MDadmit: Medical Admissions Advice from a Harvard/Stanford MD

January 21

Medical School Admissions: MCAT Tips

A few things to know before you hit the books to study for the MCATs:

• As of 2007, the MCAT is only offered on computer.
• The test includes four sections

1.     Physical Sciences (PS)

2.     Verbal Reasoning (VR)

3.     Writing Sample (WS)

4.     Biological Sciences (BS)

• The test is a little over 5 hours long including breaks. Total content time is approximately 4.5 hours.
• The test is self-paced (ie., you choose when to take a break) but each section has a time limit.
• You are able to review a change answers within a section until you reach the time limit for that particular section. Unfortunately, once you have completed a section, you cannot go back and change answers.
• The Writing Sample section is typed and you can edit, cut, paste, and copy just like in a Word document. However, spell check is not available. 
• Scores will be available in 30 days or less after exam completion. Scores are sent directly to AMCAS. Be sure to select sending them to your pre-med advisor as well (it’s free).
• The PS, VR, and BS sections are scored on a scale of 15 (15 being the highest score possible). The writing section is score by letters J to T. You will see scores reported as: PS 15 WS T VR 15 BS 15 or 45T.

For step-by-step advice on how to get into medical school and more MCAT tips, check out The Medical School Admissions Guide: A Harvard MD’s Week-by-Week Admissions Handbook. If you’d like to communicate directly with Dr. Miller, medical school admissions expert, please email info@MDadmit.com or call 415.939.5251.