MCAT looms for aspiring doctors
By Amanda Semaan
April 20, 2006 9:00 p.m.
With only one day left to prepare, UCLA students are cramming
for Saturday’s Medical College Admission Test in hopes of
gaining acceptance to a medical school.
The MCAT is a six-hour standardized examination which tests
verbal reasoning and knowledge of physical and biological
sciences.
Many students taking the exam Saturday have been preparing for
it exhaustively over the past several months.
Veronica Li, a fourth-year psychobiology student, who already
took the exam last August, will be taking it for the second
time.
She said she began reviewing during the second week of winter
quarter, but due to the workload of her classes, she
“didn’t really kick it into gear until about
final’s week of winter quarter.”
“Just last week I (studied) about 25 hours, but
that’s including taking (practice) tests,” Li said.
She said taking practice tests is an important way to learn from
one’s mistakes.
“(It) lets you see where your weaknesses are,” she
said. “I can go back and review the questions I
missed.”
The exam is offered only twice a year, in April and August.
According to the MCAT Student Manual, “medical school
admission officers usually suggest that you take the test in the
calendar year prior to the year in which you plan to enter medical
school.”
The manual also recommends students test in April in order to
receive scores in time for summer or fall completion of medical
school applications, they may also take the MCAT in August of the
year they apply.
Brian Hsieh, a fourth-year biochemistry student who began a
weekend review course in October, said that he is studying three to
four hours per day, but added that other students’ studies
are much more intense.
“I know people that stay in the library 10 to 12 hours
every day and people who didn’t take any classes last quarter
just to study for this,” he said.
Describing his own study habits as intense, Leo Thai, a
fourth-year physiological science student, enrolled in a review
course six months ago to prep for the exam.
“For the first three months, I studied about four hours
per week; the last two months, about five to six hours per week;
and these last few weeks, a good 15 to 20 hours per week,” he
said.
“I think the core of learning is just doing problem after
problem. It’s how much effort you put into (studying) on your
own that really makes a difference.”
According to the Association of American Medical Colleges, the
nationwide mean score is in the middle-to-high 20’s, out of a
possible 45.
“For myself, to actually feel competitive, I would aim for
a 30 or above,” Thai said. “(Getting a score) above 40
is very rare, so 28 may seem really low, but it’s actually
not.”
Hsieh said getting a score below 30 calls for a retake.
“The minimum score you want is 30 because that’s the
average for people who are accepted (to medical schools),”
Hsieh said.
“So if you get below 30, you’re going to want to
take it again unless you have a really strong application aside
from the MCAT.”
Li said when she first heard the nationwide average, she was
unaware of how rigorous the exam was.
“When I took the test, I realized how difficult it
actually was,” Li said. “I think a (score of) 28 is
good, but I know for a lot of people, it’s not good
enough.”
