For the first time in over 20 years, the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) is revising the MCAT to reflect changes in medical education and practice. The new MCAT will be released in the spring of 2015 in the United States, Canada, and select international locations.

How will the new MCAT differ from the current MCAT?

  1. The new MCAT will be longer, taking a total of approximately 6.5 hours to complete.
  2. There will be a new section: Psychological, Social, and Biological Foundations of Behavior. According to the AAMC, this section will test for concepts needed to understand the “behavioral and socio-cultural determinants of health and health outcomes”.
  3. There will be a wide range of questions on ethics, philosophy, cultural studies, and population health in the Critical Analysis and Reasoning Skills section, though no specific subject knowledge is needed.
  4. The natural sciences sections will reflect changes in scientific and medical education, including more questions on biochemistry, molecular and cell biology, research methods, and statistics.
  5. There will be no writing section (in fact, the writing section has already been discontinued).
  6. The maximum total score for the MCAT will be 60 rather than 45: a 15 point maximum per section.

A Quick Comparison

Current MCAT
Length: 5.5 hours
Maximum score: 45 (15 per section)

  • Physical Sciences
    52 questions, 70 minutes
  • Biological Sciences
    52 questions, 70 minutes
  • Verbal Reasoning
    40 questions, 60 minutes
  • Unscored Trial
    32 questions, 45 minutes

New MCAT (2015)
Length: 6.5 hours
Maximum score: 60 (15 per section)

  • Chemical and Physical Foundations of Biological Systems 
    67 questions, 95 minutes
  • Biological and Biochemical Foundations of Living Systems 
    67 questions, 95 minutes
  • Critical Analysis and Reasoning 
    60 questions, 90 minutes
  • Psychological, Social, and Biological Foundations of Behavior 
    67 questions, 90 minutes

*Number of questions and length are approximate.

More MCAT information

Read Part 2 of the new MCAT 2015
What role do MCAT scores play in admissions?
Are your MCAT scores competitive?

Topics #change mcat #changes to mcat #mcat 2015 #mcat for 2015 #new mcat #revised mcat