Why is the Test Changing?
Modern medicine is changing every day, and tomorrow's doctors need to be prepared. The advisory committee of the American Association of Medical Colleges has consulted with students who have taken the MCAT and entered medical schools to find what has worked on the exam and what hasn't. The exam will now test a student's ability to learn and reason out answers, and will prepare students for the rigorous class requirements of medical school.
What are the Changes?
There are four major changes for the exam:
- The natural sciences section of the 2015 MCAT exam will reflect changes in medical education. Concepts of biology, general and organic chemistry, biochemistry and physics will be tested in accordance with the topics that students will study in their first years in medical schools. The natural science courses offered at UC Merced cover these topics in depth and will adequately prepare students for the exam.
- The 2015 MCAT will include a brand new section called "Psychological, Social and Biological Foundations of Behavior." This section will test introductory concepts from psychology and sociology, and will apply these to biological systems. This addition ties in the importance of socio-culture and behavioral determinants of health and health outcomes in medicine.
- The "Critical Analysis and Reasoning Skills" section will ask students to analyze, evaluate and apply information provided by passages from a wide range of social sciences and humanities disciplines. This section will not require specific knowledge of these disciplines, however it will test a student's ability to interpret and analyze information needed for medical school.
- Because of the addition of a new section to the exam, the test will now feature new scoring system and will also be longer.
Please refer to the table below for a breakdown of the points and time per section:
| Section | Number of Questions | Number of Minutes for Section |
| Biological and Biochemical Foundations of Living Systems | 59 | 95 |
| Chemical and Physical Foundations of Biological Systems | 59 | 95 |
| Psychological, Social and Biological Foundations of Behavior | 59 | 95 |
| Critical Analysis and Reasoning Skills
|
53 | 90 |
| Total | 230 | 375 (6.25 hours) |
Each section is scored from a low of 118 to a high of 132. The total score is the sum of the four individual section scores and will range from 472 to 528.
