The Medical College - Page 1
5 The Medical
College
Admission Test (MCAT)
Overview of the MCAT
Importance of the MCAT
Contents of the MCAT
Preparing for the MCAT
Reference data for model test
Model MCAT
Scoring of the MCAT
Scoring your model MCAT performance
OVERVIEW OF THE MCAT
Essentially all applicants to the U.S. and
Canadian medical schools, as well as some
applicants to foreign schools, are expected to
take the MCAT. It is given on a Saturday
in April and in August at test centers located
throughout the country and at some over-
seas locations. The test is administered and
scored by The MCAT Program, P.O. Box
4056, Iowa City, IA 52243, (319) 337-1357.
Score reporting is the responsibility of the
AAMC (MCAT Operations, Association of American
Medical Colleges, Section for
Student Services, 2450 N Street NW, Suite 201,
Washington, DC 20037, (202) 828-
0600). You can arrange to take the test by
filing an application (frequently obtainable at
your Premedical Advisory Office), along with
the examination fee (currently $155) and
a recent snapshot. Special test centers are
open on Sundays for students whose religious
convictions prevent them from taking the exam
on Saturday. An additional fee (cur-
rently $10) is required for taking the exam on
Sunday.
Scores are sent automatically in mid-June or
mid-October both to you and to your
advisor. Your scores will also be sent
automatically to AMCAS schools. You can indi-
cate on your test application six non-AMCAS
schools you wish to receive your scores;
if you are applying to more than six AMCAS
schools, you must pay a fee for each addi-
tional school.
The MCAT can be retaken without special
permission, but it is usually advisable to do
so only if there is a significant discrepancy
between your college grades and MCAT scores,
if the test was taken before you completed your
basic biology and chemistry courses, if you
were quite ill or emotionally upset at the time
the test was taken, or if you are encouraged
by your Premedical Committee to do so. When the
MCAT is taken twice, the AAMC rec-
ommends that the initial and retest scores on
the verbal reasoning tests be averaged, and the
retest scores for the physical and biological
sciences tests be used, unless there is evidence
that unusual circumstances might have affected
scores on either exam.
As a general rule, you should take the MCAT at
the session at which you feel you
could perform best. The overwhelming majority
of students take the test in the spring
and this is justified for a number of
reasons:
1. Scores become available earlier and
therefore prompter action on your applica-
tion can be taken by admissions
committees.
2. Additional knowledge accumulated between the
two test periods does not sig-
nificantly affect test scores.
3. Most schools interpret the scores in light
of the actual coursework completed at
the time the exam was taken.
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