Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) is a compulsory exam to get admissions in undergraduate courses in the North American medical schools. In addition to the other admission guidelines, Medical school admissions team considers MCAT score as an important factor in admitting the candidates. MCAT basically tests the problem solving, critical thinking, and writing and science knowledge skills of the medical education aspirants across the countries. Many of the medical schools in USA do not consider the MCAT score, if the candidate took the examination more than three years back.

Examination Pattern: MCAT consists of 4 parts: Verbal Reasoning, Problems from Physical Sciences, Writing Samples and Biological Problems including Organic Chemistry. Except the Writing sample section, all sections of MCAT is given a score in the scale of 1 to 15 separately. Retaking MCAT is also offered to candidates. But it is highly advisable not to retake MCAT exam, as there is lesser chance of scoring with prominent difference. The reason is…. candidates both performances will be taken into consideration after taking the average of the two.

MCAT will basically test the knowledge of student’s medical school pre-requisite courses and human physiology. MCAT will not test candidate’s knowledge in Mathematics. MCAT is conducted twice a year by the Association of American Medical Council in April and August.
Test Fee: US $ 225.
Books: MCAT by Dr. Brett Ferdinand.
Website: www.aamc.org (See ‘students’ section)

LSAT -Law School Admission Test examination is essential for getting admission in Law Schools of USA. This is permitted by American Bar Association. LSAT is also necessary requirement for getting access in Law courses in most of the Canadian Law Schools and number of the non – ABA recognised Law Schools as well. LSAT is conducted 4 times a year at selected centers all over the world. LSAT helps Law Schools conduct sound admission decisions by providing standard measure of verbal and reasoning skills of the aspiring law students. The Law schools can use LSAT score as one among the few other guidelines in evaluating the candidates for final admission.

Exam Structure: The LSAT precisely comprise of 5 sections. these are…
1. Reading comprehension section.
2. Logical reasoning section. This is also called arguments section.
3. Analytical reasoning section. This is also called as games section.
4. Experimental section (another Arguments, Games, or Reading Comprehension).
5. Essay section or writing sample section.

How to approach the exam: The Experimental section will be consist of games, arguments, or reading section. candidate may not aware which the real section is and which the experimental one is. So candidate should just try his best on every single section. The good news is that if at some point candidate will have a strangely difficult section that makes no sense. There is a strong chance that it will be the experimental section. There is also a writing sample or essay section. The writing sample does not count towards candidates final score. But the law schools to which candidate apply will receive a copy of your essay to evaluate. The time duration of the test is about 3 and a half hours. There is no negative marking. But candidates are expected to attempt all the questions. After candidate’s test is graded, that score will be converted into an LSAT score ranging from a minimum low of 120 to a maximum high of 180. Candidate’s score and hence his percentile will roughly follow along a bell curve pattern, a score of 150 is an average one, and 170 is the 99th percentile.

Useful Books: 1. LSAT Preparation Tests 2. Master The LSAT – written by Jeff Kolby and Scott Thornburg.
Website: www.lsac.org