Guest bev4 Posted July 10, 2003 Report Share Posted July 10, 2003 Is the MCAT Writing Sample going to be used in future instead of the essay on the admissions app? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest summervirus Posted July 10, 2003 Report Share Posted July 10, 2003 Yup. You can read more about it in the FAQ (item 17). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bev4 Posted July 10, 2003 Report Share Posted July 10, 2003 Wow. Thanks for all the info. With the Writing Sample taking on so much importance now, I'm concerned about scoring well. :eek What is a competitive WS score? Found a site www.mcatwritingsamples.com with lots of sample essays available. Any opinion on this site? Thanks again. Bev Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest summervirus Posted July 10, 2003 Report Share Posted July 10, 2003 I don't think anyone knows what a competitive score is. Since this is the first year the writing sample is counted towards your application, we don't really have past stats to look back on to compare. I'm probably not the best person to ask for advice about the writing sample though. I totally bombed that section of the MCAT. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Lactic Folly Posted July 10, 2003 Report Share Posted July 10, 2003 Quick q- they'll just be using the score obtained on the writing sample, not actually rereading the actual essays written? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest summervirus Posted July 10, 2003 Report Share Posted July 10, 2003 Yup, they just use the score. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest snoopychan Posted July 10, 2003 Report Share Posted July 10, 2003 After writing the MCAT, you will recieve a score report which only contains your numerical scores for PS, BS and VR. A letter score will be given to the writing sample. It is then this score report that is forwarded to the different universities. I don't think the school are allowed access to the actual writing sample. Here are a few FAQ regarding the writing sample, and I will do my best to answer them. Hope this helps. Q: Is there a right or wrong answer to the essay quesitons? A: No. Essays are not judged based on whether the readers agree with your positions or think your points are true. The essays' instructions will not ask you to take a stand on the provided statement, but rather for you to fulfill three tasks: 1) Provide your interpretation or explanation of the statement. 2) Offer a concrete example (hypothetical or actual) that illustrates a point of view directly OPPOSITE to the one expressed in or implied by the statement. 3) Explain how the conflict b/w the viewpoint expressed in the statement and the viewpoint you described for the second task will be resolved. Q: Who grades the essays? A: Two readers will read and score the essays independently. If the two scorers differ by more htan a point, a thrid scorer is called in as a final judge. Scores for each essay range from 1-6. Q: What kind of score will be reported? A: Once graded, the two scores will be added together. The combined score is converted to a letter grade ranging from J-T. For example, Two 3's converts to J, two 6's convert to T. Q: What is a good score? A: I cannot comment on how U of Alberta will look at the score. However, statistically speaking, there will be very few six-point essays. An essay of 4 or 5 would place you at the upper range of those taking the exam. Also, the medical schools are allowed to get percentile info regarding how well you did compared to your peers (this might be a guage to determine competitiveness b/w those applying). Not sure of our school's policy on this. Q: How are my essays graded? A: The key thing is to FULFILL ALL 3 Tasks. By doing so, your score cannot be lower than 3. The readers also use a holistic grading technique, and score the essays as a whole (i.e., organization, style, grammar and so on are not graded separately). Things they will look for are: 1) how thoroughly and meaningfully you responded to the tasks 2) did you offer appropriate illustrations or examples 3) how well did you tie your thoughts together into a unified whole 4) how well do you organize your paragraphs individually and collectively 5) do you use varied sentence structure and word choice Hope this helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Dr Love Posted July 10, 2003 Report Share Posted July 10, 2003 Don't be too concerned with the writing sample, I got an M and still got into UofA. but on the same note, don't be too laxidasical because with the new scoring system at UofA an M might no longer cut it. But just my two cents, I feel that the writing sample should not be included on the MCAT, since it involves so much subjectivity. But I digress, either way just give it your all and I'm sure everything will work out in the end. Good Luck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest fox Posted July 10, 2003 Report Share Posted July 10, 2003 In the past the writing sample of the MCAT was not taken into consideration. Since the writing sample is taking the place of the essay, which used to count for 15% of your overall ranking, I would suggest not blowing off the writing section of the MCAT. Whether this section will still be worth 15% of your overall ranking, I don't know, but to be on the safe side I would try to do well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Kirsteen Posted July 11, 2003 Report Share Posted July 11, 2003 Hi there, In reference to scoring of the MCAT WS essays and their translation into the letter marks... I'd read (either in an AMCAS or Princeton Review publication) that two 6s on the two essays will net you the T; a five and a six will net you an S; two fives will net an R, and so on. I believe the mode for the past few MCAT WS has been Q, so if you can snag a score above Q, you're faring well. As far as I know, the pool of WS marks for all writers of the MCAT on that day are not bell-curved, so although you will see how you fared in comparison to the other test-writers in terms of percentiles, etc., your raw score shall not be adjusted. Cheers, Kirsteen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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