Verbal Tips & Kaplan VR Resources

To help encourage you on your "verbal" way...here are a few reminders and helpful hints for tackling VR:

1 - Remember what the GOAL of the Verbal Reasoning Section is! What exactly are the Test Makers testing us on?
https://www.aamc.org/students/applyi...ng_vrprep.html
https://www.aamc.org/students/downlo...a/vstopics.pdf

2 - Use the Kaplan method to your advantage!**
+ Triage Passages & Questions
+ Identify the Passage Type (Social Science, Natural Science, Humanities)
+ Passage Map, including Topic/Scope/Purpose/Opinion
+ Stop, Think, Predict, & Match on each question
** If any of these techniques sound foreign to you...go back to your Lesson Book to refresh your memory. It takes TIME and lots of practice to integrate these skills into your testing behavior...so be patient with yourself and get cracking!

3 - Practice, practice, practice
+ Test yourself with at least one passage and its associated questions every day, then review your results and identify passage support for every right answer.
+ You have the following Kaplan resources to use: your VRWS Review Notes book, Verbal Reasoning Online Workshops & Quizzes, 14 Verbal Reasoning Section Tests, & the Q-bank. Did you know you can also do just the VR Sections on any AAMC exams that you don't plan to take in their entirety? Or that you can focus on any one of the three passage types at any time using Q-bank? That's awesome!

4 - Read outside sources to boost your speed and comprehension
The Economist - Social Science, Natural Science (little Humanities)
Scientific American - Social Science, Natural Science
The Atlantic - Social Science, Natural Science (little Humanities)
Boston Review - Social Science, Humanities
Art Times Journal - Humanities

5 - Think like the Test Maker
+ When you read articles from any of the above magazines, what elements of the article would be ripe for questioning? For example:
+ Who's making what argument with what evidence and conclusion? What are the different opinions? What relevance does this have to the real world? Are any terms used fancifully or in a unique way by the author? Who is the author's audience? What point is he/she trying to make? How do the examples function in the article? and on and on...

6 - Use your teacher (and TAs if you have them) and your classmates as resources, too!
+ Email me whenever you need to if you have ANY questions I'm happy to help!

bump.

The VR section is hot in the forums this week! Just a reminder: keep up with your "outside" reading of troublesome article topics so you can tackle similar passages on Test Day with efficiency and ease.

Enjoy!

Thank you for your vr tips. They're very helpful

Thanks for the outside sources! I knew about economist/atlantic but really do need to work on my humanities knowledge.

I think this deserves a bump.

You neglected to mention getting actual verbal workbooks... The Kaplan verbal books are thin and unhelpful, EK101 is significantly more useful.

Originally Posted by serenade

You neglected to mention getting actual verbal workbooks... The Kaplan verbal books are thin and unhelpful, EK101 is significantly more useful.

Seconded.

Kaplans VR needs an overhaul.