All users may post questions about MCAT verbal and writing sample here. We will answer the questions as soon as we reasonably can. If you would like to know what VR and WS topics appear on the MCAT, you should check the MCAT Student Manual (http://www.aamc.org/students/mcat/studentmanual/start.htm)

Acceptable topics:
-general, MCAT-level critical reading or writing questions
-particular MCAT-level verbal or writing sample questions, whether your own or from study material
-what you need to know about verbal or writing for the MCAT
-how best to approach MCAT verbal passages
-how best to prepare for MCAT verbal reasoning and writing sample
-how best to tackle the MCAT VR and WS sections

Unacceptable topics:
-actual MCAT questions or passages, or close paraphrasings thereof
-anything you know to be beyond the scope of the MCAT

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If you really know your verbal or (especially) writing sample, I can use your help. If you are willing to help answer questions on this thread, please let me know. Here are the current members of the Verbal Reasoning/Writing Sample Team:

-lorelei (thread moderator): I am a Kaplan MCAT teacher. On the MCAT, I scored 15 on VR and 43 overall.

This thread will probably work a little differently from the science threads, since there are no formulas to study or reactions to learn. Bear with us as we figure things out.

-MoosePilot: MoosePilot has completed TPR teacher training. He scored 13 on the VR section of the MCAT, and 36 overall.

Just a quick question then, mainly dealing with the essays. Would an acceptable topic for the thread be for example posting some essay prompt and then your essay so that it could be critiqued? Is this the sort of thing that is meant for this thread or is it more of a specific VR/WS question thread type of thing?

Not that i have any essays written or anything, don't plan on writing many until closer to august anyways, but was just curious about what would be suited for this thread.

Thanks for the help!

Could someone outline for me (someone who really knows) how to take a verbal reasoning test? I mean I'm getting absolutely rocked in Verbal (like seriously a 4 and the previous was a 5). I do not underline, and I try for no more than 9 min a passage and I take usually a 20 sec break in between. Its mostly the "how would the author feel/do/say/argue/agree to?" questions that hit me the hardest. Thanks a ton.

To Futuredoctr: That's a really good question, and I think most people have the most trouble with those "what does the author think?" questions. It's a difficult skill to develop, but if you're willing to work at it you can do it.

I think the biggest thing is how you're approaching the passage. In the sciences, you try to read a passage primarily for understanding. In verbal, not only do you have to understand what the author is saying, but why s/he's saying it and how s/he forms the argument.

So try reading some passages, thinking about the following questions:

-what is the purpose of this passage? Why did the author take the time to sit down and write this? (In the sciences, the answer is often "to explain an experiment" or "to teach us about X reaction" but in verbal you're frequently looking for "to convince us of Y argument" or "to defend Z position." The author has some sort of interest, or he wouldn't bother to sit down and write an essay. If you can find the author's bias you're there.)

-what is the purpose of this paragraph or sentence? Is it background information? Is it an explanation of an opinion? Is it supporting examples?

-if I were arguing with this person, where would I attack their argument? Where are there assumptions or personal opinions? I find this strategy useful because it makes you look at how the author is building the argument.

Watch out for key words that show you opinions: these aren't just things like "I think" or "personally" but also clearly, obviously, on the contrary, simply, everyone, no one, pervasive, .... I'm sure people can think of more.
These are words that people usually don't use unless they have some sort of investment in the topic - and thus, a particular viewpoint. Noticing them can help you find out what the author thinks.

There are also key words that help you follow the structure of an argument. Some of these overlap with the above set, but here I'm looking for ways to follow how the author builds his case, more than what exactly the case is. Some of these might be then, however, also, but, primarily, further, in contrast, ....

The overall goal is to see the passage as not just a bunch of information, but an argument.

I would suggest trying to read some passages in this way - you can use other pieces as well, like newspaper columns or opinion pieces in higher-level magazines like The Economist. Practice seeing the argument, don't worry about speed at this point. It sounds like you CAN read fast enough, so work on understanding and once you have that down, practice for speed.

Question: Why do some people who are great writers score poorly on the MCAT WS, while others who make grammatical and spelling mistakes score higher? It seems like the WS scoring is completely subjective.

MCAT WS scoring is not as subjective as you are suggesting. This section does not really test people's grammar and spelling, as long as their mistakes do not interfere with their ability to make their points clearly. People who score poorly in the WS do so because they do not follow the essay instructions, which are very specific. You must explain what the statement means, give a specific counterexample, and give specific criteria for when the statement holds or does not hold. Also, your essay must be unified. If you do not complete one of the three tasks, your score drops precipitously (bottom half). If you do not make your essay unified, ditto. But if you do not have perfect grammar, you can still score well as long as you do a good job at answering the three tasks in a unified way.

To Lsm6: At this time that sounds like an acceptable topic to me. It's possible that the thread would end up getting swamped with essays, in which case we'll have to reevaluate, but I think it would definitely be possible.

I have personally tested the idea that structure matters. I intentionally wrote a free-form essay last April, to see what would happen. I performed all three tasks, but not in a particular order as we teach it. I used good examples. I wrote as well as I could under the circumstances. I wrote a lot (I write pretty quickly). Result: S.

Then, in August, I did all the same things but in the nice, convergent structure we teach: define terms, example for thesis, example for antithesis, single-rule synthesis. Result: T.

Not statistically significant, but interesting.

What a great thread! Thanks for making this happen.
I will be taking my first MCAT in August, and I'm nervous about the essay - coming up with sources to use as examples or features in an arguement. I know some of the sources say good things to read are the NY times, Newsweek, the Economist. I've tried looking at these but I still don't think they give the greatest material, because I've heard we are also supposed to stay away from controversial topics, so many of the things in those periodicals seem very controversial (Terry Schaivo, Iraq, Michael Jackson, etc etc) and then a lot of it isn't even news!

any ideas or suggestions?

To prepare for the writing sample, you probably want mostly examples. (As Q and Shrike point out, you don't have to be a fantastic writer but do have to follow the directions, and having a mental library of examples makes it easier to do that.) For that, just following the newspaper can be fine. You can also make examples up, of course, and history or any other area you're familiar with works just as well as (or better than) news.

Here's a partial list of periodicals I recommend reading for practice with the type of dense writing you'll find on the Verbal Reasoning section.
The Economist
The Atlantic
The New Yorker
Harper's

These will occasionally discuss controversial topics in world news, but they also talk about culture and non-controversial news topics. Getting used to following the arguments (as I discussed in a previous post) is actually more important for MCAT purposes than learning what the news stories of the day are.

That is why my list doesn't include Newsweek or Time. Those may make enjoyable reading, and allow you to keep up with the news, but they don't provide exceptionally good writing or arguments. They're written at below the high school reading level, and the depth and level of argument is not sophisticated either.

Is there a recommended guideline on how to write up an essay?

The questions for the WS always follow the same format:

{prompt: some sort of opinion statement}

Write a unified essay in which you perform the following tasks. Explain what you think the above statement means. Describe a specific situation in which {the opinion in the prompt would NOT hold true}. Discuss what you think determines whether/when {the prompt is true or not}.

So basically you have three tasks:

1. Explain the prompt.
2. Give a counterexample.
3. Determine when the prompt applies.

In addition to doing those three things, you want to create a unified essay, in which each task works together as a whole. This might mean using related examples, focusing on one particular aspect or criterion, and/or coming up with an overarching theme.

In general, doing the tasks in the order described is a good idea - you want to make it as easy as possible for the grader to score your essay. One paragraph per task is a general rule, but you can have additional paragraphs if you'd like. A good essay isn't necessarily long though, as long as it fulfills all the tasks!

Some comments on the individual tasks:

1. Explain the prompt: defining key words (e.g. what is "society"?) can be helpful here. An example is also useful.
2. Choose a counterexample that's neither trivial nor extreme - you want it to work with your eventual conclusion, so don't use something really contrived or something that's so strong it makes it seem like the prompt can never be true.
3. Resolving the contradiction can be the hardest part. One thing that can be helpful is to develop a list of standard criteria: health, safety, education, that sort of thing.

You don't have to write a definitive answer. Focusing on one aspect of a situation can be OK, as long as you complete all the tasks. Basically as long as you follow all the instructions and your writing is competent enough to be understood by the grader, you are almost guaranteed a 4 (which corresponds to approximately a P overall).

What a great thread! Thanks for making this happen.
I will be taking my first MCAT in August, and I'm nervous about the essay - coming up with sources to use as examples or features in an arguement. I know some of the sources say good things to read are the NY times, Newsweek, the Economist. I've tried looking at these but I still don't think they give the greatest material, because I've heard we are also supposed to stay away from controversial topics, so many of the things in those periodicals seem very controversial (Terry Schaivo, Iraq, Michael Jackson, etc etc) and then a lot of it isn't even news!

any ideas or suggestions?

Lorelei summed it up great.

My contribution will be on the nature of time management. From everything I've heard, the importance of the WS is much, much less significant than the importance of the numerically score sections to admissions committees. If you've got nothing but time, this information may not matter to you. Otherwise, I would recommend allotting most of your study time to Verbal, Bio, or Physical. I wrote an essay using very simple rules:

1. Fulfill the tasks assigned (three which Lorelei summed up).
2. Be neat and try not to misspell.
3. Be conservative with time. Conclusion will suck if you run out of time.

I used really trite, outdated, or vague examples (I didn't do any research, like a friend who prepared notecards on various sample examples). I'm not a fantastic writer as a zoo major who has been out of school and in the military for years. I still got a Q, which basically serves to assure schools I'm literate. They've got samples of my writing if they want more than that.

Good luck!

What a great thread! Thanks for making this happen.
I will be taking my first MCAT in August, and I'm nervous about the essay - coming up with sources to use as examples or features in an arguement. I know some of the sources say good things to read are the NY times, Newsweek, the Economist. I've tried looking at these but I still don't think they give the greatest material, because I've heard we are also supposed to stay away from controversial topics, so many of the things in those periodicals seem very controversial (Terry Schaivo, Iraq, Michael Jackson, etc etc) and then a lot of it isn't even news!

any ideas or suggestions?

