Thinking about applying to medical school? You've likely come across the AAMC PREview® professional readiness exam, and if you're wondering what it's all about, you're in the right place. It's a tool designed to give medical schools a clearer picture of how you might handle real-world professional situations.
At its heart, the PREview exam is a Situational Judgment Test (SJT). This means it presents you with various scenarios you might encounter in a healthcare setting and asks you to choose the most effective and least effective ways to respond. The goal isn't to test your medical knowledge, but rather your understanding of professional behaviors – things like communication, ethical judgment, and teamwork.
It's interesting to see how different medical schools are approaching this assessment. For instance, the University of Alabama at Birmingham's Heersink School of Medicine is making it highly recommended for the 2025 application cycle, with plans to require it for all applicants starting in 2026. On the other hand, the University of California, Davis, School of Medicine has made it a requirement for all 2025 applicants to consider their application complete. Some schools, like the University of California, Irvine, School of Medicine, accept it for research purposes only, while others, like Mercer University School of Medicine, require it for an application to be considered complete. Howard University College of Medicine, for example, recommends it for research purposes during the 24-25 admissions cycle.
Understanding your PREview score report is key. The AAMC has a streamlined system for this, and they offer resources to help you grasp how the exam is scored and what your percentile rank means. It's all about seeing how your responses stack up against those of other test-takers.
Reporting your scores is also a straightforward process, designed to get your results to the medical schools and health professions programs you're applying to. The key takeaway here is that while the PREview exam is becoming increasingly significant, its role and requirements can vary from one institution to another. It’s always best to check the specific admissions requirements for each school you’re interested in.
