MCAT moves to digital format
By Josh Blitstein
Oct. 10, 2005 9:00 p.m.
As if pre-meds did not already have enough to worry about,
recent changes to the MCAT have some pre-med students worried about
more than just mastering its content.
The Association of American Medical Colleges announced recently
in a press release that it will convert the MCAT to a
computer-based format within the next two years, a move that will
force both students and test-prep companies to sharpen their
strategies for tackling the test, rather than their pencils.
The paper format of the test will be administered through 2006,
though trial versions of the computer-based test will be given at
the August 2006 testing date.
Amjed Mustafa, MCAT program manager for Kaplan Test Prep and
Admissions, said the AAMC is trying to incorporate new technology
into their testing and allow students more choice of exam
dates.
Computer exams will allow students to get their scores much
faster, with a 30-day turnaround instead of the current 60 days.
Mustafa said lots of anxiety usually lingers with test-takers after
the exam, and the AAMC is looking to also do away with some of
that.
In addition, the test day will be shortened to five hours
instead of eight, as the exam will include fewer questions.
Check-in to the exams should be extremely quick because of new
technology that can capture an examinee’s thumbprint
electronically, as opposed to the current paper and ink method.
The new MCAT will also have more testing dates available year
round. Currently, there are only two exam dates per year, and
future plans include four five-day “windows” of exams
each year, with a test each day.
Even with these administrative improvements, the transition to
computer-based testing is worrisome for many future test-takers.
Computer-based tests alter the exam, and students must prepare
accordingly.
As the test is given now, test-takers can write in the exam
booklet and problems can be worked out as they are read and
visualized at the same time. The computer-based test will still
include scratch paper, but constant jumping from digital exam to
scratch work could get tiresome.
“With the computer-based test you can’t underline
passages and put notes next to text, so it’s hard to map out
the progression of a passage. You can’t keep track of it when
you have to keep switching from a computer to your notes,”
said Patrick Wiita, a fourth-year microbiology, immunology and
molecular genetics student who has taken the MCAT.
There’s also concern about computer glitches, Wiita
said.
“Who knows what errors could occur in programming.
It’s the same reason they haven’t switched to online
voting. If there’s an error, there’s no paper
trail,” Wiita said.
Even though the MCAT is considered a hurdle only for pre-med
students, the new MCAT will also pose challenges to members of the
standardized testing industry.
Mustafa said new testing formats create a lot of work for
test-prep companies, especially research into how students feel
about the test.
“We did a survey on 4,000 (students) to see how
they’re feeling, what they think. Eighty-two percent said
they would do worse on a computer-based test,” Mustafa
said.
Instead of balking at feedback like this, test-prep centers are
conforming to the needs of their student populations by offering
computer-based test preparation and practice exams for
computer-based tests.
As the final transition between paper MCATs and computer-based
tests nears, students are rushing to get into test-prep classes in
order to take the paper exam. This is not because the computer test
is particularly hard, but because they do not want to get caught in
the changeover and to have to take a computer-based test they
studied for on paper.
Mustafa said the change to computer-based MCATs can mostly be
attributed to the wave of technology that has been sweeping society
in recent years and the new testing mediums these technologies
provide.
Whether students are rushing to taking the paper-based MCAT
before it becomes obsolete, or plan to take the MCAT on a computer,
Mustafa advises all test-takers to finish their pre-med
requirements before taking the exam.
“Take it once and do it right,” he said.
