The Medical College - Page 3
CONTENTS OF THE MCAT
Over the past several decades, there has been a
gradual but nevertheless dramatic
change in the medical profession in terms of
knowledge amassed, technological
advances, and delivery of health care. This has
brought about the belief that premedical
and medical education for practitioners in the
twenty-first century needs revision. This
realization has similarly motivated a review of
the MCAT exam for relevancy, espe-
cially since its relevance in predicting
clinical success has been seriously questioned.
A study over a period of several years,
including field testing, resulted in a new
MCAT format that was introduced in the fall of
1991. The new format is designed to
assist medical school admissions committees to
identify applicants who have a broad lib-
eral arts education as well as a solid
scientific background and adequate writing skills.
The MCAT now consists of four separate
subtests:
Verbal reasoning
85 minutes
Physical sciences
100 minutes
Writing sample
60 minutes
Biological sciences
100 minutes
The tests are designed so that nearly everyone
will have enough time to finish each
section without undue pressure, since the
emphasis will be on preparation rather than on
speed of response.
Timetable for the MCAT
TOTAL TIME: 5
3/
4 hours, plus 1 hour
for lunch, two 10-minute breaks
85 minutes
Verbal Reasoning
65 questions
Rest Period--10 minutes
100 minutes
Physical Sciences
77 questions
Lunch--60 minutes
60 minutes
Writing Sample
2 questions
Rest Period--10 minutes
100 minutes
Biological Sciences
77 questions
Verbal Reasoning
This section consists of a 500- to 600-word
selected text taken from the natural or social
sciences or humanities. The source of the text
will be identified. Following the text will
be a set of questions presented in order from
easiest to hardest. The goal of this subtest
is to ascertain quantitatively the applicant's
skills in several, but not necessarily all, of
the following:
(a)
comprehending the essence of the
text,
(b)
utilizing the information of the
text,
(c)
determining the validity of the information in
the text, and
(d)
integrating new data on the context of that
which is in the text.
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