In today’s video, we will explain everything you need to know about the MCAT,
including how the test is scored, what subjects are tested on the MCAT,
when it’s optimal to write the MCAT, and go over what is a good and what is a bad MCAT score.
Hi! My name is Chris and I’m an admissions associate here at BeMo. Before we get started,
be sure to subscribe on whatever social media channel you’re watching this from now,
so you don’t miss any of our upcoming videos. If you would like us to help you with your MCAT prep,
visit bemomcat.com to schedule your free initial consultation. As a quick tip,
check out the time stamps in the description of this video to navigate to specific sections
of the video that you are interested in. Here’s what we are going to cover:
How is the MCAT scored? What subjects are tested on the MCAT?
When to write the MCAT? What is a good MCAT score?
What is a competitive MCAT Score? What is a bad MCAT Score?
BONUS: Why is the MCAT considered so difficult?
By the way we're giving away $50 Amazon gift cards every week to best comments and
questions - comment below for a chance to win. We will be discussing some tips that will help
you ace the MCAT - I'll explain closer to the end of the video, so keep watching to find out.
Let’s get started! How is the MCAT scored?
First things first, you must understand how the MCAT is scored in order to anticipate what you are
getting into. It’s important to keep in mind that your score is based on the number of questions
you answer correctly. Wrong answers do not affect your score, so you are not penalized for answering
incorrectly. Make sure to answer all questions when you take the test even if you are unsure of
the answer, it's best to make an educated guess! Your correct answers in each section are converted
to a scaled score ranging from 118 (lowest possible score) to 132 (highest possible score).
The scores for all four sections are added together.
This means that the lowest possible MCAT score you can get is 472 and the highest is 528.
The conversion is administered to ensure scoring fairness to all students taking the MCAT.
There are several different test forms in a given year. They tend to include questions of various
difficulty levels. All tests are designed to examine the same knowledge and skills
and the administration claims to make sure that all test forms are equal in difficulty.
However, some test forms may be slightly more difficult than others.
The conversion of your correct answers to scale is done through a process called equating,
which compensates for small variations in difficulty between test forms.
This conversion is not constant because each conversion is customized to the specific set
of questions included on a test form. This would mean that two equally prepared students
answering two sets of test forms with different questions are expected to get similar scores,
even if there is some discrepancy between the number of correct answers.
This does not mean that the MCAT score is graded on a curve. Conversion simply
ensures that different raw scores have the same meaning, no matter when you test
or who else is taking the test with you. What subjects are tested on the MCAT?
Now that we explained how the MCAT is scored, let’s get into MCAT content,
what you will be tested on. The MCAT is an interdisciplinary exam
that contains 230 total questions covering many different subjects over the span of four sections.
The main subjects tested include your medical school prerequisites
such as general and organic chemistry, physics, biology, biochemistry, psychology, and sociology.
These are challenging topics, but ones you typically cover in your introductory-level
college courses. In addition, you will be tested on your critical analysis and reasoning skills
in the CARS section of the MCAT. The CARS section is the only MCAT section that does
not relate to specific prerequisite course work, which can generate test-day nerves.
Simply having an excellent knowledge base in each of these subjects is not
enough to ace the MCAT. You will need to apply your knowledge to passages and multifaceted
questions that you have not seen before. So what exactly does each section cover?
The first MCAT section, the Chemical and Physical Foundations of Biological Systems, or CPBS,
is composed of the following questions: 25% first-semester biochemistry, 5% introductory
biology, 30% general chemistry, 15% organic chemistry, and 25% introductory physics.
The second section, Critical Analysis and Reasoning Skills or CARS, is composed of
30% foundations of comprehension questions (Do you understand the main ideas in the passage?),
30%of reasoning within the text questions (Do you understand the relationship between ideas within
the passage?), and 40% of reasoning beyond the text questions (Can you relate ideas in
the passage to new pieces of information?). The Biological and Biochemical Foundations of
Living Systems section or BBLS, test disciplines that include: 65% introductory biology,
5% general chemistry, 5% organic chemistry, and 25% first-semester biochemistry.
And last, but not least, the Psychological, Social, and Biological Foundations of Behavior,
or PSBB, test disciplines that include: 65% introductory psychology, 30% introductory
sociology, and 5% introductory biology. When to write the MCAT?
The right time to complete your MCAT exam is not entirely tied up in medical school application
timelines. While deadlines and application plans are important, the number one rule of writing the
MCAT is feeling 100% ready to write the test. Period. How do you know you are 100% ready?
You know you are ready when you consistently score in the 90th percentile or above on your
realistic mock practice tests. The keyword here is "consistently". That means if you scored well
once, that's not sufficient you should score really well at least 3 times in a row to
feel confident that you are ready and when that happens, you should write the test immediately.
“Ok, I get it – being ready is absolutely important, but when should I actually write the
MCAT?” If we are talking about actual timelines, you should balance the timing of the exam with
completing enough coursework or independent study to have the necessary background for the test,
while still leaving time in your university career to re-write it if you perform poorly.
Understandably, you might be pressured for time and feel that you must write the exam
if you want to have a chance of getting into medical school as soon as possible. However,
writing the exam unprepared can result in a poor score and therefore, the inability to get into the
schools to which you are applying. Additionally, you will waste a lot of money and time. Preparing
and writing the MCAT is a stressful process, so if you are going to do it, make sure you feel ready
for it. If you already have a date scheduled, but think you are not ready – check the deadline for
rescheduling or canceling your test date. What is a good MCAT score?
