About the MCAT (Medical College Admission Test - Original 1928)
In the 1920s, US medical schools faced a 50%+ dropout rate. The Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) commissioned F.A. Moss at George Washington University to develop a standardized admissions test. The 1928 MCAT was the result: a 3-hour cognitive-and-knowledge test designed to predict medical school success.
The 1928 MCAT had 6 sections: (1) Visual Memory - recall details from briefly-shown pictures; (2) Memory for Content - recall passages read aloud; (3) Scientific Vocabulary - definitions of scientific terms; (4) Scientific Definitions - reverse vocabulary; (5) Understanding of Printed Material - reading comprehension on science topics; (6) Premedical Information - knowledge tests in biology, chemistry, physics.
The 1928 form was used through 1946 with minor revisions, then replaced by the Professional Aptitude Test for Medicine (1946), then the Medical College Admission Test (1962, 1977, 1991, 2015). The current MCAT is a 7.5-hour computerized test taken by ~85,000 US medical school applicants per year.
The 6 subtests
What the test looks like
The 1928 MCAT was a 3-hour paper-and-pencil test administered to applicants to US medical schools, typically at the applicant's undergraduate institution. The test had 6 sections delivered in sequence with strict time limits per section.
Visual Memory section: The administrator briefly showed the applicants pictures of laboratory apparatus, anatomical drawings, or chemistry diagrams. The applicants then answered multiple-choice questions about details from those pictures.
Memory for Content section: The administrator read aloud a passage on a medical or scientific topic. Applicants answered multiple-choice questions about details from the passage.
Scientific Vocabulary: Multiple-choice items asking for the meaning of scientific terms (medical, biological, chemical, physical). Difficulty ranged from general-science to specific premedical terminology.
Scientific Definitions: The reverse - given a definition, pick the correct scientific term from 4-5 options.
Understanding of Printed Material: Reading-comprehension passages on scientific topics with follow-up multiple-choice questions.
Premedical Information: Direct knowledge questions in biology, chemistry, and physics at the level expected of a US college senior in 1928.
The actual 1928 MCAT booklets were administered at testing centers and not made publicly available. Subsequent revisions (1946, 1962, 1977, 1991, 2015) replaced the format substantially. Academic studies from the 1930s describe the test format and validation but do not reproduce actual items.
Source
All test materials and historical content on this page are transcribed from:
Moss, F.A. (1928). Medical College Admission Test. AAMC.
The original 1928 MCAT items are likely in the public domain (pre-1929). Modern MCAT (since 1946 and especially the major 1962, 1977, 1991, 2015 revisions) is copyrighted by AAMC. We document the original test.
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