Joel Klein in Time Magazine has a weekly (or almost weekly) op-ed piece. It's usually only one page long. I think he's a very good writer, whether or not you agree with his politics. He's a great example of how to organize and present an argument in a short space while still being very readable.

Is there a recommended guideline on how to write up an essay?

The classic, of course, is Strunk & White's Elements of Style (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/020530902X/qid=1119012057/sr=8-1/ref=pd_bbs_1/002-6927086-7015227?v=glance&s=books&n=507846).

To Lsm6: At this time that sounds like an acceptable topic to me. It's possible that the thread would end up getting swamped with essays, in which case we'll have to reevaluate, but I think it would definitely be possible.


Yeah, that's kinda what i'm thinking now to, about the swamped thing. Essays could easily make the thread very long and maybe discourage people from reading all of the posts in the thread worried that they may just be someone's essay rather than some good FAQs like what's been posted so far. It was almost just a general question that i thought would be good to clear up for everyone rather than just me wondering if i could post my essays. So due to the fact that they would probably take up too much space, i personally will not be posting them in here, and then maybe later on if there were to be a need for it, another thread could be started for the purpose or something.

But for now, hope everyone keeps the good questions and answers coming, these threads are shaping up very nicely.

In my time on SDN, the two most commonly misspelled words seem to be:

Argument (not arguement)
and Definitely (not definately)

Usually the spell checkers get hassled for being pedantic, but on this thread it seems appropriate to point out spelling errors. You don't want to make these mistakes on the test.

Also, some people tend to become complacent and depend on MS Word to sort out their "to, two, and too" mix-ups and their "there, they're and their" mix ups. All of these are important things to keep an eye on (or "important things on which to keep an eye," if you want to get technical). Which brings me to the point that there are a lot (not alot) of instances wherein we generally end a sentence with a preposition (looking at, going to, etc.) If rephrasing the sentence in the above manner makes it sound clumsy (as in the above example) a good idea is to rephrase the matter entirely; e.g., "It is important to keep an eye on these" or "Beware of these common errors,' etc.

Another important point: sentence fragments. (did you catch that that last sentence is a sentence fragment? :D) Make sure that every sentence has a verb, and preferably, a subject.

To lorelei: Thank you so much for your advice. When I scored my last one before I talked to you and got a 5 I thought I serioulsy was not going to improve and had this feeling of impending doom. After taking your advice I serioulsy just scored another and got a 9!!! With practice I know I can do better.

Therefore for everyone who is having a REALLY hard time with verbal follow the stratagy lorelei provided with me. What has helped me was turning off my "Science mind" and learning to read for "Why am I being told this?" or after reading the first paragraph, stopping and saying to myself "What am I about to learn about, to do, or be persuaded for or against". Its really about what that "author"(damn him/her ;) ) thinks! LOL.
Thanks a bunch.

Yeah, that's kinda what i'm thinking now to, about the swamped thing. Essays could easily make the thread very long and maybe discourage people from reading all of the posts in the thread worried that they may just be someone's essay rather than some good FAQs like what's been posted so far.

If the essays were posted as MS Word attachments, they wouldn't take up a whole page or more as they would if copied into the body of a post. I know there is a size limit to attachments you can post, but it was just an idea.

I've read several personal statements this year, and to contribute to the common mistakes, I've seen a lot of "their, they're and there" mix-ups, as well as the "too, to, and two" problems. These are very easy to figure out once you sit down and learn them. Also, "effect" and "affect" give people a lot of trouble as well. "Affect" is a verb, while "effect" is usually a noun. Look at how it is used in the sentence and you can usually figure out which one you should use. But one of the worst ones has been putting the punctuation after any quote marks, as in "I hate the MCAT", he said; vs. "I hate the MCAT," he said. Punctuation always goes inside your quotations.

I work as an editor, and have lots of proofreading experience if anyone needs help in that area. :luck:

Punctuation always goes inside your quotations.
That's what's generally accepted (in the U.S.), but some style manuals are beginning to recognize that this rule ought to be flexible.

The British alraedy do it right, putting punctualtion where it logically goes (inside the quotation marks if if was present in the quoted material, outside if it wasn't, roughly speaking).

Please add its versus it's to the list of common mistakes.

I took my first 30 minute verbal test in examkrakers. I got a 6 :rolleyes:
The hardest type of questions I find are questions that ask on what the author's stance is concerning what is being covered in the passage, it is so difficult to get a sense of the tone of the author. It felt awkward trying to do the verbal based on their suggested approach.

I took my first 30 minute verbal test in examkrakers. I got a 6 :rolleyes:
The hardest type of questions I find are questions that ask on what the author's stance is concerning what is being covered in the passage, it is so difficult to get a sense of the tone of the author. It felt awkward trying to do the verbal based on their suggested approach.

Adding to lorelei's great suggestions about always considering the author's purpose when reading MCAT passages, I'd like to also point out that most authors of MCAT passages are writing "scholarly articles," not polemics. In other words, it would be highly unusual to read an MCAT passage where the author is ranting and raving like a lunatic. Rather, most passages have a sober, considered, and deliberate tone. Even when an author is expressing disagreement with some other expert in the field, s/he will do so in a reserved manner. This subtlety is a part of what makes it difficult to pick out the author's viewpoint sometimes. But there will still be clues to tell you where the author stands with regard to the topic (positive, negative, or neutral). Look for the opinion keywords that Lorelei mentioned above to help you pick up on this. Also, avoid picking extreme choices for the author's viewpoint, unless the tone of the passage is also extreme. Again, such a passage would be uncommon.

I took my first 30 minute verbal test in examkrakers. I got a 6 :rolleyes:
EK stuff is known for the difficulty of its scaling; don't sweat a 6 too much. Less well known, but clear to me, is that the passages and questions are qualitatively a little off, by just a little: focusing on the main idea of the passage, as opposed to the details, is relatively more valuable in EK material than on real MCATs.

By contrast, TPR material is qualitatively off in the other direction, by just a little: focusing on details is relatively more valuable in TPR material.

EK stuff is known for the difficulty of its scaling; don't sweat a 6 too much. Less well known, but clear to me, is that the passages and questions are qualitatively a little off, by just a little: focusing on the main idea of the passage, as opposed to the details, is relatively more valuable in EK material than on real MCATs.

By contrast, TPR material is qualitatively off in the other direction, by just a little: focusing on details is relatively more valuable in TPR material.

I think I am being very inefficient reading passages. Are there any exercises I could do to be more efficient reading passages?

What have you done to prepare for essay writing?

Several people have pointed out common spelling and grammar mistakes. It's always a good idea to try and correct these in your writing. However, it's important to know that the MCAT Writing Sample IS NOT a spelling or grammar test. Your score is based on how well you fulfill the three tasks and write a unified essay.

If your spelling or grammar is so poor that the grader has a difficult time following your essay or determining whether you did fulfill the tasks, you will lose points. But spelling "definitely" as "definately" should not lose you any points.

Of course, you want to make your essay as easy to follow as possible, and give the grader the general impression that you know what you're doing, and correct spelling and grammar will help with that, but I wouldn't waste time studying grammar when you could be studying, say, physics.

(As an example, I had a friend in college who suffered from a learning disability which caused him to be a terrible speller - it was so bad that the spellchecker in Word didn't help him because Word couldn't figure out what words he was trying to spell, so I always proofread his papers. He actually outscored me on the MCAT writing sample.)

I think I am being very inefficient reading passages. Are there any exercises I could do to be more efficient reading passages?

What have you done to prepare for essay writing?

Well... how exactly are you noticing your inefficiency? What makes you say that?

Perfect practice makes perfect... read passages slowly enough that you get the information you need, then increase your speed over time. If you're having specific problems, then focus on those. For example, if you're not comprehending much information at all on the first read through, I would slow down. It might sound counterproductive, but if you don't get anything out of a really fast read, then it was time completely wasted despite being fast.

To lorelei: I understand you got a 15 for verbal. What was your strategy? Did you read the passage(s) and then answer all the questions? Or did you look at the questions then skim the passages and answer the questions? Ever skip any passages? Did you underline? Write stuff in the margins? Did you always finish ahead of time? Any advice for the humanities passage would also be appreciated. Thats the one that seems to give test-takers the hardest time (it can get arcane). Thanks for your advice. Great score btw.

Neurolemma, that's a hard question to answer, because what worked for me doesn't work for everyone else. I bet we could get all the 14-15 scorers to share their strategies and they would all be different. There really isn't one single way to approach it.

That said, here's what I personally did. I would read the passage through, reading critically but not taking a huge amount of time to figure out details I didn't understand. I did make sure that I understood the overall argument and thrust of the passage though. Then I read the questions, answered the ones I knew, and referred back to the passage for the few that I didn't.

I never skipped passages, because for me it was more trouble than it was worth to remember what I had to come back to.

Again, my strategy was what personally worked for me. I'm a fast reader (I did always finish ahead of time), I'm good at grasping arguments, and I had a double engineering/humanities major so I was somewhat used to reading humanities passages. (The art ones were the worst for me.) And I'm not used to marking up textbooks so it never really occurred to me to mark up the passages, though I did occasionally underline or star things that I knew I was coming back to.

In general, I think it's a good idea to read the passage first, because if you can get a handle on the argument (as I described upthread) you will be able to answer several of the questions very quickly, and know where things are when you need to refer back. Whether to underline or make notes is up to you - I essentially mapped the passage in my head, but I think most people do better with some actual marks on the page.

Skipping passages, again, is a personal thing, but I'd recommend only doing it if you come to a passage that's making you freak out for whatever reason. If you're going to be wasting time hyperventilating, go on to the next one, but as long as you can stay calm and tackle the passages one by one I think steaming ahead is probably the best way to go.

If you feel like you need to try out some different strategies, be sure to do it on practice full-lengths well before the MCAT. You may find that a certain technique really helps you, or you may be surprised to find that it doesn't work at all. And you don't want to be showing up on test day, still dithering about whether to read the passage or the questions first. You should have your style pretty much down by then.

I'm trying to think of tips for the humanities passages. I'll get back to you on that.

