MCAT 2015 – Planning Ahead

UnknownYour planning and decisions regarding MCAT2015 are an excellent topic of conversation for a meeting with a pre-health advisor.  People have always made very different decisions about how to prepare for the MCAT and when to take it.  Everyone, though, should be aware of the current resources provided by the AAMC regarding the changing exam, outlined on the AAMC’s Preparing for the MCAT2015 Exam web page.  Here you can find a calendar showing when the new exam will be administered, a link to concepts covered on the exam, information about purchasing the Official Guide to MCAT2015 (available for review in our office), information about purchasing sample questions included in The Official Guide to the MCAT Exam (MCAT2015) ($10 separate from the Guide purchase), links to review materials available through MedEd PORTAL’s iCollaborative and Khan Academy, and information about the forthcoming Official MCAT2015 Practice Test #1 (should be available later this fall) and Official Study Questions (should be available early in 2015).  If you are taking this exam, following this web page.  You can also follow announcements via the AAMC on Facebook and Twitter.

Those of you planning to take the “old” MCAT in January: consider that if you are later in a position of needing to retake the MCAT, you will be studying for a very different exam.  Also, while many medical schools will accept the “old” MCAT for the usual amount of time (which varies by school), some are only accepting MCAT2015 during the next or following cycle.  The current information regarding how long scores from the “old” exam will be accepted, by school, is available here.  The same information for osteopathic medical schools is available via a pre-health advisor.  Note, as always, the small print:  “Policies subject to change. Contact individual medical schools for most current information.”  When in doubt, do not hesitate to contact individual schools with questions.

Author: Carol Hagan

Carol Hagan is a pre-health and pre-grad advisor in Career Services. She has a Ph.D. in art history from Penn and did her undergraduate work at Wesleyan University.