MCAT 2027 Changes: Test Dates, Registration Deadlines, and What’s New

If you are planning to take the MCAT in 2027, the AAMC has published the complete 2027 test dates, score-release schedule, and registration calendar. There are also changes to official MCAT preparation resources worth knowing before you finalize your study plan.

One of the most important updates is the introduction of a new CARS Question Bank containing 575 questions, including 166 new questions.

These changes do not mean students need to completely rethink how they prepare for the MCAT. They do, however, make it important to understand the available resources, plan your testing timeline carefully, and use practice material strategically.

After years of teaching medical sciences and working with premedical students, one of the patterns I see repeatedly is that students sometimes focus too much on accumulating study hours and not enough on identifying why they are missing questions.

Knowing information and being able to apply information are different skills. The MCAT rewards application.

That distinction should guide how you approach the 2027 testing year.

2027 MCAT Calendar at a Glance

MCAT registration opened October 20–22, 2026, depending on your testing-center location. The 2027 testing calendar runs from January through September. When choosing your MCAT test date, check the scheduled score release date and scheduling deadlines—not just the exam date.

The calendar below lists all 2027 U.S. test dates. For every available date and location restriction, consult the official AAMC MCAT testing calendar.

What Is Changing for the 2027 MCAT?

The AAMC has not announced a structural redesign or new content sections for the MCAT. For students preparing for 2027, the important point is that the examination continues to consist of four sections:

• Chemical and Physical Foundations of Biological Systems
• Critical Analysis and Reasoning Skills
• Biological and Biochemical Foundations of Living Systems
• Psychological, Social, and Biological Foundations of Behavior

Each section is scored from 118 to 132, and the MCAT total score ranges from 472 to 528. Your preparation should address all four sections, even when one subject feels more familiar than another. See the AAMC MCAT score scale for details.

The major updates for the 2027 testing year involve the registration process, testing calendar, score-release schedule, and official AAMC preparation resources.

Students should therefore think about 2027 MCAT planning in two separate ways:

First, understand when registration opens and when you realistically want to test.

Second, build a preparation strategy that allows your performance—not an arbitrary calendar date—to determine when you are ready.

How Should You Choose Your 2027 MCAT Test Date?

I would not choose an MCAT date simply because registration has opened.

A test date should be the result of a preparation plan, not the starting point of one.

Start with the application cycle in which you intend to apply and work backward.

Consider:

• when your prerequisite coursework will be completed;
• how much uninterrupted study time you realistically have;
• when you expect to begin full-length practice exams;
• whether school, work, research, or clinical responsibilities will interfere with preparation;
• when your score will be released; and
• whether your testing date leaves enough time to adjust your application strategy if your score is different from what you expected.

The goal isn't to take the MCAT as early as possible.

The goal is to take it when you are prepared while preserving an effective application timeline.

Is April 17, 2027, a Good Target for Early AMCAS Submission?

For a student who wants an MCAT score available before submitting AMCAS early in the application cycle, I would use April 17, 2027, as a comfortable planning target. Its scheduled score release date is May 18, 2027, according to the AAMC calendar.

This is my advising recommendation, not an official AMCAS deadline. You can submit AMCAS before your MCAT score is available. A later test date may still fit your application plan, but consider when the score will reach schools, whether you will have time to revise your school list, and how much flexibility remains for a retake. Being prepared for the exam matters more than forcing an April appointment.

Leave Room for a Possible MCAT Retake

If you want flexibility for a retake, leave room to receive your first score, evaluate your performance, and address weaknesses while keeping your plan on track for your intended application cycle. Taking two exams close together may leave little time for meaningful improvement. Build your MCAT study schedule around a diagnostic, realistic weekly study hours, and full-length practice results.

The AAMC also limits repeat testing: no more than three attempts in one testing year, four attempts across two consecutive testing years, and seven lifetime attempts. You may hold only one MCAT appointment at a time. Review the official testing attempt limits before building a retake plan.

2027 MCAT Test Dates and Score Release Calendar

The 2027 MCAT testing year runs from January through September. No MCAT testing is scheduled in October, November, or December 2027. Plan your test day around the published calendar rather than assuming a late-fall appointment will be available.

The first scheduled exam dates are in January, and testing continues through September. The AAMC publishes the official test dates, scheduling deadlines, and corresponding score-release dates for each administration.

Most students should pay particular attention to the relationship between their test date and score-release date.

MCAT scores are generally released approximately 30 to 35 days after the examination, according to the AAMC's official calendar. Scores are scheduled to be released by 5:00 p.m. ET on the designated release date.

Below is the complete 2027 U.S. MCAT test-date and score-release calendar.

The table below lists 2027 U.S. MCAT test dates and score releases. Dates marked * are offered only at select centers; check the official calendar for locations.

