As you may know, the Kaplan MCAT Team takes great care to gather feedback from our students about their experiences so that we can continue to develop programs that better suit their needs. One of the methods we use to gather this feedback is our Test Day Survey, a brief online questionnaire that we invite students to complete once they’ve finished their official exam. (I should note that, in accordance with AAMC policy, we do NOT ask students to share details from the exam, but rather ask them to tell us about their experiences in broad strokes).
Now that the big Spring testing cycle is behind us, I thought it would be useful to share some of the observations that students are reporting for the 2013 administrations of the MCAT. Hopefully this information will help you and your students feel more prepared for the remaining 18 administrations of the test over the next 4 months.
-Of the students responding to the survey, 46% reported that the Physical Sciences section was the most difficult section on the exam. For comparison, 29% reported that Verbal Reasoning was most difficult, and only 24% chose Biological Sciences.
-Test day anxiety appears to be an issue for many students, with just over half (51%) of respondents reporting that they felt their performance was “very much” or “somewhat” negatively impacted by anxiety.
-The new optional Trial Section offered students the chance to provide data to the AAMC on question types and subject matter for the coming MCAT 2015 exam, in exchange for feedback on their performance and a $30 Amazon gift card. While there has been skepticism that students would be interested in spending an additional 45 minutes answering questions that didn’t impact their scores, 75% of respondents reported that they completed the Trial Section, with just under half (45%) reporting that the section contained material they did not expect.
-On the subject of MCAT 2015, we also asked students about the courses they have taken or plan to take prior to medical school – including the newly added subjects of Biochemistry, Psychology, and Sociology. While students taking the current version of the MCAT aren’t required to be familiar with these subjects before the exam, it’s interesting to note that 40% of students planned to take biochemistry in their senior year or later, with a further 16% reporting that they had no plans to take biochemistry. 25% reported that they had no plans to take a psychology course (although 43% took it in their freshman year), and a whopping 54% stated that they were not planning for any sociology coursework.
