So you wanna be a doctor which means you have to take the MCAT, but what is the MCAT? What
is on it? How does it work? Let's dig in. MCAT stands for Medical College Admission Test
which is kinda like an SAT for getting into medical school.
It has four sections starting with the Chemical and Physical Foundations of Biological System
or C/P for Chem/Phys. This is your first natural science section followed by section 2 which is
Critical Analysis and Reasoning Skills or CARS for short. Just think of this as verbal comprehension.
Section 3 is Biological and Biochemical Foundations of Living Systems or B/B for
Bio/Biochem. This is your second Natural Science section. Followed by section 4 the Psychological
Social and Biological Foundations of Behavior or P/S for Psych/Soc. This section is kinda like
CARS with Psychology and Sociology terms mixed in. But I'm jumping ahead of myself so let's
back it up with a breakdown of exactly what's on each section. I cover the exact timeline,
topics, sections, scores, and more on my website linked below or at leah4sci.com/AboutMCAT.
The Chem/Phys section is 95 minutes long, that's one hour and thirty five minutes
to complete 59 questions broken up as 15 discretes and 10 passages with about 4 to 7 questions
each which is about 8 minutes per passage. This section is broken down as 30% General Chemistry,
25% Biochemistry, 25% Physics, 15% Organic Chemistry and 5% Biology. The CARS section is 90
minutes or an hour and a half long with a total of 9 passages which comes to 10 minutes per passage.
You do not need any outside knowledge for this section. The Bio/Biochem section like Chem/Phys
is 95 minutes long which is an hour and thirty five minutes for a total of 59 questions broken
up as 15 discretes and 10 passages. Again, about 8 minutes per passage. This section tests you on
65% Biology, 25% Biochemistry, 5% each General and Organic Chemistry. And finally the Psych/Soc
like the previous Sciences is 95 minutes long or an hour and thirty five minutes
with a total of 59 questions broken up as 15 discretes and 10 passages. This again
comes to about 8 minutes per passage. This section tests you on 65% Psychology, 30% Sociology
and once again Biology at 5%. If you noticed, Biology shows up in every Science section.
Now that we know what's on the exam, what does test day look like? And more importantly,
if you add up the times that comes to over 6 hours but I call it a 7 and a half hour exam. So let's
break it down. Once you get started, you have 8 minutes to complete an examinee agreement. This
is the same agreement that you signed when you registered but once again they want you to confirm
that you have read and understand the rules. Then you have a 10 minute optional tutorial which you
can skip but I don't advise it. Use this time to calm yourself down, to do some deep breathing,
some relaxing, meditations, whatever it takes to get yourself into the mindset of the exam.
You don't need the tutorial because if you've been practicing under realistic conditions, you
already know what to expect. Now you get to start the exam with the Chem/Phys section at 95 minutes
followed by a 10 minute break. The CARS section at 90 minutes, followed by a 30 minute lunch
break. The Bio/Biochem section, 95 minutes followed by a 10 minute break and the Psych/Soc
section at 95 minutes. Is that it? Actually, no! You still have 5 minutes for the void question.
That's 5 minutes to decide, do I want to score this exam and have medical schools
see it? Or do I think today was a wash, void the exam and let's pretend it never happened.
And finally a 5 minute satisfaction survey letting them know how you felt
about the testing conditions. Now that you know what's on the MCAT, how do you actually start?
And more importantly, how do you start the right way? This is exactly where my "How
To Start Studying for the MCAT Guide" comes in. And you can find that at the link below
or by visiting my website leah4sci.com/MCATstart, again, that's leah4sci.com/MCATstart.