Hey guys, it's Leah from leah4sci.com/mcat And today I want to talk to you about the
updates for the MCAT and application cycle as it relates to the pandemic.
With everything going on, safety has to be the number one priority and because of that,
the AAMC is still figuring things out because they don't know what to expect.
Nobody knows what to expect.
Therefore, we'll start with the updates released on April 24th some advice and feedback related
to those updates and then as things change, I will be updating you here on my channel
through my emails and social media.
If you're not already subscribed, make sure you go to leah4sci.com/GuideSignup and this
way, not only do you get to download my free guide, but you'll also get my emails anytime
I have an update and make sure you're following leah4sci on Facebook and Instagram.
What we know about the schedule.
MCAT dates in March, April and most of May were already canceled and May 29th it's still
in limbo, so they may or may not cancel it depending on how things develop.
Moving forward, the AAMC did add three MCAT dates, one on June 28th and two more at the
end of September, September 27 and 28 registration doesn't open back up until May 7th which is
great news.
Now I think they're still trying to figure things out.
But for you, this gives you an opportunity to take a step back, digest the information,
figure out your plan of action, and then decide when and if you're going to sign up.
And the reason I say if is I know that as soon as registration opens, the system will
get slammed.
Everyone is desperately gonna to try to sign up and get a date.
Some students grabbing a seat that they know they're not ready for or that they don't yet
know, but we'll figure out closer to test date.
And that is good news for you because if you're not yet sure you're thinking, I want to test
at the end of June or July, but will I be ready in time?
If you wait, the seats will disappear, but then as you get closer to the test dates,
the students who are already signed up and realize I'm not ready when they drop their
date, something just opened up for you.
So unless you're looking to test right away because you were scheduled to test in April
or May and lost your dates, I recommend taking a step back, evaluate, make sure you're ready
and sign up when you're ready.
Cancellation and rescheduling fees are still waived for the rest of the year.
That means instead of waiting for the gold zone where students typically drop their dates,
I suspect some students will be dropping at last minute, anywhere from three weeks before
their exam.
Some are even gonna drop one week before the exam because even though there are no cancellation
fees, if a student isn't ready and wants to cancel their exam, they have to drop otherwise
they get charged for it.
If you're worried that a later test date will cost you time in the application cycle, understand
that this year everything is different and everyone is delayed and the AAMC is trying
to accommodate that with a few changes.
If you're testing between June 19 and August 1st you'll get your scores in two weeks rather
than the standard 30 days.
Additionally, even though AMCAS is opening on May 4th that means you can start inputting
your information on May 4th the application verification process takes a few weeks, but
after it's verified, AMCAS is going to wait another two weeks and then send them to the
school which buys you a little bit more time to complete your application and make sure
you have everything ready.
This is specifically with AMCAS sending the application, but then you have to check the
individual schools because a lot of them are already saying that they're going to delay
everything from their application deadline, their secondary deadline.
Some are even going to let you apply before you take your MCAT so long as you let them
know when you're testing and may even send you secondaries before your scores come in.
The MCAT itself is also completely different.
To accommodate more students in addition to providing sanitizer and allowing personal
protective equipment.
I assume this means a mask.
Definitely, definitely check their website.
They're also changing the way the exams are structured.
Instead of having one exam per day at 8:00 AM, they're now going to offer three different
exams throughout the day at 6:30 AM 12:15 PM and 6:00 PM and yes, this applies to everyone.
So if you are already registered to test at 8:00 AM, chances are you're going to be pushed
to one of the three alternate times.
I don't know if you have to select a time or they're going to provide it for you, so
make sure you keep an eye on the updates and I'll be sure to let you know more when I find
out.
Now don't freak out wondering how you're going to be up at six 30 or stay awake at 6:00 PM
for one of these crazy exams.
I have an entire tutorial on how to slowly and carefully fix your schedule so that you
can be functioning at maximum capacity during this window.
Just go to Leah4sci.com/Wakeup or see the link below.
And the exam itself?
Oh my goodness, they took a seven plus hour exam and squeezed it into five hours and 45
minutes before we break it down.
If you're finding this video helpful so far, make sure you give it a thumbs up and subscribe
to my channel so you don't miss out on any new videos.
So where exactly did they cut the exam?
The Chem/Phys section was cut down from 59 questions in 95 minutes to 48 questions in
76 minutes.
This is followed by the standard 10 minute break.
The CARS section was cut down from 53 questions in 90 minutes to 81 minutes for 48 questions.
The AAMC initially posted that it was 76 minutes, then came back and said, no, that was a mistake.
81 minutes for CARS.
Following CARS you used to have a 30 minute lunch break.
Now it's just a 10 minute break.
Ouch.
