is the mcat the same at every test site?

[cellfinder]

I talked with a student about the site where they give the test and she said that they make the room as uncomfortable as possible-the desk are bunched up together, and very hot. Is the test the same or more demanding at more elite schools? Also, any hints on how to master the the physical section w/o a calculator? thanks for help

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[ChemMN]

I took the MCAT this April and found the test center quite comfortable. There was ample space between each examinee and the temp was fine. The student you talked with may have been trying to scare you or they just had an unusually bad experience. As for the PS section, just make sure you know how to multiply and divide by hand; no other types of calculations are necessary. The concepts behind each problem are most important.

 

[JohnDO]

I found my testing center quite comfortable as well. There were two people to a table, which left plenty of room.

Like ChemMN said, PS is much more about understanding concepts than about who can do math without a calculator. Many of the questions are set up so that the answer involves understanding the concept, but not necessarily having to calculate an exact answer. There are a few calculation problems, but usually they aren't much more than multiplying two numbers together or dividing a few numbers. You're not likely to see problems which require you to do complex math. Focus on the fundamentals!

 

[cellfinder]

what about the calculations with Logs and exponentials- when doing problems in chem II we did the PH and buffers and some other stuff. Is there any stats on the test? By the way, is the test the same everywhere?

 

[mdsadler]

There are multiple test forms that each contain completely different questions and then each one of these test forms can be scrambled so that the passages are in different order. This April the forms began with letters A, B, C, D...which stands for which passages you get. Then there is a second letter to tell which order the passages were in. If you get form AB and your friend AM you will have the exact same questions. At each test centre there will be all of the different versions of the questions and all the test centres have the same questions but they may be in different orders.

I think I just confused myself so hopefully this explanation isn't too bad.

 

[cellfinder]

And what about the logs and exponentials? Thanks for you input!!

 

[UseUrHeadFred]

I didn't have any log sor exponents on mine. The only ones I have ever seen on even a practice test were maybe 4 squared, 2 squared, square root of 16, etc.

The math on the MCAT is like 9th grade level.

Even the ones that DO have logs or exponents in the answer actually list the answers as "log 3.4", "log 5.5", etc.

 

[liverotcod]

And what about the logs and exponentials? Thanks for you input!!

The questions of this sort resolve themselves to, e.g.:
2*10^14 / 4*10^10 = ?
And then only one answer is even reasonably close to 5*10^3. You can do them in your head or with just a little scratch paper and cancellation. Logs are the same way, e.g. what is the pKa when Ka is 10^-5.

 

[gdk]

i think you need to know some basics of scientific notation math. try a search on "mcat math" and you'll probably find some hints.

for example, i've said it before, scientific notation is your friend:

-log(1x10-3) = 3
get that straight from the exponent.
how about
-log(3x10-3) = ?
remember log(a*b) = log(a) + log(b), so you get
3 - log(3)... log(3) is like saying 10^x = 3... what is x?
well, sqrt(10) is around 3 (3*3=9), so x must be around 0.5
so -log(3x10-3) is about 3 - 0.5 or around 2.5, that's close enough for mcat.

also remember rules for stuff like:
(10^x)^y = 10^(x*y)
and
(10^x)/(10^y) = 10^(x-y)
and so on

these might only be on two or three problems, but they are often gimme points (plug and chug in some eqs) that you don't want to miss. often you can solve a problem by plugging in a bunch on numbers into a long eqs (given in the passage) and you can start cancelling out exponents... eventually you get left with something like:
.5 x 10-3 / 2 x 10+5

that you can do in your head:
1/2 / 2 = .25..... 10-3/10+5 = 10-8.... equals 2.5x10-9
answers would be like:
a) 2.5x10-8
b) 2.5x10-9
c) something wrong
d) something wrong

i would say to get comfortable doing problems like that. no math more complex than that is needed...