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Last Updated: October 19, 2023

Medical College Admission Test - MCAT

The MCAT or the Medical College Admission Test is a multiple-choice, standardized examination, which has been designed for assessing the examinee's critical thinking, problem-solving, and knowledge about concepts of science and related principles and writing skills, which are all a prerequisite for medicine study. Scores in this test are reported for Verbal Reasoning, Physical Science, Biological Sciences, and the Writing Sample section.

MCAT is administered by AAMC to provide students with an equal ground based on which they can be selected by medical schools. Almost all the medical schools in the U.S. need applicants to submit their scores on the MCAT exam. A lot of schools don't accept MCAT scores that are 3 years old or more.

Eligibility for Registration

Students who are in pre-medical schools are the ones who usually take the exam. However, one can appear for the MCAT examination if they're planning to apply to a health professions institution/school. These schools should include departments from the fields mentioned below-
When registering, one would be asked to consent to a statement that states that the only intention of the student in registering for the MCAT exam is to apply to a health professions school. However, if candidates are not applying to any health professional’s institution/school, they should procure ‘special permission’ to register for the exam. International students have different requirements to be eligible for the MCAT.

Eligibility for International Students

An International student can take the exam provided they meet the requirements mentioned above. If the student has a degree in MBBS or is pursuing the program, they can register for the exam without taking any special permission.

When is the MCAT held?

The MCAT exam is held in the months of January, March, May, June, July, August, and September. The test will be conducted multiple times each month and the scheduling deadlines along with test dates vary from month to month. The upcoming MCAT test dates can be accessed here.

MCAT Test Structure

The exam consists of four sections in all which deal with the fields of General Chemistry, Organic Chemistry, General Biology, Biochemistry, Physics, Psychology, and Sociology along with basic skills for critically analyzing text and reasoning skills. These fields are not asked independently in the exam but often overlap each other in the questions mimicking the syllabus medical schools offer.

All the questions are multiple-choice questions and have no negative marking.
MCAT has the following four sections:

Test Scoring for MCAT

The test scores for each section are converted to a scaled score ranging from 118 to 132 where these scores are the lowest and highest scores attainable respectively. The midpoint of the score is considered to be 125 and candidates will receive both sectional scores and an overall score. The total score ranges from 472 to 528 with a midpoint of 500.
It takes around a month to receive scores.

Test Duration of MCAT

The MCAT exam is conducted within a time frame of 7 hours and 33 minutes including the breaks. The content time provided for the exam is 6 hours and 15 minutes in all. The time is split into different sections based on the function the student has to perform in the section. The exam starts with an examinee agreement made as soon as the candidates enter the test center which takes a total of 8 minutes. This is followed by a tutorial for first-time examinees which is optional and can take a maximum of 10 minutes. After this, the student moves on to the different sections of the MCAT.

The breaks provided for the exam are optional. Students can opt to move on to the next section. But it has to be noted that the time of the break will NOT be carried on to the next section.

SectionsTime Duration
Chemical and Physical Foundations of Biological Systems95 minutes
Break10 minutes
Critical Analysis and Reasoning Skills90 minutes
Break10 minutes
Biological and Biochemical Foundations of Living Systems95 minutes

After the main sections of the exam are over, there will be extra time if the student has completed the exam before the schedule. This can happen when students have opted to not take the breaks. There will be a satisfaction survey that is optional which takes a total of 5 minutes.

Test Centers for MCAT

The test centers for taking the MCAT exam are located almost across all the states in the U.S. as well as in Canada and some countries around the globe. To know more about the test centers in your state or a particular state, candidates have to sign in to the MCAT Registration System.

Test Fee for MCAT

MCAT Scheduling Fees for all 2024 testing dates
PurposeFees
Standard Registration$335
Fee Assistance Program Assistance$140
International Fee$120


Rescheduling Fee and Cancellation Refund
For Standard Registration:

PurposeDate and/or Test Centre Rescheduling FeeCancellation Refund
60 or more days before exam$50$165
30-59 days before exam$100$165
10-29 days before exam$200$0


For Fee Assistance Program Registration:

PurposeDate and/or Test Centre Rescheduling FeeCancellation Refund
60 or more days before exam$20$70
30-59 days before exam$40$70
10-29 days before exam$80$0

Retaking MCAT

Candidates often choose to retake the MCAT due to the importance of the score report in the admission process. At the same time, students are generally careful in their preparations to ace the test in the first attempt due to the expense of registration.

Students can only take the test a total of 7 times in their lifetime. One might take up this MCAT examination 3 times in 1 calendar year. In a span of 2 consecutive years, students can only attempt the test a total of 4 times. However, they can register for just 1 test at any given point in time.



2024 MCAT Test Dates

MCAT Prep