Free Guide · Standardized Testing
It's longer than the GRE, harder than the GRE, and costs more than the GRE. There is still one very good reason a pre-AA might sit it anyway, and it has nothing to do with looking impressive.
For most people on this path, the GRE is the right call. It's a two-hour test that costs $249. The MCAT is a six-and-a-quarter-hour test that costs $355 and demands months of content review. If a program accepts either, and you have no particular reason to prefer one, take the GRE.
The reason to take the MCAT instead is narrow and concrete: several AA programs waive their prerequisite time limits for applicants who hold a qualifying MCAT score.
That matters if you're a career changer. If your general chemistry sequence is nine years old, some programs will make you retake it. Two semesters, tuition, lab fees, and a year you don't get back. A single MCAT sitting can, at those specific programs, replace all of that. Run the arithmetic on your transcript against your program list before you decide the MCAT isn't for you.
A waiver of the time limit is not a waiver of the course. UTHealth Houston says it outright: a qualifying score "does NOT waive prerequisite courses – it merely waives the time limit." You still need to have taken the class. The MCAT just stops it from being too old.
Each of these comes from the program's own admissions page, quoted directly and checked on September 20, 2026. Thresholds and windows differ, so read all four carefully. They are not interchangeable.
"A MCAT score >505 will waive the time limit for ALL prerequisite courses."
The broadest of the four. It covers every prerequisite rather than a named subset.
"These time limits will be waived with an MCAT score of 500 or higher, provided the test was taken within 3 years of the application deadline."
Applies to biochemistry, human anatomy with lab, and human physiology, which otherwise must be completed within 5 years of the deadline.
"Prerequisite courses that are older than 7 years will still be accepted if you earn an MCAT score of 500 or above."
No stated recency requirement on the MCAT score itself on this page, so confirm with the program.
"Prerequisite courses completed prior to the seven-year window will be considered current in the following situations: official MCAT taken within one year of application demonstrating at least 50th percentile scores on each of the four sections…"
A different mechanism entirely: per-section percentiles rather than a composite, and a much tighter one-year window.
MCW's page says the five-year prerequisite window "can be waived with a sufficient standardized test score as defined above," but the only figures defined above are a GRE of 150/150/4 or an MCAT of 490, described as what makes a competitive application, not as the waiver cutoff.
We are not publishing 490 as the waiver threshold, because MCW's own text doesn't say that. If this waiver is load-bearing for you, email MCW admissions and get it in writing.
Other programs may offer similar waivers; some we looked at word theirs too ambiguously to quote responsibly. Admissions pages get edited quietly and without announcement. Treat this as a starting point for your own check, not a substitute for it.
Four sections, 230 questions, 6 hours 15 minutes of testing, and about 7 hours 30 minutes in the seat once breaks are counted, not including check-in.
| Section | Questions | Time |
|---|---|---|
| Chemical and Physical Foundations of Biological Systems | 59 | 95 min |
| Critical Analysis and Reasoning Skills (CARS) | 53 | 90 min |
| Biological and Biochemical Foundations of Living Systems | 59 | 95 min |
| Psychological, Social, and Biological Foundations of Behavior | 59 | 95 min |
| Total | 230 | 6 hr 15 min testing ~7 hr 30 min seated |
There are three scheduled optional breaks: two of 10 minutes and one 30-minute mid-exam break. Food and drink stay in an assigned locker outside the testing room. You can't leave the floor to get food, no deliveries, no fridge or microwave. You track your own break time against the waiting-area clock, and going over it can cost you exam time or void your exam. Come back early and you resume as soon as you're seated.
Your total is simply the sum of the four section scores. AAMC's own worked example is 128 + 125 + 129 + 127 = 509.
There is no curve. AAMC scales and equates the exam so that a given score means the same thing whenever you sat it. Wrong answers "are scored exactly the same as unanswered questions and do not affect your score," which is AAMC telling you, in writing, never to leave a blank.
Percentile ranks are the percentage of test takers who scored the same as you or lower. AAMC refreshes them every May 1 using the most recent three years of data, so the percentile attached to a given score drifts slightly year to year. That matters if you're targeting South University's per-section 50th-percentile requirement.
AAMC counts attempts, not retakes. The difference is not pedantry. A sitting you started and abandoned is still an attempt.
| Window | Limit |
|---|---|
| Lifetime (counting from the April 2015 test dates) | 7 attempts |
| One testing year | 3 attempts |
| Two consecutive testing years | 4 attempts |
| Live appointments held at once | 1 |
Appeals exist, but approval is at AAMC's sole discretion and you get one appeal per test year. Plan as though the limits are hard, because functionally they are.
| Item | Standard | With Fee Assistance |
|---|---|---|
| Registration | $355 | $145 |
| Reschedule — 60+ days out | $55 | $25 |
| Reschedule — 30–59 days out | $110 | $45 |
| Reschedule — 10–29 days out | $210 | $85 |
| Cancellation refund — 60+ or 30–59 days out | $175 back | $75 back |
| Cancellation refund — 10–29 days out | $0 back | $0 back |
| International testing surcharge | +$130 | +$130 |
Deadlines sit at 60, 30 and 10 days before your test date, each expiring at 11:59pm local test-center time. The 10-day deadline is the last moment you can schedule, reschedule, cancel or edit your registration details, including your name, which has to match what CASAA has.
