- Level of coverage received in basic
undergraduate course sequences
- Importance to mastering the medical
school curriculum; and
- Usefulness in the actions and decisions
of medical practice.
Recall of Information
Some questions may ask you directly to use basic information
in the physical and biological sciences. For other questions,
recall of science concepts and principles may be stimulated
by cues in the passages, tables or graphs. In those instances,
your recall of information may be dependent on other skills
such as understanding the passage or interpretation of data.
While a good understanding of basic science is needed, mastery
of the facts is not sufficient for answering all of the questions.
Comprehension of Text
Since the majority of questions are linked to passages, you
should practice analyzing passages presented in all of the four
formats listed. Do not be concerned if you see topics in the
passages that you have not studied. Rely on your comprehension
skills to understand unfamiliar material in the passages.
Interpretation of Data
You need facility with interpreting graphs, tables, diagrams
and figures in order to answer some questions. Practice interpreting
data in these formats; they may also be found in your textbooks,
laboratory manuals or science journal articles. Although there
is not a separate section for assessment of quantitative skills,
you may be required to apply math concepts in interpreting data
and solving problems.
Application of Concepts
You will need to know how and when to apply concepts that you
learned and recall from your basic physics, chemistry, biology
and math courses as well as those presented in passages to answer
some of the questions.
Evaluation
You will be required to evaluate methods, evidence and conclusions
and to assess the consistency of information and validity of
arguments presented in the passages. Because the depth of knowledge
you will be expected to demonstrate is limited, it is usually
not advantageous to enroll in advanced science courses for the
purpose of improving your performance on the MCAT. Well-designed
introductory courses in biology, chemistry, and physics with
laboratory sessions which feature a variety of experiences should
provide opportunity for you to develop these skills. To determine
if both the content and the problem solving skills needed for
the science sections are covered in introductory science courses
at a specific school, you could check course descriptions in
catalogs and syllabi, review class notes and laboratory exercises,
and / or talk with instructors about the course activities related
to the MCAT topic skills. If you discover that the basic science
courses at your school did not address the required skills and
content areas, then additional coursework or preparation may
be necessary. You may want to consider science and nonscience
courses which foster the development of needed problem-solving
skills. Other activities such as reading and analyzing science
journals or working in a laboratory where you can be involved
in research planning or analysis might serve as supplemental
activities for further skill enhancement.
How should I prepare for the Verbal Reasoning section?
The information necessary to answer the questions on the verbal
reasoning section will be presented in the accompanying passages.
Your performance on this section will be enhanced by participation
in a variety of courses in the humanities, social sciences,
and natural sciences during your undergraduate program. You
need not specialize in any of these areas, but through your
reading and coursework you should become familiar with the types
of critical thinking and reasoning skills employed in these
disciplines.
The solutions can help identify any problem areas. If you experience
problems with the Verbal Reasoning section, they may reflect
your level of proficiency in reading the passages, answering
the questions, working within the prescribed time limit, or
some combination of these elements. If you decide to use the
practice test to diagnose your readiness for the Verbal Reasoning
section of the MCAT, you should take it under modified conditions.
Work through the Verbal Reasoning section at a steady pace without
imposing a time limit, but record how long it takes you to complete
it. You should work to correctly answer the items. If more than
85 minutes elapse, you probably need to increase the pace at
which you work. If you have difficulty reading the passages,
you may need to learn about argument as a form of written discourse.
Knowing the purpose, content, and structure of argument can
help you process the texts for answering the questions. In addition
to taking composition or rhetoric courses, you might analyze
essays and editorials found in newspapers, magazines, and /
or scholarly journals.
Read to develop a broad, solid knowledge base that can enhance
your working vocabulary and equip you to understand a variety
of topics. Reading is a process based on skill and, like most
other activities, the skills attendant to it improve with practice.
The analysis sheets can help you determine whether you are having
difficulty with the types of questions asked on this section
of the MCAT.
Typically, the answers to the Comprehension and Evaluation items
are based on what is said by the writer, either explicitly or
implicitly. The Application and Incorporation of New Information
items expect that you will extend the writer�s message; you
will not find the answers to these items in the passage. For
those items you miss, try to determine why or how your thinking
is not aligned with the correct response.
