The Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) is designed to help admission
committees predict which of their applicants will be successful
in medical school and to encourage students interested in medicine
to pursue broad undergraduate study in the natural and social sciences
and in the humanities. The MCAT assesses mastery of basic biology,
chemistry, and physics concepts; facility with scientific problem
solving and critical thinking; and writing skills. Four separate
scores are reported. Verbal Reasoning, Physical Sciences, and Biological
Sciences are composed of multiple-choice items; scores are reported
on a scal ranging from 1 (lowest) to 15 (highest) . The Writing
Sample includes two 30-minute essays; the score is reported on a
scale of J (lowest) to T (highest).
Verbal Reasoning draws upon materials from the humanities, social
sciences, and natural sciences to assess studens' abilities to comprehend,
reason, and think critically. The verbal Reasoning Section does
not test subject-matter knowledge. The two science sections--Biological
Sciences, which assesses biology and biologicall ralated chemistry
concepts and Physical Sciences, which assesses physics and physically
related chemistry topic--consist introductory-level science concepts
through their application to the solution of science problems. Essay
questions on the Writing Topics are designed to assess skill in
the development of a central idea, synthesis of concepts and ideas,
cohesive and logical presentation of ideas, and clear writing.