The only downside to such an approach is that the paragraphs tend to be written with a lot of "..." interspersed between the sentences. I don't know why they do that. No med textbook is written like that. Hopefully... I'll.... get...... used.....to...... that...... way...... of....... reading. :rolleyes:

That just shows where they've removed content while editing the passages to be suitable for the MCAT. They take out stuff that's irrelevant or too difficult, but also they cut down on transitions and repetitions, making it more challenging to read.

Lorelei-

First of all thanks for all the great advice and for offering to mod this thread.

I had a quick question re: Kaplan materials. I had my first verbal writing lesson and I took that first verbal exam in the review book and I thought it was REALLLY difficult - more difficult than any other verbal exam I have seen before. I think I got 39 correct. Kaplan doesn't actually have a score conversion chart as far as Iknow but in the EK materials that correlates to an 8. I was wondering if Kaplan materials are reflective of the level of difficulty of the actual AAMC material?

Basically - to give you some background - I scored a 12 on the VR diagnostic from Kaplan - I am completely convinced however that that was just a fluke based on my interest in the passages, one topic that I had come across before in a magazine,lucky guesses, etc.

That said - I have been using EK materials prior to Kaplan and have been scoring 8s/9s/10s mostly. I feel like I am not budging or improving at all - and am now even more discouraged after seeing the Kaplan material.

A worry of mine though is that - since I feel Kaplan materials are harder than AAMc [ at least from what I have heard ] I am taking their evaluations with a grain of salt [perhaps too much?] and I will be extremelysurprised come test day.

So - since you have experience teaching for Kaplan - any advice would be reallllly appreciated.
Thanks

I am struggling with the Kaplan verbal reasoning sectional tests. The reports speak nothing of their difficulty. Could someone expand on this? (I know the topical tests are really challenging, just wondering if it is the same case for these tests)

I honestly don't know for sure about the difficulty of the Kaplan VR tests. I didn't take Kaplan myself, and teachers don't get copies of the student material. However, I will see if I can get my hands on a test, and if nothing else take it myself and see how I do. I have heard many students say the Kaplan topical tests are harder than real MCATs and I wouldn't be surprised if that were true.

Do any of the other mods have experience with this? (QofQuimica?)

I am consistently scoring 5-6 on VR. Dont know how to fix the problem, but i am not reading and understanding very well. I have a question?? I was told that to enhance VR score, that we should read less passages (6-7), and spend more time thinking about that answers. I was told that this technique will lead to a 9+ score. Any suggestions?
N

I am consistently scoring 5-6 on VR. Dont know how to fix the problem, but i am not reading and understanding very well. I have a question?? I was told that to enhance VR score, that we should read less passages (6-7), and spend more time thinking about that answers. I was told that this technique will lead to a 9+ score. Any suggestions?
N

Have you been doing all full-length practices? I'd suggest getting some practice verbal materials and doing a few passages in a NON-timed environment. Take as long as you need to feel like you've given the passage a full effort, and see how you do. Also, see how long that actually takes. If you end up needing a couple more minutes per passage but that lets you answer a lot more questions right, the fewer-passages strategy might work well for you. And once you get the technique down, you will be able to work on speed, too.

On the other hand, if allowing yourself more time doesn't increase your score, you need to work on how you're approaching the passages and the questions - QofQuimica and I both gave some tips on that upthread.

lorelei-
yes i havec been working on full lengh practice tests. I will try your new technique though. After i wrote this my last post, i did check up-post and your tips on trying to understand the authors arguements helped me TREMENDOUSLY. I only wish i had that strategie earlier. Can you recomend any good verbal mcat books plz???
thx
n




Have you been doing all full-length practices? I'd suggest getting some practice verbal materials and doing a few passages in a NON-timed environment. Take as long as you need to feel like you've given the passage a full effort, and see how you do. Also, see how long that actually takes. If you end up needing a couple more minutes per passage but that lets you answer a lot more questions right, the fewer-passages strategy might work well for you. And once you get the technique down, you will be able to work on speed, too.

On the other hand, if allowing yourself more time doesn't increase your score, you need to work on how you're approaching the passages and the questions - QofQuimica and I both gave some tips on that upthread.

How do you guys get the gist of what the author is saying or the tone of the author. I find myself breaking up the passages into paragraphs and trying to get the get a sense of what the overall passage says by trying to "link" the theme of each passage.

though I am taking the Kaplan course - I use the EK method for verbal - Basically, just trying to read the passage very critically and sort of get the overall message the author is trying to get across, in addition to his attitude towards the arguments. It definitely takes getting used to though - initially there were passages of which I completely had the wrong perception- in regards to the author's views and bombed the questions, as a result. but practice def helped that out some.

Hi lorelei,

Out of the few AAMC passages I've done, it seems like there is a certain taxonomy of question stems:

1. The main idea of the passage is ...
2. The author would most/least likely agree with ...
3. The word "..." as used in the passage refers to...

There are more that perhaps someone could list out and offer strategies on how to tackle each one. The last one specifically is annoying because now you've got to quickly skim the entire passage to find that one word, unless you pre-read the questions - which I'm not fond of.

So the first passage on 3R, I took untimed and got two wrong. The second passage, I took it timed and still got two wrong. :meanie: I'm finishing the passage with plenty of time to spare. It has been suggested to me that I slow down and give myself atleast 3 minutes to go through the passage. I always thought I'd run out of time but that hasn't happened.

I wish I could discuss the two questions with you further, however the rules restrict this detailed type of discussion. My conjecture is that one of the two questions I got wrong because I was stubborn not to go back and check something out. So this is salvageable. The second question requires a little more work. Ideally, if I can pick up these two questions, I'm missing on each passage then....woohoo!

Thanks for reading,
-Y_Marker

docwannabe: I'm so glad my suggestions helped you out. Keep me posted and let me know if you get stuck at any point. Unfortunately, I have not spent enough time with any Verbal books to be able to give a good recommendation -- can anyone else jump in here? If not I will try to check out the books next time I'm in Borders but that might be awhile.

blankguy: Breaking up the passage into paragraphs is a great start. It means you're already analyzing each piece of the passage. To analyze the passage as a whole, your goal is going to be to understand not just what the author's saying in each paragraph, but WHY he's saying it, and what purpose it serves in building the overall argument. Try asking yourself what would happen if the paragraph weren't there. Usually it's not just that information would be missing, but that the author's argument would be incomplete or wouldn't make sense. I'm trying to think of more tips for doing this - it's definitely not something that comes easily.

Can anyone speak of the difficulty of the sectional verbal tests from Kaplan? I am really having a tough time! As a matter of fact, I am finding them so hard that I am doing them untimed. Are people doing well on these sectional verbal tests under timed conditions? Thanks

docwannabe: I'm so glad my suggestions helped you out. Keep me posted and let me know if you get stuck at any point. Unfortunately, I have not spent enough time with any Verbal books to be able to give a good recommendation -- can anyone else jump in here? If not I will try to check out the books next time I'm in Borders but that might be awhile.

blankguy: Breaking up the passage into paragraphs is a great start. It means you're already analyzing each piece of the passage. To analyze the passage as a whole, your goal is going to be to understand not just what the author's saying in each paragraph, but WHY he's saying it, and what purpose it serves in building the overall argument. Try asking yourself what would happen if the paragraph weren't there. Usually it's not just that information would be missing, but that the author's argument would be incomplete or wouldn't make sense. I'm trying to think of more tips for doing this - it's definitely not something that comes easily.

docwannabe: I'm so glad my suggestions helped you out. Keep me posted and let me know if you get stuck at any point. Unfortunately, I have not spent enough time with any Verbal books to be able to give a good recommendation -- can anyone else jump in here? If not I will try to check out the books next time I'm in Borders but that might be awhile.

blankguy: Breaking up the passage into paragraphs is a great start. It means you're already analyzing each piece of the passage. To analyze the passage as a whole, your goal is going to be to understand not just what the author's saying in each paragraph, but WHY he's saying it, and what purpose it serves in building the overall argument. Try asking yourself what would happen if the paragraph weren't there. Usually it's not just that information would be missing, but that the author's argument would be incomplete or wouldn't make sense. I'm trying to think of more tips for doing this - it's definitely not something that comes easily.


The problem is when I try to write out the main idea of each paragraph I tend to get hung up on the keywords and details of the paragraph. I also find that I am juggling with the ideas of several paragraphs unable to find the main idea of the whole passage. :rolleyes:

This a cut and paste by a post made by lukewhite some months ago. Hope it's ok:


On the questions, get good at inferences. While I'm biased, I'd say that Kaplan is exceptional on this point, both in the amount of questions you have available to hone the skill and in the method. The main thing to remember for inference questions is that the right answer MUST be true based on the passage; if it may or may not be true, it's incorrect. This, in my opinion, is the single biggest factor keeping students who score in the 9-11 range from getting to the 12+ range: if you mistake something possibly true for something definitely true, or vice versa, on only a few questions you've automatically taken your score down a few points.

Make sure you understand what certain types of questions look like. Again, Kaplan's excellent on this, both in terms of volume and instruction. If you can glance at a question and know its category, you can spend less time trying to analyze what it's asking; you'll already have a good idea.

And finally, don't fall into the trap of trying to justify every wrong answer choice to yourself--when I take a practice test, I routinely skip answers I don't understand. Chances are that if they don't make sense, they're wrong and you'll find one much better a little below. Students often run out of time because they insist on fully understanding every choice, when you're only rewarded, of course, for picking the right answer.

Get in the habit of doing a couple "scans"...an easy question may only require one scan, while a hard question may first get you down to two answer choices and then allow you to compare them to each other. It's way easier to compare two choices than four!

We perhaps sometimes don't emphasize the inference enough. Not only is it a common problem area for students, but it's really the foundation for all other major question types...the higher-order questions all depend, to some extent, on the ability to make inferences and then do something else.

Remember that an inference will necessarily be very close to what the passage says. I'm constantly flipping back and forth while taking a practice test; missing a particular phrase is often enough to miss the justification for an inference. When you see an answer choice on an inference question, I'd go through these "filters":

1. Does it look wrong? If so, move on
2. Does it look obviously right? If so, you're probably done once you scan the others quickly to be sure.
3. If you're unsure, before evaluating the choice, figure out what it's referring to in the passage (this may be more than one place!) With a good idea of the passage's structure, you can go back, quickly look for relevant words/ideas and compare them to the choice. This is incredibly helpful for narrowing down and clarifying your thought processes.

