<p>I can’t get quite a good answer on this, as everyone has a different view on it.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>What are the advantages of the new test in 2015? By advantages, just anything that would benefit someone who is more adept with visual processing and memory (Biology-Organic Chemistry-Psych) and has a weakness in physics and math, specifically weak in calculus.</p></li>
<li><p>Since the old MCAT scores are valid for 3 years, this means from 2015-2018, it’s possible for medical schools to receive some applicants who took the new MCAT and some applicants who took the old MCAT. Given that the criteria for a “competitive” score won’t be established for the new MCAT in just 1-2 years, how will med schools compare applicants who took different MCAT exams?</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Many thanks.</p>
<p>
I don’t think that’s true. The thing will still be scaled and schools will receive reports about the test taking pool as a whole - a high percentile is all it takes to be competitive and people will know that immediately.</p>
<p>I<em>wanna</em>be_Brown</p>
<p>Yes, you are right that a high percentile indicates a competitive score, however, let’s say there is situation where in the first year the new test is out, (2015), there would be a surprisingly low number of people who have both taken the new MCAT and apply to Medical School that same year. Consequently, there are a lot of applicants who will have the old MCAT, who will far out number those who have the new MCAT.</p>
<p>In this scenario, even though you can still have percentiles for both tests, you would have a percentile in the New MCAT for a MUCH smaller group of applicants then the old MCAT which would have percentiles set over a much larger group of applicants (about 63k) people.</p>
<p>I guess to simply my question, would a score in the 90th percentile, of a standardized exam involving a group of let’s say, 3500 students, be MORE or LESS impressive than a score in the 90th percentile of a standardized exam involving a group of 62,000 students?</p>
<p>If we assume the 3500 sample isn’t significantly different (which I bet it wouldn’t be) then the scores are equivalent. This is a rollout that is years in the making, I don’t think it’s going to be as significant as you’re thinking. The SAT switch in 05 didn’t really affect much.</p>
<p>Okay, well on to my other question,</p>
<p>Would the new MCAT have less math/physics problems on it?</p>
<p>You mean fewer math/physics problems on it? (Less is used for mass nouns; fewer for count nouns. Pet peeve.)</p>
<p>I doubt it. The length of each section is not being changed. Only the number of sections. (4 for 2015 MCAT vs. 3 for the current version.) </p>
<p>The PS section will still include same number of mathy questions in physics and general chemistry.</p>
<p>Additionally, statistics will be incorporated into the biological sciences and human behavior sections on the 2015 MCAT. Do you include statistics under the heading of math?</p>
<p>Here’s the AMCAS 2015 MCAT preview guide so you can see the breakdown of topics by section:</p>
<p><a href=“https://www.aamc.org/students/download/266006/data/2015previewguide.pdf[/url]”>https://www.aamc.org/students/download/266006/data/2015previewguide.pdf</a></p>
<p>~~~~</p>
<p>So your question should probably be rephrased as : will the 2015 MCAT have relatively fewer math/physics questions on it than does the current MCAT?</p>
<p>And the answer will depend on how you define “math”.</p>
<p>Wayoutwestmom,</p>
<p>Thank you for posting this preview guide for the new test, this explains a lot.</p>
<p>What I was most confused about is that, the section called “Chemical and Physical Foundations in Biological Systems” By it’s title implies that a physical concepts that are only relevant to biological systems, which by thought would be fluid mechanics, electricity, and thermodynamics. However, I thought that, Newtonian Forces, Mechanical energy, Power, Motion, Velocity, Acceleration and these types of physics problems would be taken off the MCAT as they have nearly nothing to do with biological systems, but yet, they have found a way to keep them on the MCAT.</p>
<p>Ah…. if only my DH could hear your blasphemy! :eek: According to him, physics explains and underlies everything in the universe, even all those messy biological systems. D1 has always said that once you understand quantum mechanics, all of ochem and biochem becomes self-apparent.</p>