With the debut of the new MCAT, test-takers are having mixed reactions to being a part of the first group of premeds to take the revamped medical school admissions test.
After taking the exam in April, the first month in which the new test was offered, some prospective medical school students turned to social media to express their anxiety, excitement and relief about taking this critical step in the admissions process.
Today I stare death in the face. And what do we say to death? Not today. #MCAT
— Jake Rothermund (@jakerothermund) April 18, 2015
I feel torn now that my MCAT hell is over…..#mcat #mcathell #friday #selfie #az #arizona #azsun
A photo posted by Kayla Steiner (@kaylakristin) on Apr 17, 2015 at 3:47pm PDT
[Find out how to prepare for the MCAT with this three-month plan.]
Some premeds blogged about their experience taking the test and shared advice on how others should prepare.
“Whereas the last exam seemed to test how well one knows the individual subjects, this new iteration tests that as well as one’s ability to apply those concepts in another subject,” wrote Jaime Davis in a post for the blog “#FOAMed for the Pre-Med.”
Students no longer have to answer questions like “What is the name of this molecule?”, “What is the functional group?” or “What is this muscle?”, he noted. “Strict understanding and memorization of individual subject matter will not carry one through the exam. One must be able to think critically in regards to concepts and how they apply in other areas,” he wrote.
Those who took the exam in April will get their scores in June, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges, which administers the exam.
The test has four sections, including the newly added “Psychological, Social, and Biological Foundations of Behavior.” The exam is also longer than it’s been in the past. It takes about six-and-a-half hours in testing time to complete. The previous version of the test took about four-and-a-half hours.
[Check out the three strategies to know ahead of MCAT study.]
The length of the exam is one of the biggest challenges for MCAT takers, test experts say, and premeds agree. Out of 405 test-takers who prepared for the exam using Kaplan Test Prep and completed a survey about what it was like to take the MCAT in April, 31 percent said they completely agreed with experiencing fatigue before the end of the test.
The survey results also revealed that 58 percent of takers completely agreed that the testing interface was easy to navigate and only 15 percent completely agreed to being more nervous than expected on testing day.
For Jake Rothermund, an undergraduate at Ohio State University University–Columbus who tweeted about taking the new exam, reducing his college course load was critical in preparing for the April exam.
“I had planned out this year of school last summer, and I had taken enough classes to be able to have a light academic workload in the spring, so I could focus on the MCAT,” Rothermund, who just finished his third year, wrote in an email. “I only took three classes during the second semester, and used the extra time to study for the test.”
He started studying for the exam during his winter break and then began a test prep course in February. When his class finished, he took one full-length practice test each week, and two the week before the exam to fully prepare. His days of MCAT cramming are hopefully behind him.
“No one feels exceptionally great after the MCAT, especially with the new version being two hours longer,” he wrote. “I felt similar about my perceived score to what I had felt after the last couple of practice tests that I took. It was an extreme emotional and physical relief when I finished the test, and I felt that I had done enough to be confident I would not be re-taking the test.”
[Learn what the new MCAT is like with these sample questions.]
Test prep experts say part of preparation is taking classes that cover the subjects tested on the MCAT.
“The student should have exposure to all of the subjects before taking the exam,” says Owen Farcy, academic director for the MCAT summer intensive program for Kaplan Test Prep.
Because the exam is so new, it may be hard for some premeds to enroll in the right courses that will prepare them for the MCAT’s newest section.
“The psychology/sociology has a lot of information in it, most of which is new to students, much of which is not covered in test prep books, and much of which is likely not covered in 101 level psych/soc classes,” writes Birju Patel, chief MCAT tutor at MedSchool Tutors, in an email.
“Undergrad schools have some catching up to do to make sure that they prepare their students for this test, and the AAMC will likely be pushing them to do that.”
Test-takers should start studying by referring to the resources provided by the AAMC about the exam, says Patel. To ready themselves for the exam’s length and structure, premeds should use practice questions and practice exams, says Farcy.
“It’s a marathon,” he says. “Not a sprint.”
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Prospective Medical Students Weigh In on the New MCAT originally appeared on usnews.com
