teresachang Posted May 18, 2012 Report Share Posted May 18, 2012 Does anyone have any tips on how to improve the writing section? I keep getting a score of M on the actual Mcat :-(. My other areas are decent but I can't make the cutoffs for a lot of schools with only M! Any help would be appreciated! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trojjanhorse Posted May 18, 2012 Report Share Posted May 18, 2012 Does anyone have any tips on how to improve the writing section? I keep getting a score of M on the actual Mcat :-(. My other areas are decent but I can't make the cutoffs for a lot of schools with only M! Any help would be appreciated! Someone asked this question yesterday in this forum. Please do a search. It's on the 1st page! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teresachang Posted May 18, 2012 Author Report Share Posted May 18, 2012 Someone asked this question yesterday in this forum. Please do a search. It's on the 1st page! I did do a search, your advice was "read BR writing" and read WR books. I was hoping people could be more specific? unless it's not in the thread? sorry if I misunderstood...? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Outlaw Posted May 18, 2012 Report Share Posted May 18, 2012 I can't really give any direct advice but try posting some essays in the prep101 free grading thread. Hopefully you will get some solid advice and see what you're doing wrong. Or at the very least see what others are doing wrong and figure out how to structure your essays from that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albertan10 Posted May 18, 2012 Report Share Posted May 18, 2012 my writing skills suck, but i managed to score an R the first time i wrote, and a Q the second time. i'll be brief as i can't remember all the details regarding this section. but i followed tpr guidelines, as the mcat is quite simple and requires the same format over and over again, in order to construct an essay. i then looked through all the prompts listed on AAMC, grouped them together into similar topics. i think i grouped them based on a list from tpr again. once i did this, i had already looked through several essays people posted on this site, and from there i was able to generate an example database. it seemed like a lot of work, but i remember i was able to do this in about a week. it really becomes repetitive, and if you are a half decent writer you'll notice that you can flip any example to support your point. providing a concrete example will score you points. for instance i really struggled with one prompt and had no idea what i was writing. just following the typical WS format, and providing them with examples from history or current news got me a pretty decent score. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teresachang Posted May 18, 2012 Author Report Share Posted May 18, 2012 Thanks! I am studying from the kaplan and EK books. I followed Kaplan's method of example, counterexample, then conclusion. Do you mind sharing what the TPR guidelines are? my writing skills suck, but i managed to score an R the first time i wrote, and a Q the second time. i'll be brief as i can't remember all the details regarding this section. but i followed tpr guidelines, as the mcat is quite simple and requires the same format over and over again, in order to construct an essay. i then looked through all the prompts listed on AAMC, grouped them together into similar topics. i think i grouped them based on a list from tpr again. once i did this, i had already looked through several essays people posted on this site, and from there i was able to generate an example database. it seemed like a lot of work, but i remember i was able to do this in about a week. it really becomes repetitive, and if you are a half decent writer you'll notice that you can flip any example to support your point. providing a concrete example will score you points. for instance i really struggled with one prompt and had no idea what i was writing. just following the typical WS format, and providing them with examples from history or current news got me a pretty decent score. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albertan10 Posted May 18, 2012 Report Share Posted May 18, 2012 Thanks! I am studying from the kaplan and EK books. I followed Kaplan's method of example, counterexample, then conclusion. Do you mind sharing what the TPR guidelines are? it's similar. like i said it's been a while and i don't have my tpr books with me. however, you can see the pattern from the essays already posted on this site. if i remember, i would do the following. first sentence i would re-phrase the prompt into my own words as a topic sentence for the start of the paragraph. then i would provide an example and summarize how that example links back to the topic sentence. for the second para, i would mention there are exceptions, i can't remember the exact wording, but again just see what others have done. then just example, and summarize how that example is relevant. conclusion, hmm... i'm probably missing something for this one. but you would summarize the criteria that would agree with prompt, and disagree. once you have that basic structure it really is always the same thing over and over again, all you would have to do is find some prompts you are uncomfortable with and attach an example. sorry for my lazy answer, but you can really just find all this by a simple search i'm sure, or by referring to the multiple threads posted in which people have submitted their essays for review. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
williamhuff Posted November 7, 2012 Report Share Posted November 7, 2012 Don't worry if you don't do well at first. Essay-writing is something that improves with practice. Just practice makes perfect, writing essays will help improve your essay writing skills. Write practice essays from punctual and have others review it, from teachers to other guides to students themselves. At each stage of writing your essay ask your teacher for help. They can tell you how to reference any information you include that you got from another place. If you don't reference then that is plagiarism and can be an automatic fail. And best essay writing service can help you for some tips. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Head Squeeze Posted November 7, 2012 Report Share Posted November 7, 2012 No writing section from 2013! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmorelan Posted November 7, 2012 Report Share Posted November 7, 2012 No writing section from 2013! Yeah I was going to point that out - exactly why are you worried about that section? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Let'sGo1990 Posted November 7, 2012 Report Share Posted November 7, 2012 It's a bot, lol. These things are getting sophisticated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
med-dream Posted November 7, 2012 Report Share Posted November 7, 2012 No writing section from 2013! That is true. But you guys have to think about the new section: psychology will be requested in 2015. So it is better to nail down your MCAT scores in 2013-2014. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
futureGP Posted November 7, 2012 Report Share Posted November 7, 2012 Read EK writing tips -- follow the format Read "international examples" and use them on the MCAT (E.g. Canada is "international" to the U.S.) political/history examples are nice Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waynecolquitt Posted November 9, 2012 Report Share Posted November 9, 2012 Practice by reading 6-point sample essays and draw inspiration from them. Follow your progress by having professionals evaluate and correct your essays. Practice using a sophisticated English vocabulary. Practice developing an idea analytically.There is some writing services which help you for your writings and some best essay writing reviews helps you to select good writing services. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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