<p>I know I want to be a doctor and all that yada yada yada, and that's the major reason I'm applying for these guaranteed med programs. However, in the back of my mind I can't help but feel that I'm also applying because I'm a tad afraid of taking the MCATs</p>
<p>I mean, I've worked hard in high school and done well on the SATs...but that's no guarantee that I'll do well on the MCATs, you know? And I'd prefer not to have to do the whole test prep thing again. (well, actually for the SATs I prepped by watching The West Wing, lol [they do use big words!!!]</p>
<p>I guess what I'm most worried about doing is going to a less-than-favorite school just for the guarantee. </p>
<p>Anyway, my question is this: Is the difficulty of the MCAT overrated--I mean, if you're reasonably intelligent and work hard, you can generally do really well, can't you?</p>
<p>Yeah, I mean MOST ppl go the MCAT way. I'm sure if you TRULY want to be a dr....you can pull it off either way. I mean if medicine isn't for you...you won't put as much gut into it, you know?</p>
<p>Many programs still require the MCAT. Besides, the MCAT is not your enemy. It covers waht you should have learned in ur reqs. It's not totally random. Flip through a few sample mcat things...you'll see efor yourself.</p>
<p>The MCAT is difficult but not frighteningly impossible. Most of the material on the MCAT will be things you learn in the classroom in college (bio, organic chemistry, general chemistry, physics). If you study hard for the test, you should have no problem. Normal premeds have to take it anyway.</p>
<p>It's generally understood that the content on the MCAT is quite low-level; the difficult thing is the timing/rhythm of the test. With the test shrinking to six hours, that alleviates part of the stress.</p>
<p>Certainly it's a dilemma that's a long way off. Trust me: spending three months of your life studying for a test that will take six hours is not worth spending eight years in a school that you don't feel is giving you the kind of education you want.</p>
<p>I've heard that those who can pull off a good score on the SAT will pull off a good score on the MCAT (if that person is good at science and math, which most of us are).</p>
<p>Either way, if you want to become a doctor and put your heart into it, you can do it.</p>
<p>Isn't there also reading and writing stuff too?</p>
<p>Actually, starting soon, every test is on the computer, and I can click and type at a ridiculous speed, and on the computer I just focus better. Totally serioso.</p>
<p>Well, the point is simply that there's a correlation between all standardized tests, which makes sense. The MCAT and the SAT rely on a lot of the same principles of elimination, test strategy, etc.</p>
<p>And I believe the point two posts above was that since the SAT tests verbal and math already, all you have to add is skill in the sciences to do well on the MCAT. I would say that probabilistically speaking, that's a reasonable conjecture.</p>