The topic of your essay on the MCAT

[Lisochka]

I always had problems writing essays and just wanted to prepare.
What was your topic of the essay on the MCAT? Was it about politics, or about nature, or about racism, or about space, or about drugs....
Please name it...
thank you in advance

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[MediMama23]

AAMC gives you some prompts to look at and prepare with:

http://www.aamc.org/students/mcat/about/wsitems.htm

I don't know if they'll choose from them or come up with new ones, but I think their topics are generally along the lines of government, politics, business, education, advertising, technology, progress, etc.

 

[kypdurron5]

AAMC gives you some prompts to look at and prepare with:

http://www.aamc.org/students/mcat/about/wsitems.htm

I don't know if they'll choose from them or come up with new ones, but I think their topics are generally along the lines of government, politics, business, education, advertising, technology, progress, etc.

Thanks for the link, and let me say, holy cow that's a long list of prompts!

 

[Lisochka]

thank you for the link.
So the topics on the MCAT were pretty much similar to those in the link?

 

[MediMama23]

thank you for the link.
So the topics on the MCAT were pretty much similar to those in the link?

The AAMC tests I've seen haven't strayed very far from these.

 

[OneBadSkwerl]

Human behaviour is guided by an individual's own self interest

Government should have the right to regulate the media content provided to it's citizens

(Roughly, it has been a few years)

 

[NapeSpikes]

The mods throw a fit if we post actual mcat questions. Mine were pretty generic, one about leadership and the other about the usefulness of the internet.

 

[Lisochka]

thank you guys!
So if you were me (an English Second Language person who got a C in English few years ago) how would you prepare for the essay on the MCAT?
I was thinking to retake the class and may be practice by writing on those topics from the link. But the spelling mistakes... I usually make lot's of them 🙁

 

[kypdurron5]

The mods throw a fit if we post actual mcat questions. Mine were pretty generic, one about leadership and the other about the usefulness of the internet.

Hehe, I had the internet one- I wrote about database programming structure as the solution. Only got me a P >(.

 

[Sol Rosenberg]

thank you guys!
So if you were me (an English Second Language person who got a C in English few years ago) how would you prepare for the essay on the MCAT?
I was thinking to retake the class and may be practice by writing on those topics from the link. But the spelling mistakes... I usually make lot's of them 🙁

I think the TPR (Flowers & Silver) book does the best job of describing how to tackle the WS section. Since the WS section doesn't count nearly as much as the others, I wouldn't waste too much time preparing for it, especially not by retaking a class. Write the essays when you take your full-length MCAT practice test. For some of the the AAMC tests, sample "good answers" are on the AAMC website.

Take a look at the TPR book and just apply that formula. If you practice by writing the essays in the 7 AAMC exams, that should be enough practice.

Jota

 

[lorelei]

The biggest thing is just following the instructions - you HAVE to explain what the statement means, then give a counterexample, then explain what determines when/whether the statement applies. The directions are always like that, and if you do each of the tasks, you're guaranteed at least 4/6 points (which generally maps to about a P overall, and that's a fine score). And if you don't do them all, you can't get more than 3/6.

Spelling mistakes are not supposed to count against you unless they keep the essay from being readable.

 

[snobored18]

As someone who pulled an S on the writing section...the keys are clarity, structure, tense agreement and making sure you avoid common grammar pitfalls...the content of your essay doesn't matter as long as you can structure your essay into a 5 paragraph format (or whatever Kaplan/PR are recomending these days)...i think i went with intro, thesis, anti-thesis, paragraph determining when each example is pertinent, brief closing...all the content was purely BS, very little of it was true because the biggest mistake people hit is trying to write this essay like a typical college essay where you obviously can't make things up...you can on the writing sample and if you are stuck just make up an example...your essay is never fact checked or read for content...they just want to make sure you have effective written communication skills not that you have mastered history...oh and big words do you no good if you really don't know how to properly use them...ie tense doesn't make sense, the word muddies up your writing...