ExamKracker VERBAL 101 SCORES

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Hmm... someone should do the tests in reverse order...
You know? Start with the last test in the book and then do the 2nd to last one, etc.

It would be really immoral but great marketing to make the 1st tests the hardest, so as people do more and more tests in the book and there score is improving... they tell everyone that doing the tests made them improve by 4 points (even though it was simply because the latter tests were 4 points easier)

I don't know, just a thought.

Are you all doing the entire full length tests in a given sitting (all 9 passages)? I'm doing 3 passages at a time, and giving myself 27 minutes/set. I'm guessing this is reasonable since, on average, every three passages totals to approximately 20 questions. I started off averaging 4-6 wrong/set, I am now down to about 3/set. Hopefully this will translate to success on the actual CBT practice tests.

Originally Posted by Lacipart

Hmm... someone should do the tests in reverse order...
You know? Start with the last test in the book and then do the 2nd to last one, etc.

It would be really immoral but great marketing to make the 1st tests the hardest, so as people do more and more tests in the book and there score is improving... they tell everyone that doing the tests made them improve by 4 points (even though it was simply because the latter tests were 4 points easier)

I don't know, just a thought.

thats actually a really good idea...I didn't think of that!

Originally Posted by Futuredoctr

I was curious if there was anyone else using these? I took the first one last night at a busy starbucks (to begin to aclimate myself to the "be prepared for anything" test climate) and I got rocked. I scored a 5!! . Its okay though because I knew verbal was going to be the hardest. I was curious if anyone else using these tests could post their scores and or advice (I know there was a thread a while back, but that was for the April exam and I'm in need of encouragment and advice from the august takers. Thanks

my scores for the tests ranged from a 9 to a 13 and I took all the tests. Avg test score was 10. I found the reasoning for the passage answers to be pretty straighforward except for a few which seemed very abstract.

how are you guys figuring out scores from your ek 101 book...is there a converter in there somewhere that i missed?

Originally Posted by Psychotropic

Are you all doing the entire full length tests in a given sitting (all 9 passages)? I'm doing 3 passages at a time, and giving myself 27 minutes/set. I'm guessing this is reasonable since, on average, every three passages totals to approximately 20 questions. I started off averaging 4-6 wrong/set, I am now down to about 3/set. Hopefully this will translate to success on the actual CBT practice tests.

I think you are giving yourself too much time.

7 passages * 9 minutes = oh $hit!!!

I say try and get the passages down to an average of 7-8 minutes or faster depending on whether or not you can keep the same score.

I have also developed a backup strategy where I can finish a passage in 5 minutes with almost the same results when I go slower.

Got to be ready for anything!!!

Originally Posted by gopens67

how are you guys figuring out scores from your ek 101 book...is there a converter in there somewhere that i missed?

Near the end on the back of one of the pages...I think before the right answers without the explanations.

Originally Posted by J DUB

I have also developed a backup strategy where I can finish a passage in 5 minutes with almost the same results when I go slower.

Hey J DUB, how do you approach your passage if you have 5 minutes left? If this happens to me, I try to skim the passage (with emphasis on beginning/ending of the paragraphs) in about 2 minutes-ish and then do the questions.

Although I must say the results are very variable from one passage to the next. Do you have a better approach?

EK is horrible. I have been scoring in the 13-14 range on AAMC, but often do 10s on EK, because the answers to questions are often wrong. I'll just keep using AAMC because my EK 101 book is collecting dust (though I should have thrown it out the window...).

I was doing very very very bad in verbal so far. I started with 4 on princeton diags, went max to 6, got 2 3's and today with AAMC diag, 6. I was disappointed at it as I started working hard on verbal after the 6. However, finally, finally on my 4th EXAMCRACKERS test today, after 1 and a half hr of work: my first 9. I could have easily got 2 questions which i didn't read correctly and got a 10. It feels sooo nice. I am going to try another tomorrow. Hopefully it improves.