Test date(s)	Score release
Jan. 15, 16	Feb. 16
Jan. 21	Feb. 23
Jan. 29, 30*	March 2
Feb. 12	March 16
March 6	April 6
March 19	April 20
April 9, 10	May 11
April 16, 17	May 18
May 1	June 2
May 7, 8	June 8
May 13, 14*	June 15
May 21	June 23
May 29	June 29
June 11, 12	July 13
June 25, 26	July 27
July 9*, 10	Aug. 10
July 23	Aug. 24
July 30	Aug. 31
Aug. 14	Sept. 14
Aug. 20, 21	Sept. 21
Aug. 28*	Sept. 28
Sept. 2, 3	Oct. 5
Sept. 10, 11	Oct. 12

Source: AAMC U.S. testing calendar. Students seeking seats outside the U.S. should consult the separate Canadian or international locations calendar.

Students should always confirm their exact test date, scheduling deadline, and score-release date using the current AAMC MCAT information before making application decisions.

MCAT Scheduling and Rescheduling Deadlines

The final scheduling cutoff is 10 days before the exam, which is also the last date to reschedule or cancel your appointment. Verify the exact last date for your test date on the official calendar. Deadlines are at 11:59 p.m. local test center time; scores are released by 5 p.m. ET on the scheduled release day. Use the official calendar to check your appointment's 60-, 30-, and 10-day deadlines.

2027 MCAT Registration Opened October 20–22, 2026

Registration and scheduling for the January through September 2027 MCAT testing year opened over three days in October 2026. The date on which you could begin scheduling depended on the location of your preferred testing center. For a full overview of the registration process, see our guide to MCAT registration and scheduling.

October 20, 2026 at noon ET: Registration opens for testing centers in Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vermont, Virginia, and West Virginia. You can confirm your region's opening date on the AAMC's regional registration schedule.

October 21, 2026 at noon ET: Registration opens for Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Washington, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.

October 22, 2026 at noon ET: Registration opens for Canada, other international locations, and U.S. territory testing sites listed in the AAMC Group C schedule.

Use the AAMC registration system to review appointment availability and select testing centers that fit your travel plans. Some dates are offered only at select testing centers, so confirm the actual appointment options before committing to a study timeline.

The AAMC uses an online waiting room when registration opens. Students should log in no more than 15 minutes before noon ET. According to the AAMC, everyone in the waiting room at 11:50 a.m. ET is randomly assigned a place in line. Logging in earlier does not improve your position.

Students who enter after 11:50 a.m. are placed at the end of the line.

That means there is little benefit to sitting at your computer hours before registration opens.

What does matter is being prepared.

Before registration day, know your preferred date, several backup dates, and more than one acceptable testing location. Testing-center capacity is limited, and seats are scheduled on a first-come, first-served basis.

Students hoping for a preferred date in May or June should therefore be prepared to register early and identify backup dates and testing locations before registration opens.

Students with approved accommodations should follow the AAMC's advance-scheduling instructions.

New AAMC CARS Question Bank for 2027

One of the most significant preparation updates for students taking the MCAT in 2027 is the new AAMC CARS Question Bank. For more on how to use official AAMC resources effectively, see our guide to AAMC MCAT practice tests.

The new resource is available as of September 30, 2026 and contains 575 CARS questions. You can review the full details on the AAMC official prep updates.

Of those questions:

• 166 are brand-new questions
• 409 come from existing AAMC CARS resources

The new Question Bank consolidates a substantial amount of official CARS practice into one resource.

Students can purchase the CARS Question Bank separately or obtain it as part of the updated AAMC Online-Only Bundle.

The standalone CARS Question Bank is listed at $70 for one year of access, while the updated Online-Only Bundle is listed at $336.15 for one year.

Students who qualify for the AAMC Fee Assistance Program should review the current AAMC benefits before purchasing preparation products because eligible students may receive official preparation resources as part of those benefits.

What Happened to the Previous AAMC CARS Resources?

As part of the transition to the new CARS Question Bank, the AAMC stopped selling several previous CARS products on September 14, 2026:

• CARS Diagnostic Tool
• CARS Question Pack Volume 1
• CARS Question Pack Volume 2

Students who already purchased these resources can continue using them until their access expires.

The AAMC has also made selected CARS Diagnostic Tool material available for free through its What's on the MCAT Exam? Content Outline Course.

This includes CARS strategy information, practice questions, and video walkthroughs written or reviewed by the AAMC. The Content Outline Course currently includes 130 free practice questions across all four sections of the MCAT.

For students preparing on a limited budget, these free official resources are worth using before assuming that more commercial material is necessary. Our roundup of best free MCAT resources covers additional no-cost options.