AAMC's Fee Assistance Program drops registration from $355 to $145 and comes with Official Prep access, a PREview practice exam, an MSAR subscription and several application fee waivers. Income eligibility is a total family income at or below 400% of the 2025 national poverty level for your family size. You can apply once per calendar year, up to five awards in a lifetime.
AAMC's eligibility page states that applicants must be "Preparing to apply to medical school and are: Not currently accepted or enrolled in any medical school. Not a graduate from medical school. Not preparing to apply for residency."
That language is written entirely around medical school applicants. No AAMC page addresses anesthesiologist assistant applicants at all. That is silence, not exclusion. We are not going to tell you that you qualify, and we are not going to tell you that you don't. If the $210 difference matters to you, contact AAMC Fee Assistance directly and ask, and then please come tell the community what they said — nobody has published a clear answer.
AAMC has published the 2027 schedule: 40 test dates running January through September 2027. There are no test dates in October, November or December 2027. That is the single most important thing on this page if you're planning around an application deadline.
| Month (2027) | Test dates | Month (2027) | Test dates |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 4 | June | 4 |
| February | 1 | July | 3 |
| March | 2 | August | 4 |
| April | 4 | September | 7 |
| May | 7 | Oct–Dec | none |
Exams start at 8am. Scores follow 30–35 days later.
Scheduling for the 2027 dates opens in three waves, staggered by where your test center is. All three open at noon ET.
| Wave | Opens | Test centers in |
|---|---|---|
| Group A | Tue, Oct 20 | CT, DE, DC, FL, GA, KY, ME, MD, MA, MI, NH, NJ, NY, NC, OH, PA, RI, SC, TN, VT, VA, WV |
| Group B | Wed, Oct 21 | AL, AK, AZ, AR, CA, CO, HI, ID, IL, IN, IA, KS, LA, MN, MS, MO, MT, ND, NE, NV, NM, OK, OR, SD, TX, UT, WA, WI, WY |
| Group C | Thu, Oct 22 | All remaining international locations, plus Guam, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands |
Fill out the first five tabs of the MCAT Registration System between October 5 and 19. Doing this in advance is the difference between booking the date you want and watching it go.
If you want Fee Assistance, submit at least five business days before your registration opening. For a Group A center that lands around October 13. You have to be approved before you can use the discounted fee; applying the night before will not work.
Log in no more than 15 minutes early. Everyone in the waiting room at 11:50 a.m. ET is randomly assigned a place in line. Logging in at 9 a.m. gains you nothing, and logging in after 11:50 puts you at the back.
Two more scheduling notes from AAMC: examinees with approved accommodations get advance scheduling, and testing in the US and Canada is limited to select locations on January 30, May 14, July 9 and August 28, 2027. Check the testing calendar for your area before you commit to one of those dates.
Simpler than the GRE. There's no per-program code table to navigate here.
Start with what's free, and know that AAMC's prep line-up changed in September 2026.
A full-length exam built from 230 previously administered questions, with explanations that link out to Khan Academy MCAT lessons.
AAMC practice products →Matches the real exam's look, feel, length and functionality. Use it early, to find out what six hours in a chair actually does to you.
AAMC practice products →New as of September 30, 2026. 575 questions (166 new, 409 carried over from the retired CARS products). $70 for a one-year subscription.
See what changed →$268 (list $315) for 12 online products, the printed Official Guide, flashcards, three full practice exams and the sample test, with 15-month access. All Official Prep sales are final.
AAMC store →On September 14, 2026 AAMC stopped selling the CARS Diagnostic Tool and CARS Question Packs Volumes 1 and 2. Existing purchasers keep access until their subscriptions expire, and can buy the new Question Bank at a discount within 60 days of expiry. The free tips and 10 practice questions from the old Diagnostic Tool moved into the free "What's on the MCAT Exam Content Outline" course.
On September 30, 2026 the new CARS Question Bank launched, and the Online-Only Bundle was updated to include it at $336.15 for a one-year subscription. If you bought prep before these dates, nothing you already own is affected.
AAMC runs a centralized accommodations application. Start by reviewing the standard testing conditions to work out exactly which adjustments you need, then apply. The MCAT and the PREview exam are evaluated separately and need separate applications.
Documentation has to demonstrate current functional limitations affecting test-taking. A diagnosis on its own is not what AAMC evaluates; they're looking at functional impact. Once approved, you schedule through Pearson VUE Accommodations Scheduling.
Review cycles have their own deadlines, published separately by AAMC. Check those before you build a timeline around a specific test date. Contact: accommodations@aamc.org, 202-828-0600, Monday to Friday 9am–7pm ET.
A rough decision rule, offered as ours rather than as advice:
Every factual claim on this page comes from AAMC, the official CASAA Applicant Help Center, or the named program's own website. Forums, social media and test-prep company pages were not used.
Tiffany and Adrienne are pre-AAs, not admissions officers or licensed advisors. Nothing on this page is application advice or a guarantee of any outcome. Test fees, formats, policies, calendars and program requirements change. Always verify directly with AAMC, CASAA and each individual program before you act on anything here. Pre-AA Pathways is not affiliated with the AAMC, CASAA, the AAAA, any AA program, or CAAHEP.