Writing Sample
| 60 minutes |
2 essay questions
30 minutes per essay |
- Critcial Thinking
- Intellectual Organization
- Written Communication
|
The Writing Sample requires you to write two essays, each
within a half-hour allotment. Like the verbal reasoning section,
the Writing Sample tends to be underestimated by MCAT test
takers. Many think that they can just apply their everyday
writing skills to the essays and do well. This is a dangerous
presumption. In every facet, the MCAT is a test of analytical
reasoning—even in the Writing Sample.
Your essays will be written in response to a stimulus. For
example:
True leadership leads by example rather than by
command.
The stimulus can be an opinion, a widely-shared belief, a
philosophical dictum, or an assertion regarding general policy
concerns in such areas as history, political science, business,
ethics, or art. You can be sure that it will not concern
scientific or technical subjects, your reasons for entering the
medical profession, emotionally charged religious or social
issues, or obscure social or political issues that might require
specialized knowledge.
Three Tasks
Though worded slightly differently each time, the instructions
that follow the statement will ask you to perform three tasks.
When completed properly, the following tasks create a balanced
essay:
Task One: Provide your interpretation of the
statement.
The degree to which you develop the statement in this first
task dictates the depth and sophistication of your entire
essay.
Task Two: Offer a concrete example that illustrates a point
of view directly opposite to the one expressed or
implied by the statement. You must give a counter-example; it
can be factual or hypothetical.
Task Three: Explain how the conflict between the viewpoint
expressed in the statement and the viewpoint you described in
the second task might be resolved. You'll be coming up with a
rule that you could apply in situations to see whether or not
the statement holds true.
Many test takers make the mistake of confusing the essay
stimulus with a platform from which to emote, lecture, or
convince. Instead, your goal should be to analyze the statement,
present it from two perspectives, and explain how and when you
might apply it.
Related topics:
