Is the MCAT Really Predicting Future Medical School Success?
Standardized tests are a critical component of the application process for many graduate schools. After writing the MCAT myself this past summer, I began to wonder whether these scores truly predict success in medical school. I wondered if testing knowledge in four different areas, namely, biological and biochemical foundations of living systems, chemical and physical foundations of biological systems, psychological, social and biological foundations of behaviour and critical analysis and reasoning skills could predict whether one would be suited for the medical profession. Before taking the MCAT, I entered into a prep course that was designed to help you achieve a high score on the test. In the class, I had met several people who had previously taken the MCAT before. This prompted me to ask whether this standardized test is truly measuring one’s ability to succeed in medical school or whether it is just a function of familiarity with the test. Upon researching this topic I came across multiple studies looking at the predictive validity of the MCAT in terms of medical school performance. For example, in a meta-analysis conducted by Donnon et al., they examined 23 studies to determine the predictive validity of the MCAT on both medical school performance and performance on medical board licensing exams. They found a small to medium effect size in terms of its predictive validity, with a higher predictive validity for performance scores on the medical board licensing exam than on medical school performance. In another study by Saguil et al., it was also shown that MCAT scores were only weakly to moderately predictive of medical school performance, and they found that it was not predictive for clinical assessment performance. Multiple studies come up with the same result, which leads me to question whether admissions committees should be relying on these scores to predict future medical school success. Although it is agreed that the MCAT has a higher predictive validity than GPA, should medical schools be relying on this test to choose their future students? As clinical performance is a crucial aspect to being an effective doctor, and the fact that the MCAT has been shown to have no predictive validity with regards to this aspect, begs the question of whether the admissions committees should be placing as much weight as they do on this exam. Furthermore, this test can be taken multiple times, therefore the prospective students could be just getting better at taking this specific test, as opposed to representing the knowledge that a student possesses. Placing emphasis on scoring high on the MCAT and maintaining a high GPA is also influencing students to focus on developing test-taking skills rather than develop learning skills that will be crucial to developing a solid foundation of medical knowledge. However, with that being said, currently the MCAT provides admissions committees with a way of comparing multiple students from all different disciplines and school backgrounds that is more informative than GPA and therefore still an important component of the medical school application.
Student ID: 260510517
References
Donnon, T., Paolucci, E. O., & Violato, C. (2007). The predictive validity of the MCAT for medical school performance and medical board licensing examinations: a meta-analysis of the published research. Academic Medicine, 82(1), 100–106.
Eskander, A., Shandling, M., & Hanson, M. D. (2013). Should the MCAT exam be used for medical school admissions in Canada?. Academic Medicine, 88(5), 572–580.
Saguil, A., Dong, T., Gingerich, R. J., Swygert, K., LaRochelle, J. S., Artino Jr, A. R., … & Durning, S. J. (2015). Does the MCAT Predict Medical School and PGY-1 Performance?. Military medicine, 180(4S), 4–11.