If you do not finish the practice test in 85 minutes or you
do not score as well as you would like, you may want to try
a different procedure for taking the test. There is no one best
way for all examinees to proceed on the Verbal Reasoning section
of the MCAT. If you want to change your approach, you might
experiment with different options to find the approach that
works best for you. A few of the options that are available
to you are described below:
-
Read the passage and then read and answer the questions.
Consult the passage as you feel the need.
-
Skim the passage to find out what it is about and then read
it. Read and answer the questions. Consult the passage as
you feel the need.
-
Skim the passage to find out what it is about. Read the
questions to get a sense of what you are going to be asked.
Read the passage. Read and answer the questions. Consult
the passage as you feel the need.
- Read the
questions to get a sense of what you�re going to be asked.
Read the passage. Read and answer the questions. Consult
the passage as you feel the need.
You also should experiment with marking the passages or questions
as you read. Practice to find out whether you are able to be
more focused if you underline important words or make brief
notes in the margins.
On test day there will be nine passages on the Verbal Reasoning
section of the MCAT no matter which form of the test you are
given. If on average, you spend nine minutes on each passage
set, you will be able to finish the test in the 85-minute time
limit.
How should I prepare for the Writing Sample?
The best preparation for the Writing Sample is coursework in
composition, which will acquaint you with the components of
a well-written, well-organized essay. You may also benefit from
humanities and social science courses that have strong reading
and writing requirements. If coursework is not a viable option,
you should engage in activities to prepare on your own. Use
the information in Part 4 as a basis for understanding what
you are expected to do. In the writing sample exercise, you
are expected to compose a short, reasoned discussion based on
a statement of opinion, philosophy or policy.
The instructions for the Writing Sample direct you to explain
or interpret the meaning of a statement. Explanations typically
are developed through the use of one or more of the following:
description (detail and images that convey the sense of the
statement being explained); narration (incidents or steps in
a process that clarify the statement); example (illustrations
of the statement that make it clearer or prove it); division
(analysis of the components of the statement); classification
(assigning the statement or what it represents to a group or
category as a way of understanding it); or definition (establishing
the essential meaning of the statement�s key terms).
Next you are instructed to describe a situation which appears
to contradict the first statement.
Finally, you are asked to establish the decision-making rules
that help you choose between the two alternatives or resolve
the differences inferred between them.
The Writing Sample section calls for a combination of expository
writing (writing directed at giving information) and argumentative
writing (writing to establish a point of view or to persuade).
Basic composition courses may include discussions of these major
forms of discourse. Handbooks used in composition courses may
be of considerable value in reviewing for this portion of the
MCAT. Texts on rhetoric, advanced expository writing, argument
or logic may be useful.
Once you understand the tasks required by the Writing Sample,
you should practice writing essays of this type. You should
generate or find a statement of opinion, philosophy, or policy
to stimulate your writing. You can readily find examples in
daily newspapers (e.g., �State funding of intercollegiate athletics
is an inappropriate use of tax payers� money,� or �Term limits
for politicians are unfair to committed public servants�).
In the beginning you should write your practice essays without
imposing a time limit. After you become comfortable with the
tasks, you should practice with the 30-minute time limit you
will be given on test day. You might consider using the 30 minutes
as follows: five minutes for thinking about and planning what
you will write; 20 minutes for writing; and five minutes given
to reading and editing.
If you work alone, ask yourself some of the following questions:
Does your essay have a direction which is clearly established
early and clearly arrived at when concluded? Does your essay
have three separate parts corresponding to the three tasks or
does it hold together as a whole? Are the parts linked? Does
the paper have a consistent point of view? Are generalizations
supported? Have the standard rules of grammar, syntax, and punctuation
been observed? Do the sentences and paragraphs sound typical
of a high school writer or do they reflect the vocabulary and
complexity of thinking expected of a collegiate writer?
Additionally, if you analyze materials you read, asking yourself
how the material was developed, in the long term you will also
improve your writing skills.
Should I enroll in a commercial review course?
In preparing for the MCAT, some students enroll, at considerable
expense, in courses offered by commercial firms in the belief
that such courses will increase their knowledge of needed concepts
and skills and improve their test-taking facility.
