Students at Penn and across the country can choose to re-take the exam, which is a major factor in medical school admissions. While most undergraduates were flinging the day away Saturday in the Quadrangle, more than 100 pre-med students labored in David Rittenhouse Laboratory over the test they had studied months for. But 20 minutes into the seven-hour Medical College Admission Test, students discovered an error -- which appeared on tests across the country -- that could jeopardize their chances of getting into medical school. A portion of the exam's verbal section, which tests reading comprehension of random topics, listed the wrong questions. The eight questions dealt with astronomy, while their corresponding reading section pertained to fast-food restaurants. Students pointed out the error to proctors, who contacted exam administrators and then told test-takers to skip the section completely. At least two students in one of the exam rooms voided their tests and left. "Everyone's first reaction was, 'I messed up really bad, I'm not going to med school,' " said Engineering junior Nick Rose, who went on to finish the test. "Everybody in the room was already stressed to the max as it is." The Association of American Medical Colleges, the group which administers the MCAT, will give students who took Saturday's exam three options. They may request a refund of the test's $160 fee; retake the exam, which is given twice a year, in August for free; or let their scores stand. The AAMC will not include the faulty section when calculating the score. Less than 10 percent of testing sites across the country were affected by the error, according to Andrea Wilson, a spokesperson for Kaplan Educational Centers, which offers students preparatory courses for the MCAT and other standardized tests. The number of Penn students affected by the error was not immediately available. However, even students whose exams did not contain mistakes were distracted by the incident, Rose said. And just how important is the MCAT for admission to medical school? "It's significant," said Maria Lofftus, director of academic services at Kaplan. She added that medical schools "do a personal interview, but in that initial review, most med schools are looking at academic history and the MCAT exam." Undergraduates usually take the exam in April of their junior year and then apply to medical school that summer. Medical schools run rolling admissions starting in mid-October, and students who wait to take the August exam will not receive their scores until mid-to-late October, meaning it could be more difficult for the late test-takers to gain admission. Some students start studying in their freshman year because the exam tests knowledge of topics like basic chemistry, biology and physics, Lofftus said. College junior Scott Fudemberg, whose test contained the errors, said he began studying in January. But as far as studying to take the MCATs a second time, "It's an unfathomable nightmare," said Fudemberg. He finished the test Saturday and is unsure whether he will void his score. And Rose said he is certain he will not repeat the MCAT. "I threw away this semester for the purpose of studying for it," he said. "I just don't want to do that again."
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