MCAT MCAT Certifications MCAT-TEST Questions & Answers

• Question 21:

  A teacher sets up a reward system for her elementary school students. At the end of each day, she gives a sticker to each student who showed up on time that morning. At the end of each week, she gives a sticker to any student who got above a 90% on three quizzes in a row. After months of this regimen, she finds that performance on the quizzes has increased significantly but that tardiness has only decreased slightly.

  Which of the following best explains the teacher's observation?

  A. Variable ratio schedules create the strongest responses and behavior that is the least susceptible to extinction.

  B. The students had more intrinsic motivation to do well on quizzes than to show up on time.

  C. The students' behavior change was stronger in response to a fixed-ratio schedule than it was to a continuous reinforcement schedule.

  D. The students' behavior change was stronger in response to a fixed-ratio schedule than it was to a variable-interval schedule.

  Correct Answer: C

  The teacher was offering rewards on two schedules. Showing up on time was always rewarded with a sticker. Rewarding for each instance of behavior is a continuous reinforcement schedule. She then also rewarded good quiz performance for every three quizzes. This was a fixed-ratio schedule. The teacher observed that the quiz performance increased more than the timeliness did, so the students were responding more strongly to the fixed-ratio schedule. Thus, choice (C) is correct.

  A: While this is true, the teacher wasn't using a variable-ratio schedule.

  B: Intrinsic motivation is irrelevant to this scenario ?all the motivation discussed is extrinsic.

  D: The teacher didn't use a variable-interval schedule.

• Question 22:

  A study examined admissions to exceptionally selective colleges. When examining the correlates of admission acceptance, two obvious factors that strongly correlated with admissions were GPA and standardized test scores, with correlation values of +0.41 and +0.55 respectively. However, the study also demonstrated that those students who had social networks that overlapped with the alumni networks of the selective colleges were even more likely to be admitted, with a correlation between social network and alumni network of +0.61. This correlation demonstrates:

  A. the value of cultural capital.

  B. a meritocracy.

  C. the value of social capital.

  D. a false association.

  Correct Answer: C

  Social capital is the value a person derives from their social networks. In this case, those with a social network that overlaps with a college's network allows them to achieve admissions into highly selective universities. Those admissions have value and thus the situation demonstrated the value of social capital and choice C is the correct answer.

  A: Cultural capital refers to assets beyond money that can help lead to social mobility. In this case, having a high GPA thereby gaining admissions to a college when one's parents did not go to college would be an example of cultural capital.

  B: Meritocracy would mean achieving a result based solely on individual merit. The social networking effects discussed here are the opposite.

  D: We have no reason to think the positive correlation presented is false.

• Question 23:

  A psychologist conducts an experiment in which subjects are asked to learn a series of "facts" which are actually statements that have been fabricated by the research team. The subjects consist of undergraduate students at the university where the experiment is being conducted. The subjects are randomly assigned to groups that are compensated either $10 or $20 for their participation, are given either 15 minutes or 30 minutes to learn the facts, and are asked to recall the facts either in the same room in which they learned the facts or in a very different, unfamiliar setting.

  Which of the following are dependent variables in this experiment?

  I. The amount the subjects were compensated.

  II. The room in which the subjects were asked to recall facts.

  III. The number of facts the subjects can recall.

  IV.

  The time the subjects were given to learn the facts.

  A.

  II only

  B.

  III only

  C.

  I and IV only

  D.

  I and III and IV only

  Correct Answer: B

  In experimental design, the dependent variable is the variable being tested as a possible effect or output, whereas the independent variables are those that are controlled by the experimenters and tested as possible causes. Here, the experimenters controlled the compensation amount, the time to learn, and the room in which the subjects were asked to recall the information. Thus, I, II, and IV are independent variables. The dependent variable here is III, the measured recall rate of the facts.

• Question 24:

  In a fit of passion, the spectator of a political debate exclaims that "welfare recipients are all lazy." The spectator's thought process is an example of:

  A. prejudice.

  B. discrimination.

  C. ethnocentrism.

  D. conflict theory.

  Correct Answer: A

  Prejudice consists of inflexible and irrational attitudes held by one group about another. Discrimination is the prejudicial treatment of an individual based on their actual or perceived membership in a certain group or category, "in a way that is

  worse than the way people are usually treated." While the outburst could be considered discriminatory, the thought process underlying the outburst would be described as prejudice. Ethnocentrism refers to evaluation of others' cultures based

  on one's own cultural norms and values. Conflict theory refers to perspectives in sociology that emphasize the social, political, or material inequality of social groups, allowing for macro-level analysis.

  a) ?correct.

  b) ?incorrect. The question is about the thought process and not the action or behavior. c) ?incorrect. The outburst is not an evaluation of another's ethnic culture. d) ?incorrect. While conflict theory perspectives do often pit social classes

  against each other, this sociological perspective does not describe the thought process at work here.

• Question 25:

  When preparing for the MCAT exam, a student begins studying electrochemical cells. He learns the basic information needed by actively relating it to previous information he has learned about redox reactions. He then builds from that knowledge to learn the advanced concepts needed. The student's process is best characterized as:

  A. chunking.

  B. a network model.

  C. maintenance rehearsal.

  D. elaborative rehearsal.

  Correct Answer: D

  The student is learning new information by actively relating it to old information he previously learned. This describes the elaborative rehearsal process of learning new information (and is, incidentally, one of the best ways to study for the MCAT). Thus (D) is the correct answer.

