The MCAT: four simple letters that make every premed student quiver in fear and dread. Taking the MCAT is one of the first hurdles you must overcome on your journey to medical school.
While I cannot write a blog post long enough to encompass every single thing on the MCAT {check out MCAT exam prep companies for that}, I do want to give you an overview of the MCAT experience.
What Is The MCAT?
The MCAT, or Medical College Admissions Test, is a 7 and a half hour long, multiple choice, passage-based test that is composed of four sections: Chemistry/Physics, CARS {Critical Analysis and Reasoning Skills}, Biology/Biochemistry, and Psychology/Sociology.
You are also able to take three breaks: 10 minutes between Chem/Phys and CARS, 30 minutes between CARS and Bio/Biochem, and 10 minutes between Bio/Biochem and Psych/Soc.
Notice: if you are taking the MCAT between May 2020 and September 2020, read this post about COVID-19 MCAT modifications. The timing above does not apply to these tests.
What Is On The MCAT?
The MCAT is described as being a mile long but only an inch deep. Rather than wanting you to be an expert at every topic, the MCAT wants you to know broad, general topics about each subject.
Although CARS is the only section with “reasoning skills” in its title, the entire MCAT requires reasoning skills; or at least those skills make it easier! Some questions can be answered just by looking at the units or through process of elimination.
Knowing when you can use units and the question stem to your advantage comes with practice. When you study, you should not only study the material, but also the way the MCAT thinks.
For more MCAT study tips, check out my post about tackling the MCAT!
Think like the MCAT, be the MCAT
When Should You Be Taking the MCAT?
If you are following the traditional route to medical school {matriculating right after undergrad} then you should ideally plan on taking the MCAT the winter/spring of your junior year of college.
But we do not live in an ideal world. If you plan on taking gap years after graduation, you do not have to take the MCAT your junior year.
Plan on scheduling your test so you can get your scores back before you want to submit your application. You want your application as complete as possible, as soon as possible.
Scores typically take 4 weeks to come back {it has changed for the COVID MCAT.}
Test Day
Test day is the most anxiety-filled day ever. I don’t think I ate anything the day before test day the very first time I took the MCAT {and I would not recommend doing that…}. Knowing what to expect on test day can help with your nerves and help you focus on the task at hand: taking the test.
Be familiar with where your testing center is. You can even drive there to see what it looks like and figure out how much time you need to allot for travel. I recommend doing this close to your test day so you can see if there is any construction on your route.
Since this most recent test day was the third time for me, I did not drive to my testing center and I was greeted on test day with a closed road and lots of construction…not a great way to start off test day!
What To Bring
Snacks/Lunch: Pack your snacks and lunch the night before. Aim for high protein foods like nuts and a peanut butter sandwich. Some sugar is good too like a juice box and fruit snacks.
Don’t bring anything that needs to be heated up or anything too messy. At my testing center, there are not any tables to eat at so my lap had to suffice.
Photo ID: DO NOT FORGET THIS! Check, double check, and triple check that you have a form of photo ID. You cannot test without this and you do not want to have to forfeit your test because you forgot it.
Light jacket: The testing room tends to be pretty chilly so bring along a light jacket that you can easily put on and take off.
Phone: So technically this should be on a “do not bring” list, but I didn’t want to make a separate list. Phones are not allowed. I left mine in my glovebox in my car. If you do bring your phone inside, the testing center employees will take it and seal it up in a bag that you cannot open until after you leave.
To make it easy, just leave your phone at home or in your car.
What To Expect
Taking the MCAT is a very secure process. Whenever you enter or exit the testing room, you must scan your palm, show behind your ears, roll up your sleeves, pat down your waist and legs, and pull out your pockets.
Since this process can take a minute or two, watch the time during your break so you don’t go over the 10/30 minutes and cut into your testing time. You are also required to leave the testing room for breaks. If you are in the testing room, you have to be taking the test.
Anticipate problems! During MCAT #3, my palm would not scan while I was checking out for a break. We tried multiple times and eventually I had to use the front desk scanner. This cut into my break time {which ended up not being a big deal} but it was stressful at the time!
The testing center provides two noise-reduction options: noise cancelling headphones and earplugs. Using these is totally a personal choice.
I used the noise cancelling headphones during parts of my second MCAT because another test-taker kept coughing and sneezing {remember to take your allergy pill before the test!}.
Since the testing center has to check in everyone one by one, you all start the exam at different times so do not freak out if someone is on their first break and you are not even halfway through the first section.
The MCAT is a marathon, not a race.
After Test Day
WOOHOO! You just finished the MCAT! I am sure you are feeling tons of emotions right now {I cried after I first took the MCAT}.
So now what?
Celebrate! Go out with your friends, eat dinner with your family, take a nap, cuddle your pet, relish in the fact that the MCAT is now behind you!
However, since we are premeds, we tend to freak out easily. After you are done celebrating, you start thinking about every question you were not sure of. You start looking at the Reddit thread for your test day and see that the section you thought was brutal, was easy for others.
In all honesty, I am very guilty of doing this, but please try not to! What is done is done. You cannot go back and change your answers so do not freak out about that one question that could have been A but also could have been C.
The second most difficult thing behind taking the MCAT, is waiting for your score.
Scores are released about a month after you take the test. You can find the specific date on the AAMC website where they have a chart of test dates and score release dates.
Scoring The MCAT
MCAT scoring is very complex. It is a mix of right/wrong answers, how difficult your version of the test was, and how everyone else did that same day.
The overall scoring ranges from 472-528, with ranges of 118-132 for each section. 500 is the average for the exam.
Here comes the final moment. You see if all your studying and hard work paid off. Your heart is pounding so hard and you open your scores . . .
You Got Your Goal Score!
Yay! Congrats! You have conquered the MCAT! Now you can continue on your medical school application journey and hopefully get into your dream medical school!
You Scored Lower Than Your Goal Score
As someone who has been there, twice, I can tell you that it sucks. It just sucks.
You feel like you wasted a bunch of your time and money and that you will never become a physician. But you still can!
Most people have to retake the MCAT, you are not alone.
First thing to do, reassess what went wrong. Did you not give yourself enough study time? Did you start studying too early and forget what you first studied? Did you run out of time?
Doing a good assessment of what happened and what went wrong is crucial to fixing it and doing better when you retake the MCAT.
Taking the MCAT is a huge hurdle, but you do not have to go through it alone! If you have any questions, reach out to me @medicineandmoscato and share this post with your friends!
