<p>How heavily weighed is the writing section in admissions. If you have a 160 but a poorly written/formulated writing section will the adcom hold it against you? Do they even use that often when gauging applicants?</p>
<p>The only way the writing sample can affect your application is in a negative way. That is to say that no matter how brilliant your writing sample might be (to the extent that one can make a “brilliant” argument on this thing within 35 minutes), it won’t help your case. On the other hand, if the hand-writing is totally illegible or if the essay itself is just very poorly-written or off-topic, then it can hurt you.</p>
<p>Honestly, though, the writing sample is an afterthought at best. It’s an extremely simple task they’re asking of you.</p>
<p>Yes, I guess thats true. Most prospective lawyers should be able to write prose.</p>
<p>crnchycereal’s point was that it’s extremely difficult to write quality prose worthy of judgment in 35 min, not about prospective lawyers ability to “write prose.” </p>
<p>Reading comprehension skills are very important.</p>
<p>All the books I read said something along the lines of: “You could probably skip it entirely, and nobody would notice or care. But, just to be safe, you should give it your best shot.”</p>
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I think that’s a bit of an overstatement. It’s probably worth your time to practice the writing section 2 or 3 times before the real test, just to minimize risk.</p>
<p>Also MGMT, if you go to Penn, you should really aim for a higher than a 160.</p>
<p>notice he isnt even in college yet…</p>
<p>IMHO, practicing even two or three times for the writing section is two or three times too many. It is an obscenely easy task. They ask you to support one of two possible policies, each of which has its own advantages and disadvantages. There is no wrong answer. You can literally choose one at random, talk up its pros in one paragraph and talk about the other option’s cons in another paragraph. If you’re not capable of writing an essay like this without practice (which doesn’t require writing skills beyond that of an eighth grader), why even bother taking the LSAT?</p>