Planning on taking the MCAT next year? In April 2015, the first significant changes in 25 years will be made to the test in order to make it more “relevant to the next generations of doctors and practice of medicine.”* So what does that mean for students like yourself? Eric Chiu, Kaplan Test Prep’s executive director of pre-medical programs, shared the changes students should be aware of when they start preparing for the test in the fall. Below are the six changes you need to know about:
1. More Tested Topics
The number of prerequisite classes will increase from eight to eleven with the addition of material from biochemistry, introductory psychology and introductory sociology being added to the test. There will also be more emphasis on the ability to understand how multiple topics are related to each other (for example, physics, chemistry and biochemistry will appear in the same passage and you’ll have to show how they integrate).
2. Almost Double the Length
You’ll now have 6 hours and 15 mins to answer the 230 questions included in the new MCAT. The current test is 144 questions with 3 hours and 20 mins allotted for testing.
3. Different Scoring Scale
The total possible score for the test will be 528, with each of the four sections being scored 118-132, instead of the 1-15 used in the current test. The new total mean score will be 500, with every section having an average mean of 125.
4. New Question Types and Skills
In addition to the focus on critical thinking and content knowledge, the new MCAT will also test your knowledge on Research Design and Graphical Analysis & Data. There will be added emphasis on creating research projects, deriving conclusions and utilizing data from visual data such as graphs and data tables.
5. Emphasis on a Medical Approach
The structure of the test will now require students to draw from lessons on pathology and physiology, by testing all of the natural sciences within biological systems.
6. Change to the Verbal Reasoning Section
The Verbal Reasoning section will changed to Critical Analysis and Reasoning Skills (CARS). There will no longer be questions pertaining to the natural sciences, but instead a focus exclusively on humanities and social sciences passages. Students will now have 90 mins to complete the 53 items in the section.
These are the major changes you should be aware of if you plan on taking the new test next year. One more important piece of information: Registration for the new MCAT opens in February 2015 with a registration cost of $300. Test dates will run from April -September 2015. If you plan on taking the current MCAT, your last chance to do so is January 2015.
For more information on the MCAT and practice testing, check out Kaplan Test Prep’s website at www.kaptest.com.
*According to the Association of American Medical Colleges.