The now-retired version of the MCAT has done a phenomenal job forging generations of physicians.
We are here to bid a fond farewell to an old friend—the current version of the MCAT, the primary architecture of which has been with us since the early 1990s.
Today, for the last time, pre-med students around the country will take the MCAT exam as we have known it for almost a quarter century. In a sense, this is like saying goodbye to the Boeing 707 or the Space Shuttle or the original Macintosh computer—all unparalleled inventions that dutifully served their terms well beyond expectation.
The now-retired version of the MCAT has not only performed admirably in its prescribed role—it has done a phenomenal job forging generations of physicians.
The MCAT 2015
The MCAT has only seen minor changes and developments—including becoming exclusively computer-based in 2007—in the past 23 years, but the MCAT 2015 exam is revolutionary, with entirely new content areas and skills added. However, some things will remain the same. As the AAMC has stated,
“Changes to the MCAT exam in 2015 preserve what works best about the current exam, eliminate what isn’t working, and focus on concepts and skills tomorrow’s doctors will need.”
The new MCAT will go on to shape the next generation of physicians and reveal fresh perspectives into the world of medicine.
A Fond Farewell
As eventually happens with all the greats, the time has come to say adieu. Eight years ago when the MCAT dispensed with its paper-and-pencil model, I modified Percy Bysshe Shelley’s “Ozymandias” to honor the test change, and two years ago, when the writing sample was retired, I wrote a second version.
Now, on the 8th hour of the 23rd day of the first month of the 2015th year, I give you version three of “MCATmandias”:
I met an MCAT student from an antique land
Who said: three retired sections
Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered test structure lies, whose questions,
And scoring scale, and with the numbers 3 through 45 all but gone,
Tell that its last student taker well those passages read
Which yet survive, stamped on this arcane artifact
The hand that solved them and the heart that fed;
And on the pedestal these words appear:
“My name is the old MCAT, test of tests:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!”
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal test, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.
Learn more about the new MCAT 2015 exam and Kaplan’s MCAT 2015 prep courses today.
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