Originally Posted by vraev

I was doing very very very bad in verbal so far. I started with 4 on princeton diags, went max to 6, got 2 3's and today with AAMC diag, 6. I was disappointed at it as I started working hard on verbal after the 6. However, finally, finally on my 4th EXAMCRACKERS test today, after 1 and a half hr of work: my first 9. I could have easily got 2 questions which i didn't read correctly and got a 10. It feels sooo nice. I am going to try another tomorrow. Hopefully it improves.

im in the same exact boat...i hit a 9 but can't seem to get above that...

Originally Posted by tennisboy85

Hey J DUB, how do you approach your passage if you have 5 minutes left? If this happens to me, I try to skim the passage (with emphasis on beginning/ending of the paragraphs) in about 2 minutes-ish and then do the questions.

Although I must say the results are very variable from one passage to the next. Do you have a better approach?

That basically is my approach but I do get to skim the whole passage not just the beginning and end.

I still get a feel for the passage and usually what I miss is a detailed question. It really depends on the detailed ones how quick I can find the answer in the passage.

I answer the feel ones first and the ones I need to look back on the passage last.

You have to be good at getting in and out of the passage fast. I usually remember where things are in the passage.

I usually miss one or two a passage doing this compared to zero or maybe one. I average a miss a passage or less. (35 out of 40).

Hey JDUB.. thanks for the tips so far

any advice for the "art/painting" passages? I can never tell if they're detail or if I should be attempting to understand them as a "whole".. normally there are so many sub-arguments within the passage.

Originally Posted by axp107

Hey JDUB.. thanks for the tips so far

any advice for the "art/painting" passages? I can never tell if they're detail or if I should be attempting to understand them as a "whole".. normally there are so many sub-arguments within the passage.

usually those subarguments add up to one big argument. Like X style of art is better than Y style of art. Or the author could be presenting different types of genre. Or maybe the argument is art isnt as good today as it is before and presents mini arguments to argue that point.

Originally Posted by axp107

Hey JDUB.. thanks for the tips so far

any advice for the "art/painting" passages? I can never tell if they're detail or if I should be attempting to understand them as a "whole".. normally there are so many sub-arguments within the passage.

Maybe a little of both.

You have to read the whole passage to get the entire argument, but try not to get bogged down with the detail. Then, answer the questions concerning the arguments and then tackle the detailed ones. Saving time not reading the details and knowing where they are you can come back and pick the details out later. This strategy would be good to attack this kind of passage short on time or not. I believe some of the passages are wordy and less direct to be the time sink passages that get you behind and cost one a good score. There is always one and maybe two. If you can get through these relatively fast and not spend more than the usual amount of time, then you can finish the "easier" passages and get most of them right. The key remains with the harder passages not missing many. When you come to a passage that gives you problems come back to it later and find the best way to attack those passages for yourself the fastest and most accurate way. Find a comfortable pace for yourself and be an active reader. Sometimes, I lose focus and I have such a harder time getting the right choices. Focus on each passage as though your life depended on it and then dump and repeat.
Remember this section requires more focus than the others. You can drain yourself here and regroup for BS during the WS and breaks. PS, I skim passages and start answering questions to save some energy for Verbal. If you can pick the info out quickly, then it saves time too. I guess working in that law office and HR dept really helped me out because I had to read hundreds of pages a day trying to get the details out of the material.

I do notice I do better on passages I like the material.

I'm going to go on a hiatus with EK... I still have 4 more tests to go (8, 9, 10 and 11) and I notice the quality of the questions/explanations are decreasing the farther I go.

Going to be working on LSAT passages until further notice so I can work on comprehension of the passages I tend to dislike reading about.. at this point, I think the only way I'm going to improve my verbal scores is to just increase my interest in the passages and overall comprehension. No funny tricks or shortcuts here. You could say the same for improving your VR score in general.

ek1: 5
ek2: 7
ek3: 6
ek4: 7
ek5: 9
ek6:11
ek7: 11
ek8: 11
all within the last month

I swear, i woke up one morning and it just seemed to click a bit. ek 6-8 were done in coffee shops with noise and music. just practice!!