Too many students try to power through an inference through sheer logic without reference back to the passage, which is deadly. Identify the question as inference, figure out what the likely choices are (usually you can narrow this down to two fairly easily) and then use the passage as your final filter to get down to 1. I'd say that this will get you the right answer 70-90% of the time, with the other 10% involving a little more reasoning and synthesis.

Another post by lukewhite. Hope it's ok.

A more specific Verbal tip today since I've been posting fairly broad strategies. This one deals with possibly the worst species of question on MCAT Verbal:

"Which of the following is a claim made in the passage, but not supported by evidence, explanation, or example?"

On the surface, this would seem to be a detail question with some evaluation. Most test-takers approach this by painstakingly locating each choice in the passage and then reading in context to see if it has supporting details. That's the sort of approach that can lose you 1-2 minutes on a single question: not worth it!

As with most MCAT Verbal, the trick is to think about it structurally. Where is a claim made in the passage but not supported by e/e/e likely to be? Probably at the end of the passage or the end of a major point. Scan the choices to see if one of them fits that criteria, and then go back to double check.

This won't always work; there's another criterion to try. What sort of claim is unlikely to be supported by e/e/e/? One that is itself evidence, explanation, or example. Does one of the answer choices involve something the author mentioned, but only as an off-topic reference to support the main point? Chances are it's going to be your answer--authors rarely provide evidence for their evidence.

Remember: The Verbal's set up not only to reward people who can get the right answer, but people who can get the right answer quickly. Doing a question fast is as important to your score as doing it correctly!

I find that writing on the side of each paragraph takes a bit of time to do. Plus, I do not find that it helps me much! I am wondering if I am writing the wrong type of information. What do you experts recommend to write in the margins of each paragraph? Please be explicit. In addition, do you experts find reading the questions first helps? My problem with the Kaplan tests is that I read the passage and annotate the living crap out of the passage, then I get to the questions and the annotations do not really help me! I just get overwhelmed because I feel like I have wasted time annotating and have to go back to the passage to located things!! Thanks

I find that writing on the side of each paragraph takes a bit of time to do. Plus, I do not find that it helps me much! I am wondering if I am writing the wrong type of information. What do you experts recommend to write in the margins of each paragraph? Please be explicit. In addition, do you experts find reading the questions first helps? My problem with the Kaplan tests is that I read the passage and annotate the living crap out of the passage, then I get to the questions and the annotations do not really help me! I just get overwhelmed because I feel like I have wasted time annotating and have to go back to the passage to located things!! Thanks

It sounds like you are writing way too much. There are two very important things to keep in mind when annotating paragraphs:

1. Your annotations should be SHORT. If you're writing entire sentences, it's too much. You should only be writing a few words or a phrase at most. Also, do not write out whole words if you can avoid it. Abbreviate as much as possible (eg., write "rxn" for "reaction" and "exp" for "experiment.") If you don't know formal shorthand, then make up your own. I use Spanish words sometimes if they're shorter than the English ones, such as "y" for "and," and "sino" for "but rather." Other people might not understand your shorthand, but the only thing that matters is that you do.

2. Your annotations should focus on the passage's ARGUMENT, not the DETAILS. This is difficult for many pre-med students, because it's the opposite of what you generally do in your science classes. Say you have a passage about two competing theories of what causes the greenhouse effect. In an environmental science class, you'd probably be expected to memorize the evidentiary DETAILS for each theory and list them on your test. But on the MCAT, most questions will not be about the details. Rather, they will largely be about the ARGUMENTS made for, against, and by each theory. The details are just there to bolster the author's case. You will be asked questions like what the author means when s/he makes some statement, how to strengthen or weaken an argument, and whether the author would agree with some statement based on his/her position in the passage. So, to do well on the MCAT VR, you need to focus your attention on the arguments themselves, rather than on the evidence given to support or refute them.

Lorelei's previous post about pretending to debate with the author is a good suggestion for teaching yourself to focus on the arguments rather than on the details. You might also try asking yourself whether the author takes a side in a debate, and if so, which one and why. In some passages, the author will present one side of a controversy, but then agree with the opponent. In others, s/he will simply present both sides and remain neutral.

what do you do when you dont understand the passage, and even if you read it slowly, you still dont understand it? also, when you read the answers the MC questions, it also still does not make any sense. :scared:

what do you do when you dont understand the passage, and even if you read it slowly, you still dont understand it? also, when you read the answers the MC questions, it also still does not make any sense. :scared:

The first thing to do is to follow the immortal words inscribed on The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Don't Panic. You don't have to understand everything in the passage in order to understand the main argument of the author and answer the questions. If the argument itself is what confuses you, try to at least figure out if the author is positive, negative, or neutral toward his/her subject. That will help you answer questions that ask you things like if the author would agree or disagree with such-and-such a position. My other suggestion would be to do a passage like this last. Finish every other passage in the section, and THEN come back and do the one that is hard to comprehend last. That way, if you spend too much time agonizing over it, it won't affect your work on the other passages, which you have already completed.

lorelei, shrike, anyone have any other ideas?

PLEASE HELP,
I've practiced the verbal section of Kaplan for nearly a week, but never finished on time and always get the Roman numeral questionS wrong, please help

I studied for two weeks for verbals, but didn't improve at all. I feel so discouraged. Can someone help me? What did I do wrong? Did I approach the section wrong?

THANKS

The first thing to do is to follow the immortal words inscribed on The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Don't Panic. You don't have to understand everything in the passage in order to understand the main argument of the author and answer the questions. If the argument itself is what confuses you, try to at least figure out if the author is positive, negative, or neutral toward his/her subject. That will help you answer questions that ask you things like if the author would agree or disagree with such-and-such a position. My other suggestion would be to do a passage like this last. Finish every other passage in the section, and THEN come back and do the one that is hard to comprehend last. That way, if you spend too much time agonizing over it, it won't affect your work on the other passages, which you have already completed.

lorelei, shrike, anyone have any other ideas?

Hm... I'm not sure if I have much to add to that. Q's advice is great, especially about not panicking!

Have you noticed any patterns in which passages do this to you? For example, is it always art passages, or always philosophy? Or is it just the fact that some are more difficult than others? If it's a particular topic, it MAY help to find several essays or a book on that topic. NOT so that you can learn all about it (Verbal doesn't require outside knowledge!) but so that you can become familiar with the way writing in that subject tends to approach things, and maybe feel a little more comfortable with the topic.

I'm not sure what else to do - I'd be interested in hearing from anyone who's successfully worked through a problem like this. (PM me.)

PLEASE HELP,
I've practiced the verbal section of Kaplan for nearly a week, but never finished on time and always get the Roman numeral questionS wrong, please help

I studied for two weeks for verbals, but didn't improve at all. I feel so discouraged. Can someone help me? What did I do wrong? Did I approach the section wrong?

THANKS

First of all, QofQuimica and I both gave some advice upthread about tackling Verbal, so if you haven't checked that out it might give you a hand.

How are your practice scores? Do you think if you could just finish on time you'd be OK? And are you spending your time mostly on the passages or on the questions? Or is it more a problem of being able to get the answers right?

If you're spending too long on the passages, you should remember that you don't need to read for minute detail, as long as you remember where the details are - you can always come back. Try to get the structure, not every single piece of content. If you're spending too long on the questions, you may be overanalyzing. Keeping in mind the general idea and purpose of the passage can help there. Or if you're taking too long going back to the passage for answers, you might want to work on your mapping, so you can have a cheat sheet as to where various points are discussed.

For the Roman numeral questions, the strategy I like to use is elimination. See if any of the choices (I, II, or III) jump out at you - if II is definitely wrong, eliminate all the choices that have it, and if II is definitely right, eliminate all the choices that DON'T have it. Then go through the choices, focusing on which ones will eliminate the most answer choices. You can often figure out the answer even if you don't know whether one of the numerals is right or wrong.

Hm... I'm not sure if I have much to add to that. Q's advice is great, especially about not panicking!

Have you noticed any patterns in which passages do this to you? For example, is it always art passages, or always philosophy? Or is it just the fact that some are more difficult than others? If it's a particular topic, it MAY help to find several essays or a book on that topic. NOT so that you can learn all about it (Verbal doesn't require outside knowledge!) but so that you can become familiar with the way writing in that subject tends to approach things, and maybe feel a little more comfortable with the topic.

I'm not sure what else to do - I'd be interested in hearing from anyone who's successfully worked through a problem like this. (PM me.)


the passage had a lot of detail. a lot of review books say dont focus on the details, focus on the big picture. but.. how do you *not* focus on the details if you dont even understand the details? i feel that you need to understand the details to understand the big pic (?).

since you dont understand the details, you will just find yourself skimming the passage (since you think details dont matter) in hope of finding the big pic, and in the end, you are clueless on what the passage was about. (well, thats how it was for me :()

the passage had a lot of detail. a lot of review books say dont focus on the details, focus on the big picture. but.. how do you *not* focus on the details if you dont even understand the details? i feel that you need to understand the details to understand the big pic (?).

since you dont understand the details, you will just find yourself skimming the passage (since you think details dont matter) in hope of finding the big pic, and in the end, you are clueless on what the passage was about. (well, thats how it was for me :()
The point in the details isn't that you retain each and every point made in each detail. You have to do two things very quickly--1) understand what is actually being described, and 2) figure out why the author wasted your time bringing it up. How does the point pertain to his argument? Look for combining phrases used to link a point to the rest--does the author say "additionally" (implying that it is further support of the previour point) or "however" (meaning that the point is a caveat that might be partially contrary to the previous point) or "nevertheless" (meaning that a conclusion holds in the face of the caveats presented)? You don't need to know the details, but you do need to understand them briefly enough to relate them to a central point. Once you understand a point, and you can meake sense of it in context, you can forget it and move on.

