By Steve Nye
According to a Kaplan, Inc. survey of students preparing for medical school, 82 percent surveyed said they think they will perform worse on the new computer-based MCAT exam versus a paper-and-pencil exam.
?Eighty percent of students have never taken a computer-based exam in college,? said Amjed Mustafa, MCAT program manager for Kaplan, Inc.
Because of this high percentage, most students are not familiar with taking exams on a computer, he said.
This summer, the Association of American Medical Colleges announced that the MCAT (Medical College Admission Test) will become a computer-based test by August 2006.
The major reasons for change are for administrative purposes, Mustafa said.
With a computer-based exam, students will now have four test dates instead of two. Aside from more tests dates, students will receive test results in 30 days instead of the current 60. The new computer test will also be shortened to five and a half hours instead of the current eight-hour pencil-and-paper test, he said.
Although these changes may seem to be beneficial to med-school applicants, the Kaplan survey revealed otherwise.
The survey listed students? major concerns about the new test. Some of these concerns are malfunctioning computers, eyestrain from reading off a computer screen and the difficulty in annotating the test.
The MCAT is based on reading passages and answering a set of questions based on each passage, Mustafa said.
?Students recognize that this is hard to do on a computer,? he said.
With a computer-based test, students will not be able to underline key passages, write notes in margins or complete written computations.
Tyler Haberle, who already completed the MCAT, said he was glad he took his test on paper.
?Not being familiar with a computer test would throw me for a loop,? he said.
All throughout college, students complete exams on paper. Haberle said it would seem logical to keep the most important test pre-med students take as a paper-and-pencil test.
Steven Fleming, an MCAT preparation course instructor at BYU, said in an e-mail interview that the changes shouldn?t help or hinder med-school applicants.
?It might remove some of the stress for some students, but it will probably increase the stress for other students,? he said.
As the MCAT shifts to digital, the preparation courses will also change to help students prepare for a computer exam.
The MCAT preparation courses offered on campus will add a focus on taking computer tests, Fleming said. This focus on computers will take the place of time spent on practicing written tests.
Kaplan, Inc. encourages students who are worried about taking the MCAT by computer to take the test by pencil and paper before August 2006 if they are prepared. After the test date in August 2006, all MCAT test will be administered digitally.
