"I'm hoping that by knowing the dates enough in advance to plan ahead, students will take advantage of that," she added.
Senior Katie Holeman volunteered to take the computer test instead of the paper and pencil exam in August.
"To me, I don't think it's going to be a big hurdle for people to get over for people to switch from taking a paper test to taking it on the computer," Holeman said.
She said that the test format was not like the Graduate Record Exam, in which test-takers are not allowed to go back and change answers within a section.
"Right now it's identical to the original," Holeman said. "But when you take the proctored exam you're in a big room with all of the other kids with their No. 2 pencil."
Holeman said that the small number of students that take the test together and the shortened time waiting for others was an advantage.
The computerized MCAT takes a student about five hours to complete. The manual test takes eight and a half hours. Despite the decrease in time, the MCAT still remains the longest professional exam.
Mustafe said some of the reasons the AAMC decided to change to a computer-based test were errors in giving the exam, the length added by passing out and collecting test materials, and added security in the computer format.
"They've decided to employ fingerprint scanning and face-recognition technology to make sure you're who you say you are," Mustafe said.
The AAMC announced the change in August 2005 but continued to offer the paper and pencil exam until August 2006. MCAT has joined the GRE, Graduate Management Admissions Test and the Dental Admissions Test in offering only computer-based examinations.
Senior Katie Holeman volunteered to take the computer test instead of the paper and pencil exam in August.
"To me, I don't think it's going to be a big hurdle for people to get over for people to switch from taking a paper test to taking it on the computer," Holeman said.
She said that the test format was not like the Graduate Record Exam, in which test-takers are not allowed to go back and change answers within a section.
"Right now it's identical to the original," Holeman said. "But when you take the proctored exam you're in a big room with all of the other kids with their No. 2 pencil."
Holeman said that the small number of students that take the test together and the shortened time waiting for others was an advantage.
The computerized MCAT takes a student about five hours to complete. The manual test takes eight and a half hours. Despite the decrease in time, the MCAT still remains the longest professional exam.
Mustafe said some of the reasons the AAMC decided to change to a computer-based test were errors in giving the exam, the length added by passing out and collecting test materials, and added security in the computer format.
"They've decided to employ fingerprint scanning and face-recognition technology to make sure you're who you say you are," Mustafe said.
The AAMC announced the change in August 2005 but continued to offer the paper and pencil exam until August 2006. MCAT has joined the GRE, Graduate Management Admissions Test and the Dental Admissions Test in offering only computer-based examinations.
