MCAT Exam Syllabus 2025: Exam Pattern, Section-wise Topics, Weightage, Study Tips

MCAT Sections

Number of questions

Time

Test day certification

4 minutes

Tutorial

10 minutes

Chemical and Physical Foundations of Biological Systems

59 (10 passages, 44 passage-based questions, 15 discrete questions)

95 minutes

Break (optional)

10 minutes

Critical Analysis and Reasoning Skills

53 (9 passages)

90 minutes

Mid-Exam Break (optional)

30 minutes

Biological and Biochemical Foundations of Living Systems

59 (10 passages, 44 passage-based questions, 15 discrete questions)

95 minutes

Break (optional)

10 minutes

Psychological, Social, and Biological Foundations of Behaviour

59 (10 passages, 44 passage-based questions, 15 discrete questions)

95 minutes

Void Question

3 minutes

Survey (optional)

5 minutes

Total Content Time

6 hours, 15 minutes

Total Seated Time

Approximately 7 hours, 30 minutes

Biological and Biochemical Foundations of Living Systems

Contents

• Introductory-level biology, organic chemistry, and inorganic chemistry concepts.
• Biochemistry concepts are taught at the level in many colleges and universities in first-semester biochemistry courses.
• Test cellular and molecular biology topics at the level taught in many colleges and universities in introductory biology sequences and first-semester biochemistry courses.
• Test basic research methods and statistics concepts described by many baccalaureate faculty as important to success in introductory science courses.
• Demonstration of scientific inquiry and reasoning, research methods, and statistics skills as applied to the natural sciences.

Disciplines

• First-semester biochemistry: 25%
• Introductory biology: 65%
• General chemistry: 5%
• Organic chemistry: 5%

Foundational Concepts

• Foundational concept 1: Biomolecules (55%)
• Foundational concept 2: Cells (20%)
• Foundational concept 3: Complex systems of tissues and organs (25%)

Scientific Inquiry and Reasoning Skill

• Skill 1 (35%): Sensory perception, Habituation, and dishabituation, Stimulus generalisation in classical conditioning, Conditioned responses in classical conditioning.
• Skill 2 (45%): Reasoning about scientific principles, theories, and models to make predictions or determine consequences, Validity or credibility of scientific explanations and predictions, Theory, observations, and evidence to conclude, Using scientific formulas to solve problems, and Identifying the bond that would form between two structures.
• Skill 3 (10%): Identifying the role of theory, past findings, and observations in scientific questioning, distinguishing between samples and populations, Identifying testable research questions and hypotheses, ethnographic methods, experimental methods, or other types of research designs in psychology and sociology, making judgments about the reliability and validity of specific measures when given information about the response patterns of participants.
• Skill 4 (10%): Using, analysing, and interpreting data in figures, graphs, and tables to draw a conclusion about expected results if the experiment were to be completed again, using measures of central tendency (mean, median, and mode). Using reasoning about statistical significance and uncertainty, determining the implications of results for real-world situations, and conducting structural comparisons to make predictions about chemical properties.

Chemical and Physical Foundations of Biological Systems

Contents

• Introductory-level biology, organic and inorganic chemistry, and physics concepts.
• Biochemistry concepts are taught at the level in many colleges and universities in first-semester biochemistry courses.
• Molecular biology topics are taught at the level in many colleges and universities in introductory biology sequences and first-semester biochemistry courses.
• Basic research methods and statistics concepts are described by many baccalaureate faculty as important to success in introductory science courses.
• Scientific inquiry and reasoning, research methods, and statistics skills as applied to the natural sciences.

Disciplines

• First-semester biochemistry: 25%
• Introductory biology: 65%
• General chemistry: 5%
• Organic chemistry: 5%
• Introductory physics: 25%

Foundational Concepts

• Foundational concept 4: Principles of electromagnetic radiation, and its interactions with matter, can be exploited to generate structural information about molecules or to generate images of the human body, and atomic structure is used to predict the physical and chemical properties of atoms, including the amount of electromagnetic energy required to cause ionization (40%).
• Foundational concept 5: Framework of the behavior of solutions, thermodynamics, molecular structure, intermolecular interactions, molecular dynamics, and molecular reactivity (60%).

