Today I spent a half-hour completing the on-line survey for the Association of American Medical Colleges, which is being conducted as part of the fifth comprehensive review of the MCAT exam. The stated purpose of the survey is to assess the "science content that the future MCAT exam should test."
Here I thought that the MCAT tested students on what skills and knowledge are necessary to succeed in medical school, not on what we teach. I clearly remember people discussing how changes in the MCAT dictate changes in organic textbooks and teaching. How did I get this backwards?
A fairly common topic of discussion around here is what we should be teaching in the organic class and lab. Often these discussions come around to ensuring that the student is prepared for their future endeavors, be they biochemistry classes, work, or graduate or professional schools. The MCAT carries a lot of weight in those discussions. The idea that the test is on what we teach rather than on what medical schools students need changes the game a bit.
For one thing, it changes the answer when students ask if a topic will be important on the MCAT. My physics friends suggested that they will be putting more emphasis on the physics of transporting your professor from place to place in a sedan chair. I bet there is a lot of good organic chemistry associated with washing and waxing my car.
T.S. Hall
Writing is Thinking
5 days ago
I just finished filling out the biochem version--it was painfully long (it took me closer to an hour). I had the same reaction...but then again, being able to regurgitate facts isn't the only thing I want my doctor to be able to do, and it's hard to measure interpersonal skills on a bubble test. It's like the drug guy looking under the street light for his wallet when he lost it across the street...
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