The Bio/Bochem section was cut from 59 questions in 95 minutes to 48 questions in 76 minutes,
followed by a 10 minute break and then the Psych/Soc section also from 59 questions in
95 minutes to 48 questions in 76 minutes after the exam, you'll have two minutes to decide
if you want to score or avoid your exam.
This is down from five minutes, but you should be fine because if you go into the exam prepared,
you know upfront if you're going to score the exam or if something drastic happens on
test day, you should know halfway into the exam that you're going to void.
According to the AAMC, this is five hours and 15 minutes of actual test time for five
hours and 45 minutes total time including breaks.
If you run the math, it doesn't add up to five 15 but it's a little bit closer than
before.
They fixed it on CARS.
So figure out there's something else missing there, but it's close enough.
So what exactly did they do to cut these questions and cut the time?
Some of the field test questions in each section have been removed and some administrative
items such as the tutorial and end of day survey have been reduced or removed to shorten
the length of the exam.
So we know they cut some of the extras, which is fine because by testing you should already
know how the test works.
So you don't, you shouldn't need the tutorial.
The field questions are what's throwing people off.
Does this mean the exam is harder?
Does this mean all the questions are weighed more?
Does this put more pressure on you?
Not necessarily because field questions are not real test questions.
They're experimental or beta questions that the AAMC likes to throw into every exam to
get an idea of how students react to them so they'll know how to score them for later.
So say you were doing the old exam and you got the passage three which was a field passage,
meaning an experiment.
Then no matter how good or bad you did on it, it didn't count, which is why you want
to pace yourself on the exam in general because you never want to put too much time into one
passage and miss another because you might be doing a field passage and missing a real
one, but that's not an issue for this year because this shortened no field questions.
MCAT is gonna be the standard through the rest of 2020 and they're hoping to change
it back to the older longer format.
In January of 2021.
I reached out to the AAMC asking how they cut the question, does this mean they cut
only passages?
discretes, little bit of both and their answer, Hi there we are unable to answer exam content
questions.
Great!
Useless.
So at this point we're just going to have to guesstimate and try to prepare accordingly.
We'll know more about this after the first set of students get through the shorter exam.
In terms of how to study for this exam, it's gonna be absolutely the same thing.
The shorter exam is not going to be harder.
In fact, they say the exam will not be easier or harder than the full length exam.
You will still be tested on all four sections of the exam and are responsible for knowing
the same concepts and skills covered by the full length exam.
In other words, don't expect it to be easier.
Don't expect it to be harder.
Expect the same exact thing, the same test, the same weight for every question that had
weight before.
The only difference is shorter break and fewer questions.
That didn't count anyway in terms of how to prepare for this exam, given that none of
the test prep companies are currently set up this way, I'm going to be putting some
thought into this as well as following any updates that come out and be sharing it in
my email and on social media.
So again, if you're not signed up yet, go to Leah4sci.com/GuideSignUp and in addition
to getting my free MCAT prep guide as well as the companion workbook, you'll also be
signed up to get all the updates and hear from me as soon as I have new information.
I've been hearing a lot of feedback from students on this, both pros and cons and I'm not going
to go into them.
Why?
Because if you focus only on the negative, you're going to psych yourself out for something
out of your control.
Instead, I want you to look at it this way.
You have a dream of becoming a doctor.
You're going to be working with all types of patients, some whose issues are going to
follow the textbook and some patients that will present interesting scenarios that make
you think on your feet.
This means you have to be resilient and instead of looking at it from the perspective of,
Oh my goodness, everything is ruined because they just completely messed it up.
I want you to think of it the other way.
I am going to survive this no matter what.
This is what was presented to me.
This is one of the many challenges that I'm facing in my journey.
But I'm going to find a way to adapt.
I will find a way to conquer this and no matter what happens, no matter what the AAMC throws
my way, I will ace this MCAT and I will get into medical school because nothing is going
to stop me from my dream.
And if you're not convinced, just pause the video right now, go to the mirror and repeat
this a few times.
Make sure that no matter what happens, you are ready to conquer this thing.
Now I know you have a lot of questions and I want to answer them, so let me know in the
comments below what your questions and challenges are regarding the new timeline, the new MCAT
or anything related to this crazy pandemic in regards to your premed journey.
And I will do my best to put out new videos, tutorials and updates.
But first, make sure you give this video a thumbs up, then click subscribe and the bell
icon.
So you don't miss out on any new videos, but if your concern is less about the timeline
and more about, okay, but what do I do?
How do I take the next step?
I have a free guide that will help you with that.
It takes you through everything from how to set your goals, how to figure out your targets,
creating your study, schedule, your resources, everything that you need to succeed on the
MCAT.
You can find this free on my website along with the companion workbook that helps you
keep track of all the steps.
The URL I'll fill into the description is leah4sci.com/ultimate and that will take you
to the homepage and that will link all the chapters.
With that guys have a great day.