Dive Brief:

• In the works for the last five years, the new MCAT will debut this April with the first major revision since 1991, and students are now able to buy a sample test designed to indoctrinate them to the new changes, according to the MCAT Web site.
• The new test is a whopping 6 hours and 30 minutes long—two hours longer than the last one—and delves into the areas of behavioral and social sciences in addition to the usual biology, physics and chemistry sections.
• The 230-question online sample test allows students to get a simulated test experience with the same type and number of questions as the actual exam and identify patterns in their test-taking skills with a new "Why did I miss this question?" feature. It also highlights the words or phrases students may want to review later, among other features. Students can take the online test up to 20 times, and get a comprehensive breakdown of the sample test's answers by foundational concept, content category, scientific inquiry and reasoning skill.

Dive Insight:

In the test's 87-year history, this is only the fifth time the test has been revised, and already it is causing a ripple effect in medical schools. Duke University is already recommending that pre-med students take additional courses in psychology and sociology to prepare for the test, according to the Duke Chronicle.

"To cover the new material, the Office of Health Professions Advising is recommending that pre-med students take one semester of biochemistry and one of either introductory psychology or sociology, in addition to the already recommended chemistry, organic chemistry, biology, physics and math classes," wrote Abigail Xie in the Chronicle's online edition Monday.

It's reassuring to see that in an age when the use of technology in medicine is the primary preoccupation of the healthcare industry, teachers are still choosing to prepare students to work better with patients by understanding more about them than their presented symptoms.