and recall scientific information, but also to identify relationships between similar concepts. scientific reasoning and problem solving tests the student's ability to relate scientific theories and formulas to presented information to explain findings and draw conclusions. reasoning about the design and execution of research requires examinees to show that they can understand science in the context of experiments. the fourth skill of data-based and statistical reasoning requires students to be able to read graphs and tables and draw conclusion from evidence. scoring the test consists of four sections, each scored from 118 to 132 with a median score of 125. the total mcat score is a sum of the scores from each of the four sections, ranging from 472 to 528 with a median score of 500. scores are released on a pre-determined date between 30 and 35 days after the exam date. 2022 scoring percentiles the following are the scores along with their percentiles from test takers from may 1, 2022, through april 30, 2023. mcat percentiles are updated every year on may 1. the average scaled score was 501.6 with a standard deviation of 10.8. mcat 2015og mcatpercentilemcat 2015og mcatpercentile 528451005133286 5274410051232 83 5264310051131 80 5254210051031 77 5244110050930 74 523409950829 71 522399950729 68 521389850628 65 520379750528 61 519369650427 58 518359550327 55 517349450226 51 516349250126 48 515339050025 45 514338849925 41 policies like some other professional exams (e.g. the graduate management admission test (gmat) or the law school admissions test (lsat)), the mcat may be voided on the day of the exam if the exam taker is not satisfied with his or her performance. it can be voided at any time during the exam, or during a five-minute window that begins immediately after the end of the last section. the decision to void can only be based on the test taker's self-assessment, as no scoring information is available at the time. the aamc prohibits the use of calculators, timers, or other electronic devices during the mcat exam. cellular phones are also strictly prohibited from testing rooms and individuals found to possess them are noted by name in a security report submitted to the aamc. the only item that may be brought into the testing room is the candidate's photo id. if a jacket or sweater is worn, it may not be removed in the testing room. it is no longer a rule that students must receive permission from the aamc if they wish to take the mcat more than three times in total. the limit with the computerized mcat is three times per year, with a lifetime limit of seven times. an examinee can register for only one test date at a time, and must wait two days after testing before registering for a new test date. scaled mcat exam results are made available to examinees approximately thirty days after the test via the aamc's mcat testing history (thx) web application. examinees do not receive a copy of their scores in the mail, nor are examinees given their raw scores. mcat thx is also used to transmit scores to medical schools, application services and other organizations (at no cost). preparation the average student spent 12 weeks preparing for the mcat exam spending about 23 hours per week, excluding time taking regular courses. some students, however, choose to take more time. on the weeks leading up to the exam, most students take some time off to study intensely for the exam. the aamc provides official study materials for purchase on their website with hundreds of questions written by the developers of the mcat including four scored practice exams and one non-scored practice exam. 74% of students who sat for the mcat exam used official mcat practice exams while only about 40% used question packs and section bank questions written by the aamc. the official questions supplied online by the aamc were rated to be most useful by test takers. the aamc also provides free online preparatory material for the mcat through khan academy, including 1,100 free videos and 3,000 review questions including content review and passage-based questions. about 62% of test takers used these free resources and 83% of them found them to be useful. another popular study option for students is to use mcat preparatory materials from a commercial company. many companies provide preparatory classes in-person and online, sets of preparatory books, full-length practice exams, flashcards and many more. 77% of students used commercial preparation books and 67% of students used practice exams published by a commercial company. 85% of test takers found mcat prep books to be useful. relevance medical school acceptance based on mcat scores, 2016-2018almost all united states medical schools and most canadian medical schools require prospective students to submit mcat scores for their applications. in a survey conducted by the aamc of 130 medical schools, mcat scores were among the most important metrics used to identify applicants to interview and admit. furthermore, in a 2017 survey by kaplan, 54% of medical schools said that a low mcat score was "the biggest application dealbreaker". medical school admissions is a holistic process and the aamc provides recommendations on how mcat scores should be used in admissions, specifically recommending that mcat scores should not outweigh an applicant's other materials. a recent study (2016), shows little to no correlation between mcat scores and usmle step 1 scores, as well as little to no correlation between mcat scores and the nbme scores. the mcat also correlated poorly with the canadian board exam in 2016, the (mccqe-1). the biological sciences section had been the most directly correlated section to success on the usmle step 1 exam in an article published in 2002, with a moderate correlation coefficient of .553 vs .491 for physical sciences and a weak correlation of .397 for verbal reasoning, however, these are not very well correlated with usmle step 1 score, as a strong correlation would be anything above 0.7, meaning that even in 2002, mcat did not have a strong correlation with usmle step 1 success. mcat composite scores had previously (in article published in 2002) claimed to have some form of correlation with usmle step 1 success, although exact numbers are not given. results from the previous version of the mcat that was administered between 1992 and 2014 have been studied in relation to academic success in medical school and beyond. most data suggests that undergraduate grades and mcat scores can predict scores on usmle step exams. data from a cohort of 14 medical schools in 1992 and 1993 found that mcat scores were stronger predictors of usmle step scores than undergraduate gpa and were also good predictors for probability of experiencing academic difficulty. data from students from 119 u.s. medical schools who matriculated between 2001 and 2004 showed that undergraduate gpa and mcat total scores predicted unimpeded progress towards medical school graduation better than gpa alone. a third study using data from students from the university of minnesota medical school from five graduating classes between 2011 and 2015, found that mcat component scores were significantly associated with usmle step 1 and step 2 scores, although the effect was small. higher mcat scores are correlated with membership in the national medical honors society alpha omega alpha (aoa), suggesting that mcat scores can be useful to identify potential top-performing medical students. since the most recent version of the mcat exam was only released in 2015, insufficient years have passed to determine correlation between mcat scores and medical school benchmarks. the aamc plans to use medical school data from 2017–2021 to determine the predictive ability of the new mcat. the data will be collected from 18 medical schools who have agreed to collect data from students from entry to graduation including academic performance, usmle step exam scores, time to graduation and graduation rates.