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“I’m not convinced the MCAT is an accurate measure of ability to succeed in medical school.”


curately reflect what is now being taught in medical school.


“I’m not convinced the MCAT is an ac- curate measure of ability to succeed in medical school,” said Rachel Marinch, a student at UTMB. “While I believe in the need for a standardized test, I think the MCAT does not necessarily focus on the right areas.”


Under the MR5 Committee’s recom- mendations, the MCAT would still have four main sections:


• Molecular, cellular, and organismal properties of living systems;


• Physical, chemical, and biochemical properties of living systems;


Supporters of the recommendations


say the proposed new test broadens the material premedical students need to be exposed to as undergraduates and helps prepare future physicians for the increasingly complex role they will play in medical care. “The preliminary recommendations of the MCAT Review Committee mark an important transition,” said Steven Lieberman, MD, vice dean for academic affairs at The University of Texas Medi- cal Branch in Galveston. “They represent, both explicitly and implicitly, a broaden- ing of the competencies needed to be a physician beyond the 100-year-old sci- ence-heavy model. This is an important recognition of the increasingly complex roles of physicians,” said Dr. Lieberman, who also holds the John P. McGovern Distinguished Chair in Oslerian Medi- cine at the medical school. Gary C. Rosenfeld, PhD, professor of pharmacology and assistant dean for educational programs at UT Medical School at Houston, sat on the review committee, infor- mally known as the MR5 Commit- tee because this is the fifth compre- hensive review of the MCAT. He says the increased focus on behavioral and social sciences is a clear “value state- ment” of the role


Manuel Schydlower, MD


48 TEXAS MEDICINE July 2011


they play in modern-day medicine. “I think the message is loud and clear


from the public and from everyone else who has studied this matter that the be- havioral sciences and an understanding of human behavior is critical to doctor- ing today,” Dr. Rosenfeld said. “Not only do you need to be very, very good in terms of your knowledge of medicine, but you also have to be able to commu- nicate and understand the ethical impli- cations of what you’re doing.” While Texas medical school admis- sions officers appear to support the pro- posed MCAT changes, Texas Medical As- sociation’s Council on Medical Education has yet to take a position on them.


Fifth time around


The MR5 Committee issued its prelimi- nary recommendations in March after nearly three years of work. Karen Mitch- ell, PhD, senior director of the MCAT program for AAMC, says all standardized tests need to be reviewed every 10 to 15 years to make sure they “continue to test the most important things in the most capable ways.” The MCAT has been reviewed four


previous times, but the last review was almost 20 years ago. “The one thing everyone agrees is that it was time to reassess the MCAT,” Dr. Rosenfeld said. “A lot has changed in sci- entific knowledge and medical education since that time.”


Even some medical students say the test likely needed changes to more ac-


• Behavioral and social sciences prin- ciples; and


• Critical analysis and reasoning skills.


The first two sections are largely adapted from the current MCAT, al- though some of the science would be up- dated with more emphasis on biochem- istry and cellular and molecular biology. A verbal section that had been part of the test will be transferred to the critical analysis section, and a writing section is being scrapped in favor of the behavioral and social sciences section. Dr. Mitchell says the writing test is


being eliminated because few medical school admissions offices even use that section of the MCAT when evaluating potential candidates for medical school. That message came out loud and clear during some 75 outreach events the MR5 Committee held to seek input from admissions officers and others, she says. “What they heard about the writing sample is that many admissions com- mittees only use the writing sample for a very small number of applicants,” Dr. Mitchell said. Those applicants might not have communicated very well in the interviews on campus, scored low on the verbal reasoning section of the MCAT, or have limited English proficiency. Dr. Rosenfeld says additional mate- rial on biochemistry and cellular and molecular biology simply reflects how important those sciences have become in the modern practice of medicine, par- ticularly as they relate to the emerging field of genetics-based treatments.


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