The MCAT is the Medical College Admission Test, a standardized, computer-based exam that the AAMC develops and administers with its member medical schools. Most medical schools in the United States require applicants to submit recent MCAT scores, and the exam has been part of medical school admission for over 90 years.
So what is the MCAT on test day? Four multiple-choice sections, 6 hours and 15 minutes of questions, and about 7 hours and 30 minutes in the seat with breaks included. Five scores follow 30 to 35 days later, and AAMC releases them to the AMCAS program automatically.
| Section, in test-day order | Questions | Time | Score range |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chemical and Physical Foundations of Biological Systems | 59 | 95 minutes | 118 to 132 |
| Critical Analysis and Reasoning Skills | 53 | 90 minutes | 118 to 132 |
| Biological and Biochemical Foundations of Living Systems | 59 | 95 minutes | 118 to 132 |
| Psychological, Social, and Biological Foundations of Behavior | 59 | 95 minutes | 118 to 132 |
| Total | 230 | 6 hours 15 minutes | 472 to 528 |
What Is the MCAT? Four Sections in One Test Day
Three of the four sections test the sciences. Each has 59 questions: 10 passage-based sets plus 15 independent questions. Critical Analysis and Reasoning Skills (CARS) has 53 questions, all in nine passage-based sets.
AAMC publishes the schedule around the four sections. Optional breaks follow the first three sections: 10 minutes, then a 30-minute mid-exam break, then 10 minutes. After the last section comes a 3-minute void question, which decides whether the exam is scored at all.
AAMC also publishes the approximate mix of each section. It rounds every figure to the nearest 5% and says the mix will vary from one test to another.
| Section | What it draws on, per AAMC |
|---|---|
| Chemical and Physical Foundations (CPBS) | General chemistry 30%, first-semester biochemistry 25%, introductory physics 25%, organic chemistry 15%, introductory biology 5% |
| Critical Analysis and Reasoning Skills (CARS) | Passages from the humanities (50%) and the social sciences (50%) |
| Biological and Biochemical Foundations (BBLS) | Introductory biology 65%, first-semester biochemistry 25%, general chemistry 5%, organic chemistry 5% |
| Psychological, Social, and Biological Foundations (PSBB) | Introductory psychology 65%, introductory sociology 30%, introductory biology 5% |
AAMC’s overviews for Chemical and Physical Foundations and Biological and Biochemical Foundations both put first-semester biochemistry at 25%. You get access to a periodic table in both sections.
Research methods and statistics run through all three science sections. Each overview, including the one for Psychological, Social, and Biological Foundations, lists “basic research methods and statistics concepts” among what the section is designed to test.
CARS works differently. The CARS overview describes passages of typically 500 to 600 words from the humanities and social sciences, and says “No additional coursework or specific knowledge is required” to do well on it.
How the MCAT Is Scored
You get five scores: one per section and one total. Each section runs from 118 to 132, with a midpoint of 125, and the four add up to a total between 472 and 528, with a midpoint of 500. AAMC’s example on its score scale page adds 128, 125, 129 and 127 to make 509.
There is no curve. AAMC scales and equates every test form so that “scores have the same meaning, no matter when you test.” Who else sat the exam that day does not move your score. Each section also carries some field-test questions, the MCAT Essentials says, and they do not count toward your score.
Percentile Ranks: Where Your Score Sits
A percentile rank is the percentage of test takers who received the same score as you or lower. AAMC updates the ranks every May 1, using the three most recent testing years. The current ranks run from May 1, 2026 to April 30, 2027 and cover everyone who tested in 2023, 2024 and 2025.
AAMC says the scores of 2027 applicants will be reported with these ranks. Its current table counts 305,494 scores, with a mean total of 500.6.
| Total score | Percentile rank, May 2026 to April 2027 |
|---|---|
| 490 | 20th |
| 500 | 48th |
| 510 | 79th |
| 515 | 91st |
| 520 | 97th |
The midpoint of a scale is not the same thing as the 50th percentile. A 500 total is the 48th percentile, and a 125 section score lands at a different rank in each section.
| Section | Mean section score | Percentile rank of a 125 |
|---|---|---|
| CPBS | 124.9 | 56th |
| CARS | 124.6 | 62nd |
| BBLS | 125.1 | 53rd |
| PSBB | 125.9 | 44th |
The same 125 ranks 18 percentile points higher in CARS than in PSBB.
