MCAT Writing Sample

1. MCAT Writing Sample • Lesson #1

2. Strategies and Tipsfor Writing Sample Preparation • What are medical schools looking for with your writing sample? • An indication of strong reasoning/critical thinking skills. • Evidence of excellent written communication skills. • What do graders expect from your writing? • Reasonable/logical, thorough, and well-written responses to a three-task prompt. • The sample is one of the first things an admissions official will see. • The essay is often read by most schools. • The essay is often used to make final decisions about admission. • Essay results could be critical if they’re “on the fence” about you.

3. Strategies and Tipsfor Writing Sample Preparation • How will graders evaluate the writing sample? • Holistic scoring. • Scale of 1 to 6 converted to an alphabetical rating ranging from J to T. • Graders, however, do realize writers are under time constraints and that effective writing is typically the product of careful attention and thoughtful, persistent revision work. • Therefore, there is allowance for a certain number of mistakes. • Graders usually spend around a minute or so evaluating your writing sample.

4. Strategies and Tipsfor Writing Sample Preparation • What skills are rewarded in the writing sample? • Developing a central idea. • Generating a controlling idea or thesis statement unifying the essay by stating it at the beginning of the paragraph when you first address the 3rd writing task. • Considering a claim from an opposing perspective. • Offering a counter-point and relevant counter-example. • Synthesizing ideas. • Combining thoughts and ideas, especially seemingly divergent claims/positions as your controlling idea in the final writing task.

5. Strategies and Tipsfor Writing Sample Preparation • What skills are rewarded in the writing sample? • Presenting ideas cohesively and logically. • Making sure ideas are clear and concrete along with smooth paragraph transitions (effective topic sentences). • Writing clearly, concisely, and accurately. • Providing a sample with a minimum of errors. • Drafting efficiently with speed and control. • Learning how to manage your time effectively so that there’s balance between each writing task.

6. How to Prepare forthe Writing Sample • Do not underestimate this portion of the test. • Do not assume applying everyday writing skills will suffice. • Practice test -specific strategies and tips frequently. • Realize the close connection between VR and the writing sample. • Apply critical thinking skills to both sections. • Realize the VR often asks you to analyze arguments and the writing sample requires you to both analyze claims and craft your own. • Establish and adhere to a practice schedule. • Work to internalize writing sample methods, tips, and strategies. • Revisit notes frequently. • Practice, practice, practice. • Last minute cramming is a recipe for disaster.

7. How to Prepare forthe Writing Sample • Practice writing essays. • Practice under test conditions as much as possible. • Learn to evaluate your own writing. • Four self-evaluation criteria for the writing sample. • Did you address the prompt and tasks accurately? • Have you carefully structured/organized your essay coherently? • Have you developed your ideas carefully and revealed excellent critical thinking capability? • Have you exhibited polished writing skills? • Take the time to meta-reflect on your writing process. • Read over past writing samples and think about their strengths and weaknesses.

8. How to Prepare forthe Writing Sample • Make it a habit to engage in outside reading. • Find journal articles from various disciplines and respond to the following questions: • How would this have sounded ten years ago? 50 years ago? • What groups or people would disagree, and why? • What philosophy underlies this? • What would be an even more extreme restatement of this?

9. The Kaplan Method for the Writing Sample • What you can do to: • Quickly come up with content. • Develop key details. • Synthesize details and content.

10. The Kaplan Method forThe Writing Sample • Ultimately produce a unified, balanced and thoughtful essay. • Realize the WS statement is extreme and thus difficult to address. • Determine your “first task.” • Which one is easier? Task I (original statement) or Task II(counter-statement)? Note: this applies only to pre-writing. You do NOT want to write out the counter-statement first in the final draft of your writing sample. • Recognize the critical importance of pre-writing. • Develop a habit and a procedure for sketching out ideas before you write for real. • Begin by determining reliable criteria upon which to base your reasoning. • Reliable criteria to consider: • Survival/safety. • Time. • Size/demographics. • Education. • Can you think of any other criteria that might work? • Moral convictions might work but be very careful here. • Avoid the trap of strong, emotional convictions. • Establishing criteria can improve your pre-writing. • Helps stimulate more ideas. • Allows you to coalesce your thinking and unify your writing.