Look for these things also in the transitions between paragraphs. Ultimately, you should be looking for a thesis and for a structured support of that thesis. the author is not trying to make you remember a concatenation of facts--they want to convince you of the existence and dynamics of a process.

Nutmeg has good advice about understanding WHY details are there, not understanding every little bit.

As far as recognizing what is skippable, there are some typical structures that give you that hint. For example: "Sandra Day O'Connor was a paragon, an example to women everywhere, a perfect choice as the first female justice." (I just made that up.) In that sentence, and pretty much any sentence with that structure, the three things set off by commas are all similar to each other. If you don't know what "paragon" means, that's OK - you know, based on the structure, that it has to be something similar to the other two. And you don't need to read them all carefully, just remember that this is stuff about why O'Connor is awesome.

There's a similar structure, like this: "Condoleezza Rice is a classically trained pianist, a figure skater, and a football fan." The "and" in there means that the details are NOT all the same thing, but they are three details that are somewhat related. In this case, it's Rice's hobbies. Still, you don't need to memorize them or even necessarily understand them all (my examples are obvious, but there could be one with words you don't know), just note what they're about in general.

Also, anything with numbers is a detail. Don't worry about memorizing or understanding them, just note where they are and what they're about.

Another hint: repetition usually hints that there are several examples or statements about the same thing. For example, this quote from the VR example on aamc.org (http://www.aamc.org/students/mcat/vrsampleitems.pdf):

"It is important to see that we don't just talk about
arguments in terms of war. We can actually win or
lose arguments. We see the person we are arguing
with as an opponent. We attack his positions and we
defend our own. We gain and lose ground. We plan
and use strategies."

All those sentences that start with "We" are examples of how arguments are not just TALKED ABOUT in terms of war, but really experienced and structured in terms of war (which is what the author says in words in the rest of the paragraph). This is typical. When you get a list like this, you don't need to necessarily understand every item, but understand what the list consists of, and why it's there.

I will try to keep an eye out for more examples of ways to identify details, but I hope these few starting points help.

hi lorelei, I have been practicing verbal with ek and kaplan practice tests(3 passages/day). I seem to be stuck around a 9. The questions I usually miss are like "which of the following conclusions can justifibly drawn from the passage?" or the questions regarding the meaning of the word in context of the passage, or how would a certain claim be viewed by the author or how would it affect the passage?" On occassion when i understand the passage well i'm able to get these questions correct. But sometimes i'm in the middle of the passage and i'm not sure if the author supports the point or is against it. The passages i usually have trouble with are the ones talking about review of a book or of some sort of written work and passages about art and stuff. I think in one of your previous posts you said look for words like however, moreover and etc. that has helped alot. Most of the questions i miss, i have them boiled down to two choices, but i end up picking the wrong ones. Do you have any tips for dealing with these questions and any other words or clues to understand tone of the passage? ty

I was reviewing my Kaplan diagnostic and I noticed that there were 7 detail questions out of 32 total. That's almost 25%! In the Kaplan VR workbook, it is said detail questions are very rare on the MCAT. Can someone help explain this disjunction? What percentage are detail questions on AAMC tests? What is a good analytical method for attacking these suckers?

Mostwanted: Something I've done on occasion to figure out the author's point of view is to find the place where s/he is talking about the relevant point, and look for any non-necessary words: words that don't absolutely have to be there to convey the facts, as well as words that could have been chosen differently to give a different impression. See what would be lost by stripping the prose down to the bare minimum, and that usually gives you an idea of the author's viewpoint.

Unfortunately I haven't had enough time to find good public-domain examples, but here is one from a blog I'm currently reading that might give you the idea. (Copied from http://www.corante.com/loom/archives/2005/06/16/look_up_in_the_sky_flying_hobbits.php)

Skeptics find this possibility implausible, arguing that it’s more likely this individual was just a pygmy human with some genetic defect. As far as I can tell, this skepticism about shrinking hominid brains flows from two sources.

(first source snipped)

The other source of skepticism, which I mentioned in my last post, is a vague sense that when it comes to hominid brains, evolution cannot run in reverse. It’s certainly true that if you draw a graph of hominid brain size over time, it has climbed to spectacular heights...

In the first paragraph, take "skeptics" - that's a loaded word. Does he consider himself a skeptic? Probably not. Saying "as far as I can tell" implies that he doesn't really understand the skeptics' viewpoint, so presumably he doesn't share it. ("implausible" and "just" are two other words you might take notice of.)

Second paragraph, "vague" also implies that he doesn't share that sense - respectable scientific hypotheses shouldn't be vague. Then in the next sentence, the use of "certainly" in this case is implying that a "BUT" is coming up soon (it's the next paragraph, in fact) - like saying "well, I'll give you that, BUT that's the only part you have right."

This is obviously not an ideal passage for this use, because Zimmer isn't at all trying to hide his viewpoint, but it might give you an idea of the kind of thing to look for.

If people think it would be helpful, I can try to find some more-suitable passages to point out these sorts of key words in.

---

rrshah, it's true that detail questions are relatively rare, though I don't know an exact percentage. Different test forms will vary. I don't think there's much of an analytical strategy - just use your passage map to find the relevant section, and look up the detail. If it takes more analysis than that, it's not a detail question.

I was reviewing my Kaplan diagnostic and I noticed that there were 7 detail questions out of 32 total. That's almost 25%! In the Kaplan VR workbook, it is said detail questions are very rare on the MCAT. Can someone help explain this disjunction? What percentage are detail questions on AAMC tests? What is a good analytical method for attacking these suckers?


I don't know the details on detail questions (what percentage, etc), but how I deal with them:

I just go back to the text. You should have an idea where they're located from your first reading. Go back to the text, find the answer. Read a couple sentences before and after to be sure that really is the answer and then pick the choice that has the right answer. Easy points, I love these!!

Is anyone finding the Kaplan verbal reasoning section tests to be unreasonably difficult? I was doing test 7 and ****, I have the main idea and am really in control of the passages but the questions are so damn hard for me!! They require higher-level processing. Anyone care to comment? Thanks,

Franky

Is anyone finding the Kaplan verbal reasoning section tests to be unreasonably difficult? I was doing test 7 and ****, I have the main idea and am really in control of the passages but the questions are so damn hard for me!! They require higher-level processing. Anyone care to comment? Thanks,

Franky

Bump

Skeptics find this possibility implausible, arguing that it’s more likely this individual was just a pygmy human with some genetic defect. As far as I can tell, this skepticism about shrinking hominid brains flows from two sources.

(first source snipped)

The other source of skepticism, which I mentioned in my last post, is a vague sense that when it comes to hominid brains, evolution cannot run in reverse. It’s certainly true that if you draw a graph of hominid brain size over time, it has climbed to spectacular heights...

In the first paragraph, take "skeptics" - that's a loaded word. Does he consider himself a skeptic? Probably not. Saying "as far as I can tell" implies that he doesn't really understand the skeptics' viewpoint, so presumably he doesn't share it. ("implausible" and "just" are two other words you might take notice of.)

Second paragraph, "vague" also implies that he doesn't share that sense - respectable scientific hypotheses shouldn't be vague. Then in the next sentence, the use of "certainly" in this case is implying that a "BUT" is coming up soon (it's the next paragraph, in fact) - like saying "well, I'll give you that, BUT that's the only part you have right."

Wow, i would have never ever (not even in a million years) been able to analyze the paragraph in that depth...especially when there is a time limit during verbal!!!

Frankrizzo, I've been looking at the Kaplan subject tests and it is my own personal opinion (NOT an official Kaplan opinion) that they may be more difficult than the real MCAT. Better to practice on stuff that's too hard than too easy though! Feel free to PM me if you have any specific questions, as I do have access to those tests.

Sweetstuff, it's really a different kind of thinking, honed through lots of practice. I do it pretty much automatically, so teaching Verbal has been fascinating for me because I get to analyze WHY I know what I'm getting from the passage. But although I say I've learned it through practice, I've actually been really surprised at how much of the skillset seems to be learnable through studying. I don't think it's required to always analyze the passage like that - stick to normal keywords like however, then, obviously, rhetorical questions, and so on. But analyzing word choice is another strategy that you can use if you're really stuck AND have some time.

Frankrizzo, I've been looking at the Kaplan subject tests and it is my own personal opinion (NOT an official Kaplan opinion) that they may be more difficult than the real MCAT. Better to practice on stuff that's too hard than too easy though!

My personal opinion is also that the Kaplan VR sections are harder than the real MCAT VR. But many of my students say the two are comparable, so I'm not sure whether Kaplan's tests really are objectively harder or not. I think it's interesting that you and I both feel that way though, lorelei.

I do it pretty much automatically, so teaching Verbal has been fascinating for me because I get to analyze WHY I know what I'm getting from the passage. But although I say I've learned it through practice, I've actually been really surprised at how much of the skillset seems to be learnable through studying.

The hardest thing about teaching other people how to take the MCAT, particularly this section, is that there isn't any objective knowledge that you need to learn for VR, and it's not always easy to tell an outside observer what you were thinking as you answered the questions or read the passage. I also never thought about how/why I knew something before I became an instructor and started consciously analyzing how I approach a passage or question. I can't tell you why some people figure out these techniques on their own and others don't. But the cool thing, like lorelei said, is that once you are aware of the techniques, you can practice them until they are second nature to you, too. I have to emphasize to you students that it is essential to practice your VR techniques to the point where you do them automatically. Some students don't practice VR because there isn't any content to study, and this is a huge mistake.

Kaplans questions and answer choices are a bit different than EK. There is one particular type of double qualifier kaplan question that does not appear on EK.

The claim that <enter your generic claim here> is:
A.necessarily true given the info presented
B.perhaps true and supported by info in the passage
C.perhaps true but not supported by the passage
D.necessarily false given the info presented in the passage

EKs answers choices tend to be more detailed. Anyone know if this combo of question/question stem pops up on AAMC exams?

I keep getting sucked into rereading the passages to nail down the correct answer for this combo or scuked into rereading the claim.

I read quite a lot of items from the Economist to the WSJ. My problem is that I have a tendeny to disagree with some of the answers presented in the MCAT sample tests.