How I Would Use the New CARS Question Bank

Having 575 official CARS questions available does not mean your goal should be to finish 575 questions as quickly as possible.

CARS improvement depends heavily on analysis.

After completing a passage, I would want a student to understand:

• Why was the correct answer correct?
• Why was the answer I selected wrong?
• Did I misunderstand the author's argument?
• Did I misinterpret the question?
• Did I bring outside information into the passage?
• Did I eliminate an answer choice for the wrong reason?
• Was timing affecting my reasoning?

A student who carefully analyzes 40 CARS passages may learn considerably more than a student who races through 100.

The number of questions completed is not the objective.

Improving the reasoning process is.

Official AAMC Practice Exams Still Matter

Question banks are useful for developing skills and identifying weaknesses, but they do not replace full-length practice examinations.

Full-length exams help students evaluate endurance, pacing, timing, section-to-section consistency, and overall performance under conditions that more closely resemble the actual MCAT, including whether they are gaining enough points to support their target timeline.

The AAMC currently provides a free scored Practice Exam One and a free Unscored Sample Test, each containing 230 questions. Additional official AAMC practice exams are available for purchase.

As your test date approaches, official full-length examinations become particularly valuable because they provide another source of evidence about whether your preparation is actually working.

Do not simply take a practice exam, look at the score, and move on.

Review it.

The review process is where much of the learning occurs.

How to Analyze Your MCAT Mistakes

One of the most useful changes students can make during MCAT preparation is to stop treating every incorrect answer as the same type of mistake.

When reviewing questions, I recommend identifying why you missed each one.

Common categories include:

• Content deficiency: You did not know or remember the underlying science.
• Reasoning error: You knew the relevant information but applied it incorrectly.
• Passage interpretation: You misunderstood information presented in the passage.
• Question interpretation: You answered a different question from the one actually being asked.
• Timing: Time pressure changed the way you approached the question.
• Answer-choice error: You reached the correct reasoning but selected the wrong answer because you did not carefully distinguish between the remaining choices.

These categories require different solutions.

If you repeatedly miss questions because you do not understand acid-base chemistry or basic biology, you probably need additional content review.

If you know the chemistry but consistently misinterpret experimental passages, reading another chapter may not solve the problem. The MCAT tests whether you can apply foundational science concepts, not just recall them, so you need to work on applying the information within passages and analyzing how the questions are constructed.

This is why simply counting study hours can be misleading.

Two students can each study for 300 hours and achieve very different results depending on how effectively those hours were used.

When Should You Consider Moving Your MCAT Date?

Students sometimes become emotionally attached to an MCAT date because they registered for it months earlier.

But registration is not a promise that you must test on that date.

Your practice performance should provide evidence that you are approaching your target range.

Unfamiliar questions are a reminder to trust your preparation and reasoning instead of panicking.

If your full-length scores remain substantially below the range you need for your application strategy, you should determine why before automatically sitting for the examination.

Moving an exam is not always the correct decision. Delaying can affect your application timeline, and repeatedly postponing without changing your preparation strategy accomplishes very little.

But neither should you take the MCAT simply because the date is approaching.

Changing a plan when the evidence tells you to change it isn't failure. It is good decision-making.

MCAT Registration Fees: Planning for 2027

The AAMC's published standard registration fee for 2027 testing is $360.

For students who qualify for the AAMC Fee Assistance Program, the reduced registration fee is $145. Full details on fees and the Fee Assistance Program are available on the AAMC scheduling fee page.

Students testing outside the United States, Canada, and U.S. territories may also be charged a $130 international fee in addition to the applicable registration fee.

Fee Assistance Program benefits are not retroactive. Students who believe they qualify should review the program and complete the appropriate process before purchasing MCAT products or registering for the exam.

If you expect the reduced registration fee but it does not appear during registration, contact the AAMC before completing the transaction.

How Should You Prepare for the 2027 MCAT?

A strong pre-med MCAT preparation plan should evolve as you gather information about your performance.

Early in preparation, you may need more emphasis on content review. As your knowledge base improves, your preparation should increasingly focus on passage-based questions, reasoning, timing, and full-length examinations.

I generally want students to move from asking:

"How many hours did I study?"

to:

"What did today's studying tell me about what I need to improve?"

Your practice results should guide the next stage of your preparation.

If chemistry and physics performance is consistently strong but CARS remains significantly weaker, spending equal amounts of time on every section may not make sense.

If your content knowledge is strong but you struggle to finish sections on time, additional passive content review may not address the problem.

If your scores fluctuate substantially from one full-length exam to another, you should track whether the variation comes from content gaps, passage difficulty, timing, endurance, or inconsistent reasoning.

