The Writing Section: To Skip or Not to Skip...

[sicboy188]

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Let me first preface this thread with a please dont flame the newbie plea... i search the forum on my dilemma to no avail.

Do you skip the writing section when taking practice tests?

I'm not necc worried about my rhetorical skills and how the practice will help writing a timed essay. I'm more concerned with my testing stamina. If I skip the writing section, am i unfairly getting a leg up on the BS by not having gone through a 60 min exposition on why i think competition is and is not good for business.

Does anybody worry about this? What's a confident (read: lazy) writer to do?

thanks in advance.

(and feel free to point out my grammatical errors in this post)

 

[Doctor Bagel]

I've got to admit I did, but I wouldn't recommend it. The writing section is indeed the least important part of the MCAT, but it's ideal to try to simulate the real exam as closely as possible. That fatigue is a factor. So yes it sucks, but do it.

 

[iA-MD2013]

my plan (which seems like what most successful test takers have done) is to skip it until the last 2-3 weeks before the test. and the most important thing is stamina at that point. but if you feel like doing the writing portion every once in a while...go for it. the time would probably be better spent practicing verbal though...

 

[Vihsadas]

I've got to admit I did, but I wouldn't recommend it. The writing section is indeed the least important part of the MCAT, but it's ideal to try to simulate the real exam as closely as possible. That fatigue is a factor. So yes it sucks, but do it.

Yeah, it's definitely important for the fatigue factor. I often joked with my buddy that the point of the writing section had nothing to do with seeing how well you could communicate on paper, but rather, was designed just to tire you out so that the grades on the bio section would be lower.

 

[physics junkie]

I skipped them. Got a Q on the real thing. All I did was read the sample essays and the explanation of why it got the grade it did the night before the MCAT. That said, I think a Q was a pretty ****ty score since I read 2-3 hours a day, everyday. I don't get fatigued during tests so that wasn't an issue for me. Even my SAT back in high school showed that my scores for every section were the same...I don't lose focus easily on a test.

 

[sicboy188]

thanks for all the advice... in the end ive decided to not skip the writing sample section during practice. yea its sucks, but A) i have some at kaplan to grade my essays and b) id much rather work out my fatigue issues now (taking the May 27 test) and maybe devise a plan along the way.

incidentally, i took a practice full length today and for the first time broke 30... well actually, i got exactly 30 (PS 9 VR 9 BS 12). the interesting part is, im convinced that the writing section gave me a boat load of confidence going into the BS. i got slammed in the first two sections (am actually surprised i got 9s in both) and performed better than i have on the BS.

 

[Blade28]

If you're going to take a practice test, take the entire test. It doesn't matter if the writing sample won't get graded on your practice test - you need to work on stamina. Plus it doesn't hurt to practice writing based on some of the sample prompts.

And if you can get the writing sample graded, so much the better!

 

[What up doc]

the thing about doing the writing section all the time for me is that i find my writing gets more the more i do it. the same style the same boring transistions and then i find myself really lacking in creativity...hence, iv decided to chill a little on the wiritng section so that i can come up with fresh ideas again...that said, the stamina thing does kinda worry me....

 

[hypnix]

I see the writing section as a break especially since we get to type instead of write it out. I figured it won't take more than 15 minutes to do and I'll just read and relax while I wait for the time to go up. Hopefully I won't get impatient and just move on. Either way, it's the least stressful part of the test and should leave ample time to relax so I'm going to try to take advantage of it since we don't have like a hour break for lunch.

 

[nepatslvr]

FWIW what I found interesting about the writing section and stamina was that it didn't sap my stamina but actually boosted it. I didn't do one practice test with the writing section included (in fact, I only did one practice writing section at all during my studying and it was the night before the exam- I wouldn't recommend this lol) and when I got to test day, the writing section actually functioned like a break. I mean, yes you have come up with stuff and actually type, but I found it nice to be able to rely on my own ideas for an hour and not worry about picking the correct multiple choice answer or trying to decipher some ridiculous passage. When I took the bio section I actually felt a little bit revived!