As of January, 2013, there will be no more writing essay, I am told (I called AAMC MCAT last week to inquire about this change). The woman with whom I spoke said that medical schools have been notified of this change.
Will this put applicants who are taking the transitional MCAT at a disadvantage compared to those who are applying next year (2013) but took their MCAT this year (2012) as these people will have a writing section?
Based on the advice received here on OPM, I put off taking the MCAT last Spring, because I would not get my application done and submitted in a timely manner. I originally aimed for a March MCAT, then pushed it to June, and now I am putting it off until January. Why the delay? Because I have not been able to crack double digits in each section (i.e. more than 10-10-10). Verbal writing seems okay.
Personally I viewed this change as confirmation as to just how unimportant the writing section is. The impression seems to be that the medical schools do not care about it. So, if anything, not having to deal with the writing section will give you an advantage…one less thing you need to worry about for test day 
I agree with Prodigal here. Writing is the least important part and that makes the AAMC hold on to the scores for 1 month. In the spirit of streamlining the process, I am sure everyone will appreciate that the writing section is no longer part of the test.
Good think in my opinion, not a hindrance at all.
While not having the writing section will be just one less thing to worry about, writing has always been one of my strengths – at least compared to the basic sciences.
The most common opinion is that they likely wont look at it twice unless it’s bad or you’re from out of the country (or some other hang up). If you are a good writer and that is a strength of yours then you need to make sure it shows on all of your essays and blurbs you write through the application process. Those WILL get read.
Speaking from experience, it’s for the best. Test day will be shorter (unless you take the new optional section they are replacing it with). The lack of ulcers from the 30+ day wait for scores should help (if they really don’t just make you wait to be mean). On my test day I really just wanted to get to bio after verbal. I even did essays for every practice test. It didn’t help I still just wanted to move on. Since the section is going away next year, even those of us who took it this year are in a sort of lame duck situation (unless you are foreign or failed english at some point).
What you should think about is whether or not you will take the new optional section on your test day. The pros would be that there may be some science on there that will help you with bio (they are pretty good test makers so I doubit it). It could also calm you down and give you a stress free break. It might help your confidence to be answering MCAT style questions with no pressure. The cons would be if it fries your brain, bores you to the point of messing up your focus, or prolongs an anxious desire to get to the bio part.
Regardless, the best advice I got was to not have any kind of mandatory routine or any “at least I…” fall-backs. For example, you don’t want to HAVE to listen to Billy Joel - Piano Man before every test otherwise if something goes wrong on test day and you don’t get to hear about Davy who’s still in the Navy, you will lose your confidence. You should not expect to always crush a section and think “well if my verbal sucks at least I know my bio is always good.” My score was around my average but I never really got the same distribution and I didn’t get the distribution I expected on the actual thing. Take as many practice tests as possible!
- Matt1986 Said:
What you should think about is whether or not you will take the new optional section on your test day. The pros would be that there may be some science on there that will help you with bio (they are pretty good test makers so I doubit it). It could also calm you down and give you a stress free break. It might help your confidence to be answering MCAT style questions with no pressure. The cons would be if it fries your brain, bores you to the point of messing up your focus, or prolongs an anxious desire to get to the bio part.
I was told by the AAMC lady that the new optional section would cover social sciences and biochemistry but that scores would not be reported to schools. The optional section is simply a way for the AAMC to test the feasibility of having actual social sciences and biochemistry as a marker of readiness for medical school. Considering that my first undergrad major was anthropology and my second was biochemistry/microbiology (double), it would be interesting for me to attempt this section. However, I was not aware, nor did I inquire, about when during the MCAT that optional section would appear. It if appears during the middle of the exam, then it might not be wise to take it no matter how experimental it is.
I would think about taking this section only if, given the timing, there is a possibility to retake the MCAT when this section is no longer optional. So if you set the timing right, you wouldn’t take it, but it is something to be careful about.
I find the whole thing terribly ironic. The one section I scored almost PERFECTLY on (Got an S…)is the one that’s being omitted.
GREEEAAAAAT! 
Ah, well.
I keep thinking I’m going to get a letter from AAMC strongly suggesting I look at careers in humanities. LOL
- carrieliz Said:
GREEEAAAAAT!
Ah, well.I keep thinking I'm going to get a letter from AAMC strongly suggesting I look at careers in humanities. LOL
I hope not! That's time they could spend verifying our apps! JK. You'll be fine on your retake. A lot of things in life for a lot of us on here take two tries.