I get to the point where I'm reading a passage and I'm arguing about the choices in answers because they don't match what I think the answer should be.

Is there a good way to "unlearn" techniques that (like reading between the lines) I learned that may work in one case, but doesn't work for the MCAT VR? Is there a good technique for the VR I should use?

Unfortunately, the more I critcally think about the passage, the more questions I come up with and the more the answers in the MCAT may not make sense.

Hi,
As I am going over the the past taken full lenghts to analyze my mistakes, it is easy to pin point where I went wrong in the sciences (forgetting a formula etc...) but not so much in verbal. The explanations are related to the topic of the particular passage, rather than the question type/passage type etc. Is there any suggestions on how to go over past verbal sections so we can get the most out of it? Thanks!

stoleyerscrubz: I think that type of question does show up on real AAMC exams, but I could be misremembering because I've seen it in Kaplan materials. At any rate, it's a really good type of question for practicing argument analysis: basically it's asking you what the arguments given in the passage imply -- what has to be true given that the evidence in the passage is true. And that's an important skill to have.

NewtonNewberry: I bet just doing more VR practice items will get you more familiar with the types of questions (and answers!) on the MCAT. Certainly there are often times when they could go in more interesting directions, but they choose not to for whatever reason, and the task is just to find the best answer.

Viv2006: One thing you can do is take a sample passage and then grade it without looking at the explanations. Then, now that you know what the answers are, go over it and explain to yourself WHY those are the answers, and why the wrong ones were wrong. Compare your reasoning to that given in the explanations. This will help you be able to approach the problems in the same way as the people who write the tests.

umm, Success. Focusing directly on the argument really simplifies things. I just got 45/60 on test 3R. What a bitchin' relief. You guys have been a great way for me to bounce ideas and soak up the way people do well on verbal reasoning.

I hate to ask this but can someone confirm that the Verbal is only 60 questions now? When did it change? I've been practicing w/ 'old' 65 question materials, am I in trouble? Why did they reduce the test anyways?

It is only 60 questions. I think the change was in 2004.

I hate to ask this but can someone confirm that the Verbal is only 60 questions now? When did it change? I've been practicing w/ 'old' 65 question materials, am I in trouble? Why did they reduce the test anyways?

would you guys recommend trusting what you got out of the passage more so than referring back to specific parts of the passage too much? i think i'm really afraid to trust myself too much b/c i think "what if i didn't really understand what the author was trying to say" and i will end up getting that question wrong. timing is a big issue for me and i think this fear of mine might be the reason for it. w/my practice exams i find that there is usually 1 passage that i just didn't seem to understand well at all and i guess that has conditioned me to refer back to each passage more than i should. any advice on how to break this habit and stop scaring myself? i try to take a short break after each passage but apparently it doesn't seem to work very well. help! :(

would you guys recommend trusting what you got out of the passage more so than referring back to specific parts of the passage too much? i think i'm really afraid to trust myself too much b/c i think "what if i didn't really understand what the author was trying to say" and i will end up getting that question wrong. timing is a big issue for me and i think this fear of mine might be the reason for it. w/my practice exams i find that there is usually 1 passage that i just didn't seem to understand well at all and i guess that has conditioned me to refer back to each passage more than i should. any advice on how to break this habit and stop scaring myself? i try to take a short break after each passage but apparently it doesn't seem to work very well. help! :(

Hm. It's hard to say. While you're taking the practice exam, are you able to pick out the passage that's giving you trouble? If so, there's nothing wrong with skipping that one and coming back to it at the end when you have more time.

Do you think this is more of a psychological thing or a real problem with understanding? That is, when you go back over your tests, were your first thoughts usually right? Or did you actually have to go back over the passage to find the right answers? If what you got out of the passage usually seems to be accurate, I would definitely recommend trying to get over the feeling of needing to go back to check, and only do those checks for questions where they're necessary (like details you can't recall). Then you can save time so that on the one passage you do have a hard time with, you can go back and scour the passage for answers.

On the other hand, if you're not able to tell while you're taking the test whether you're successfully understanding the passage or not, I'm not sure what the best course of action is. Here's an idea I just had, so I don't know if it's really good or not (but maybe worth a try if it sounds helpful for you): take the test while trying to trust your instincts as much as possible, but mark the questions you were worried about. At the end of each passage, if there were several iffy questions go back and look, but if there were only a couple move on. At the end if you have time you can go back to a passage that had the most tough questions. Knowing that you can come back might help with your nervousness, while keeping moving will help with timing, and marking the questions might help you figure out which passages were giving you the most trouble.

That only works if you're unsure about the questions that you actually don't know - meaning, if you feel confident about wrong answers and iffy about right ones, there's a totally different problem, and in that case I think probably the standard advice about focusing on the argument applies.

I hope that helps - without knowing for sure what's going on, my advice is sort of scattershot, but I hope you can get something out of it.

Hi, I am new to the forum, but I share many of the same concerns as the members in the forum. My problem is that there is just that ONE passage that makes NO sense to me either because the author's writing style is confusing/florid, or the subject matter is too abstract. In this situation, what should I do? Should I continue to try to read the passage or just skip it? I definitely want above a 10 on the VR section, and skipping a passage would greatly slim my chances. I am currently taking TPR class right now, and they tell you to identify answer traps and such...but does it really help?
Sometimes, I have trouble relating the answer choices to the question, especially the weaken/strengthen and "least supported" types of question.
I usually get about 16 wrongs on the verbal section, which turns out to be about 2 wrong per passage, I'm frustrated because I'm not improving!
Lorelei--I understand that you got a 15 on your VR, do you usually understand every passage? Or does your "reasoning" skill play a big part as well?

Sorry for the ranting, but VR is, in my opinion, the most difficult section to improve on the MCAT.
THANK YOU

I'm having a lot of trouble with the Verbal section too. I'm using EK 101 Passages in VR and Kaplan materials (I just want to get as much practice as possible). I'm scoring about 7-8 with the EK stuff. I understand the Kaplan stuff but I'm having some trouble with EK. I understand how their methods can work, but it's not working for me (yet). Although I've identified and fixed most of the major problems (which contradict the EK and Kaplan methods), I continue to infer the wrong things about the passage plus I look back at the passage TOO MUCH . This is going to kill my score. I had planned to take the test in August, but now I'm thinking about putting it off until April (yep, I'm that bummed about the whole thing). I never had a problem with critical reading before but this test has me worried.

Any suggestions are welcome.

I am taking the EK Verbal 101 and the question I always get wrong is:

Which of the assertions offers the least support?

I always pick the one that has no support (think none would be the least) but EK goes on to explain that since this was not a passage assertion is cannot be the right answer. Does MCAT make this distinction(none=least) or does it have to be a point brought up in the passage(with little support) to be a right answer?

Thanks, Sorry it is so wordy.

Hi all!

Lorelei,

Do you have any strategies for these questions? I have horrible luck when it comes to these questions because I automatically mark out the answer. After checking my exam, it is pretty much the one that I first marked off.

Besides, the strategy of choosing the one I mark off as the correct answer I'd really like something more substantial. :D

Thanks so much!!

lorelei,

I've been having trouble coming up with a main idea. I seem to coming up with a summary rather than a main idea for those more scientific passages. As well, sometimes, my main idea doesn't seem too "detailed" as I compare it with some of the answers presented in questions.

Hi, I am new to the forum, but I share many of the same concerns as the members in the forum. My problem is that there is just that ONE passage that makes NO sense to me either because the author's writing style is confusing/florid, or the subject matter is too abstract. In this situation, what should I do? Should I continue to try to read the passage or just skip it? I definitely want above a 10 on the VR section, and skipping a passage would greatly slim my chances. I am currently taking TPR class right now, and they tell you to identify answer traps and such...but does it really help?
Sometimes, I have trouble relating the answer choices to the question, especially the weaken/strengthen and "least supported" types of question.
I usually get about 16 wrongs on the verbal section, which turns out to be about 2 wrong per passage, I'm frustrated because I'm not improving!
Lorelei--I understand that you got a 15 on your VR, do you usually understand every passage? Or does your "reasoning" skill play a big part as well?

Sorry for the ranting, but VR is, in my opinion, the most difficult section to improve on the MCAT.
THANK YOU

wow we are in almost the same exact situation. i usually miss 16 per exam too, and for ek that's 1 away from a 10 which kills me!

lorelei,

I've been having trouble coming up with a main idea. I seem to coming up with a summary rather than a main idea for those more scientific passages. As well, sometimes, my main idea doesn't seem too "detailed" as I compare it with some of the answers presented in questions.
I think a lot of what this test looks for is the ability to separate fact and opinion. That's why you get questions like "does it strengthen or weaken to say...?" and so forth. So with each assertion, you need to look for the facts (which mean something to the summary, but not to the point) while the conclusions derived from those facts--which are opinions that they seek to support by the facts--are the main idea.

View all authors as attempting not to inform you, but to pursuade you. What conclusion are they trying to make you draw from the data? Are there any conceivable ways in which the data might be construed to mean something else? Even if you know nothing about the subject, can you imagine a person disagreeing with the conclusions?

When they ask you "what's the main idea?" the answer is not likely to be the pure informational themes that they give, like "many painters in the 18th century worked with one another." That's just informational--it sounds like that's just a trend demonstrated by the anecdotal evidence that might be presented. More interesting as an idea is that, say, they were not appreciated in their time, or that European painters were more appreciated in the US than at home, or so forth. There's a subjective quality to these sorts of assertions, and to back this up, one would likely give a series of anecdotes.

Don't just try to identify what the anecdotal information has in common; try to seek why it is relevant. Try and find the assertion which would be constroversial or unexpected if the anecdotes weren't there.

Apart from that, there are situations with those sorts of questions where every answer choice is an opinion. It these instance, you want to be sure that you find something that applies to every (or almost every) paragraph, rather than applying to only one paragraph. If the selection applies to one example given, it is not the theme.

The final pitfall is the qualifiers seen at the beginning of the article. Sometimes you have a choice which refers to a statement made in the opening paragraph that is not the thesis itself. Generally, such a claim, made at the outset, is made to justify the course of reasoning that will proceed. It is common for people that are seeking to pursuade that they first rty to justify why you should read the article, or to dispel a common conception that impedes their ability to teach you something new. These things are not theses.

