MCAT practice questions
A 28-year-old male comes to a clinic concerned that he has pancreatic cancer.
Review of his medical records shows that this is the fourth time in the past year that
the patient has appeared for medical attention. No identifiable medical problem is
found. When confronted with this history, he confesses that he feels relieved after
being told that all of the tests are negative, but soon becomes worried again that he
has cancer. Based on the information, the most likely diagnosis for this patient would
be:
■major depressive disorder.
■illness anxiety disorder.
■conversion disorder.
■narcissistic personality disorder. - CORRECT ANSWER-illness anxiety disorder (In
illness anxiety disorder, the person is preoccupied with fears that he has—or will
come down with—a serious disease, and these fears continue even after medical
exams and tests have returned negative results.)
A child has experienced nervous system damage and can no longer coordinate the
movements to dribble a basketball, although she can walk. Which region of the
central nervous system was most likely affected?
■Forebrain
■Midbrain
■Hindbrain
■Spinal Cord - CORRECT ANSWER-Hindbrain (The hindbrain is responsible for
balance and motor coordination, which would be necessary for dribbling a
basketball. The midbrain, choice (B), manages sensorimotor reflexes that also
promote survival. The forebrain, choice (A), is associated with emotion, memory, and
higher-order cognition. The spinal cord, choice (D), is likely not damaged as the child
can still walk.)
A Cuban-American man living in the United States has the dominant physical
features of a black man. He speaks Spanish, prefers Latin foods, and listens to Latin
music. His preferences are best defined through which of the following attributes?
I. Race
II. Ethnicity
III. Culture
A) I only
B) II only
C) II and III only
D) I, II, and III - CORRECT ANSWER-C (Although one's dominant physical features
are associated with race, this man's preferences are those of Latino ethnicity and
,culture. Ethnicity is a social construct that considers language, religion, nationality,
and cultural factors. Culture relates to a group's way of life; the preferences listed in
the question are examples of material and symbolic culture.)
A double-stranded RNA genome isolated from a virus was found to contain 15%
uracil. What percentage of guanine should exist in this virus''s genome?
■15%
■35%
■70%
■85% - CORRECT ANSWER-35% (The percentage of uracil must equal that of
adenine due to base-pairing. This accounts for 30% of the genome. The remaining
70% must be split evenly between guanine and cytosine, so they each account for
35% of the genome.)
A group of men and women are going to be rated on their driving abilities. The role of
gender is emphasized in the experiment and the women perform worse than the
men. In another experiment the role of gender is not mentioned and the ratings are
comparable between the two groups. Which principle do these results support?
■Institutional discrimination
■Stereotype threat
■Prejudice
■The just-world hypothesis - CORRECT ANSWER-Stereotype threat (Stereotype
threat refers to the concept of people being concerned or anxious about confirming a
negative stereotype about their social group. Stereotype threat can hinder
performance, creating a self-fulfilling prophecy.)
A medical student is feeling a high level of stress due to upcoming exams and
pressure from his family to engage in activities at home. He chooses to go the gym
for a workout to help himself relax. This workout is which type of stress?
■Hassle
■Frustration
■Distress
■Eustress - CORRECT ANSWER-Eustress (A positive stressor creates eustress.
Because working out is used to relax, it is considered a eustress. Hassle, choice (A),
and frustration, choice (B), are both types of distress, choice (C), or negative
stressors.)
A nine-year-old girl is brought to the pediatrician. Her parents describe that any time
she is startled, she appears to collapse and fall asleep. She also complains of
waking up in the morning unable to move. Which sleep disorder should be
suspected?
■Insomnia
■Sleep deprivation
■Narcolepsy
, ■Sleep apnea - CORRECT ANSWER-Narcolepsy (The patient and her parents are
describing cataplexy (a sudden loss of muscle tone and intrusion of REM sleep
during waking hours, usually in response to a startling or emotional trigger) and
sleep paralysis (an inability to move despite being awake, usually when waking up in
the morning). These symptoms are highly suggestive of narcolepsy; in fact, some
consider cataplexy to be pathognomonic for (absolutely indicative of) the disorder.)
A patient comes in with a tumor of the pituitary gland, which grows upwards into the
optic chiasm and causes a visual field defect. The most likely defect from
compression of the optic chiasm is:
A) complete blindness in one eye.
B) loss of the upper visual fields in both eyes.
C) loss of the nasal visual fields in both eyes.
D) loss of the temporal visual fields in both eyes. - CORRECT ANSWER-D (The
optic chiasm houses the crossing fibers from each optic nerve. Specifically, the fibers
coming from the nasal half of the retina in each eye cross in the chiasm to join the
optic tract on the opposite side. Remember that the lens of the eye causes inversion,
so images on the nasal half of the retina actually originate in the temporal visual
field. This condition is called bitemporal hemianopsia.)
A rat is trained to press a lever to obtain food under a fixed-interval schedule. Which
of the following behaviors would the rat most likely exhibit?
A) Pressing the lever continuously whenever it is hungry.
B) Pressing the lever exactly once and waiting for the food pellet before pressing it
again.
C) Pressing the lever slowly at first, but with increasing frequency as the end of the
interval approaches.
D) None of the above; the association formed by fixed-interval schedules is too weak
to increase behavior. - CORRECT ANSWER-C (In a fixed-interval schedule, the
desired behavior is rewarded the first time it is exhibited after the fixed interval has
elapsed. Both fixed-interval and fixed-ratio schedules tend to show this
phenomenon: almost no response immediately after the reward is given, but the
behavior increases as the rat gets close to receiving the reward.)
A researcher uses a partial-report procedure after presenting participants with an
array of nine numbers for a fraction of a second. Which of the following is the most
likely result of this procedure?
A) The participant will be able to recall any of the rows or columns in great detail but
only immediately after presentation.
B) The participant will only be able to recall the first few numbers in the array due to
the serial position effect.
C) The participant will be able to recall approximately seven of the numbers for a few
seconds following presentation of the stimulus.
