Medical College Admission Test (MCAT)

Applicants to the MD Program at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health (UW SMPH) are required to take the Medical College Admission Test (MCAT). The MCAT must be taken within four years of the desired year of admission, e.g., for the 2010 entering class, the MCAT must have been taken no earlier than 2006 and not later than early September 2009. This policy varies from school to school.

The MCAT consists of four sections:

• Verbal reasoning
• Physical sciences
• Biological sciences
• A writing sample

The verbal section is designed to assess your ability to understand, evaluate and apply information and arguments in prose text. The physical and biological sciences sections evaluate reasoning in physics, general chemistry, biology and organic chemistry, as well as scientific problem solving and critical thinking.

The writing sample assesses skill in developing and synthesizing concepts and ideas, and communicating those ideas in a clear, cohesive and logical form.

Each section of the Medical College Admission Test is scored on a scale of 1-15, 15 being the highest. For several years at the UW School of Medicine and Public Health, the average for the entering class has been slightly above 10 for each section.

Minimum scores of 7 in verbal reasoning, 7 in physical sciences and 8 biological sciences are required for consideration, as is a GPA of 2.80. The essays are given alphabetical scores to emphasize the statistical dissimilarity between the essays and other exams and to discourage averaging the writing score with the scores of the other tests. The essay is scored on a scale of J-T, T being the highest. The mean writing assessment score is P.

Additional information and registration for the MCAT is available on the American Association of Medical Colleges Web site.