Medical College Admission Test (MCAT)

What is Medical College Admission Test?

Are you fantasizing to accomplish a doctoral degree from abroad? Then MCAT is knocking you door. It was developed by American Association of Medical Colleges in 1928. It is the demand of all the medical schools in United States and also in Canada. It is a computer-based standardized examination to assess medical students. However, all the exam administration is computer based.

Major Drive behind Credential

MCAT mainly assesses knowledge of scientific concepts, problem solving skills and critical thinking. The major drive behind MCAT testing is to test those skills which are necessary for the study and practice of medicine.

How MCAT is organized?

The topics that are mainly covered on MCAT fall into three broader multiple choice sections:

• Physical Sciences: It basically assesses problem-solving skills in the particular areas like general chemistry and physics.
• Verbal Reasoning: Mainly assess the ability to understand, evaluate and implement verbal information ad arguments on textual discourse.
• Biological Sciences:In this tunnel, a candidate’s problem–solving skills will be evaluated specifically in the areas of biology and organic chemistry

Eligibility Criteria

MCAT demands certain requirements from the prospective candidates:

• Candidate have passed intermediate in Medical Sciences
• Studied Biology, Chemistry and Physics in Intermediate Level
• Maximum 65% marks acquired in intermediate
• Attested documents from head of university

Testing Fee

Regarding Testing fee, three fee criteria is divided into 3 zones:

• Gold Zone: if registration is about 1 month or more prior to date, it will cost US$ 275.
• Silver Zone: if registration is about 3 to 4 weeks prior to test date, it will cost US$ 275.
• Bronze Zone: If registration is about 1 to 2 weeks prior to test date it will cost US$ 325.

In case of international testing, US$90 will be charged in addition to above.

Scoring Conditions

Considering each of the three sections of MCAT (Verbal, biological sciences and physical sciences) is assigned a separate score on a range that mainly varies from 1 to 15. Total MCAT score is the sum of the score of each section in which lowest score range varies from 3 to highest score range of 45.

How to get registered?

To get registered, follow certain criteria:

• AAMC prefers online registration. For this, make an account, if don’t have then sign up and create.
• AAMC will provide the scheduling instructions along with dates and allocated center.

Current Dates: Current dates for MCAT test are January 22, 2016. For registration in 2015, it will get started in the middle of November.

How Will I prepare?

For most standardized tests, there are varied preparatory materials and courses available. AAMIC itself offers multiple tests on their website for those candidates who intend to go for MCAT.

Where and When to Take MCAT?

MCAT is basically administered by Association of American Medical Schools.Many students do get scared of the notion that a test will be offered only once but MCAT is free from this notion. The exam offers multiple times a year in various locations in United States, Canada and in other countries.

Note: Test-takers have no consent to sit in exam more than 3 times in January 2014 to January 2015.

Website: https://www.aamc.org/students/applying/mcat/