MCAT 2015 released with no time to spare

With a new test format coming in January, students have little time to prepare for the MCAT. But with only one practice test available, students won’t have enough study material for the exam. Continue reading →

Oct 04, 2014 /prREACH/ -- Aspiring doctors have an additional mountain to climb. With less than 100 days before a new admissions test replaces the old, the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) has just released the first practice Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) based on the new format, called MCAT 2015.

In a surprising decision, the sample 2015 MCAT costs $25, and is not available for free. Previously, the AAMC made a practice MCAT available to aspiring doctors at no charge.

“The simple fact is that students need practice tests,” said Don Osborne, president of INQUARTA, an MCAT prep and medical school admissions consulting company. “The most successful way to improve your score on the MCAT is by taking a minimum of 10 practice tests, and ideally many more. At the present, students simply do not have enough material available to them -- at any price,” he said.

A new website, freeMCAT2015.com, promises a solution. According to the site, “FreeMCAT2015.com will be the clearing house for all available practice tests using the new format. Whenever an MCAT in the new format is released, we will send an update and make that information available to any student, premed or aspiring doctor who wants it.” Interested students can subscribe to the service at FreeMCAT2015.com.

The sweeping changes to the MCAT -- the first time the test has been redesigned in over 20 years -- reflects medical schools’ desire for a more well-rounded, humanistic applicant.

According to AAMC's Frequently Asked Questions, the change ... "further enriches the exam by giving attention to concepts that tomorrow's doctors will need ... .The addition of the social and behavioral sciences section recognizes the importance of socio-cultural and behavioral determinants of health and health outcomes; and the Critical Analysis and Reasoning Skills (CARs) section reflects the value that medical schools place on analysis, evaluation, and reasoning skills and on broad preparation for medical school."