  A: Chunking is a way of mentally dividing information into discrete whole chunks of information, thus reducing the overall number of things to be memorized. For example, phone numbers are chunked into area code, exchange, and ending 4digit number. For someone learning the phone number of a neighbor (who would have the same area code and exchange), chunking the information this way makes it much easier to remember.

  B: The network model describes one theory about how information is stored in the brain once it has been memorized. The situation described in the question discusses the processes of memorizing new information (encoding), rather that the storage itself.

  C: Maintenance rehearsal is learning something through brute repetition, with no attempt to understand meaning or actively relate the information to previous memories.

• Question 26:

  In the course of gathering data in an experiment, a researcher develops the following correlation matrix:

  

  Table 1 Correlation Matrix

  Which of the following pairs of variables are most strongly correlated?

  A. A, C

  B. A, D

  C. B, D

  D. C, D

  Correct Answer: B

  Correlation values range from +1.00 to -1.00 with +1.00 indicating perfect positive correlation and -1.00 indicating perfect negative correlation. 0.00 indicates no relationship at all. The strength of the correlation is determined by the magnitude of the correlation coefficient value, not its sign. Among the choices given, variables A and D have the strongest correlation from the data in the table.

• Question 27:

  An automatic external defibrillator (AED) is simply a series of capacitors used to store a very large charge, which is then discharged through the patient's chest in a short time. If the capacitor in an AED is fully charged and the AED is no longer connected to the power source, what will happen to the energy stored in the AED if the dielectric (k = 1.5) is removed?

  A. increase by a factor of 1.5

  B. increase by a factor of 2.25

  C. decrease by a factor of 1.5

  D. decrease by a factor of v1.5

  Correct Answer: A

  Explanation: The MCAT will expect you to know a handful of equations for capacitors. The three needed to solve this question are:

  C = eoA / d

  C = Q / V

  PE = (?QV

  According to the first equation, we see that if the dielectric is removed, capacitance will decrease by a factor of 1.5. According to the second equation, we see that a decreased capacitance can either be the result of a change in Q or a change in V. In this question, the AED is no longer connected to the battery, so there is no source of additional charges. Thus, Q will remain the same and V will increase by a factor of 1.5. Finally, by the third equation we see that if V is increased by a factor of 1.5, the potential energy will increase by a factor of 1.5. Thus, choice (A) is the correct answer.

• Question 28:

  An object rests on a plane, with an angle of incline, , an acceleration due to gravity, g, and a coefficient of friction ?between the object and the plane. Which of the following gives the acceleration of the object?

  A. a = g sin θ

  B. a = g (sin θ – cos θ)

  C. a = g (cos θ – µ sin θ)

  D. a = g (sin θ – µ cos θ)

  Correct Answer: D

  The force of gravity down the plane is given by Fg = mg sin θ.

  The frictional force is given by Ff = µ mg cos θ.

  Thus, we can set up the overall equation: Fnet = Fg – Ff.

  Applying Newton's Second Law, we can rewrite the equation as: ma = Fg – Ff.

  Substituting the equations given for Ff and Fg we get: ma = mg sin θ – µ mg cos θ.

  Canceling out “m” throughout the equation and factoring out the “g” leaves us with: a = g (sin θ – µ cos θ).

  Thus, choice (D) is the right answer.

• Question 29:

  Which option is not an example of vertical social mobility?

  A. An individual loses his job and becomes homeless.

  B. An individual is promoted to a much more powerful position within the same company.

  C. An individual changes jobs and moves to a similar position at another company.

  D. All options are examples of vertical social mobility.

  Correct Answer: C

  Vertical social mobility involves a change in status. Moving to a similar position would not affect an individual's status.

• Question 30:

  The son of a bricklayer goes to college and i) becomes a teacher at a medical school, ii) gets promoted to tenured professor, and iii) moves across the country for a new tenured professor position at a different school. Sequentially, this man has experienced:

  A. intergenerational mobility with respect to the father, horizontal mobility, horizontal mobility

  B. intragenerational mobility with respect to the son, upward mobility, upward mobility

  C. intergenerational mobility with respect to the father, upward mobility, horizontal mobility

  D. intragenerational mobility with respect to the son, horizontal mobility, upward mobility

  Correct Answer: C

  Intragenerational mobility, also called career mobility, describes a change in an individual's social standing during the course of an individual's lifetime. Intragenerational mobility most often occurs through promotions and demotions at work.

  Intergenerational mobility involves a change in social standing across generations, such as when an upper class family loses their fortune and the next generation all become tradesmen. Alternatively, children of a working class family might

  work very hard to increase their social standing through education and career advancement.

  a)incorrect. The promotion is an example of upward rather than horizontal mobility. Horizontal mobility refers to a move within the same category of status, e.g. taking a job in a new location with equivalent title to a former job. Vertical mobility,

  which may be upward or downward, refers to moving from one social level to another.

  b)incorrect. The transfer is an example of horizontal rather than vertical mobility.

  c)correct.

  d)incorrect. The promotion is upward mobility and the transfer is horizontal mobility.