What Schools See on Your Score Report
Your score report adds three components to the five scores: percentile ranks, confidence bands and a score profile. AAMC says understanding them matters because “this is the same information that admissions committees will be using to evaluate your readiness for success in the medical school curricula.”
AAMC explains confidence bands by noting that MCAT scores “will not be perfectly precise.” Each band marks the range in which your true score likely lies, and AAMC says the bands “are intended to discourage distinctions between applicants with similar scores.” The score profile shows strengths and weaknesses across the four sections, which AAMC says can help you decide where to focus “should you decide to retake the exam.”
Your Scores Go to AMCAS Automatically
AAMC releases your scores to the AMCAS program automatically. The same page spells out what that means: “you cannot withhold any scores from the AMCAS system.” A retake therefore adds a score to your application and leaves the earlier one in place.
The choice that can keep an exam away from schools comes at the end of test day. AAMC gives you one opportunity to score or void the exam, and the choice is final once submitted. Its rule: “Information from voided exams is not included on score reports sent to medical schools.” A score that has been released cannot be voided or removed from your testing history.
AACOMAS Works Differently
If you apply to osteopathic (DO) programs through AACOMAS, your scores do not arrive on their own. AACOM’s application page says “MCAT scores are not released to AACOMAS automatically,” so you select AACOMAS as a recipient in AAMC’s Score Reporting System. AACOM says processing then takes approximately 10 to 12 days.
What Individual Schools Do With It
Some schools publish a threshold. Here are two, as their pages read in October 2026. The University of Louisville School of Medicine lists “a 498 MCAT total score” with a 3.0 cumulative and BCPM GPA as its minimum academic threshold for consideration, and it “accepts the most recent score.” On AAMC’s current ranks, 498 is the 42nd percentile.
The University of Michigan Medical School uses a percentile instead. It sends secondary applications to candidates with an MCAT score at or above the 35th percentile, and those below it “are screened for excellence within our competencies and may be sent a secondary application after review.”
When Your Scores Arrive
AAMC releases official MCAT scores 30 to 35 days after an exam date, as of October 2026. Its scoring page gives two reasons for the wait: each exam is scaled and equated after test day, and the gap lets examinees submit concerns about questions or testing conditions.
Each test date has its own release date on AAMC’s U.S. testing calendar, with scores out by 5:00 p.m. ET that day. The first 2027 date listed, January 15, releases scores on February 16.
Where the MCAT Fits in Your Application
Percentile ranks compare you with everyone who tested. AAMC also reports MCAT means for applicants and matriculants in its FACTS tables: for 2025-2026, 506.3 for applicants to U.S. MD-granting schools and 512.1 for matriculants.
Your scores go to AMCAS automatically, and a released score cannot be voided. So the decisions you control about any one exam come before its score exists: when you sit it and, at the end of test day, whether to score it. After release, the number is fixed, and the planning moves to everything else in the file.
If you are still planning your application, ExceptionalGrad’s medical school application consulting offers Individual Applicant Advising: individual sessions for medical applicants planning their application in advance. A free consultation is where that starts.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the MCAT scored out of?
The top total is 528, the sum of four sections that each max out at 132. These are scaled scores: AAMC converts the number of questions you answer correctly in each section to the 118 to 132 scale. Wrong answers score exactly the same as unanswered ones, so a guess never costs you points.
How many times can you take the MCAT?
Three times in one testing year, four times over two consecutive testing years, and seven times in your lifetime, counted from the April 2015 test dates, under AAMC’s testing limits. You can hold only one appointment at a time. A no-show counts as one of your attempts, whatever the reason.
Do medical schools see a voided MCAT?
No. AAMC keeps voided exams off the score reports sent to medical schools, and only you see the void, in the Score Reporting System after the scheduled release date. The void still counts toward your testing limits, regardless of the reason. If time runs out before you choose, the exam is scored.
How long are MCAT scores valid?
AAMC says medical schools “generally accept scores dating back two or three years.” Louisville’s School of Medicine, for one, accepts no MCAT score older than two years. If you have tested before, AAMC’s score validity page recommends checking each school’s policies in its Medical School Admission Requirements.