Biology junior Darryl Gaudet spent a total of 112 hours studying for the newly revised MCAT exam.
Gaudet is one of the first wave of students to take the new version of the MCAT, a seven-and-a-half hour medical school entrance exam.
This weekend hundreds of University students signed up to take the reworked test at locations all over the state.
“I actually went to Shreveport to take it because the website opened to sign up for it on February 17, and I logged on and there were over 700 people ahead of me,” Gaudet said. “So, spots filled up really quickly.
Biology junior Jenna Hisey said the worst part of the new test started when she was finished. Because this is the first round of exams, testers have to wait 60 days to receive their scores.
Hisey started a Princeton Review course in January to prepare for the exam.
Though she thinks the course prepared her for the exam, Hisey said she does not feel like the new material prepared her for medical school.
“The critical analysis and reading skills, [. . .] I guess it broadened my mind to think that way, but it’s kind of just pointless,” Hisey said.
The new test has 86 additional questions and renamed sections. What used to be a trial section to test new MCAT questions now asks scoreable “Psychological, Social and Biological Foundations of Behavior” questions.
Dwayne Keller, a student worker in the University Kaplan Test Prep Center, said many of the questions will now be applied to medicine rather than general science.
The scoring of the test also changed. Before the 2015 changes, the maximum combined score was a 45, with a 30-31 average acceptable score for most medical schools.
The new maximum score is 528, with most schools accepting students around 507.
Medical schools also are making the transition to accepting students who took the new test.
“It depends on the medical school’s requirements,” Keller said. “You basically just have to read and see what are the medical schools’ requirements and if they are accepting the old tests or not. I think for 2015, most medical schools are still accepting the old MCATs .”
Some schools, including LSU Schools of Medicine in Shreveport and New Orleans will accept both tests until the 2018 application cycle.