MCAT & OMSAS

1. MCAT & OMSAS UWO Pre-Medical Society Academic Information Session #3 Mar. 16, 2010 Sung Ho Um, Academic coordinator

2. Outline • MCAT • Introduction • Preparing for MCAT • Test day • Post-exam • OMSAS • Preparations • Filling out the application • Application processing

3. MCAT • Register at http://www.aamc.org/students/mcat/ • Seats fill up fast! Try to register the day registration opens. • Feb. 23rd for the summer test dates

4. MCAT • Medical college admissions test (MCAT) • A standardized test to assess prerequisites for success in medicine • All American medical schools and most Canadian schools require MCAT • More than 70,000 exam is written each year • Closer to 80,000 in 2009

5. MCAT Exam content • Not just an exam of memorization • Tests your capacity to solve problems and critically think • As well as your ability to formulate a written argument • Medical schools want undergrads with broad academic capabilities

6. MCAT Exam content • Consists of 4 sections: • Physical Sciences (PS) • Verbal Reasoning (VR) • Writing Sample (WS) • Biological Sciences (BS) • Diverse sections to identify students that is most likely to be successful in medical school

7. Exam overview • ~20 min for tutorial + examinee agreement • PS: 70 min for 52Qs • Break (10 min) • VR: 60 min for 40Qs • Break (10 min) • WS: 60 min for 2 prompts. (30 min/prompt) • Break (10 min) • BS: 70 min for 52Qs • Option to void • Survey Total seat time: ~5 hours 30 min

8. Section analysis • PS and BS • PS consists of general chemistry and physics. • BS consists of biology and organic chemistry • Problem-solving ability • 7 passage (each with 4-7 Qs) and 13 free standing Qs • Be able to apply your knowledge of the basic concepts and information from the passage. • NOT intended to test your ability to memorize

9. Section analysis • VR and WS are the two sections that most science students rewrite for. • VR • Tests your ability to understand, evaluate, and apply information/argument presented. • 7 passages (each ~600 words long); 5-7 Qs per passage • Topics can be from humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences

10. Section analysis • WS • Two 30 min essays. • Topics require an expository response • Be able to develop a central idea, synthesize concepts/ideas, present your ideas cohesively and logically. • Write clearly with university-level grammar, syntax and punctuation. • Note that you have limited time and no time for careful editing. (First-draft composition)

11. Preparing for MCAT • Commercially available MCAT prep books • Kaplan, Examkracker, etc • Prep courses (ie. Princeton or Kaplan) • Individual tutoring • Purchase practice exams on AAMC website

12. Preparing for MCAT • Essential to become comfortable with the basic science material • Practice, practice, practice • Keep up with current events and/or historical events relevant to the WS prompts • Hundreds of example prompts at: http://www.aamc.org/students/mcat/preparing/writingsampleitems.htm

13. Preparing for MCAT • How about VR? • Active reading! • Become comfortable adapting to different writing styles, tone and topics. • If you are having trouble, get access to as many practice material as possible and practice! (Princeton, Kaplan, Examkracker, AAMC) • After each practice, figure out how you can improve.

14. Test day • You probably prepared for weeks, months, or in some cases a whole year! • Some tips: • Make sure you know where you need to be • Plan on arriving 20 min early • Pack the night before (ID, snack, etc) • Know what you are going to wear; be comfortable • Relax the day prior to the exam. You are ready!

15. Writing the exam • Arrive early. You don’t want to be doing VR when everyone else is doing WS • Try to be calm. Remember, you are ready for this! • PS is your first section, it is normal if it seems more difficult than you are used to. • Keep your regular pace. Keep moving! • If you feel you did bad on a section, don’t let that drag you down for the rest of the exam • Everyone else probably thought it was hard too

16. Writing the exam • Take advantage of 10 min breaks! • Bring snacks for the breaks. (Fruit, gronola bars, water/juice) • Focus on what’s coming up; not trying to figure out how you did on the previous section • It is okay if you take a bit longer than 10 min breaks. • Bring unopened ear-plugs. You can use them. • Do not try a new strategy on the actual exam. This is not the time to experiment!

17. Post-exam • Scores are released after 4-5 weeks • Raw score is converted to a scaled score • Minimize variability affecting your performance. • Based on percentile rank ranges on the performance of all students this year, and also reflective of the previous year • PS, VR, BS: 1-15 (8 is 50th percentile) • WS: J-T (P is 50th percentile)

18. Post-exam • What kind of scores do you need? • Western cutoffs for 2010: PS9/VR11/BS10; 30P • A balanced 30+Q score is sufficient for many schools • Depends on schools and applicant pool each year • Aim higher 35+Q if you are considering top tier schools in the US

19. Scores are out, now what? • Rewrite? Don’t worry, many successful applicant write MCAT more than once. • Preparing for a subsequent rewrite is not as bad as the first time • For most Canadian schools you can rewrite as many times as you need to. (max. 3 times/year) • For US, rewrites are not okay beyond 3 times. Must show consistent improvement. • Congratulations if you got a satisfactory score! • Lets apply to medical schools! 

20. OMSAS • Ontario medical school application service (OMSAS) • http://www.ouac.on.ca/omsas/ • All Ontario medical schools use this service • Western, McMaster, Northern, Ottawa, Queens, Toronto

21. Preparations • Few things you need to do before filling out your application: • Which schools you can/want to apply for. • 3 references • List of extracurriculars and their verifiers • Application begins mid July • Create an account on OMSAS before mid Sept.

22. Filling out the application • Autobiographical sketch: • Activities since age of 16 • 7 categories: max. 48 entries total • Formal education • Employment • Volunteer activities • Extracurricular activities • Awards and accomplishments • Research • Other

23. Filling out the application • Verifier are required for all entry except those with official documents (ie. Transcript) • Name, address, telephone number • References: Confidential assessment form + Letter

24. Filling out the application • Supplementary sections: • University of Toronto requires a personal essay. • McMaster requires short answers to five Qs.

25. OMSAS • Due Oct 1st. Strict deadline. • MCAT scores released by mid Oct • References due no later than Dec. 1 • To avoid any delay, ensure OMSAS receives them ASAP. (References can be submitted before your application goes through).

26. Application processing • You will hear back from medical schools in Dec~Mar by email • Interviews are held Mar~April • Offers are made mid-May. All Ontario schools release results on the same day. • Waitlist moves throughout the summer until all spots are filled

27. Resources • MCAT: • http://www.aamc.org/students/mcat/ • OMSAS: • http://www.ouac.on.ca/omsas/

28. Questions? • Good luck with MCAT and medical school applications this summer!