MCAT exam to become fully electronic in 2007

Students taking the Medical College Admissions Test (or MCAT) will soon have one less thing to worry about on test day: number two pencils. Beginning in 2007, the MCAT will only be offered as a computer-based test. The change in the test's format, among others, has students worried.

"A lot of people that I've talked to think that it will be hard to take notes on the verbal and writing sections. I don't know how that will be dealt with," said junior premed Victor Crentsil.

Junior public health major Melissa Burnside, who will be taking the MCAT after the changes are put in place, agreed and asked, "Will there be scrap paper? I hope there will be."

The Association of American Medical Colleges, which administers the MCAT, hopes that switching to a computer-based format will actually, in the long run, make the grueling process of applying to medical schools a little easier.

While test-takers can currently choose between only two test dates each year, one in April and one in August, beginning in 2007 there will be 20 possible days to take the test each year. They will be spread out in four five-day clusters.

Burnside said this is not necessarily a good thing. "If you offer it more, students might be encouraged to take it more, and that's definitely not a good thing for admissions."

In addition, the new, computer-based MCAT will last five hours, as opposed to the eight hours that test-takers currently have to sit at a cramped desk.

"That's a great thing for students in terms of how long it takes to sit through it," said Amjed Mustafa, the MCAT Program Coordinator for Kaplan Test Preparation. Crentsil agreed, saying that the length "has always been a huge thing that people don't like."

If the shortened test does not ease students' worries about the new format, maybe the streamlining of the score reporting process will. While test-takers currently have to wait 60 days to find out how well they did, the new test will allow graders to calculate the scores in only a month.

Despite these benefits, students who are used to taking hand-written exams for their whole lives are not excited about the changes. Kaplan recently surveyed over 3,800 undergraduates planning to apply to medical school to find out what they thought of the changes. Over 80 percent of those surveyed felt that they would not do as well on a computer-based test.

"When we actually asked the students to find out why they felt that way, there were a few issues," explained Mustafa.

Students seemed most concerned that the computer they were working on would freeze or otherwise malfunction. In addition, the fact that you will not be able to underline passages, draw on charts, or work out problems in the margins flustered many prospective test-takers.

However, other tests including the Graduate Record Exam and the Dental Admissions Test are already administered as computer-based tests and no major problems have arisen. Prometric, which has signed a $30 million dollar contract with the AAMC to convert the MCAT to a computer-based test, is the same company that administers the GRE and DAT.

Kaplan MCAT expert Albert Chen noted that he has, in fact, been expecting the MCAT to become fully computerized for the past ten years. "It wasn't a surprise," he said, "and we are expecting the LSAT to go in the same direction in five years tops."

Mustafa does not deny that students will have to study differently for the computer-based MCAT. "As students look towards preparing for the exam, a big part of it is going to be getting through the content early so that they can learn the skills specific to the computer based test."

Kaplan is catering to this need by loading the 11 practice MCATs that it offers onto a computer-based interface so that students can practice taking tests in the new format.

This past Sunday, Chen offered a sparsely attended "MCAT is Changing" seminar at the Hopkins Inn for Baltimore area students who want to know exactly how the changes will affect them. For some students, it mostly means deciding which version of the test they are going to take.

Kaplan recommended that students who have already started studying for the paper-based test go ahead and sign up for one of the two remaining paper-based test dates, next April and next August.

Crentsil, for example, who attended the seminar, said he wanted to find out about the changes but was planning to take the MCAT before it becomes computerized. Sophomores who have not completed their pre-med requirements, however, should not rush their studying simply to avoid the changes.

Despite Chen's comment that "on a scale of 1 to 10, these changes are a 9-plus," students who attended the seminar on Sunday came away a little bit less anxious about taking the new version of the test. However, for the 60,000 students who take the MCAT across the country every year, the stress associated with the test is not bound to change any time soon, whether number two pencils are needed or not.

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Amjed Mustafa, the MCAT Program Coordinator for Kaplan Test Preparation. Crentsil agreed, saying that the length "has always been a huge thing that people don't like."

If the shortened test does not ease students' worries about the new format, maybe the streamlining of the score reporting process will.

While test-takers currently have to wait 60 days to find out their scores, the new test will allow graders to calculate the scores in only a month.

Despite these benefits, students are not excited about the changes.

Kaplan recently surveyed over 3,800 undergraduates planning to apply to medical school to find out what they thought of the changes. Over 80 percent of those surveyed felt that they would not do as well on a computer-based test.

"When we actually asked the students to find out why they felt that way, there were a few issues," explained Mustafa.

Students seemed most concerned that the computer they were working on would freeze or otherwise malfunction. In addition, the fact that you will not be able to underline passages, draw on charts, or work out problems in the margins flustered many prospective test-takers.

At Hopkins, however, where using technology is second nature to most students, these concerns are not as widespread. Sophomore premed Svetlana Primma said, "I don't think it will make much of a difference," she said.

However, other tests, including the Graduate Record Exam and the Dental Admissions Test, are already administered as computer-based tests and no major problems have arisen. Prometric, which has signed a $30 million dollar contract with the AAMC to convert the MCAT to a computer-based test.

Mustafa does not deny that students will have to study differently for the computer-based MCAT. "As students look towards preparing for the exam, a big part of it is going to be getting through the content early so that they can learn the skills specific to the computer-based test."

Kaplan is catering to this need by loading the 11 practice MCATs that it offers onto a computer-based interface so that students can practice taking the tests.

This past Sunday, Chen offered a sparsely attended "MCAT is Changing" seminar at the Hopkins Inn for Baltimore area students who want to know exactly how the changes will affect them. Kaplan recommended that students who have already started studying for the paper-based test go ahead and sign up for one of the two remaining paper-based test dates, next April and next August.

Crentsil, for example, who attended the seminar, said he wanted to find out about the changes but was planning to take the MCAT before it becomes computerized. Sophomores who have not completed their premed requirements, however, should not rush their studying simply to avoid the changes.

Despite Chen's comment that "on a scale of one to ten, these changes are a nine-plus," students who attended the seminar on Sunday came away less anxious about taking the new version of the test. However, for the 60,000 students who take the MCAT across the country every year, the stress associated with the test is not bound to change any time soon, whether number two pencils are needed or not.