Very nice. I've been sitting in the 11-12 range throughout the entire book. While I get 12's more consistently, that's the only improvement I've seen. So I can't really say I've improved at all, more like maintained my consistency. Would like to see some real improvement. Ah well.

ek1- 9
ek2- 9
ek3- 10
ek4- 8
ek5- 8
ek6- 9
ek7- 10
ek8- 10
ek9- 10

latest:
ek11- 7 (!?)

somebody tell me this is a fluke...

1: 8
2: 8
3: 10
4: 9
5: 10 (Was 1 away from a 11)
6: 8
7: 11
8: 8
9: 10
10: 9

Mann... I just want a 10 on the real thing.

2: 8
3: 11!!!
4: 6??? (I took it 1am at night)
5:9
6:9
7: 10

I really want a 10 on the real verbal, although an 11 would be sweet....

Ek1: 9
Ek2: 9
Ek3: 9
Ek4: 11
Ek5: 10

Gave myself about a week off from VR. Last time I did VR passages was a week ago. So I'll get cracking on the last couple of tests (8-11) and see how I do on those. And hope the AAMC VR sections hold up as good practice the rest of the way.

EK1: 9
EK2: 9
EK3: 10
EK4: 10
EK5: 11
EK6 10

Looking to get to a consistent 11...

AAMC verbal scores:

AAMC 7: 10
AAMC 10: 10

So not much has changed.

EK 8: 11
EK 9: 12

Will note that EK9's homosexuality passage is pretty frustrating and accounted for 3 of the 6 questions I got wrong.

Final scores:

1: 8
2: 8
3: 10
4: 9
5: 10 (Was 1 away from a 11)
6: 8
7: 11
8: 8
9: 10
10: 9
11: 10

I give up lol... after scoring a 14 once and a 12 once on Kaplan's VR, I feel like anything could happen... The day I scored a 14, I got a good night's rest.. In the end, I realized, it boils down to your logic skills.. not necessarily how well you understand the passage. If you can think clearly without doubt and with confidence, you can eliminate answers really well based on logic.

bump

3: 10
4: 11
5: 11
6: in the middle of it... not doing too well
I find that my score drops if I don't practice for a little

EK-1: 8
EK-2: 6

Same deal on the mini MCATs book, I just can't seem to grasp VR. I read the lessons for VR but I can never seem to apply any of the concepts to my passages because (1) I'm not given nearly as much in the question stems as in the example they provide, or (2) you can't "read arrogantly" on many passages when you have no idea/interest in it. Do any of you stick with the EK suggestions and find them helpful? I'm feeling so desperate because I'm taking the MCAT in January and this is the only section that's giving me so much beef.

To be honest... what's helped me is to read the passage fast... but the main idea isn't as important as they make it seem!

If you can read fast and remember where the details are instead of wasting time reading slowly to understand the passage "completely" (which you can't btw... our memories suck)... you'll have ample time on questions. Try it.

Even EK 101's verbal book has maybe 2-3 questions PER passage that are detail-oriented questions that you HAVE to go back to the passage for... relying on the "main idea" has screwed me over before.

hey, so i have the examkracker mcat 101 verbal passages book. i am just wondering how accurately do these problems reflect the actual mcat exam?

Moving to the MCAT Discussion Forum.

I have seen the main idea screw me over before, since it causes you to answer the questions one way, against your conscience sometimes. I've read passages before that did not have clear main ideas and gotten half the questions wrong for choosing what I thought was the right one.

bump

How is everyone doing on the verbal for this upcoming mcat? I can't seem to get pass an 8, and that's not even finishing on time. I tried tonight, reading faster and not going back, my score decreased to a 6! How is everyone else doing?

I've been doing one test a week. so far my scores have been
1: 8
2: 8
3: 8
4: 11

This last test I read through the passages really fast and it seemed to help me a lot for some reason. I'm shooting for a 12 or 13, so we'll see how next weeks test goes

Does anyone know, in order to get a 10, how many questions do we have to get right (OUT OF 40 -- Under the NEW CBT Version with reduced questions) Thanks.

