What is the MCAT?

This definitive Gold Standard guide to the MCAT will clearly explain what the MCAT is, what subjects are included in the MCAT, what a good MCAT score is, what you will be tested on and – most importantly – what you need to pass the MCAT.

Our MCAT experts will point you in the direction of lots of free resources, as well as detailed two and three-month study guides. Let’s get started!

• The MCAT, or Medical College Admission Test, is a standardized, multiple-choice exam administered by the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC).
• The exam is a prerequisite for admission to nearly all medical schools in the US and Canada.
• Annually, over 80,000 applicants to American and Canadian medical schools submit their MCAT scores (What is a good MCAT score?).
• The exam has evolved over the years and, since 2015, has become primarily a reasoning-based exam – although a wide breadth of basic knowledge is required to answer the questions accurately.
• The MCAT will evaluate your knowledge of natural, behavioral and social science concepts and principles, as well as problem solving and critical thinking skills that are required in medical school.

Comparison by total number of MCAT questions

2015 MCAT

Total number of questions: 144
Total time (not including breaks): 3h 20m

Current MCAT

Total number of questions: 230
Total time (not including breaks): 6h 15m

A good MCAT score is 127 out of 132 in any one section, or 508 out of 528 for all four sections. The MCAT is scored on a scale, with a lowpoint of 118 and highpoint of 132 available for each of the four sections. The midpoint is 125.

Your four MCAT scaled scores are combined to create a total score ranging from a lowest possible 472 to a highest possible 528, with a midpoint of 500. Different medical schools have different pass rates.

Medical school admission committees only use scaled scores to evaluate the MCAT component of the admissions process (not percentage, not percentile). Sounds complicated? We’ve put together a comprehensive guide to help you understand how pass rates are calculated.

You can take the MCAT if:

• you are planning to apply to a health profession's school such as allopathic, osteopathic, podiatric and/or veterinary medicine. This also applies to international students.
• you are applying to any health-related program that will accept MCAT exam results.
• you are enrolled in an MBBS degree program or if you have such a degree (Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery).

During MCAT registration, you will be asked to verify your intention to apply to medical school or to a health profession’s school. There are no academic prerequisites to take the MCAT. Students with science and non-science backgrounds are eligible to take the exam and have the same opportunity to enter medical school.

However, there are recommended undergraduate courses that would help to optimize exam performance. It is important to recognize that recommended courses do not restrict the freedom in pursuing a wide variety of possible undergraduate academic programs (What college classes do you need to prepare for the MCAT exam?)

• Prospective students usually arrange to take their MCAT a year before their intended matriculation into medical school.
• If you are eyeing medical school in 2020, then you can take the MCAT in 2019 or before.
• Ideally, you should start your MCAT prep at least six months prior to your test date (2018 MCAT Test Dates).
• Since there are no academic prerequisites for the MCAT, you can take the MCAT as early as your freshman, sophomore or junior year of undergraduate studies.

The best time to take the MCAT is when you are ready (read more on our blog: How to Determine When to Take the MCAT).

This pie chart is from a Johns Hopkins University MCAT Survey of students who sat the MCAT in 2015, and who scored at the 90th percentile or higher.

The fact that 2/3rds took the exam in August and September suggests that having most or all of the summer available for MCAT preparation may be one factor in gaining a high MCAT score.

You can take the exam up to three times in a single testing year, up to four times in a two consecutive-year period, and up to seven times in a lifetime. Obviously, you want to minimize the number of times you need to take such a rigorous exam, and that is clearly the value of good MCAT prep. Furthermore, medical schools will not review your application until they receive all your scores from the AAMC.

Some schools consider only your most recent score, whereas others will accept your highest score for each section. In other cases, medical schools may rely solely on percentile rank when comparing your multiple scores. Just keep in mind that medical schools will see all your MCAT attempts during their review of your application. For guidance on planning all your premed activities including taking the MCAT, click here: AAMC’s Medical School Application Timeline

The current MCAT is 7 hours and 30 minutes long, including breaks. Here’s a detailed breakdown of the four MCAT sections, the subjects included, the time allocated to each section, as well as the breaks between them.

Before the exam: sign-in, present valid ID, have your fingerprints digitally collected, and have your test day photo taken.

Total content time: 6 hours 15 minutes
Total ‘seated’ time: 7 hours 33 minutes

The MCAT started as a paper-based standardized test. In 2007, it became a computer-based test. To keep pace with the changes in medicine and science, the AAMC changed the exam again in April 2015. The current MCAT tests not only what examinees know, but also how they can use their knowledge to reason.

Read our section-by-section comparison between the old and new MCAT exams

Section-by-section MCAT exam breakdown

Keep in mind that in real life, the boundary between sciences is artificial. A molecule does not know if it is a matter of physics, chemistry or biology. You were trained to put that molecule into a box depending on the course code. The current MCAT blurs the boundary. After all, the molecule is physics, is chemistry, can be biology, and may have psychological or sociological implications.

The current MCAT sections cut across scientific disciplines (physics, organic chemistry, inorganic chemistry, biochemistry and biology) that interact in living or biological systems. The Psychological, Social and Biological Foundations of Behavior section seeks to test your grasp of the interplay between psychology, sociology and biology with the context being basic research methods. The latter is also consistent with DSM-5 (the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th Edition).

I’d say they are 'foundations' and 'systems'. Just as it takes different elements to create a foundation and it takes all sorts of concepts to comprise a system, so the new MCAT will test your knowledge of how each scientific discipline interacts, interplays and influences other scientific disciplines.

The current MCAT is hard, yes. Its purpose is to ensure that the students who get accepted to medical school not only have a good foundation of scientific facts and relevant formulae, but also the mental agility to look holistically at the sciences (take in the big picture), and yet be comfortable at critically analyzing scientific data with depth of perception (focus on the necessary details).

Not only that, the test also seeks to probe what you know about how your thoughts, feelings and functioning impact your actions and behavior (psychology and social sciences section). Sounds complicated, doesn't it?

Well, it is complicated. The science of life and the science of medicine are complicated. Medical technology and medical knowledge are exponentially expanding, and this further complicates what you already know about the science of life. The doctors of tomorrow need to have the mental agility to cope with fast-changing developments in science and technology and yet learn to deal with patients as people and not as mere medical conditions – that is what good doctors are supposed to do. And that is how good medical schools propose to train their students to become the doctors of the future.

To help you prepare for the exam, Gold Standard MCAT has laid out comprehensive information on MCAT scores, topics covered, MCAT test dates, preparation advice and free MCAT sample questions.

• What is the MCAT? - Gold Standard (GS) MCAT Prep Guide: MCAT Description
• MCAT Topics List - complete outline of MCAT topics as described by the AAMC
• MCAT Preparation Advice - preparation advice and materials to help you get a high MCAT score
• MCAT Test Dates - 2018 MCAT test dates and score release dates
• MCAT Scores - How the MCAT is scored and medical school admissions
• MCAT Practice Test Advice - Learn the right practice test-taking attitude
• Free MCAT Sample Questions - Have a taste of the degree of reasoning required for the new exam