Harder to get 10+ in VR or R+ in Writing?

[joey]

From my point of view VR a lot easier that WS...

However, do keep in mind my first language is french.

I think that has a lot to do w/ it

I found that it was easier because the topics were actually interesting (well to a certain extent), whereas the WS subjects were as boring and super non-inspirational.

[lostintime]

Really? I find the WR topics much more interesting because I can elaborate and think of new ideas.

 

The VR....the EK ones were interesting. The real MCAT ones were DULL and BORING, at least to me. I got some passage about 1600s fashion taht bored me to tears. Plus other ones I can't even remember what they were on because they were so dry.

[a41]

It totally depends on the person. I got 12 VR and N on the WS.

[AdamP]

I could be way off on this but I thought the 15 point scoring system was a percentile like the SAT. I hear of lots of people getting 13 and 14s on bio and phys but never on VR. Are people actually getting these marks or is your mark not dependant on how everyone else does on the MCAT like i've been told.

 

I think coming from a science backround VR would be tough, if you write after 2nd year you have probably almost only written multiple choice type exams with very little time to be doing reading on the side...i don't know how coming from an eng backround will help/hurt, guess we'll see this summer.

[estairella]

I could be way off on this but I thought the 15 point scoring system was a percentile like the SAT. I hear of lots of people getting 13 and 14s on bio and phys but never on VR. Are people actually getting these marks or is your mark not dependant on how everyone else does on the MCAT like i've been told.

 

I think coming from a science backround VR would be tough, if you write after 2nd year you have probably almost only written multiple choice type exams with very little time to be doing reading on the side...i don't know how coming from an eng backround will help/hurt, guess we'll see this summer.

 

It's rarer to get a 13/14/15 in VR but by no means "impossible":

http://www.aamc.org/students/mcat/examineedata/combined07.pdf

 

Also, from that chart, you can see that a WS of R or higher is 83.3 percentile or higher, which is comparable to a VR score of 11 or higher.

[mvdaog]

I had a 13 on VR but only M on writing sample... I really believe its due to not taking any courses that showed me how to write an essay for the MCAT (or any other material with this information). I just contrived an essay the best way I could imagine during the test, and I guess since it wasn't the general essay formula that most of the students were using, my score suffered. Its sad because I consider myself a good writer, at least better than average, and my score definitely did not reflect this. How is it,I wonder, that my close friends (who are going through this process) get me to study their essays, help them with their writing, have commented on some of my writing in the past as 'amazing' and 'extraordinary'.

Thus, I think its more difficult to get an R+ on the MCAT, if you haven't taken a course to formulate your essays. However, it probably is the case that with instruction the writing sample is much easier to improve on than the verbal reasoning, which I think requires good logical skills (hard to develop unless you practice constantly in arguments!) and critical reading skills (hard to develop unless you read lots). The writing sample might just be an example of a secondary school level essay writing test, as opposed to university level writing skills, and if that's the case it doesnt take much to write a good high school essay.

Also, just lookin at that link above, I think that almost proves that the WS is a poor indicator of anything, since it resembles no gaussian distribution curve at all, it almost seems like a random selection of letters out of a box with only 20 trials.