must memorise certian reaction types, and that is a challenge. But, when the molecules change you must apply what you do know to answer questions which were never taught.

JUST LIKE BEING A DOCTOR. It is impossible to teach a doc EVERY single disease on their specialty and show it to them ina way which does justice to the amazing variations of individual people. A doc must take all of the memorized **** and think hard and fast.

People with 3.9's make 24's all the time!

 

[jkhamlin]

I didn't realize that it is a percentile based system. Now I understand. Thanks everyone.

Is it really based on EVERYONE taking it at the time you do, or is it divided out by these test forms everyone is talking about, or by geographic region, or something else.

 

[ScoobySnack]

The explanation posted describing how the test is normalized is the best describtion I have read, it includes both tails on the side of the average (mu), most people omit this part of the explanation because they are so used to thinking of test score distributions as similar to those in a regular class. It definitely helps to have had a statistics and probability course to understand how the MCAT is scored. The scary part is that if the entire population of test takers were all geniuses (in the case of the MCAT, mostly pre-med undergraduates), the test could still be normalized to 24. But because the number of people taking the MCAT is so large you can be confident that a normal curve can be achieved. I am not sure how the test form is used in calculating your score, perhaps each test form is its own population. They would need to issue enough of the same test to establish a large enough sample size. Although AAMC may keep track of the performance of geographic regions or other factors (for its own purposes), that is not used when calculating your score.

 

[echostation]

man now i feel like real crap, I to this day don't know what is difficult about the mcat, but it kicked my butt so badly twice...I mean all my practice tests were 33s and 34s with a couple of 31s in there, but i took the damn thing twice, i got a 26 and 28 respectively (with no particularly low scores in either area, like i got a 10, 8, and 10) but still... I am so frustrated that I haven't been able to break a 30 when I KNOW i can. I just don't really get it, I thought I did so well on verbal and would get a 13 or something, but only got a 10. to me, the only thing i've figured out is that for some reason I can't crack a 30 on the mcat and that for me personally makes it a challenging exam despite me thinking i did so well on both of these...both of what i got are such crap scores and with 1.5 months left? i don't know if i should retake the august one or not, I really have no fraggin clue, i'm literally on the verge of break down for this entire weekend. I pulled a Hulk like rage in my apartment and got so frustrated with everything. Why the HELL does this happen, god dammit, i'm angry now. 😡 😡

i don't know if i should just apply or not, i'm not aplying to top schools, i'm applying to places like albany medical college, texas schools, some NC schools, the only real top ones i'm applyin gto are emory and baylor...but I don't know where else I should apply to with such **** mcat scores, anyone have any suggestions of where I can look at average to decent schools that would look at an applicant like me (taking the year off doing research tech position at a good immunology lab where i did one independent study my senior year and am now doing a rsearch job there with good chances of getting published or coauthorship on papers, 3.48 GPA, decent volunteer clinical and non clinically related, much stronger personal statement than I had last year when I was thinking of applying)...anyone have any ideas?? I want to take a look at the MSAR too but anyone else have any other BETTER ideas cuz i'd rather look at not JUST the MSAR but other more useful resources that are readily availalbe on the internet or library or something...

 

[efex101]

I think that you are fine with that score to apply to some middle tier, lower and some reach schools. It is not *just* the MCAT they look at, and the earlier you apply the better. You should be fine remember that anything above a 30 is really hard to achieve, the mean was a 24.8 so you are fine, relax and apply. Apply to as many schools as you can.

 

[koma]

Originally posted by echostation
I want to take a look at the MSAR too but anyone else have any other BETTER ideas cuz i'd rather look at not JUST the MSAR but other more useful resources that are readily availalbe on the internet or library or something...

I didnt find MSAR very helpful, but I found this website useful:

http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/grad/directory/dir-med/dirmedindex_brief.php

you have to pay $10 though to get all the good info.