*In short, look for the theme/thesis/main idea as an *opinion* that acts as a recurrent theme throughout, and that the supporting evidence would act to support in all or most all instances.*

I've been reviewing the questions i've gotten wrong. I've been getting the questions about drawing conclusions or implications from a statement or the passage wrong. Are there any hints or suggestions that you guys think will help?

wow we are in almost the same exact situation. i usually miss 16 per exam too, and for ek that's 1 away from a 10 which kills me!

I'm glad to know that someone is in the same boat as I am. Where are you from? I'm from MD and taking the MCAT in August...so close...yet so far.

I've been getting 16 wrongs on the practice ones I did at home (timed), but in the diagnostic in a testing situation, I've only been scoring a 7/8. I need to figure out what my problem is...and FAST! Any help is appeciated

I'm in a bit of an odd situation. I feel like I've stonewalled in my VR scores (I've gotten a 12 the past couple tests). Not bad, I know, but I would like to improve because I'm afraid that on the real MCAT, my score will drop (happened to me in April). I'm taking Kaplan and I've analyzed my score reports and tried to go from there. For example, I usually label each passage type (NS, SS, H) and do Humanities last because that's where I usually get caught up in the prose, although some psychology passages throw me. I've always been strong in the liberal arts, love argumentation and analyzation (I am a competitive debater), so verbal is actually quite enjoyable for me. Except when I see that my score hasn't changed. Again. Any recommendations on how to break this wall I keep running into? My lab supervisor told me to read the questions first, I tried this on the last practice test and got the same score.

As for writing, I think I've found a way to improve my writing skills considerably. I got a P on the August MCAT, which was much lower than I expected but I kind of knew it was coming. What I've done since then is print out the seventy prompts AMCAS lists on their website, cut the prompts out individually and put them in a jar. I try to do at least two a day (one complete set) and more if I have time. I always time myself and usually can tell when I'm struggling (ie, getting stuck in the setup and wasting time). After I finish each essay (I always finish even when I know it's crap), I take notes on how I think I did and what I need to fix. I then try and fix this the next time. This continual process of reevaluating and improving has helped my essays A LOT. I'm much more confident in my ability to write a cohesive and succint essay. Plus, I've cut down about 5-10 minutes in writing time. Whereas I used to work up until the last minute, I am now able to go back, check and do quick edits if needed.

Another side note on writing- if you don't have the time to read, listen to NPR or KCRW. I download their podcasts of Left, Right, and Center on iTunes. It's a good way to get a thorough analysis of the weekly news. Plus, it's funny when they good-naturedly attack each other. That last sentence makes no sense unless you listen to the show.

Thanks in advance.

is it possible for the verbal test to have more than 9 passages? two of the last kaplan Fl 10 and 11 both have 10 passages and i had trouble finishing both of them.

hey q and lore!...
I have been doin really bad in verbal so far....I am takin kaplan and i have done every single kaplan hw so far. I had a 6 on my verbal on the diag..then i got a 7 on fl1 and an 8 on fl2 and now i got a 6 again on fl 3.....I have no idea wat is going on...First, I tried to use kaplans strategy of mappin things and I ran out of major time when i was doin sectional tests at home...Then i started using EK strategy of reading the passage str8 thru keepin the purpose and main idea in my mind and i did that for FL2 and got an 8 so i figured that would work for me...However, with the same thing i got a 6 on fl3 like 10 more wrong than the previous exam....I am also getting bogged down on questions too much which is why i have yet to finish a verbal section on time...i always have atleast a passage left over...NEED HELP PLEASE!!!

I'm also having some trouble with the verbal section. What usually happens to me is that there's always one or two passages in one test that I really struggle on. On my last practice test, I did well on most of the passages, but on two of them I got 11 out of the 12 questions wrong! I could have guessed and gotten better than that!

Does anyone know what is wrong with me?

is it possible for the verbal test to have more than 9 passages? two of the last kaplan Fl 10 and 11 both have 10 passages and i had trouble finishing both of them.

I believe it is possible. That's one of those tough breaks. You can deal with it, though. It's got the same number of questions. Don't let it phase you.

I'm also having some trouble with the verbal section. What usually happens to me is that there's always one or two passages in one test that I really struggle on. On my last practice test, I did well on most of the passages, but on two of them I got 11 out of the 12 questions wrong! I could have guessed and gotten better than that!

Does anyone know what is wrong with me?

You've outlined the best strategy for dealing with that situation, although I bet you don't realize it.

1. There are "always" one or two you struggle on

2. You'd answer more right through guessing than you do through trying.

3. Guessing is faster

4. More time on the other passages can't hurt

5. GUESS! Don't try to answer them and screw yourself up, especially if it's that radical a situation. Just guess on all those and distribute the extra time to passages you can do well on.

hey q and lore!...
I have been doin really bad in verbal so far....I am takin kaplan and i have done every single kaplan hw so far. I had a 6 on my verbal on the diag..then i got a 7 on fl1 and an 8 on fl2 and now i got a 6 again on fl 3.....I have no idea wat is going on...First, I tried to use kaplans strategy of mappin things and I ran out of major time when i was doin sectional tests at home...Then i started using EK strategy of reading the passage str8 thru keepin the purpose and main idea in my mind and i did that for FL2 and got an 8 so i figured that would work for me...However, with the same thing i got a 6 on fl3 like 10 more wrong than the previous exam....I am also getting bogged down on questions too much which is why i have yet to finish a verbal section on time...i always have atleast a passage left over...NEED HELP PLEASE!!!

I'm not very familiar with EK's method, so I'm not going to comment about it. But I can tell you that the biggest mistakes that Kaplan students make when trying to map passages is that they write too much, and they focus on the wrong things. Lorelei has written some excellent posts previously about how important it is to focus on the author's purpose, argument, and thought process, and not on the details s/he uses to support that argument. Your map should be an outline of the purpose of each paragraph, not the details (in other words, not just a paraphrase). Also, it is absolutely essential that you write very little. Be as lazy as possible. Abbreviate as much as you can, leave out articles (a, an, the), and take other shortcuts to minimize the amount of writing you can do while still making your notes readable. If you are writing whole sentences, you are writing way too much. Save that for the essay section. Finally, you mentioned getting bogged down on questions; are you predicting answers before you look at the answer choices? If not, start doing this, as it helps to force you to think about the important parts of the passage and avoid choosing answers that are outside the author's scope and purpose.

It is definitely harder to raise your VR score compared to the science sections, but it IS possible with enough practice and effort. Unfortunately, there isn't any suggestion I can give to you that will automatically make it easy. Try to keep a positive attitude, and keep practicing your critical reading and answer prediction skills for the next few weeks. A very large portion of success in this whole process of becoming a physician comes from simply refusing to give up. :luck:

I'm not very familiar with EK's method, so I'm not going to comment about it. But I can tell you that the biggest mistakes that Kaplan students make when trying to map passages is that they write too much, and they focus on the wrong things. Lorelei has written some excellent posts previously about how important it is to focus on the author's purpose, argument, and thought process, and not on the details s/he uses to support that argument. Your map should be an outline of the purpose of each paragraph, not the details (in other words, not just a paraphrase). Also, it is absolutely essential that you write very little. Be as lazy as possible. Abbreviate as much as you can, leave out articles (a, an, the), and take other shortcuts to minimize the amount of writing you can do while still making your notes readable. If you are writing whole sentences, you are writing way too much. Save that for the essay section. Finally, you mentioned getting bogged down on questions; are you predicting answers before you look at the answer choices? If not, start doing this, as it helps to force you to think about the important parts of the passage and avoid choosing answers that are outside the author's scope and purpose.

It is definitely harder to raise your VR score compared to the science sections, but it IS possible with enough practice and effort. Unfortunately, there isn't any suggestion I can give to you that will automatically make it easy. Try to keep a positive attitude, and keep practicing your critical reading and answer prediction skills for the next few weeks. A very large portion of success in this whole process of becoming a physician comes from simply refusing to give up. :luck:

thanx for the advice Q, imma do three verbal passages timed everyday...and atleast 1 full kaplan verbal test once a week for the next two and half weeks left...I will definitely let you know my progress on here....THANK YOU!

thanx for the advice Q, imma do three verbal passages timed everyday...and atleast 1 full kaplan verbal test once a week for the next two and half weeks left...I will definitely let you know my progress on here....THANK YOU!

No problem, hope it helps and best of luck to you. :luck: :love:

Hey guys, I'm sorry I've been incommunicado for awhile. My move to St. Louis has taken me away from an internet connection for huge stretches of time. However, Nutmeg and Q have been doing a great job in my absence.

Re: strengthening and weakening questions.

Basically when you come to one of these questions, the first thing you have to know is - what is the author's argument? What assertions does s/he put forward, and what conclusions does s/he draw? Something that strengthens the argument will very often be something that supports the assertions - more data, or something that lets you know the author's assumptions are correct. On the contrary, something that weakens the argument will contradict the author's evidence or assumptions, or show that the conclusions don't necessarily follow.

So you have to be really clear on what argument the author is making. Then, you can frequently predict the type of answer that would strengthen or weaken the argument (though obviously you can't predict the exact answer).

As far as becoming clear on the argument, of course there's a lot of stuff earlier in the thread that QofQuimica and I have written. I think the overall best question to ask yourself is: WHY did the author take the time to write this passage? What is it that they're trying to convince the reader of? If you figure out why someone would bother to spend all that time writing something, you know what the overall point is, and the purpose of the argument.

I'm going to try and go back through and answer the questions that still seem to be outstanding in the next day or two - I know you guys are really getting down to the wire. Keep working at it - I think everyone who's asked questions and then gotten back to me with results has been making good progress.

Hey, what do you guys recommend on the 10-question passages? I usually spend 13 minutes on those passages. This works because I finish other passages in 6 minutes!! They take longer because the questions are usually of the sort that ask you to strengthen/weaken or infer/interpret new information. So, it takes time for me to recall the specific argument that is being questioned, then predicting how the question wants me to evaluate!! Thanks

I am taking the EK Verbal 101 and the question I always get wrong is:

Which of the assertions offers the least support?