Preparation should become increasingly individualized as your test date approaches.

Don't Confuse More Resources With Better Preparation

Students now have access to an enormous number of MCAT books, courses, videos, question banks, flashcards, apps, and study schedules.

That can be useful, but it can also create a problem. Some students also neglect sleep or stress management while chasing more resources.

Students sometimes spend so much time collecting resources that they never develop a coherent preparation strategy.

You do not need every available MCAT product.

You need enough high-quality material to learn the content, practice applying it, identify weaknesses, and measure whether you are improving.

Official AAMC material deserves an important place in that process because it gives students direct exposure to questions and practice examinations produced by the organization that administers the MCAT.

Third-party resources can still be useful, particularly for content review and additional practice, but they should serve a defined purpose within your study plan. See our comparison of the best MCAT prep courses and our guide to MCAT preparation strategy and timeline for more detail.

Before purchasing another resource, ask yourself:

What specific problem am I trying to solve with it?

If you cannot answer that question, another book or question bank may not be what you need.

Planning the MCAT Around Your Medical School Application

Your MCAT strategy should not exist separately from your medical school application strategy.

The exam is one component of a much larger process that also includes your academic record, clinical experience, service, research when applicable, letters of recommendation, personal statement, secondary applications, school selection, and interviews.

This is why choosing a test date requires more than looking at the MCAT calendar.

You need to consider what happens after the examination as well.

Your score may influence the medical schools you target. It may reinforce your existing school list, suggest that the list needs adjustment, or occasionally lead you to reconsider the timing of your application. For context on what scores to aim for, see our guide to the MCAT score range.

Building some flexibility into your timeline gives you more options when those decisions need to be made.

Frequently Asked Questions About the 2027 MCAT

When does registration for the 2027 MCAT open?

Registration and scheduling for January through September 2027 opened October 20–22, 2026, depending on the location of the testing center. Students should check the AAMC registration schedule to determine the correct opening date for their preferred location.

Are there changes to the MCAT itself in 2027?

The AAMC has not announced a structural redesign or new content sections for the 2027 MCAT. The important announced updates involve the testing calendar, registration process, score-release dates, and official preparation resources.

What is the new AAMC CARS Question Bank?

The new AAMC CARS Question Bank contains 575 questions, including 166 new questions and 409 questions from existing AAMC CARS resources. It became available September 30, 2026.

How long does it take to receive an MCAT score?

MCAT scores are generally released approximately 30 to 35 days after the exam. Students should use the official AAMC calendar to confirm the scheduled release date for their specific test date, as each exam date has one listed there.

How early should I take the MCAT?

There is no single correct month for every student. Your test date should reflect your preparation, prerequisite coursework, practice-test performance, and medical school application timeline.

Taking the MCAT earlier is not automatically better if you are not ready. Students aiming for the earliest possible AMCAS timing often prefer spring dates, while later summer dates such as August may delay application decisions.

Should I use only AAMC materials to study?

Not necessarily. Third-party resources can be useful for content review and additional practice. Official AAMC materials, however, should play an important role in preparation because they provide practice material from the organization that develops and administers the MCAT.

Are 2027 MCAT test dates the same at every testing center?

No. Available dates depend on the country and testing location. Some U.S. dates are offered only at select centers. Confirm that your preferred date is available locally and identify backup locations before registration opens.

How do I build a study plan around my MCAT date?

Start your MCAT prep with a diagnostic exam to establish your starting score and identify your strengths and weaknesses. Treat that result as a baseline, not a prediction of your final score. Estimate the study hours you can consistently protect each week, then schedule content review, passage practice, full-length exams, and detailed review. Reassess your timeline as your practice results develop.

Final Thoughts

The 2027 MCAT updates give students additional official preparation material and a clearly defined testing and registration calendar.

But resources and dates alone do not determine MCAT performance.

Your preparation should help you identify weaknesses, understand why you are missing questions, improve your reasoning, and determine whether your practice performance supports taking the examination on your scheduled date.

The strongest students are not necessarily the students who start earliest, buy the most resources, or complete the greatest number of practice questions.

They are often the students who make deliberate decisions, identify weaknesses, respond to evidence, and adjust their preparation when necessary.

That approach is useful not only for the MCAT, but throughout the medical school application process.

Get Help Planning Your MCAT Timeline

MedTrack Mentors helps students evaluate test timing, retake considerations, and how MCAT preparation fits their broader application strategy.

Explore our admissions services or take the free readiness assessment to identify areas to prioritize.

Author

Mario Tomei, MD, MBA, MHA, CHSE

Physician, professor, and founder of MedTrack Mentors. Dr. Tomei has more than 20 years of experience in higher education and has served on a medical school admissions committee.

Last updated: October 29, 2026