Whats up with the Writing Samples?!

[ZekeMD]

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I was very happy when I saw that I scored a 35N on the MCAT this August. When I walked out of the test I was sure that I scored about a 20T. What I don't understand is how my writing score was so low. That was the only section I was sure I did well.

What do the rest of you think?

My stimuli were as follows:

Education makes everyone equal.

and

Successful businesses take advantage of consumer weaknesses.

I thought that I wrote 2 strong essays and then I get a N! I'm not complaining because I am very happy with my overall score but can't understand how this happened.

 

[evines]

I scored exactly what you scored, 35N. It kinda puts a damper on the celebration, doesn't it?

 

[dankev]

Word. I was happy with my numeric score, but an M? The good news is nobody, including me and adcoms, cares about the writing sample.

And for the record, I rite good.

 

[ZekeMD]

Originally posted by evines
I scored exactly what you scored, 35N. It kinda puts a damper on the celebration, doesn't it?

Yeah it does kinda ruin it, but overall I was psyched. I just want to know what the graders had up their asses when they were grading our exams.

 

[indo]

Word is on the streets that the first writing prompt said to give an example of when the statement was true while the second said to give an example of when the statement wasn't true. I misread the second one so if what I heard is true, I didn't follow the directions. That explains my M score...maybe.

 

[thackl]

I think they are also cracking down on these "cut-to-the-chase" TPR and Kaplan formula methods. I wrote some good essays too and got an M. My hand writing probably didn't help either.

 

[king@queens]

I failed to complete the 3rd task for both essays and somehow I got a Q. Thank God.

 

[Selisa]

i thought the writing sample was going to be my worse score since it's been ages since i've written an essay that didn't have to do with science, and because i have ALWAYS sucked with a capital "S" at timed essay writings.

the graders must have been smoking something because i got a Q 😕; i would've been happy with at least an N.

i'm curious...what exactly did you guys write about to answer the prompts, and how was is structured? for both of them, i gave an example to explain what i thought the prompt meant, an example that contradicted the prompt, and then concluded with a statement clarifying when the prompt would be true and when it would be false.

 

[wholehealth]

I heard from someone who grades the essays that the # 1 thing people forget on the writing sample is to define what the statement means. People think they do, but in fact they skip that step and just write an intro paragraph. If you don't do one of the steps, defining being the first, supposedly you can not get above a three on the essay. Most probably get less than that. I think that would be at best an O score, so with an N, I would say one step on each essay was left out. Just my take on the situation, I actually did practice the writing and it paid off.

 

[ewing]

My understanding is that the writing score is completely meaningless. They only administer that section so it will look like a comprehensive test. I did not even start practicing the writing sample until 2 days before the exam, and when I went in there I just wrote some crap. But I tried to make it a unified essay with a thesis statement that was only tangentially related to the actual quote, instead of addressing task 1, then 2, then 3...which I figured would bore any grader to tears. Of course, I made sure that I did all of the tasks...

Anyhow, I got an R...which is very cool...but somehow I don't think that will be the deciding factor that makes or breaks my application. I good friend of mine with an M got into oodles of MD/PhD programs...of course maybe the 13-15 in VR made adcoms a bit less worried about his writng skills.

I hope this helps.

 

[indo]

I imagine our ability to write a coherent admission essay will counteract our impressive writing scores.

So i have a question; We have to write a "personal narrative" for the online app then write various other essays for the secondary applications?

 

[Freakingzooming]

I was thinking the same thing myself... about the weirdness of writing

I got an S.. and I scored an M before. did I practice, redo anything, learn any new technique? no, I just took the essay portion of the test like before.. this time around and made sure to write with complete sentences.

Oh it and it helps to be critical of Microsoft/Bush.. I did that

 

[Pinkertinkle]

I got a L, and I was critical of Bush.

 

[thackl]

My brother got a 36k and no one cared.

 

[R_C_Hutchinson]

yeah, remember:
academia is the great mecca of liberalism.
academics grade the mcat.
:. you may want to write carefully if you're of another political persuasion (not that they grade on that, but subconsicously a person cannot completely put their political beliefs aside when conducting a subjective analysis)

 

[peterockduke]

I got a R.
My handwriting is fairly horrible so I was happy to see that score. Honestly, the MCAT writing reminded me of the SAT II Writing... where you had to compose a short essay, not the editing part (I'm personally a horrible editor). I have always done well in my writing classes though I always make sure an outsider checks for my cruddy grammar etc. I really think if you follow all the directions on the MCAT and write a lot .... you'll do well. You don't even need complex sentence structure or flowerly vocab.
Just like bball - Keep It Simple Stupid <KISS>.

I heard an admission's officer say that the writing score of the MCAT is difficult to interpret/extrapolate. He also said if he sees a high score and a reads a good admission's essay that it will definitely make him think he's dealing with a good writer.

That said, I've heard some schools look at it, some don't - but that section is the least important. So if I read one more - I got a 39K... will that K hurt me?... I'll scream. Yes your K is bad, but nobody cares when they see the eye-popping 39. I actually had a friend who got a 42M and was quite upset over his M. He's at Wash U w/ a full ride... guess he lived.