I always pick the one that has no support (think none would be the least) but EK goes on to explain that since this was not a passage assertion is cannot be the right answer. Does MCAT make this distinction(none=least) or does it have to be a point brought up in the passage(with little support) to be a right answer?

Thanks, Sorry it is so wordy.

I am pretty sure that on the MCAT, that question is worded better, specifying that they're looking for an assertion that was actually made in the passage. I recall it as something like "Which of the following assertions is made in the passage but not supported?"

I've been reviewing the questions i've gotten wrong. I've been getting the questions about drawing conclusions or implications from a statement or the passage wrong. Are there any hints or suggestions that you guys think will help?

First, if you're not doing it already, look back over this thread for the tips QofQuimica and I have given on analyzing arguments. (I say that so often. It's good advice though!)

For these questions, it's important to understand what a conclusion or implication means in this context.

A conclusion is what the evidence adds up to: given A, B, and C facts or assertions from the passage, conclusion X has to be true. Look for something that HAS to be true given the evidence in the passage. (To check this, see what happens if you say your chosen answer is NOT true. Does it make the argument in the passage fall apart?)

An implication is what has to be true in order to build an argument. That is, it's something that's assumed as part of the evidence.

Here's an (obvious) example of this. I just moved, and while unpacking I couldn't find my box cutter. I told my mom "Only you and I packed boxes, and *I* didn't pack the box cutter into a box."

The (unstated) conclusion there is that my mom was the one who packed it into a box (useful place for a box cutter, eh?). The implication, as you might have noticed, is that the box cutter WAS packed into a box, as opposed to riding in the glove compartment or something.

While I'm analyzing arguments, let's talk about strengthening/weakening again. I could strengthen my argument by supporting either the facts or the assumption implicit in the argument. Examples of this: No one else who helped me move packed any boxes. It is discovered that the box cutter is not in the U-Haul truck.

To weaken the argument, again, I can either contradict the facts or attack the assumption. For example: My dad packed two boxes. A grocery bag full of important stuff was packed and carried in the front seat of the car.

(I still haven't found the box cutter.)

Hey, what do you guys recommend on the 10-question passages? I usually spend 13 minutes on those passages. This works because I finish other passages in 6 minutes!! They take longer because the questions are usually of the sort that ask you to strengthen/weaken or infer/interpret new information. So, it takes time for me to recall the specific argument that is being questioned, then predicting how the question wants me to evaluate!! Thanks

I am slowly getting worse on my verbal thru EK(6 7 10 9 9 7 6). I went through all my questions very carefully and I also narrow down the wrong ones to 2 final choices. I always pick the wrong one.

Sometimes I will miss all the questions on a single passage. On one test that happened to three whole passages!!! I miss intrepreted the main idea I think and it ruined me since EK is main point based.

I have taken other AAMC, Kaplan exams and received 9-10s. On Apr05 I received a 9. Why am I getting worse at VR? I try and spend 4-5 minutes a passage, 40 sec a question(not going back unless necessary, so not much). I try and focus on main idea, I underline/circle sometimes a lot but try to only sparingly if short on time.

Verbal has been my only consistantly strong score across every practice exam I've taken, and I would love to score a 12 or so on the actual test. But I don't think this will happen unless I can fix this:

Almost every single question that I get wrong when I practice, I had the two answer choices crossed out and was down to two answer choices...one of them is the right one, one of them is the wrong one, and obviously I pick the wrong one when I'm wrong... How can I overcome this? I asked my Kaplan VR teacher, and she said to relate the answers to the purpose, but even when I do this under no time constraints, I can't seem to CONSISTANTLY pick the correct answer.

Any tips or suggestions? I have been doing a full VR test everyday for a while now and plan on doing so until the Weds or Thurs before the MCATs to fine tune.

Thanks

Frankrizzo, I'm not sure what you're asking. You say spending longer on the longer passages "works" - does that mean you are indeed able to finish in time? If so I don't understand the question. As far as moving faster, having the purpose of the passage in mind should help. It sounds like you might be spending a lot of time making a detailed prediction? For these types of questions you can really only predict the *sort* of answer you need, not the precise one.

GPACfan and juiceman, it sounds like the two of you have similar problems (correct me if I miss something about either situation). First of all, if you're doing verbal sections daily, you might be burning out. Take a break. Seriously. One day will not hurt you and will probably help.

The other thing I would recommend is this. Score your test but don't look at the explanations. Then write down why the wrong answers were wrong and the right ones were right - basically writing your own explanations (in enough detail so you can't weasel, but not so detailed that you could publish your own book). Then compare them to the real explanations. The point of this is that you need to learn to think like the test writers. The answers aren't arbitrary; they're right or wrong for a reason. Understanding what those reasons are will help a lot.

I had that problem with getting down to two and often picking the wrong one.

I finally just did enough that I got a bit of a intuition for the right one.

Keep track of how often it happens. On your practice tests write a "2" next to those. Note your percentage. If it's worse than random, stop picking between them and just randomly pick one (that's the least work intensive answer... not great, but if you're doing worse than random on your own, it wouldn't hurt). Maybe always the second one. If it's random or better, then just keep working on it.

I had that problem with getting down to two and often picking the wrong one.

I finally just did enough that I got a bit of a intuition for the right one.

Keep track of how often it happens. On your practice tests write a "2" next to those. Note your percentage. If it's worse than random, stop picking between them and just randomly pick one (that's the least work intensive answer... not great, but if you're doing worse than random on your own, it wouldn't hurt). Maybe always the second one. If it's random or better, then just keep working on it.

Hi everyone. Moosepilot, Lorlei, and QfQuimica thanks for doing a great job giving us priceless tips. I have taken the advice from you guys and have found that my score went from a dismal 4 to a 8-9 range. I find that I end up getting 1 or 2 wrong on 8 passages then I miss like on 1 passage. I am still trying to nail the, "What is the author trying to convey?'. I think it is the hardest, because when I ran into the killer passage I did the same thing as I did with other passages, but I don't know what it means! Are there any tips that you would suggest/recommend? I got an all time high on my verbal raw score (42/60)!!! Previously it used to be high 20's and low 30's... I appreciate your advices.

That's a good idea, I'll try that.

Another question, is there anything that can be done to improve Natural Sciences? It's odd, but I generally am able to do fine on Humanities and Social Sciences, but the "Easy" ones eat me up...Maybe too much outside info?

Hi everyone. Moosepilot, Lorlei, and QfQuimica thanks for doing a great job giving us priceless tips. I have taken the advice from you guys and have found that my score went from a dismal 4 to a 8-9 range. I find that I end up getting 1 or 2 wrong on 8 passages then I miss like on 1 passage. I am still trying to nail the, "What is the author trying to convey?'. I think it is the hardest, because when I ran into the killer passage I did the same thing as I did with other passages, but I don't know what it means! Are there any tips that you would suggest/recommend? I got an all time high on my verbal raw score (42/60)!!! Previously it used to be high 20's and low 30's... I appreciate your advices.

I think you left out a number. Can you rephrase?

I love that question! It's the whole point the author is trying to tell you. Read for content and any emotional aspects. Is he emotionally neutral or trying to evoke an emotion?

As for the thanks, you're welcome. If I helped you at all, it's worth any time I spent here. I want everyone to whoop ass on the verbal, especially if they're not applying to my number one school for the class of 2010! :D

That's a good idea, I'll try that.

Another question, is there anything that can be done to improve Natural Sciences? It's odd, but I generally am able to do fine on Humanities and Social Sciences, but the "Easy" ones eat me up...Maybe too much outside info?

Yeah, don't use outside info. I was surprised at that one, but it's what I was taught. Do you ever find you relax on the natural science passages and read it differently? Don't! Don't read it to enjoy or to get a little thrill out of the science content... just read it like you would the others.

Another question, is there anything that can be done to improve Natural Sciences? It's odd, but I generally am able to do fine on Humanities and Social Sciences, but the "Easy" ones eat me up...Maybe too much outside info?

Outside knowledge is definitely a big no-no on the verbal section, whether on science passages or any other type. There have been times when some of my students have known enough about a passage topic to be able to argue the point with the author; don't do this. For the purpose of the MCAT, go with what the author says, even if you believe that s/he is full of, ahem, excrement. You are being tested on your ability to understand the author's argument and apply it to new scenarios, NOT on the objective validity of the argument. So like Moose said, stay focused on the point the author is making, and don't ever think about your own beliefs on the topic.

adiddas125, if you get a question or passage that is hard to understand, my suggestion is to save it for last, and do the easier ones first. Remember that every question is worth the same amount on the MCAT, so there's no advantage to answering harder questions correctly like there is on some tests like the GRE. It's great to hear that you are improving so much on VR. Best of luck to you next week. :)

Hey guys,

VR is really bothering me because I have not been able to improve very much...I do very well on the other two but have been getting pretty much 11s (one or two 12s and a lone 13 that i never got close to again). I really want to improve on this section, and I have many practice tests to take (maybe 15 or something verbal tests alone). Do you think that practice alone will make me better? I can't really pinpoint a problem, it's more like I just make some misunderstandings. It's really demoralizing because someone told me "I can't improve" and later took it back, but that's sticking with me and my scores since have decreased (barely 11).

Is sheer practice going to help? I can take two practice tests a day.

Thanks.

VR is really bothering me because I have not been able to improve very much...I do very well on the other two but have been getting pretty much 11s (one or two 12s and a lone 13 that i never got close to again). I really want to improve on this section, and I have many practice tests to take (maybe 15 or something verbal tests alone). Do you think that practice alone will make me better? I can't really pinpoint a problem, it's more like I just make some misunderstandings. It's really demoralizing because someone told me "I can't improve" and later took it back, but that's sticking with me and my scores since have decreased (barely 11).

Is sheer practice going to help? I can take two practice tests a day.


I have two suggestions for you:

1. If you're consistently scoring 11+ on every section of your practice tests, you're ready for the real deal. Stop taking practice tests, and take the next week and a half completely off. Seriously. You sound like you are burning yourself out