MCAT goes Computerized

by Drew Lep, news editor

Computers will replace the old “fill-in-the-bubble” tests when the MCAT becomes modernized beginning in 2007.

The recent decision was made by the Association of American Medical Colleges in an effort to improve the test required for admission into most medical schools.

“Our goal is to enhance the testing experience for examinees and the usefulness of the results for the medical schools and other professionals schools that use the MCAT,” said Ellen Julian, associate vice president for the AAMC and director of the MCAT.

Sharon Babcock, coordinator of Pre-Medical Advising, said the MCAT is a standardized test used as part of the primary application for admissions to allopathic and osteopathic medical schools.   Students can also take the MCAT if they wish to apply to physician assistant programs or veterinary medicine programs.

The intended purpose of the change to computerized tests is to provide students with a greater number of test dates and to decrease time necessary to generate test scores. Currently the MCAT is offered twice a year, once in April and once in August. After completing the MCAT, students must wait six to eight weeks after completing the test to receive their results. The application cycle for applying to medical schools starts in June, so this puts those who take the test in August at a disadvantage.

“As a result of these changes, students will have greater flexibility in terms of selecting a test date that better suits their academic calendar,” Babcock said.

Also, the exam will no longer be an eight hour-long endeavor. While the content in the exam will be the same, the number of questions will be cut dramatically, thus reducing the time allotted to complete the exam from eight to five hours.

A recent Kaplan survey of 3,858 students, found 82 percent of students feel they will perform worse on the computer-based test than on the “fill-in-the-bubble” version.

This worry may be unfounded; Babcock said MCAT representatives are currently conducting pilot tests to compare outcomes of the new computer-based exams with those of the paper-based exams. “Preliminary analyses appear very promising that this change will be a good one,” she said.

Since 2000, 408 JMU students have taken the older version of the MCAT. Junior biology major Mike Barkema will be added to this number when he takes the MCAT in 2006, the last year they will have the old format.

On finding out he will be part of the last group of students to ever take the written version of the exam, he said, “That makes me happy. I think I would rather take a written one. It’s nice that it’s shorter, but sometimes it helps just writing everything out and not having to sit in front of a computer.”