How to study for the mcat essay section?

[KingJames23]

I'm not the greatest essay writer. I hear they give you a statement and you have to write an essay that shows evidence either supporting or reject the statement given. What if you blank out? What if you don't know what to write about?How can you prepare for this?

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[RokKidA]

Just randomly go through the list of prompts listed by the aamc. If you have trouble coming up with examples to write about, just write down examples/counter examples that you could think of for each prompt. If you have trouble with timing, maybe you would benefit better by writing out a few essays or an outline of what you would write.

It's difficult to blank out since there are so many examples that you can use for multiple prompts.

Here is the list of aamc prompts:
http://www.aamc.org/students/mcat/preparing/writingsampleitems.htm

 

[surftheiop]

Just randomly go through the list of prompts listed by the aamc. If you have trouble coming up with examples to write about, just write down examples/counter examples that you could think of for each prompt. If you have trouble with timing, maybe you would benefit better by writing out a few essays or an outline of what you would write.

It's difficult to blank out since there are so many examples that you can use for multiple prompts.

Here is the list of aamc prompts:
http://www.aamc.org/students/mcat/preparing/writingsampleitems.htm

So for the part of the essay where we explain what the statement means, is it ok to refer directly to the statement?

 

[bigballer27]

thats a lotttt of topics to go through, but i think u can notice a trend once u spend 15-20 min reading some of them. i read somewhere about a thesis and antithesis, whats that all about?

 

[Malayna]

I followed the formula my MCAT course gave me and it worked out fine. Maybe spend some time brain storming the list of prompts (I used the one from my MCAT class, but AAMC I suspect is just as good if not better). I used to think about the essays on my way to and from campus, and that was plenty.

 

[J ROD]

just dont....it does not really count that much...

 

[RokKidA]

So for the part of the essay where we explain what the statement means, is it ok to refer directly to the statement?

According to Kaplan, you should refer directly back to the prompt only to clarify any specific words in the statement that need clarifying before you discuss the meaning of the statement as a whole. When explaining what the statement means, you should only be referring to your thesis statement explaining when and why the prompt holds true. Kaplan encourages their students to focus on making the bulk of their explanation oriented toward examples to support the thesis, so you will mainly be using the prompt to formulate your thesis.

thats a lotttt of topics to go through, but i think u can notice a trend once u spend 15-20 min reading some of them. i read somewhere about a thesis and antithesis, whats that all about?

Thesis, Antithesis, and Synthesis are words used by the Princeton Review (and maybe others) to describe the 3 objectives of the essay.
Thesis is when you explain what the statement means; when and why it is valid.
Antithesis is when you describe a case in which the prompt is not true. Synthesis is when you explain the circumstances/factors that determine when the prompt is and is not true.

 

[PRamos]

According to Kaplan, you should refer directly back to the prompt only to clarify any specific words in the statement that need clarifying before you discuss the meaning of the statement as a whole. When explaining what the statement means, you should only be referring to your thesis statement explaining when and why the prompt holds true. Kaplan encourages their students to focus on making the bulk of their explanation oriented toward examples to support the thesis, so you will mainly be using the prompt to formulate your thesis.



Thesis, Antithesis, and Synthesis are words used by the Princeton Review (and maybe others) to describe the 3 objectives of the essay.
Thesis is when you explain what the statement means; when and why it is valid.
Antithesis is when you describe a case in which the prompt is not true. Synthesis is when you explain the circumstances/factors that determine when the prompt is and is not true.

I love how prep companies take the most obvious things taught in high school and call it their formula. Basically you need to argue the semantics and complete the three assigned tasks.

 

[RokKidA]

I love how prep companies take the most obvious things taught in high school and call it their formula. Basically you need to argue the semantics and complete the three assigned tasks.

Yup, if it wasn't for the online prep materials, Kaplan would not be worth the $$$ spent to take the class.

 

[surftheiop]

According to Kaplan, you should refer directly back to the prompt only to clarify any specific words in the statement that need clarifying before you discuss the meaning of the statement as a whole. When explaining what the statement means, you should only be referring to your thesis statement explaining when and why the prompt holds true. Kaplan encourages their students to focus on making the bulk of their explanation oriented toward examples to support the thesis, so you will mainly be using the prompt to formulate your thesis.



Thesis, Antithesis, and Synthesis are words used by the Princeton Review (and maybe others) to describe the 3 objectives of the essay.
Thesis is when you explain what the statement means; when and why it is valid.
Antithesis is when you describe a case in which the prompt is not true. Synthesis is when you explain the circumstances/factors that determine when the prompt is and is not true.

Ok so the thesis of my essay should just be explaining when the prompt is true?

For some reason this didnt really come across to me when I took my first practice test, I guess the pressure and time constraints made it tough to understand the directions.

(Its weird, they give such specific directions that makes it seem like they almost want three seperate mini-essays but I guess they are just trying to keep people on topic)

 

[KingJames23]

Ok, so you get two random statements right? Or do you get a list to choose from? Also, I went through them and I ended up not getting a clue of what to write about for some of them? Is this a bad sign or what?

 

[RokKidA]

Ok, so you get two random statements right? Or do you get a list to choose from? Also, I went through them and I ended up not getting a clue of what to write about for some of them? Is this a bad sign or what?

You get 2 random prompts, you cannot choose, and you have to do both of them. If you can't think of any topics right now, it's fine, just casually read a few articles, magazines, journals, news on the internet to gain some inspiration-sports, history, science, economics etc. You have a lot of time to plan out your essay during the test, so you shouldn't have trouble.

Plus J DUB is right--graders only spend a few seconds reading each essay anyways (I heard it was 15 sec), so med schools don't really care about the writing section. Don't stress yourself out over it.