11. Applying the Kaplan Method • 1st step is to read and annotate—30 seconds or so. • How, precisely, does Task II vary from Task I? • Are you carefully adhering to the basic instructions? • What words need to be defined and highlighted? • Consider words that are abstract, subjective or ambiguous. • Define/explain these concepts how you see fit. • Use words and terms as broadly as possible. • The WS does not test specific knowledge. • Plan on exploring one or two terms in the statement for depth in your writing.

12. Applying the Kaplan Method • 2nd step is to pre-write your 1st task—One minute or so. • If you begin with Task II, you will need to: • Describe a specific counter-example. • Explain the relevance of your counter-example. • Use regular transitions to keep the essay unified. • Begin by deciding which reliable criteria leads most naturally to a concrete example. • Imagine someone annoying makes the claim and you want to disagree. • Don’t worry about complete sentences—just word and phrases. • Don’t begin writing essay until you’ve done all the pre-writing. • Jot down a vivid, relevant example for your counter-point. • Can be real or imagined. • Jot down the relevance of this example to your counter-point. • Jot down brief notes of precise detail you will use. • You can skip around during your pre-writing. • It crucial to note things before they slip your mind.

13. Applying the Kaplan Method • 3rd step is to pre-write your 2nd task—One minute or so. • If your 2nd task is Task I, you will need to: • Explain what the statement means to you. • How do you interpret the statement’s meaning? • Jot down a brief interpretation along with explanations of terms/concepts. • Describe an example to provide depth. • Jot down a real or imaginary example. • Use an effective “hook” to get the reader’s attention. • Anecdote, question, provocative statement, personal anecdote, etc. • Come back to this if necessary. • Don’t get bogged down here. • Jot down transitional keywords you will use to bridge paragraphs. • For additional detail to provide depth: • Answer one or two of the following: • What is the history of either side? • What assumptions underlie either side? • What is the relevance of an example? • What are the differences between persons or groups holding these opinions?

14. Applying the Kaplan Method • 4th step is to pre-write your 3rd task—One minute or so. • For Task III, you will need to: • Discuss the criteria for Tasks I and II. • Jot down your criteria and a brief rationale for it. • Resolve the apparent contradiction. • Jot down a reasonable synthesis of the information. • What reconciles two apparently opposing claims? • End with a memorable conclusion. • What signals closure to your writing?

15. Applying the Kaplan Method • 5th step is to clarify main idea and plan—One minute or so. • Before writing the essay, make some decisions: • Do you tend to agree with the statement or counter-statement? • Will you take a position in-between? • Will you remain neutral? • Answering will help determine tone and transitional words. • Don’t agonize--just present points logically. • Where will you discuss any terms in the statement requiring explanation? • Occurs usually in the 1st paragraph. • Make sure your discussion is relevant to the overall flow of your ideas. • What ideas will you reject/cross out as irrelevant? • How will you number your ideas for strong essay organization? • What transitional keywords will you use? • Use keywords from the VR section to help you. • Avoid clichéd keywords. • For example, thus, etc.

16. Applying the Kaplan Method • 6th step is to write the essay—23 minutes or so. • Use one paragraph per task but you can provide additional paragraphs if you have time and more examples or analysis. • Consider these topic sentences to help you stay focused: • The statement means… • One example of when the statement is wrong is… • The factors that determine whether the statement is applicable are… • Only use the above in your mind. • Substitute less obvious more interesting language to say basically the same thing. • Don’t deviate extensively from your pre-writing.

17. Applying the Kaplan Method • 7th step is to proofread/edit—Two minutes or so. • Some common problems: • Avoid using “I” unless you have a relevant, personal anecdote. • Avoid clichés, slang, and unnecessary repetition. • Avoid repetitive sentence patterns and lengths. • Avoid sloppy handwriting if you’re not word processing. • Some English concepts to study: • Sentence fragments. • Misplaced modifiers. • Pronoun agreement and consistency errors. • Misused words—homonyms and malapropisms. • Spelling mistakes. • Don’t be afraid to make edits on your paper. • Keep edit marks neat. • Try to double-space your writing.

18. Collaborative Activity—Practice the Kaplan Approach with other Test Takers. • Organize yourselves into groups of three. • Look over and discuss the activity handout with the guidelines and then go for it. • The purpose of this activity is to have you practice putting together a model writing sample so you can: • See how the process works. • Practice learning the seven steps to a solid writing sample. • See how the essays are evaluated. • Become more aware of the grading approach to the samples.