Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) is a standardized test administered by American Association of Medical Colleges (AAMC). It is a computer based test developed for admissions in health professions schools of United States and Canada.
Eligibility-
The candidates willing to take admission into a health professions school providing Allopathic, Osteopathic, Pediatric or Veterinary Medicine medical programs can register for this exam. Those applicants who are already enrolled in a medical program require taking special permission to take this test.
Test Overview-
MCAT consists of four sections- physical sciences, verbal reasoning, writing section and biological sciences. The content of physical sciences section is derived from physics and general chemistry while that of biological sciences from biology and organic chemistry. Verbal section consists of questions based on general aptitude and reasoning. The writing section examines the interpretation of a subject, logical arrangement of ideas and presentation of thoughts. All sections except the writing section comprises of multiple choice questions.
Test Format-
The first section of this exam is of physical sciences. It has 52 multiple choice questions which are to be solved in 70 minutes. This is followed by 40 multiple choice type questions of verbal reasoning section. The time allotted to this section is 60 minutes. Then, there is writing sample section in which two prompts for essay writing are given. A time of 30 minutes is allotted to each prompt totaling to 60 minutes for the writing section. The biological section contains 52 questions and allotted time is 70 minutes. There is optional interval of 10 minutes between each section.
Marking Scheme-
The physical sciences, verbal reasoning and biological sciences section are scored in a range from 1 to 15. The writing sample section is scored by a software program and one human reader in a range of 1 to 6. The scores of all section are added to derive a final raw score. All individual scores and total score are scaled in grades ranging from a lowest ‘J’ to a highest ‘T’.
Schedule-
The test is conducted more than 25 times in a year at testing centers of Prometric, a subsidiary company of Education Testing Service. This test can taken unlimited times with a restriction that it can not be taken more than three times in a year. An applicant can register for only one test date at a time. He/she has to wait for two days after the exam before registering for a new test date. The applicant has to submit a statement stating that he/she is planning for admission in a medical college, for competing the registration.
Exam Fees-
The registration fee of MCAT is $235. There are additional charges for international testing, late registration and change of date or testing center. By the Fee Assistance Program (FAP) of AAMC, regular registration fee is reduced to $85 from $235 for economically backward applicants.