MCAT Scores Fall From Past Level, Prompt Regarding

The Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) has notified admissions officers at medical schools not to process the scores of the Medical College Admissions Test (MCAT) because this year's mean score on the test is "significantly lower" than last year's, Martha P.Leape, health careers coordinator and advisor for the Office Of Career Services and Off-Campus Learning, said yesterday.

"This year's scores do not mean the same as last year's," Leape said, adding that she does not think this year's aspiring medical students are "less bright" than last year's.

Leape said the lower mean is due to either an error in the calculation of the MCAT scores on the part of the American College Testing (ACT) program which administers the MCAT and calculates the scores, or an error in the design of this year's MCAT.

Leape said Dr. Robert Beran, associate director of the Division of Educational Measurement and Research, told her that the AAMC is going to rescore the tests but she "couldn't get him to tell me in plain English" how it is going to do so.

Leape said that she could not find out from Beran "why this test was not equivalent to others."

Beran declined to comment on the reasons for the lower scores.

Kenneth McCaffrey, a spokesman for the ACT program, said yesterday that "an error has occurred," adding that he did not know what the error was.

In April, 1977, the national mean on each of the six sections of the MCAT was eight on a scale of one to 15, Leape said, adding that the scores are "scaled" and the mean is meant to be eight.

This year, however, the means of the six sections ranged from 7 to 7.9, Leape said.

Oglesby Paul '38, director of admissions at the Medical School, said yesterday he "was told we would not be able to count on these scores."