By Jacquelyn Kellar | Broadcast Managing Editor
The Medical College Admissions Test, or the MCAT, has been evaluating future medical school students since 1928, when it was called the Moss Test. It has since morphed several times to fit the needs of the changing culture in medicine. The latest of these changes comes 25 years after the previous one, effective in 2015.
The changes that come with the newest exam are far from subtle. The test has almost doubled in length from 3 hours and 20 minutes to 6 hours and 15 minutes. Three new subjects of course material were also added: sociology, psychology and biochemistry.
Although these modifications seem drastic, they are changes that have been coming for a long time. The role of the modern physician is rapidly changing, requiring proficiency in social sciences and cultural sensitivity as well as remaining up to speed on current research.
Such a shocking increase in difficulty is enough to instill fear into any young premed student, but Director of Prehealth Studies Dr. Richard Sanker has faith in Baylor’s curriculum and its hardworking students.
“About 500 Baylor students have taken the new MCAT, and they have done really well,” says Sanker. “It may be a testament to the Baylor education system at large and that it was already encouraging these kinds of competencies.”
This year’s seniors are the first group of students to test and apply to medical schools with these new MCAT scores.
