What is an MCAT?
The MCAT, or Medical College Admissions Test, is one of the main decision factors that medical college admissions officers use to determine whether or not potential students will be admitted into thier colleges and universities. Once an MCAT score is three years old, it usually is no longer accepted by medical schools.
The MCAT is a multiple choice exam designed to determine how well a student excels in problem solving, critical thinking, writing and thier capacity of science knowledge and science principles that are critical for medical school. There is also a writing sample portion of the test, and test takers are given 60 minutes to complete it. It takes about four and a half hours to complete the test, but there are a few 10 minute breaks within the test to allow test takers to rest.
There are four sections of the MCAT: Physical Sciences, Verbal Reasoning, Writing Sample and Biological Sciences. Students generally receive their scores within 30 days of the test date.
MCAT Scores
Depending on the college, a good score on the MCAT is relative as to what each university will consider as an acceptable score for potential students. For the multiple choice sections of the test, a student can score up to 45, since each of the objective sections (three total) counts 1-15 points.
The national average of MCAT scores is 8 points on each of the sections for a total score of 24. If a student scores higher than 30 on the MCAT, that is considered to be high at most medical schools in the country. The closer a candidate gets to a score of 45, the more competitive his or her score will be when admissions officers compare him or her to other applicants.
A student should strive to score as high as possible on each section of the test since admissions officers look at the scores in each section, as well as the cumulative score for admissions decisions.
In addition, students should not fall by the wayside on the writing portion of the test. In addition to the multiple choice sections, the writing portion is also weighted heavily. Students with a score of P or Q are considered to be the most competitive.
The Writing Sample Score
On the MCAT, there are two 30-minute essays that comprise the writing sample portion of the test. Both sections are rated on a six point scale. On this scale, depth, clarity and the cohesiveness of each essay will determine how high it is scored.
Both essays are scored twice and the combination of the scores comprises the final writing score for the MCAT. While each essay is given a numerical score from 1-6 with 6 being the highest, the final score is turned into an alphabetical value. For the alphabetical scores, J is the lowest and T is the highest.
A score of 6 for each essay would mean that the essay was clear, that it showed complexity and depth and that the main ideas of the essay question were fully developed.
Tags: admissions officers, each essay, multiple choice, portion test, choice sections