- - HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL - -

Test Assessment Program Report

MCAT
September 2009

 Test Date: Thursday, September 10, 2009

 General Overview
This exam confirms the features we have come to see as standard for the MCAT CBT.
In general, checking in to the center was reported as smooth and all the rules are expected to
be followed (nothing in test area except I.D., can access belongings for food but not notes,
signing in/signing out, scratch paper, etc.).
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All sections contained seven passages. More details on the individual sections follow.
Information that is different from previous TAP reports has been highlighted in yellow.

Overall the test was reported to be about as difficult as the AAMC Practice Test 10.

 General Test Experience and Overall Test Features

Check-in is as expected and takes anywhere from 5-30 minutes. Examinees are now
required to turn their pockets inside out before entering testing area. ID check and
fingerprint scanning is done each time an examinee exits or enters the testing room, and
returning a little bit late from the break has no consequences; the test does not restart without
the examinee present.
The tutorial time remains at 10 minutes.
A packet of colored scratch paper (4 pages) and 2 sharpened pencils are handed out at the
start of the test and collected at the end of the test. The scratch paper is shredded. The
amount of scratch paper seems sufficient for the entire exam, although more can be requested
if needed. Noise reduction headphones were available at all cubicles.
MCAT T.A.P. Report September 2009

The layout of the passages, questions, and buttons has also not changed from the earlier
tests. As expected, the passages are on the left and the questions for that passage were
grouped together on the right, and they can be scrolled independently. At the bottom of the
screen, the left corner states “Passage ___ of ___”. Also along the bottom are the timer, the
Previous and Next buttons, a Mark button, and the Review button. An Exhibit button opens
the periodic table.
Tools include highlighting (of the passage text), strikeout (of the answer choices), and the
Mark button. Highlighting and striking out are both done by left-clicking; there is no right-
click functionality. In addition to passage text, individual cells in data tables could be
highlighted, and all equations could be highlighted. Clicking a second time removes the
highlight or strikeout; highlights do NOT persist when moving from passage to passage, and
strikeouts DO persist. NO chemical structures could be highlighted in any way, and neither
questions nor answer choices could be highlighted. Clicking the MARK button turns it red
and changes it to MARKED (flags the question for later review). The question currently
being worked on by a test-taker is outlined with a bold red line. If the test-taker chooses to
MARK that questions, the outline becomes yellow.
Notably absent are the Search function and the Notes feature, both of which are still
available on AAMC’s online practice tests.
Moving around within the sections is reported as being very easy, both with the Previous
and Next buttons and with the Review screen. The Review screen itself is very helpful;
questions are clearly indicated as “Marked”, “Incomplete”, and/or “Complete”. Clicking
“Next” from the last question brings you immediately to the Review screen, from which you
can either review your answers, or choose to end the section. If you choose to end, a pop-up
window asks you to confirm before actually ending. Two additional pop-up windows
announce time remaining. One pops up at the halfway point and says “You have used half of
your time” and a second window pops up when there are 5 minutes remaining. This is true
for all sections, PS, VR, WS, and BS. You have to click “OK” to make the window go away.
Double clicking on any question number from the Review screen brings test takers
directly to that question. Test takers could also "Review All", "Review Marked", or "Review
Incomplete" questions by choosing the appropriate button at the bottom of the page. After
clicking “Review Marked” or “Review Incomplete”, test takers are brought to the passage
containing the appropriate question, and the question itself would appear at the top of the
right-hand column, and all the other questions associated with that passage were still visible.
One bug that was noticed was that if another marked question was lower in the column in the
same passage, and the user clicks the NEXT button to jump to the next marked question, it
brings you to the next passage with a marked question, NOT the question lower on the page
that was off the scroll screen.
As stated before, pop-up windows appear to announce time remaining and to announce
the end of a section. Note that if you leave the room and DO NOT click OK to end the
section, the proctor would end if for you.
The post-test survey was fairly short and had about 10 questions on how satisfied the user
was with the computer test, the testing location and staff, the exam tools, and the registration
process. There was a space to add comments.

