Guest Kimmy Posted February 27, 2001 Report Share Posted February 27, 2001 I'm getting a little confused over the MCAT score. I'm planning to take the exam in summer (without a prep course) so I have no one to explain the marking to me. I've checked webpages galore, but everyone seems to be talking in two different sets of lingo. Some pages talk about an MCAT score of 30, and others talk about scores of 8 and 9 with an alphabetical component. What is the max numerical score of each section? And what is the max written alphabetical score (I assume they're ranked A-Z??)?? Also, some pages act as though the marks are put on a bell curve and distributed, while others say they aren't. What's the truth? Thanks, Kimmy UG2, Canada Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Dan UG4 Posted February 27, 2001 Report Share Posted February 27, 2001 Hey Kimmy, The MCAT is broken up into 4 parts, 3 of which are assigned number grades between 1 and 15 and 1 of which is scored alphabetically. The Verbal Reasoning is the first section of the MCAT. Your score can be between 1 to 15. (However I believe scores above 13 are grouped together, i.e., if you scored 14 it would be reported as 13-15). Next comes physical science, scored from 1 to 15. Then there's the writing sample: you are given 30 minutes each (total 60 minutes) to write 2 essays. Each essay is scored by two markers. The four marks are summed, and you receive an letter essay score. The letters range from J (worst) to T (best). The last part is biological science, scored from 1 to 15. I've heard that the MCAT is curved so that the average grade in the VR, PS and BS sections is 8. Probably your confusion about how the MCAT is graded is that sometimes people sum their VR, PS and BS scores to give a general idea of how well they did. Most people seem to agree that an MCAT sum of 30 or over (so 10 or so on each test) and Q or above on the essay is really good. As I recall from last year, the MCAT sign-up forms will be released soon (or already have been) at http://www.aamc.org Dan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Jenny Posted June 9, 2001 Report Share Posted June 9, 2001 If there are three sections with a maximum score of 15, is the highest possible numerical value that you could obtain a 45? I always thought the MCAT was scored out of a 40? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Jeff Posted June 9, 2001 Report Share Posted June 9, 2001 The highest possible score on the MCAT (doubt it's ever been done, though) is technically 43-45 T, which would be a 13-15 in verbal, 15 in physical sciences, 15 in biological sciences, and a T in writing. As for the "curve", you're graded on a curve not only against the people that are taking the same form on the same day as you, but all the people who have ever done it before (so I guess that means there is some question repitition in different administrations of the MCAT). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Ian Wong Posted June 9, 2001 Report Share Posted June 9, 2001 Like Jeff said, an MCAT score into the 40's is extremely rare. I think once you get into the 40's, you're probably into at least the top 1% of MCAT test-takers. Since at that level, you are essentially scoring 13's and higher in each section, each of which individually is a percentile rank in the 90's for that section, and it's extremely rare for one individual to do equally well in the Verbal, Biological, and Physical Sciences sections, I think it's safe to say that scores of 40+ are extremely unusual. That might be why you've never heard of them. As far as I know, the MCAT scales you to the pool of test-takers in your cohort, which I'd assumed was the version of the test that you've written, at the exam date that you wrote it. Thinking back on it now, I don't know where I came up with that, but I definitely heard it from multiple sources back when I was writing the MCAT. Hmm, well, that's short term memory for you! Ian UBC, Med 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Jeff Posted June 9, 2001 Report Share Posted June 9, 2001 I've read somewhere in my Princeton Review materials (from what I remember) that the curve isn't only for the pool of people taking the same test form on the same day, but instead that it's "preset" to some extent. So I'm reasonably sure that's true... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest YongQ Posted June 15, 2001 Report Share Posted June 15, 2001 Each section of the MCAT is scaled to the exact question set you're given. For example some people in the same writing period get form "C" and some get form "D," with different questions. I picked up this fact awhile ago on the Princeton Review board. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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