Guest MisterTurkey Posted June 27, 2002 Report Share Posted June 27, 2002 Does anyone know of any good sources that will help in brainstorming examples for the MCAT writing sample? As a science student, I can honestly say that political science & historical examples don't instantly spring to mind when I sit down to write an essay. I know that in-depth knowledge is not required to write a good MCAT essay, but concrete examples most definitely are! The problem is simply digging them out of my brain...anyone got a spoon? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest paulyg23 Posted June 27, 2002 Report Share Posted June 27, 2002 I found that to write a good essay, use really simple examples. You'd be surprised how simple you can be and still do well. When I first started to study, I was trying to memorize quotes and do the "quickfix approach". Later I realized that if you pick a personalized example to relate to the essay topic you can write a stronger essay. For example, one of the essay topics had something to do with technological advancement and positive advancement. For this I used examples of my experiences with internet banking and email (and did well). So I think the scorers just want you to write something interesting but nothing over your head. I hope that makes sense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest joey greaseball Posted June 27, 2002 Report Share Posted June 27, 2002 hi mister turkey, i'm a science student also, but i love to read. my biggest source of writing sample ideas comes just from reading books. even in fiction, you tend to come across ideas and sometimes historical facts that can be used in essays. my favorite novels, for example, are the hardy boys series. those boys frank and joe really get into a lot of debauchery! but they manage to come out on top. their experiences really lend themselves to strong literary examples that you can use. i really hope that helps. joey p.s. if you want to email me we could talk some more about this and other stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest aneliz Posted June 28, 2002 Report Share Posted June 28, 2002 Watch the news as often as possible. It will take about 30 minutes of your day and will provide endless examples of current events that could be useful to you. It is also a good practice to get into because you will want to be up on current events when it comes to interview time! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Kirsteen Posted June 29, 2002 Report Share Posted June 29, 2002 Hi there, It's been said that, when it comes to WS examples, there may be a tacit perceived quality scale that may influence your essay score. From what I've heard, those examples considered to be higher up on that scale are those which involve global (as opposed to country-specific, or smaller still, regional) issues and which are also unusual compared to the rest of the WS pack, i.e., unlike the Clinton/Lewinsky issue when it comes to politicians' ethics! Two sources of info which I've found helpful for WS with respect to the above (and just in general, for keeping up with the world) are reading The Economist on a weekly basis and the UN website. Re: the former, it's no small feat, and not because most of us are not economists. Basically, it seems to be put out there to provide good background info as to the goings-on in the world (which ultimately drives economies). It is a feat to read though, since it is published weekly and packed with extremely current information. Regarding the UN website--take a look. Here was me thinking that they were "simply" peacekeepers--egads no! The UN seems to have their hand in everything. Back to The Economist: it's well organized too: if there's a particular topic that you like to keep up to speed on, then they have in-depth sections on current topics which you can cruise around (at the moment, examples include al Qaeda goings-on and the Israel-Palestine conflict). On the other hand, near the front of each issue, they will provide short chunks of info just to give a basic idea of the happenings in that part of the world. Lastly, they also tend to break the issue up into regions: the globe, US, Europe, etc., and chunk relevant columns into each. Also, before it leaves the stands this weekend, this week's issue is the renowned Technology Quarterly--a fab and interesting read covering all aspects of science and technology, and also, a resource for good technology fodder, a topic which seems to appear frequently in MCAT WS sections. Finally, another couple of reasons that the Economist is great for the MCAT: they use some excellent vocab (not at all garbly and incomprehensible) which you can use in your essays and you can use the articles you find less than exciting to increase your reading speed for VR. Cheers, Kirsteen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest me Posted June 29, 2002 Report Share Posted June 29, 2002 A couple months before the MCAT, I started to "do" a writing sample every other day, approximately. I just spent about 10 minutes on it, picking the pro-example and con-example, thesis, etc. I found that once I'd gone through a critical mass of essay topics, I could start repeating my examples (a lot of the topics are similar). I also started off with no clue about where to get my examples from. I ended up with an R, which I was very happy with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Unworldly Posted June 29, 2002 Report Share Posted June 29, 2002 Hi MisterTurkey, I wrote the MCAT twice (to improve a terrible verbal score, of course!) and both times I did well on the writing sample (I got Qs). You will be happy to hear my advice since it requires no work on your part! To illustrate my ideas for each of my two arguments (one for the statement and the other against the statement given) I would make up examples if I couldn't think of any real life ones. I don't have such a clear memory of what I did on the first MCAT that I wrote two years ago but last year on one of the Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Unworldly Posted June 29, 2002 Report Share Posted June 29, 2002 Sorry about the previous post-I must have accidentally clicked post and I couldn't figure out how to edit it... Anyway, I was saying that on last year's MCAT I clearly remember making up an example on one of my essays. The prompt was something like "technology hinders communication" and for my example that supported this prompt I used the idea that companies may use hands on computer programs to train their staff instead of doing it in person and then the employees won't be able to meet as many people as they would in a normal orientation session. I'm not sure (and I wasn't when I wrote the essay) if this is a true example but even if it isn't, I supported my argument and I doubt that the people marking it would bother researching my exampe to test it's validity. Regardless, the most important thing is that your examples CLEARLY ILLUSTRATE YOUR POINT. So, if you can't think of anything from real life than just use your imagination! Of course, the use of current events, history and world issues is ideal but if your memory fails you then do not hesitate to make up examples. This is what I have learned from two years of experience. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest V Posted July 2, 2002 Report Share Posted July 2, 2002 You dont need to read so much material to do well on the essay. In fact, hypothetical examples ARE JUST AS GOOD as real-life examples. I did well on my essay, and never read any magazines that summer (in fact all of my friends did the same as me, and rocked the essay). All you have to do is be clear, concise and intelligent. If you can fit in current events examples, all the power to you. Just make sure you do it in a clear and easy to follow manner. If you throw one in just for the sake of throwing one in, you could hurt yourself in the long run. The easiest way to organize your essay, is to answer the 3 prompts of the question as separate paragraphs. thus, 1st P: What you think the statement means, 2nd P: When does it not apply, 3rd P: What makes it true or untrue? Make it flow and be concise and you are well on your way to doing well on the writing sample. V Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Unwordly Posted July 2, 2002 Report Share Posted July 2, 2002 Hi V! I posted under the name unwordly but I think you can figure out who I am. It looks like we both used the same strategy (making things up) for the essay. It's definately the way to go!! Appul PS Telling PPS 102.1 Merkel PPPS Ruuuufffini PPPPS HOO, HOO (like an owl) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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