Written Section: I guess I should have cared

[EMH]

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The general concencious I got about the written section is people didn't care about it. I guess I should have cared a bit more. My essays were both brief, but I thought they were on the topic and answered the questions with good flow. Guess I was wrong. 11-11-14 **L**

Now I'm wondering if I should retake because of an L. I'm not sure if I could ever match a 36 again so I don't know.

 

[JulietsMonster]

I really feel that Kaplan gave me false hope (I made all S's but on the real thing I got an M).... They made it seem like so cut and dry. Oh well!

 

[4s4]

Oh God, you guys are scaring me. People got 6's on their practice exam and only got M on the real thing? What are they looking for anyway?

So Kaplan is all bs with the whole idea about how you'll get 4/6 for completing the tasks? Argh....great.

 

[mnc4tib]

I got a 36L, too. 3rd to 9th percentile... what the hell?

 

[Mister Pie]

I think the writing score only matters if you are trying to go to a Canadian school.

Or if your PS and secondary essays are riddled with errors.

 

[ChymeChancellor]

so anyone think the fact that I accidentally ripped off the wrong side of the booklet have anything to do with my low score? (really I have no idea).

Muahahahah.... I did the same thing. Those books to write in were so confusing!

 

[ChymeChancellor]

I got a 36L, too. 3rd to 9th percentile... what the hell?

Someone has to be at the bottom of the curve! 😛

 

[JulietsMonster]

Well I finally heard back from the lady on the Baylor board and she said that they really dont pay attention to the writing sample grade.
The only piece of advice she did give me is that they are concentrating on service/leadership. She said I needed 3-4 minimum. Anyway hope this helps!

 

[Mr. Tee]

I heard that you're almost guaranteed to get a 4/6 if you complete the 3 tasks and have average English skills (i.e. not too may mistakes, messed up sentences etc). What would this translate to roughly in the letter score? Around O or P? So I guess if you get below that, does it mean one or more of the tasks was not completed?

Is this 4/6 guarantee just a rumor or is it true?

I think the 4/6 thing is true. this is what I learned in my Kaplan class.....so that's what I trained myself to do while writing the essays. Add some pretty words and sophistication to get a 5/6 or 6/6 on each essay. I simply did all of the tasks, threw in some creative setences and vocabulary here and there, and got an S. The most important thing is to sufficiently complete the tasks.

 

[BigKurz]

I think the 4/6 thing is true. this is what I learned in my Kaplan class.....so that's what I trained myself to do while writing the essays. Add some pretty words and sophistication to get a 5/6 or 6/6 on each essay. I simply did all of the tasks, threw in some creative setences and vocabulary here and there, and got an S. The most important thing is to sufficiently complete the tasks.

From what I remember about the WS i did the same thing and ended up with an M. I really don't know what to make of it....but i'm not really concerned. Write a nice PS and submit mistake-free secondaries and it'll be completely overlooked.

 

[happydays]

The general concencious I got about the written section is people didn't care about it. I guess I should have cared a bit more. My essays were both brief, but I thought they were on the topic and answered the questions with good flow. Guess I was wrong. 11-11-14 **L**

Now I'm wondering if I should retake because of an L. I'm not sure if I could ever match a 36 again so I don't know.

at least you didn't get a J.

 

[Entirecropslost]

What did me in I'm sure is the politicians and lifestyle's question. That question was messed up!!!!! I almost wanted to right on it that I struggled with this essay not because I can't write but because it was a ******ed question

 

[DougFlutie]

I think the 4/6 thing is true. this is what I learned in my Kaplan class.....so that's what I trained myself to do while writing the essays. Add some pretty words and sophistication to get a 5/6 or 6/6 on each essay. I simply did all of the tasks, threw in some creative setences and vocabulary here and there, and got an S. The most important thing is to sufficiently complete the tasks.

I've been thinking about this whole deal, and I've decided that the rubric favors those who answer the prompt succinctly. I mean, I wrote about one and a quarter page for each prompt, finishing 10 minutes early both times, and got a T. I wrote the simplest essays humanly possible, with absolutely no fluff or filler, just an intro, a thesis, a main argument, counter argument, and conclusion. That's all. I didn't use a single word that was worthy of a thesaurus or attempt any forays into creative writing.

I just have a feeling that with premedical students being such an overacheaving bunch, most of them pursued unnecessarily elaborate trains of thought and never actually answered or evaluated the prompt that was given.

Edit: I just read someones response who said they did the same thing I did and got an L or something. So, I guess it is a crapshoot.

 

[n0chi]

so for the people that got good scores, what is the actual thing to do on the ws. i know we are given some neutral subject, with 3 things to do. do we just write the traditional 5p essay for each prompt, with those 3 things as the body and an intro and a conclusion???

 

[LifetimeDoc]

so for the people that got good scores, what is the actual thing to do on the ws. i know we are given some neutral subject, with 3 things to do. do we just write the traditional 5p essay for each prompt, with those 3 things as the body and an intro and a conclusion???

Pretty much.

Note: I got good numerical scores, but a so-so essay score (33N). My handwriting is horrible, so I'm sticking with that as the reason for my lower score! 😀 I got N and O on previous MCATs.

 

[Haemulon]

so for the people that got good scores, what is the actual thing to do on the ws. i know we are given some neutral subject, with 3 things to do. do we just write the traditional 5p essay for each prompt, with those 3 things as the body and an intro and a conclusion???

Exactly. Got me an R.