MCAT to become 7-hour exam

Health care as a whole is changing — and along with that comes a new MCAT.

The exam's administrator, the Association of American Medical Colleges, released 14 preliminary recommendations for a new version that would preserve what is best in the exam, eliminate what is not and emphasize the concept's future physicians will need.

If approved by the AAMC in February 2012, the changes would be introduced in the 2015 MCAT, 25 years after the last series of major revisions to the test.

Karen Mitchell, senior director of the MCAT for AAMC, said the goal of the whole review was to make sure the exam tests the most important things in the most capable ways.

"The changes suggest that it is not enough just to know science, but doctors now need to know how to use science and use evidence to make decisions," Mitchell said.

The 14 preliminary recommendations are the product of an extensive, three-year period during which an advisory panel held outreach events, and reviewed informational and opinion surveys from undergraduate and medical school faculty, administrators, residents and medical students.

According to the AAMC, the proposed changes aim to balance the focus of the natural sciences with the behavioral and social sciences.

"It communicates that medical schools are interested in scientific issues as well as the human aspect of medicine," Mitchell said.

The proposed MCAT would feature four sections: molecular, cellular, and organismal properties of living systems; physical, chemical, and biochemical properties of living systems; behavioral and social sciences principles; and critical analysis and reasoning skills.

The first two sections are largely adapted from the current MCAT, although some of the science would be updated. The current verbal section would be turned into the critical analysis section, and the behavioral and social sciences section will take the place of a general writing section.

Although the writing section would be eliminated, the changes would increase the five-and-a-half-hour exam by 90 minutes.

Chris Hanley, a junior pre-med student and vice president of the UCF American Medical Student Association, said a new MCAT would show who would be a better, well-rounded physician in the future.

"Doctors now have to be culturally competent and take into consideration the diverse population when evaluating a patient," Hanley said.

With the addition of new material on the test, Hanley says you don't need a class to teach these principles.

"The best way to learn is to step out of the classroom and read newspapers, volunteer or learn about social justice issues," Hanley said. "Being more involved in the health care system will further enhance the quality of care for patients."

Jeff Koetje, director of academics of pre-health programs for Kaplan Test Prep, says he is hopeful that a new MCAT is going to provide a richer picture of the student.

"The proposal is not just an evaluation of competencies in basic science, but competencies in communication and people skills," Koetje said. "This is the future state of medicine."

According to Kaplan, the new behavioral and social sciences section would likely test concepts mostly taught in undergraduate psychology and sociology courses.

The addition of advanced sciences would add knowledge of cellular and molecular biology, biochemistry, research methods and statistics, on top of the current topics in chemistry and physics.

With these changes, students may have to add these courses to their schedules prior to taking the MCAT, therefore adding more prerequisite coursework for pre-med students.

However, Mitchell says that many undergraduate institutions have psychology and sociology as core requirements, in which about 75 percent and 65 percent of students already take the class, respectively.

According to Mitchell, more than one hundred medical schools either require or recommend pre-med students take biochemistry and about 75 percent of students already take the class. As far as cellular and molecular biology, that subject is mostly taught in first year biology.

Koetje says there are concerns not so much about the courses themselves, but the timeline in which the classes are taken.

There is discussion among pre-med advisors whether these changes will result in students taking the MCAT later or whether students will need to take a gap year to complete all the coursework.

Zophia Martinez, a junior pre-med student and president of the UCF Pre-professional Medical Society, says the new content puts students at a disadvantage and is ineffective at evaluating a student's ability for medical school.

"The format of the test doesn't even matter because the MCAT isn't measuring how to be a better doctor, but rather your ability to handle a difficult test environment," Martinez said.

Overall, Martinez believes that this puts incoming pre-med students at a ‘guinea pig disadvantage.'

"Students now can learn about the test because it has been the same for 25 years," Martinez said. "Incoming students are the experimental group because no one can tell you how it was or what to expect."