Just took the 1/25 - prepared with EK VR 101... Great book, keep up with it and make sure to use 72 minutes and NOT 85 minutes for 60 questions. (I took that advice from SDN, helped me out a great deal!)

G'luck everyone!

Originally Posted by PatchesNBrownie

Just took the 1/25 - prepared with EK VR 101... Great book, keep up with it and make sure to use 72 minutes and NOT 85 minutes for 60 questions. (I took that advice from SDN, helped me out a great deal!)

G'luck everyone!

This is true on a purely time/passage number. however, these passages also average more questions each and should take longer than the current passages.

so far,
EK verbal 101 scores
test 1 - 9
test 2 - 7(late afternoon in loud enviroment)
test 3 - 11 (whooohooo)

Originally Posted by Lacipart

Hmm... someone should do the tests in reverse order...
You know? Start with the last test in the book and then do the 2nd to last one, etc.

It would be really immoral but great marketing to make the 1st tests the hardest, so as people do more and more tests in the book and there score is improving... they tell everyone that doing the tests made them improve by 4 points (even though it was simply because the latter tests were 4 points easier)

I don't know, just a thought.

I'm doing them in a sort of random order right now.

Here's what I got (in this order):

#1: 7
#7: 10
#11: 11
#5: 10

Does anyone have the scaled scoring conversion according to the NEW CBT version??

Anyone has their EK 101 book near them? I have no clue how they got question # 11 (THE QUESTION IN THE FIRST TWO "SAMPLE" PASSAGES). Back of the book says, the answer is choice D to question number 11 of the sample passage. That info is no where in the passage about oyester shells?? wtf? Is this outside info sort of which we don't need to know this kind of 'outside' info on real MCAT???? could anybody clarify please? Thanks!!!!!!

I just took #1 and got a 10. I went rather slow and deliberatly through the first half when I looked at the time and realized I only had 30 minutes left for as many questions. I rushed through the rest, going back as little as possible and not taking the time to construct a main idea. I missed 4 from the first half and 10 from the second. I guess I need to work on going faster through the first half without sacrificing my answering technique.

Originally Posted by LittleRocker

I just took #1 and got a 10. I went rather slow and deliberatly through the first half when I looked at the time and realized I only had 30 minutes left for as many questions. I rushed through the rest, going back as little as possible and not taking the time to construct a main idea. I missed 4 from the first half and 10 from the second. I guess I need to work on going faster through the first half without sacrificing my answering technique.

update (been taking them at one week intervals):

#1: 10
#2: 9
#3: 10
#4: 10

At least I'm getting pretty consistent 10s. Still waiting for that score increase when everything just clicks...

Originally Posted by LittleRocker

update (been taking them at one week intervals):

#1: 10
#2: 9
#3: 10
#4: 10

At least I'm getting pretty consistent 10s. Still waiting for that score increase when everything just clicks...

You are doing well, You should expect a 10-12 on the real thing.

I was sort of wondering how people were doing the EK test as it's verbal is set up for the old test. Is there a newer book with only 7 passages at a time, or do you just use the old book and do them all?

Fyi: averaged 9-11 on EK101 verbal, 14 on real thing

Originally Posted by bigman225

Fyi: averaged 9-11 on EK101 verbal, 14 on real thing

Wow! Do you think you partly got lucky or was EK just more difficult than the real thing? That's incredible either way. you gave me hope!

Originally Posted by dd128

I was sort of wondering how people were doing the EK test as it's verbal is set up for the old test. Is there a newer book with only 7 passages at a time, or do you just use the old book and do them all?

I'm doing the full length 85 minute tests. I don't know if that's good or bad, but I figured it would at least make sure I wouldn't get burnt out at all when I take the real 60 minute test.

Originally Posted by dd128

I was sort of wondering how people were doing the EK test as it's verbal is set up for the old test. Is there a newer book with only 7 passages at a time, or do you just use the old book and do them all?

I just do as close to 40 questions as I can and interpolate my score (score/# questions)*(total # questions). I take 60 minutes but try to do it in a bit less time. I plan to later take the passages I didn't do and just take them in 40 question sets if I have time.