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MCAT T.A.P. Report September 2009

 Physical Sciences Section

Key Points
1. 7 passages with an average of 5 questions per passage. One passage was small, with only
4 questions.
2. About -10 questions required calculations. Lots of conversion factors (g to moles, etc.).
3. There were no Roman numeral questions.
4. 13 freestanding questions, in three separate groups.
5. Roughly 40% Physics (2 passages and 6 FSQs) and 60% General Chemistry (5 passages
and 7 FSQs). One passage was G-Chem based but was a crossover with Biology, two of
the questions were clearly Bio memory questions.
6. Difficulty level similar to AAMC 10.

Physics topics included: mass spectrometry, capacitors, electric fields, magnetic fields, right
hand rule, voltage, force, free body diagram, sound and sound waves, kinetic and potential
energy, energy conversions, pressure, converging lens, convex lens, gravitational potential
energy, units of power, experiment/data analysis.

General Chemistry topics included: isotopes, product yield, equilibrium shifts, Henderson
Hasselbalch, oxidation of glucose, pH, H of formation of element, pyrometallurgy (thermite
reaction), balancing reactions, coordination complexes, electron energy levels, periodic
trends, electron spin, molecular geometry, solubility, electronegativity, atomic radii, bond
strength, laws of thermodynamics, catalysts and Ea, gases at STP, experiment/data analysis.

 Verbal Reasoning Section

Key Points
1. 7 passages with an average of 5 questions per passage. No extremely small (4 questions)
or extremely large (8 questions) passages.
2. Most passages had more than 5 paragraphs and required scrolling down to read.
3. Only 1 Roman Numeral Question. A fair number of author’s point of view, what would
author no agree with, retrieval questions, vocab/phrase in context.

Details
3 NOW passages, 2 LATER passages, 2 KILLER passages. The Verbal passage topics
included: brain differentiation and intelligence, animal studies, scientific realism vs.
scientific interpretism, Copernicus vs. Ptolemy, spam and email, commercialization of
holidays, oral history and its validity.

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MCAT T.A.P. Report September 2009

 Writing Sample Section

Key Points
1. No keyboard functionality except backspace, delete, end, home, and arrow keys.
2. No spell check.
3. Editing buttons and screen layout have not changed.

Details
Prompt topics were typical of MCAT essay prompts on politics, age and experience,
media, and entertainment.

 Biological Sciences Section

Key Points
1. 7 passages with an average of 5 questions per passage. Two passages (both O-Chem)
were very small (only 4 questions) and two were large (7 questions).
2. 13 freestanding questions, in three separate groups.
3. Roughly 80% Biology (5 passages and 10 FSQs) and 20% Organic Chemistry (2
passages and 3 FSQs).
4. 3 Roman numeral questions.
5. Difficulty level similar to AAMC 10.

Biology topics included: mRNA modification, transcription, mutations, taxonomy,

evolution, Hardy Weinberg equilibrium, gene products, transfection experiments, direct
proportionality, hormones, negative feedback, menstrual cycle and gonadotropins, blood
transport proteins, cell receptors, cardiac pacemaker cells, action potentials, membrane
channels, transmembrane transport, bone cells, glycolysis, radioisotope tracers, calculate cell
proliferation rate, hypoxia, tRNA structure, Huntington’s disease, autonomic dominance, cell
respiration, liver functions, genetic recombination (crossing over), pancreatic proteases,
location of cellular processes, blood vessels, blood pH and CO2, mitosis, kidney filtration,
experiment/data analysis.

Organic Chemistry topics included: epoxide ring opening, reaction mechanisms, predicting
products, bond angles, reactive species, chirality, ID of unknowns, 1H NMR, TLC,
substitution reactions, bonding, disulfide bridge, experiment/data analysis.