Writing the MCAT in the US

[newton13]

i have heard some rumours that I was wondering if anyone can validate.

 

Is it true that it is easier to achieve a better score by writing the MCAT in the US? i heard that because the MCAT is scored on a curve, raw scores in the US tend to be more forgiving when translated into the score out of 15. I think the logic behind this is that there are more people writing the exam, and more diverse and spread out normal curve.

 

Is this true...or has anyone ventured to try this?

[Jochi1543]

Sorry, but it sounds ridiculous to me...wouldn't put too much stock in this.

[w8kg6]

Yeah, this is ridiculous. Even from a statistical standpoint, there is no reason to expect a different mark distribution between Canada and the States. Sure, there will be more ppl writing in the states, but it will have the same trend centered around (roughly) the same mean. I wrote it in the states twice, and I didn't see anything in my results that insinuate that it's any easier to do better there.

[rmorelan]

i have heard some rumours that I was wondering if anyone can validate.

 

Is it true that it is easier to achieve a better score by writing the MCAT in the US? i heard that because the MCAT is scored on a curve, raw scores in the US tend to be more forgiving when translated into the score out of 15. I think the logic behind this is that there are more people writing the exam, and more diverse and spread out normal curve.

 

Is this true...or has anyone ventured to try this?

 

it's simply not true. There is no sneaky tricks like this to the test - really it is the most fair, consistent test you will likely ever write.

[thatonekid]

No. Because the MCAT is scaled on proportions.

 

So, for example, it's not the top 5 people get a 15. It's the top 5% get a 15. Therefore the number of people who write the exam is less important than how well you do.

[newton13]

i agree. and i can see how the number of writers wouldn't change the score. but what about the demographics of the US vs. Canada. I was also told that writing in the US was easier because there are more people who are less prepared, and write the MCAT to just to see how they will do..bringing down the curve.

[thatonekid]

i agree. and i can see how the number of writers wouldn't change the score. but what about the demographics of the US vs. Canada. I was also told that writing in the US was easier because there are more people who are less prepared, and write the MCAT to just to see how they will do..bringing down the curve.

I don't know about that. You have to consider that the MCAT is treated different in the US and Canada. In Canada, it is (mostly) used as a cutoff and the most recent/best score is used, regardless of how many times you take the MCAT. In the US, however, they use the MCAT as part of the applicant evaluation. Some schools consider how many times you wrote the MCAT. Even still, some schools use the average of all your MCAT scores. If you did poorly on one MCAT, this would bring down your average. If I was a US applicant, I wouldn't want to write the MCAT more than 1 or 2 times. Therefore, I don't think people write the MCAT to "see how they will do".

[AdamP]

pretty sure you're marked against everyone who wrote the same day as you.

 

So canadian, american, and italian writers will all be grouped in to one pool and fit to a curve.

 

I don't think it matters so much where you sit as opposed to when you sit.

 

I do have a suspicion that the cohort of people writing late august are more prepared on average than those writing in January.

[rmorelan]

pretty sure you're marked against everyone who wrote the same day as you.

 

So canadian, american, and italian writers will all be grouped in to one pool and fit to a curve.

 

I don't think it matters so much where you sit as opposed to when you sit.

 

I do have a suspicion that the cohort of people writing late august are more prepared on average than those writing in January.

 

That just means in any case you shouldn't write it until you are well prepared