What is the hardest graduate school admissions examination?

I'm guessing, by the contour of the discussion, that none of you have taken either of said tests...are your arguments based purely on speculation? Or are you all just retards bickering senselessly about things you know nothing about? Just take the test and do well. Or, give up on your 'dreams' which are more than likely your parents' ambitions vicariously toying with you like a puppet on strings.

First off, there are some statements that people said that I would like to quickly dispute...

As was already disputed earlier (but I would like to re-iterate), you definitely CANNOT memorize for the MCAT. After a reasonable amount of studying (i.e. reading all the very basic content once or twice), there is absolutely no correlation between how much someone knows (how many facts or how much that person has memorized) and how well he or she does on the MCAT. As was pointed out, this is simply due to the nature of the test (it is a critical thinking test). For the argument in favor of MCAT being harder based on a 40/45 being amazing, I would disagree by saying that the scoring of a test does not indicate in any way the difficulty of it. The scoring for the MCAT (just like any other standardized test) is pretty random and cannot be compared to a different standardized test because the scoring methods are all very very different. The only REAL way of comparing is through percentiles. For example, over the past two years, the highest score on the MCAT was a 43 because each individual score (out of 15) is graded on a curve, not the entire test (otherwise it would make sense that the person who did best would have received a 45)... I do not believe this is the case with the LSAT (the whole test is curved, thus, the people with the best scores are given the best score, a 180). Anyways, point is that a 38/45 is 99%, and so is like a 175/180... really can't compare the two other than saying that both students did equally well because they both got the same percentile. Also, someone said the LSAT is significantly longer than the MCAT... I think they are about the same actually (and the old paper MCAT used to be much longer than the LSAT).

Alright, now to answer the actual question (sorry I am bored so typing a lot)...

I think the MCAT is harder for some of the same reasons other people posted and for others. First, it has a harder verbal section than the LSAT (princeton review has done research showing the MCAT verbal is the hardest, followed by LSAT, followed by GRE then SAT)... go do a verbal section for MCAT, do a verbal section of the LSAT, score them both (using percentiles) and compare... you will do much better on the LSAT one (I've tried it!).

Additionally, for the MCAT you have to memorize and think critically, while for the LSAT you only have the latter (a point someone else made too), thus making the MCAT more work (which most people would equate to being harder).

Finally, I have studied and taken the MCAT (and taken practice tests at different intervals of studying) and I have also NOT studied and taken a full-length LSAT (I was bored and both my roommates were doing it). Anyways, long story short is that it took me THREE months of hardcore studying for the MCAT to finally hit 80%, but my first and only LSAT without studying I was at 80% (meaning they both are good enough scores to get in)... so definitely the MCAT is harder in the sense that its a lot more work. As for being able to improve, I agree that its hard to improve in the LSAT because you can't just go study more (theres really nothing to study) but what people don't realize is that its the same for the MCAT (after you have that inital knowledge, additional studying doesn't help at all score wise).

In reality, it probably just depends on what you are good at (if, for example, you are absolutely terrible at puzzles and logic games, the MCAT will probably be easier because its a different type of critical thinking). But because of my own personal experiences (and by comparing the only similar section, the verbal), I will vote for MCAT as the harder one.

Both the LSAT and the MCAT are in my mind the hardest for two different reasons. The LSAT draws its difficulty from the nature of the test. The games and arguments that are in the test are something that is never really taught in class, and can be hard to study. Has Fariz said you could theoretically memorize everything on the MCAT while you can't do that with the LSAT.

However the MCAT is just an insane test in and of itself. The low scores are proof of this, with getting a 40/45 being considered amazing. It is obvious that this test is something that can't be done really easily, despite the nature of the test.

In the end I think the MCAT is the hardest test in terms of just the test, the low scores in spite of long hours studying and taking classes in the subjects for 2-3 years before taking the test. However the LSAT is the harder test to study for as there isn't a preset information set to study from like there is with the MCAT.

I really don't think the two are comparable in any sense other than it being a grad school requirement. The MCATs requires learning and retaining a shitton of information, and having the ability to apply it to questions that have manipulated that aforementioned knowledge. On the other hand, LSATs necessitate logic and the ability to analyze. Even the structure of the exams are not analogous in any sense (for instance, the LSATs are significantly longer than the MCATs.) If both were akin, however, I would have to say the MCATs-simply because the MCATs require comprehension of exigent difficult information plus the logic required to answer each question, whereas the LSATs just requires that same logic.

Out of all the tests the LSAT is the hardest, not because of the content, because I will concede that the MCAT is the hardest content wise, but due to the logical nature of the test. One can study constantly for the LSAT, however it is impossible to memorize what's on the test. With everything else, such as the OAT, the PCAT, or the MCAT, the test taker can sit there and memorize everything that can potentially be on the test. Therefore, due to the fact that it is impossible to actually know the questions will be on the LSAT until the person actually steps into the room, while the person taking something such as the MCAT can spend time memorizing until the time of the test.