This is one of the most popular questions students ask us and it
is quite difficult to give a definitive answer. The simple answer is that a good MCAT score is
a score equal to or higher than the average accepted MCAT score at your chosen schools,
or a score that surpasses their MCAT score cutoff or threshold. Each school has its
own MCAT expectations: some schools will not consider an applicant with a score lower than 511,
while others may be happy to accept students with lower scores. But you want to do better than good!
Try not to focus on just one number, and seek to score as highly as possible regardless of cutoffs
or matriculant averages. Nevertheless, to put things into perspective, it’s good
to understand how scores and percentile ranks fit together in the big picture.
To get an excellent MCAT score means to score in the overall 90th percentile, which currently
means a score of 515 or greater. Anything above the score of 517 is considered as outstanding.
With that kind of score, it will be difficult for med schools to reject your application!
There will still be some ultra-elite programs that have higher score thresholds for admission,
but these are truly few and far between. What is a competitive MCAT Score?
A score at or above the mean—or 50th percentile—for all applicants could be
considered competitive. Why? The mean measures the overall average, and in this context would
be the average of every student who has taken the MCAT and applied to a medical school.
Based on current data, the mean score for all applicants is approximately 506, so in essence
any score above 506 would be “above average.” However, the AAMC also provides data based on
matriculant scores, aka successful applicants. This is, unsurprisingly, higher than the
applicant mean—511.5 to be exact, which is the 80th percentile for overall test-takers.
So, to be truly competitive with the students most likely to be accepted, this is the beginning of
the genuinely competitive range. What is a bad MCAT score?
A poor MCAT score in reality is any score that doesn’t get you into a medical school,
but statistically this would be a score below the overall mean or average, so a score of
506 or less. A poor MCAT score could also be considered anything below the 50th percentile
for recent test-takers, which is approximately 501. While there are some schools that will
accept an MCAT score this low, they’re uncommon, and if you’ve scored below 500 you may instead
wish to organize retaking the test, or examine which schools don’t require the MCAT at all.
Remember, when it comes to medical acceptance rates,
there is also a correlation between your GPA and your MCAT score. The lower your GPA is, the higher
your MCAT score needs to be in order for you to have a chance to get accepted. For example,
applicants with a GPA greater than 3.79 have only a 2.5% chance of acceptance if their MCAT is lower
than 486. However, if they score between 510 and 517, their chances increase to 75%-82%! Applicants
with a GPA of 3.4 to 3.59 need to get a score of 510-513 to have a 50% chance of getting in.
IMPORTANT TIP: Do not settle for one specific score. Prepare, study, and aim to get the highest
score possible in your first test sitting. Do not settle for the minimum requirements.
This kind of outlook will not encourage your study habits and determination.
Why is the MCAT considered so difficult? Ok, you’ve seen the data – achieving a competitive
MCAT score is certainly within reach with diligent preparation. So why is the MCAT viewed as such a
difficult test? Here’re a few reasons: Reason #1 – The length of the MCAT.
How long is the MCAT? The testing time for the MCAT is six hours and fifteen minutes.
Including introductory steps and breaks, the total seated time for the MCAT
is just over seven and a half hours for students that use the optional breaks between sections. The
grueling length of the MCAT makes it a challenge, and something that students fear, because you have
likely not taken an exam that long before. College exams, and other lengthy standardized tests, are
generally between three and four hours long and do not even measure up to the length of the MCAT.
Reason #2 – The MCAT is passage-based. During the MCAT, you will not just be
regurgitating facts and information that you previously memorized.
The MCAT is passage-based: you will first read a six to seven paragraph passage, then you will be
asked questions about the passage that require you to apply your knowledge of specific topics,
such as biology or sociology. This makes the MCAT challenging because you cannot just memorize
information. You will need to read each passage critically, pull together several
pieces of information from the passage to fully understand it, then answer questions that combine
details from the passage with your knowledge base. A passage-based exam requires you to use
many skills at once: reading comprehension, critical reasoning, data analysis, and more.
The MCAT assesses analysis and problem solving for a reason. The exam is designed to reveal
whether applicants have strong critical thinking skills. After all, being a physician is not just
about remembering facts. A physician’s job often involves assessing a patient that presents with
several symptoms and making a diagnosis that may not be straightforward. On the MCAT, medical
school applicants are asked to demonstrate their ability to connect several pieces of information,
identify extraneous facts, recognize patterns, and think critically to determine the best answer. The
MCAT will bombard you with a large amount of data to simulate diagnostic scenarios and will include
questions and formatting intended to trick test takers. This is done to assess your capacity to
ascertain which details are important and whether you have the knowledge, and the critical analysis
skills needed, to be a successful physician. Reason #3 – The MCAT is timed
How much time do you have to answer each question on the MCAT? The truth is that the MCAT asks a lot
of questions in a short amount of time. Often, students struggle to finish some sections of the
MCAT, which means their scores on those sections are not as high as they could have achieved
with more time. On which sections do students typically run out of time? Time tends to be a
struggle on the Chemical and Physical Foundations of Biological Systems (CPBS) section and the
Critical Analysis and Reasoning Skills (CARS) section. If you find yourself running out of time,
remember that wrong answers will not count against you, so aim to fill in an answer for every
question – even if it is just an educated guess. Check out our blogs to read more about the MCAT
I have included links in the description of this video so you can find the blogs easily.
If you would like us to help you with your MCAT, visit bemomcat.com to schedule your free initial
consultation. Hopefully you enjoyed the video so please subscribe, like and leave a comment. If
you have any questions about MCAT that I didn’t cover in this video, let me know in the comment
section and I will get back to you as soon as possible. Don’t forget that we're giving away
$50 Amazon gift cards every week to best comments and questions - comment below for a chance to win.
Thanks so much for watching this video, see you next time.