Some students believe they will be at a disadvantage if they
do not enroll because they think that those who do will have
the opportunity to see and study questions that may appear on
the MCAT. The promotional materials for some review courses
imply that their courses do, in fact, offer such an opportunity.
You should be aware that strenuous efforts are taken to ensure
that no student is provided such an unfair advantage.
The results of a study comparing the MCAT performance of students
who had enrolled in commercial review courses with the performance
of those who had not, involving over 20,000 students during
a five year period, indicate that gains derived from commercial
review courses are small. The gains do not support the contention
that review courses provide increased knowledge and facility
in test taking. You should realize that the small differences
in the scores of individuals receiving coaching may simply be
due to the time devoted to reviewing relevant material.
While there is no one best way to prepare for the MCAT, a preparation
regime that begins at least three months before the exam date
may serve you well. Initially, as earlier suggested, you should
begin with review of the reasoning, problem-solving, you should
also review the science topics, using relevant introductory
texts, class outlines and notes. You should pay particular attention
to unfamiliar or new material. Early on, you may elect to work
through the MCAT practice test to identify topics / skills needing
additional review and to determine whether pace might be an
issue for you. Completion of the practice exam might be followed
by continued review of problem areas, beginning with content
areas not recently studied. If you have a study partner, you
might each use your strengths to help the other address areas
of weakness. If pacing is a notable problem you might determine
whether your college or university offers study skills or reading
skills support focusing on reading speed and comprehension.
Your preparation also should include practice for the Writing
Sample section. You might draft, within the prescribed testing
time, an essay each week. After five essays have been written,
you might share them with a study partner and ask him or her
to rank. You should discuss the reasons for the rankings.
How should I prepare for the test day?
Once you have completed the practice test, you will be better
able to judge how successfully you paced yourself during each
of the sections, and you will have an estimate of the scores
you might achieve on the actual MCAT.
You should take the practice test under conditions which approximate
as closely as possible those of an actual MCAT administration.
Set aside a sufficient block of time, find a quiet place in
which you will not be disturbed for the length of the test,
and take each section within its allotted time limit and in
the order in which it appears in the chart.
Even given the above preparations, the conditions under which
you take the practice test will vary from the conditions of
an actual administration. Factors that are known to affect performance,
such as your emotional and mental readiness and your physical
surroundings, will of course differ on the actual test day.
Also, the procedures followed at test centers � such as the
verification of students� identification, the distribution and
collection of test materials and the steps that are taken to
ensure the security of the materials � may be unfamiliar to
you. These are necessary parts of any test administration and
are not intended to be intimidating or distracting. Because
test conditions may affect your performance, however, you should
be aware that the scores you achieve on the practice MCAT are
only estimates of the scores you might achieve during an actual
administration.
Finally, keep in mind the traditional commonsense advice given
to students preparing to take a test: get adequate sleep the
night before, eat a healthy breakfast the morning of the test,
and avoid last-minute �cramming� because such intense study
is usually stressful and ultimately unhelpful.
Some students find drastic changes in their schedules to be
upsetting and prefer to maintain their regular eating and sleeping
habits; others find special preparations for a test helpful
and reassuring. Use what works best for you.
Bring 2 pencils, an eraser, and a black ballpoint pen with you
to the test center. (The black ballpoint pen is for the Writing
Sample; all other sections of the test are taken in pencil.)
You may also want to bring a wristwatch if you prefer keeping
a close eye on the time rather than relying on the room clock
or the test administrator. At the center, make sure you understand
the test directions when they are read to you. If there is anything
you do not understand, ask the test administrator. During the
test, pace yourself and keep an eye on the time; don�t spend
too much time on questions that are giving you trouble � return
to them after you have completed the rest of the section. Remember
that it is advantageous to guess at questions if you are uncertain
of an answer. If you have extra time, check your work.
Summary
The following summary may be used as a checklist to help you
undertake an organized and informed schedule of test preparation.
- Review
your course outlines, notes, and textbooks, particularly
in the sciences;
- Work
the sample multiple-choice questions;
- Study
the explanations of the sample questions and responses;
- Take
the online MCAT Practice Test;
- Determine
and review any areas in which you may need further work;
- Avoid
last-minute �cramming�; and
- Make
sure to get an adequate sleep, nutrition, and exercise in
the days preceding the test.