Catalina Posted October 20, 2014 Report Share Posted October 20, 2014 i'm thinking of taking a prep course that runs from Jan to April for MCAT2015. but do the prep companies even have sufficient enough info about MCAT2015 this early in the game? or would taking this course be a waste of time at this point? Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
starryskies Posted October 20, 2014 Report Share Posted October 20, 2014 I think it depends on whether or not you have taken the subject required for writing the MCAT. I doubt they are going to have more information as the rest of the informed public tbh, they will probably only have the practice tests that the AAMC has already released for everyone else. That said, there are still sections that they will probably be very well versed in. Also, if you're that unsure, why not try talking to the companies themselves? Ask them about what resources they employ and how they are handling the change. Also if you're looking for prep courses regarding content review, then I'm not sure if a prep course is even the right way to go. You can spend your money to read prep books yourself and learn the material. The courses are really good at telling you time management skills and getting you into a regular study schedule, and build your confidence about taking the test as your working in a group setting and you are provided reassurance from other individuals. Again, I would try contacting the groups themselves (they may vary in terms of how they are approaching the new material) and think over what you really want out of the course itself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aetherus Posted October 21, 2014 Report Share Posted October 21, 2014 I think it depends on whether or not you have taken the subject required for writing the MCAT. I doubt they are going to have more information as the rest of the informed public tbh, they will probably only have the practice tests that the AAMC has already released for everyone else. That said, there are still sections that they will probably be very well versed in. Also, if you're that unsure, why not try talking to the companies themselves? Ask them about what resources they employ and how they are handling the change. Also if you're looking for prep courses regarding content review, then I'm not sure if a prep course is even the right way to go. You can spend your money to read prep books yourself and learn the material. The courses are really good at telling you time management skills and getting you into a regular study schedule, and build your confidence about taking the test as your working in a group setting and you are provided reassurance from other individuals. Again, I would try contacting the groups themselves (they may vary in terms of how they are approaching the new material) and think over what you really want out of the course itself. I agree with everything said here besides the part about the information the test preps will have. I am pretty sure they have had people write the MCAT trial section for the past year in preparation for this. personally, i would suggest buying as many books as possible and studying from all of them, then when people have written the exam, they can let you know which book ressembles the exam more and you focus on that. In my experience, test preps see a waste of time and money. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MathToMed Posted October 21, 2014 Report Share Posted October 21, 2014 I am pretty sure they have had people write the MCAT trial section for the past year in preparation for this. While it seems logical that a prep company might do this, I do want to point out that it goes against the MCAT user agreement (either the test is being written for a reason besides applying to MD/DO/Vet schools, or the privileged information is being shared with someone who is not). Do you think they could get away with it? Or at least, on a large enough scale to ascertain enough about the trial section to be practical? ---------- Remember that prep courses don't only teach you the material. They teach you how to effectively study for the MCAT itself (which is different from a traditional university course), approach the questions with a strategy, and reflect efficiently on your mistakes to learn from them. Whether you took a past prep course or the 2015 course, this should be a focal point of the learning process and would be useful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bruhh Posted October 21, 2014 Report Share Posted October 21, 2014 I have a question, probably unrelated to this thread but would rather not start new threads for no reason. From my understanding, your MCAT score is based on how well you did in comparison to others. With the new MCAT2015, will the score still be compared to people who took the old MCAT as well, or will the scoring be entirely dependent upon other people's score on the new MCAT exclusively. Note that I'm pretty clueless with regards to how MCAT is scored, so any guide as to how the new MCAT would differ in terms of scoring woud be appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MathToMed Posted October 22, 2014 Report Share Posted October 22, 2014 My best guess is that each question you will see on the 2015 MCAT has undergone extensive testing and difficulty assessments (with the exception of questions which are themselves new test questions). For many months now, everyone who's taken and scored the MCAT has had a trial section including a brief sampling of new MCAT 2015 passages. From what I understand, given the above as an assumption, you arenormalized against your peers sitting the same exam and given a score based on this normalization. Some exams are rated easier/more difficult based on the above data, and a curve is applied to everyone to compensate. I don't believe your performance on the MCAT in 2015 is in anyway comparable to my attempt in 2011, and so for that reason, I highly doubt such comparisons are made, unless they have one or two questions in common (in which case my examresults would be part ofthedata that determines the curve). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkepticalStudent Posted October 22, 2014 Report Share Posted October 22, 2014 From what I understand, given the above as an assumption, you arenormalized against your peers sitting the same exam and given a score based on this normalization. Some exams are rated easier/more difficult based on the above data, and a curve is applied to everyone to compensate. From what I heard, the scores aren't normalised and universities are being encouraged not to look at the scores but the percentiles associated with the scores. (I.e., you can score 125 in the CARS section of one test and be in the 80th percentile, but score the same in the same section on another test and be in the 70th percentile.) I'd recommend checking out the overview of the new score scales (written with adcom members in mind). I had the above told to me by a Kaplan rep and by the Kaplan head, but for now there's a bit of confusion about it still. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MathToMed Posted October 22, 2014 Report Share Posted October 22, 2014 We're saying the same thing I think: you're normalized against your peers sitting the same exam and given a score based on that, as opposed to being given a normalized score... If that makes sense at all (I've got CASPer related slowness at the moment haha) Edit: nevermind I see the discrepancy - you're saying the scores don't receive the final curve at the end of the process... You may be right about that, but if so then AAMC truly is taking a step backwards IMHO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkepticalStudent Posted October 23, 2014 Report Share Posted October 23, 2014 We're saying the same thing I think: you're normalized against your peers sitting the same exam and given a score based on that, as opposed to being given a normalized score... If that makes sense at all (I've got CASPer related slowness at the moment haha) Edit: nevermind I see the discrepancy - you're saying the scores don't receive the final curve at the end of the process... You may be right about that, but if so then AAMC truly is taking a step backwards IMHO. Who wouldn't have that after writing CASPer at some point today! And yeah, honestly I'm still not 100% sure what they're doing. I'd like to think I'm intelligent enough to understand what they're saying, but I think I'm just going to e-mail them to confirm. I'm not sure how removing the score curve (to reflect the difficulty of the test and how well you did relative to your peers) is helpful, because the percentile would still be there. It makes it meaningless to have a conversation with someone where you are exchanging scores and say "I scored 128", because on your test that could have put you right at the 50th percentile. I mean, I suppose you could switch the conversation to simply being about percentiles. Blahblahblah. I'm rambling now. If I don't get in this year, I'm actually kind of excited to write the new MCAT. I have a strong background in psychology and sociology, and I'm just finishing biochem, so I feel like I'd do better on it... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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