Scientific Inquiry and Reasoning Skill

• Skill 1 (35%): Sensory perception, Habituation and dishabituation, Stimulus generalisation in classical conditioning, Conditioned responses in classical conditioning.
• Skill 2 (45%): Reasoning about scientific principles, theories, and models to make predictions or determine consequences, Validity or credibility of scientific explanations and predictions, Theory, observations, and evidence to conclude, Using scientific formulas to solve problems, and Identifying the bond that would form between two structures.
• Skill 3 (10%): Identifying the role of theory, past findings, and observations in scientific questioning, distinguishing between samples and populations, Identifying testable research questions and hypotheses, ethnographic methods, experimental methods, or other types of research designs in psychology and sociology, making judgments about the reliability and validity of specific measures when given information about the response patterns of participants.
• Skill 4 (10%): Using, analysing, and interpreting data in figures, graphs, and tables to draw a conclusion about expected results if the experiment were to be completed again, using measures of central tendency (mean, median, and mode). Using reasoning about statistical significance and uncertainty, determining the implications of results for real-world situations, and structural comparisons to make predictions about chemical properties.

Psychological, Social, and Biological Foundations of Behaviour Section

Contents

• Test psychology, sociology, and biology concepts that provide a solid foundation for learning in medical school about the behavioural and sociocultural determinants of health.
• Test concepts taught at many colleges and universities in first-semester psychology and sociology courses.
• Measures biology concepts that relate to mental processes and behaviour that are taught at many colleges and universities in introductory biology.
• Test basic research methods and statistics concepts described by many baccalaureate faculty as important to success in introductory science courses; and
• Demonstration of scientific inquiry and reasoning, research methods, and statistics skills as applied to the social and behavioural sciences.

Disciplines

• Introductory psychology: 65%
• Introductory sociology: 30%
• Introductory biology: 5%

Foundational Concepts

• Foundational concept 6: Biological, psychological, and sociocultural factors influence the ways that individuals perceive, think about, and react to the world (25%).
• Foundational concept 7: Individual and social determinants of behaviour and behaviour change (35%).
• Foundational concept 8: Physical, cognitive, and social components of our identity, as well as how these components influence the way we think about and interact with others (20%).
• Foundational concept 9: Social variables and processes that influence our lives (15%).
• Foundational concept 10: Aspects of social inequality that influence how we interact with one another, as well as how we approach our health and the healthcare system (5%).

Scientific Inquiry and Reasoning Skill

• Skill 1 (35%): Sensory perception, Habituation and dishabituation, Stimulus generalisation in classical conditioning, Conditioned responses in classical conditioning.
• Skill 2 (45%): Reasoning about scientific principles, theories, and models to make predictions or determine consequences, Validity or credibility of scientific explanations and predictions, Theory, observations, and evidence to conclude, Using scientific formulas to solve problems, and Identifying the bond that would form between two structures.
• Skill 3 (10%): Identifying the role of theory, past findings, and observations in scientific questioning, distinguishing between samples and populations, Identifying testable research questions and hypotheses, ethnographic methods, experimental methods, or other types of research designs in psychology and sociology, making judgments about the reliability and validity of specific measures when given information about the response patterns of participants.
• Skill 4 (10%): Using, analysing, and interpreting data in figures, graphs, and tables to draw a conclusion about expected results if the experiment were to be completed again, using measures of central tendency (mean, median, and mode). Using reasoning about statistical significance and uncertainty, determining the implications of results for real-world situations, and conducting structural comparisons to make predictions about chemical properties.

Critical Analysis and Reasoning Skills Section

Contents

• Comprehension, analysis, and reasoning skills are assessed by asking you to critically analyze information provided in passages.
• Ethics, philosophy, studies of diverse cultures, population health, and a wide range of social sciences and humanities disciplines.

Critical Analysis and Reasoning Skill

• Foundations of Comprehension: 30%
• Reasoning Within the Text: 30%
• Reasoning Beyond the Text: 40%

Passage Content

• Humanities: 50%
• Social Sciences: 50%

Scientific Inquiry and Reasoning Skill

• Skill 1: Understanding the Basic Components of the Text and Inferring Meaning from Rhetorical Devices, Word Choice, and Text Structure.
• Skill 2: Integrating Distant Components of the Text and Recognising and Evaluating Arguments.
• Skill 3: Recognising and Evaluating Arguments.