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MCAT Info

Overview

The Medical College Admission Test® (MCAT®) assess mastery of basic scientific concepts, problem solving, and critical thinking, as well as general writing skills. The skills tested are those identified by medical professionals as those essential for success in medical school, and as a medical doctor.

Most U.S. medical schools require that potential students submit MCAT (Medical College Admission test) as part of the application process. Generally speaking, medical schools will not accept exam results greater than three years in the past.

The test can either be taken with pencil and paper, or on a computer.

Test Dates and Locations

View this year’s test dates and locations for the MCAT.

Test Structure

The MCAT is a multiple-choice exam that assesses problem solving, critical thinking, and writing skills. There is specific significance placed upon the test taker’s knowledge of science concepts and principles. The exam is broken down into the following sections:

Verbal Reasoning
The verbal reasoning section assesses the ability to understand, analyze, apply, and evaluate information from a prose passage. Each of the 60 multiple-choice questions is attached to one of nine passages; each passage is approximately 500 words long, and cover topic in the humanities, social sciences, and the natural sciences not covered in other sections of the MCAT. No prior knowledge is required to answer these questions; only your ability to read and understand the passage is necessary. Test takers are given 85 minutes to complete the verbal reasoning section.

Physical Sciences
The physical sciences section assesses the test taker’s mastery of basic physics and general chemistry concepts. There are 77 multiple-choice questions in this section. Fifteen of the questions are standalone questions; the remaining 62 questions are each tied to one of eleven passages. Each passage is approximately 250 words in length, and describes a situation or problem. Test takers have 100 minutes to finish this section.

Writing Sample
The writing sample consists of two, 30-minute essays. Each essay is written in response to a topic sentence. Essays are judged on how well they develop a central idea, how well they combine multiple, complex ideas together, how clearly written they are, and how well they adhere to standard rules of grammar, punctuation, and usage.

Biological Sciences
The biological sciences section assesses the test taker’s mastery of biology and organic chemistry concepts. There are 77 multiple-choice questions in this section. Fifteen of the questions are independent, standalone questions; the remaining 62 questions are each tied to one of eleven passages. Each passage is approximately 250 words in length, and describes a situation or problem. Test takers have 100 minutes to finish this section.

Scoring

Each test taker receives a scaled Verbal Reasoning, Physical Sciences, and Biological Sciences score, ranging from 1 to 15 for each section.

Each essay is scored by two different readers, each of which assigns it a score from 1 to 6. The total raw score is then converted to a scaled score, which is a letter from J to T. An essay given a score of "T" has earned the highest possible score.

Test Fee

The fee for MCAT is $200 for testing within the US. Additional fees are charged for International testing, late registration, and a change of test location.