ditde Posted March 20, 2012 Report Share Posted March 20, 2012 I just learned that the writing section will be removed from the MCAT in 2013? Is this true? And how will it affect applications? I'm not prepared enough to write the MCAT this year so this will definitely be affecting me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markov79 Posted March 21, 2012 Report Share Posted March 21, 2012 heyo this has been discussed a few times before: http://premed101.com/forums/showthread.php?t=59687 http://premed101.com/forums/showthread.php?t=58854 i remember a thread that was quite a bit more extensive but it didn't turn out after a few min of searching... but it's worth looking into the old threads if you can find em... but yes, i think the ws will be gone. the recommended changes or whatever they're called are pretty easy to find via yourgenericsearchengine Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ditde Posted March 21, 2012 Author Report Share Posted March 21, 2012 Thanks. "If you plan to take the MCAT in 2013 or 2014, please note that the Writing Sample section will no longer be part of the exam. In its place, a voluntary, unscored trial section will be added starting in January 2013." That was on their site, so I guess it's just one less section for me to worry about... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
a1b1 Posted March 21, 2012 Report Share Posted March 21, 2012 They are adding other sections or another section instead of the writing thought. Depending on where your skill sets are, you may be better off doing the current MCAT. From what i gathered in SDN, there will be a biochem section and a psych section? Also keep in mind when this new MCAT comes out, there will probably be a new learning curve to it. For all these reasons and more, I have decided to give my shot at the current MCAT this summer before the new one comes out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
futurepediatric Posted March 21, 2012 Report Share Posted March 21, 2012 Oh noo I thought it was 2015?! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markov79 Posted March 21, 2012 Report Share Posted March 21, 2012 Oh noo I thought it was 2015?! same, actually. that was news to me! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robin Hood Posted March 21, 2012 Report Share Posted March 21, 2012 From posts here, the changes are due in 2015, maybe the removal of the writing section will be in 2013 and the other changes in 2015? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prof.A.DumbleDore Posted March 21, 2012 Report Share Posted March 21, 2012 "If you plan to take the MCAT in 2013 or 2014, please note that the Writing Sample section will no longer be part of the exam. In its place, a voluntary, unscored trial section will be added starting in January 2013. These unscored questions within this trial section will come from one of the content areas that will be added to MCAT in 2015. These include psychology, sociology, and biochemistry. Including the trial section, the 2013 and 2014 total testing times will be the same as 2012. Examinees that volunteer to participate, and put forth a good faith effort, will be compensated. Please note that admissions officers will continue to receive Writing Sample scores from exams taken in 2012 and prior." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
medigeek Posted March 21, 2012 Report Share Posted March 21, 2012 no writing section will be a gigantic plus for me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
futurepediatric Posted March 21, 2012 Report Share Posted March 21, 2012 "If you plan to take the MCAT in 2013 or 2014, please note that the Writing Sample section will no longer be part of the exam. In its place, a voluntary, unscored trial section will be added starting in January 2013. These unscored questions within this trial section will come from one of the content areas that will be added to MCAT in 2015. These include psychology, sociology, and biochemistry. Including the trial section, the 2013 and 2014 total testing times will be the same as 2012. Examinees that volunteer to participate, and put forth a good faith effort, will be compensated. Please note that admissions officers will continue to receive Writing Sample scores from exams taken in 2012 and prior." wow, sounds like a miracle to me lol, voluntary section?! So nothing will be put in place of the Writing Sample for a while? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ditde Posted March 21, 2012 Author Report Share Posted March 21, 2012 Exactly. I thought it was too good to be true when I heard/read it so I wanted to be sure there was no down side. No writing section and a voluntary ungraded section? Yes please! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prof.A.DumbleDore Posted March 21, 2012 Report Share Posted March 21, 2012 wow, sounds like a miracle to me lol, voluntary section?! So nothing will be put in place of the Writing Sample for a while? Yup seems like it for 2013 and 2014. While it is good news for some. I wouldn't jump for joy yet. Some Canadian schools still use the writing sections to determine their cutoffs. For example, Western had a cutoff of O this year. If there is no longer a writing section, they may have to increase the cutoffs of the other sections so they will get the appropriate number of interviewees. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ditde Posted March 21, 2012 Author Report Share Posted March 21, 2012 I am slightly worried about how this will affect adcoms evaluation of students though... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sarvish Posted March 21, 2012 Report Share Posted March 21, 2012 Woah, I had never heard of this until now. I'm glad I decided to look over here! I'll be taking my MCATs in the summer of 2013 so I guess it's pretty major for me. I was also a bit iffy on writing just because the way it worked in high school was that sometimes the teacher liked your style and sometimes she didn't. It drove me absolutely insane to not know what mark to expect on an assignment and I've tried to avoid writing ever since. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drkwhy Posted March 21, 2012 Report Share Posted March 21, 2012 no writing section will be a gigantic plus for me Oh yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh:D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
futurepediatric Posted March 21, 2012 Report Share Posted March 21, 2012 Wow, I would be so clueless without PM101 I'm kind of happy that this is happening in the near couple of years b/c I'd be scared to write the MCAT once the changes are implemented since I would feel like a litle bit of a test dummy (+ no advice from people who have done it before!) so looking forward to writing the MCAT before 2015 I guess Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tothestars Posted March 21, 2012 Report Share Posted March 21, 2012 omg I writing my MCAT this year and can't wait another year to write it. Bad luck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vdincale Posted March 21, 2012 Report Share Posted March 21, 2012 wow why can't this happen sooner:( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
axialpac Posted March 22, 2012 Report Share Posted March 22, 2012 Hm... I'll be writing the MCAT summer of 2013. I'm not sure if I should be happy about this or not. The writing section is really not that bad, IMO. And by "voluntary" we get to choose whether or not we want do the new section? But then our MCAT score will only be composed of PS, BS and VR if we choose not to do that voluntary section. I wonder how this will affect the admission process. What is the voluntary section composed of? Someone said psychology and sociology--is that a given? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zabooomafooo Posted March 22, 2012 Report Share Posted March 22, 2012 Expect the VR cutoffs to be jacked up by a point or two because of the WS removal. 12 VR to get into Western Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prof.A.DumbleDore Posted March 22, 2012 Report Share Posted March 22, 2012 Expect the VR cutoffs to be jacked up by a point or two because of the WS removal. 12 VR to get into Western Haha let's hope not. That would be insane. That's in the 97% percentile Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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