Angela Posted September 26, 2009 Report Share Posted September 26, 2009 SO recently I got my score and it as a 31O (PS10/VR10/BS11/WSO), before that, 29P (PS9/VR9/BS11/WSP). With Queen's more recently haveing higher WS cutoffs, this likely means I would need to re-write, but anyone have suggestions on how to get this Q/R? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rayven Posted September 26, 2009 Report Share Posted September 26, 2009 SO recently I got my score and it as a 31O (PS10/VR10/BS11/WSO), before that, 29P (PS9/VR9/BS11/WSP). With Queen's more recently haveing higher WS cutoffs, this likely means I would need to re-write, but anyone have suggestions on how to get this Q/R? Read through and practice making your own WS from the listed prompts. Read Q and R quality WS's written by others. Practice. Read some books if you have the time. If you don't have time, skim through the news to basically look for examples you could use in your WS. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChexMix Posted September 26, 2009 Report Share Posted September 26, 2009 SO recently I got my score and it as a 31O (PS10/VR10/BS11/WSO), before that, 29P (PS9/VR9/BS11/WSP). With Queen's more recently haveing higher WS cutoffs, this likely means I would need to re-write, but anyone have suggestions on how to get this Q/R? Hi Angela, get to know a good format or template for these essays and it'll be very straightforward. Remember to define the terms, explain the thesis and antithesis, provide examples, tie the examples back with the thesis and antithesis, come up with some determining factors, compare the thesis and antithesis and explain why they are different based on the factors, fill in the gaps and that's pretty much it. Then just practice lots of prompts so you memorize this template with different kinds of prompts, and know the examples you want to use Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AG22 Posted September 26, 2009 Report Share Posted September 26, 2009 Hi Angela, get to know a good format or template for these essays and it'll be very straightforward. Remember to define the terms, explain the thesis and antithesis, provide examples, tie the examples back with the thesis and antithesis, come up with some determining factors, compare the thesis and antithesis and explain why they are different based on the factors, fill in the gaps and that's pretty much it. Then just practice lots of prompts so you memorize this template with different kinds of prompts, and know the examples you want to use Hey there, I think I have an additional suggestion. I suppose you are thinking of writing this test next summer? That's what I would do...b/c with school work, studying for the MCATs while managing all other ECs gets difficult. If that is the case, that you are writing next summer...between now and then just READ everything....from boring journals, to interesting magazines. What this does is it will help you with your VR score, AND it will help you with your WS score. If you read high quality stuff, you are prone to picking up a good style of writing. So you have LOTS of time on your hands....along with school work, make it a point to read, read, read. And then follow the suggetions above. p.s. listen to CBC radio one as well. They talk about really interesting stuff, and it will introduce you to current topics. Once you're in the loop, it becomes easier to pull stuff from memory for political prompts. GL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Halcyon Posted September 28, 2009 Report Share Posted September 28, 2009 SO recently I got my score and it as a 31O (PS10/VR10/BS11/WSO), before that, 29P (PS9/VR9/BS11/WSP). With Queen's more recently haveing higher WS cutoffs, this likely means I would need to re-write, but anyone have suggestions on how to get this Q/R? Not sure what your schedule is like, but could you take an English course? If you don't want to take one at university for the chance it could harm your GPA, you may want to consider taking a course at a community college. While not everyone may agree, the evaluations of your writing you receive when taking an actual English course outweigh trying to learn it on your own. Hope that helps! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shannn Posted September 28, 2009 Report Share Posted September 28, 2009 Take an economics course...there are so many prompts that are economics related so it helps to have that background...and its interesting to boot Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mphem Posted September 30, 2009 Report Share Posted September 30, 2009 Make sure that you're reading the questions carefully and be sure to complete the tasks asked of you (ie. explain the statment, provide a counter-example, and find a resolution between the two). If you answer the question as you're told, you'll get around a Q. Don't go off topic or else you'll get below that. It's good to ask yourself as you're writing your essay whether or not you're completing the three tasks well enough: does this paragraph fulfill one of the 3 tasks? Make sure everything is clear for the reader to understand. If you go above and beyond that (ie. elaborating further in the discussion, formulating more complex ideas), then you'll get a score higher than a Q. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Addy K Posted October 1, 2009 Report Share Posted October 1, 2009 These videos are helpful: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLe5O0yHj60&feature=channel He has a whole bunch, if you watch all of them and follow the template, I'm sure you can get atleast a Q. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keith_015 Posted October 2, 2009 Report Share Posted October 2, 2009 I agree with Halcyon. Try to take an English composition course if possible. Not only would it help your MCAT, but would suffice as a prerequisite for schools in Canada and the US. I wrote without a course (N) and shortly after ®. It'll help you string together a cohesive argument and create legitimate structure in your paragraphs. It will also help get your message out without having an endless amount of words. Too many describing words can take away from an essay and seem juvenile. I just wrote this year (after 3 year hiatus) and still scored a Q, and really, I only wrote about 10 practice essays before the real deal. A lot of how I prepared came from taking a university writing course. If you can't, one method that I think helped is to get that mega list of prompts from the AAMC website. 1) Just pick a random one and first decide what the prompt means to you - define. For example the prompt, "Environmental concerns should always take priority over economic concerns" to me is "Reducing air pollution for long term viability for all should be more important than retaining environmentally harmful companies" - quite far from a paraphrase. 2) Write down ideas/examples for arguments for each task. Don't write the essay. Just come up with ideas. A large portion of the WS is coming up with strong arguments. 3) Keep doing this. It'll help you develop a quick sense to building an argument. 4) Create a skeletal structure to your essay. Create a bank of transitionary sentences for the 2nd paragraph. 5) Write full essays and review them. Critique your essays. A good comparison would be the AAMC examples from e-MCAT. 6) Just keep practicing. Make it as important as VR if it is a major weakness Don't be hesitant to ask others on the board to critique your practice essays for feedback. Sometimes people are willing to take a chance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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