Too Early to Start Reviewing for Verbal MCAT?

SDN Members don't see this ad. (About Ads)

I just finished my first semester and I was wondering if it's too early to start reviewing for the verbal part of the MCAT. It's kind of the only thing I can review since I'm only in biology right now and I'll be taking chemistry over the summer.

I've always been an average English student so that's why I worry about that section.

It's not totally necessary. If you really want though, you could read The Economist or something like that every once in a while to help comprehension. However, good VR practice material is limited in my experience. Typically people use EK101 Verbal Reasoning Passages, or Princeton Review Hyperlearning Workbook. I would advise not to expend these resources until you are prepared to go all out on the studying though, as you want all the practice you can get in a concentrated period of time before the MCAT.

Do a search on the guy that started studying a little every week in his freshman year... I believe he got a 43 on the mcat. If you're good at time management, there's no reason why it would hurt you. But don't let it supersede your course studies..yet.

Originally Posted by poppie910

Do a search on the guy that started studying a little every week in his freshman year... I believe he got a 43 on the mcat. If you're good at time management, there's no reason why it would hurt you. But don't let it supersede your course studies..yet.

Freshman year?? I can't decide if that's worth the 43 or not.

Originally Posted by candav

Freshman year?? I can't decide if that's worth the 43 or not.

Same, but I mean some people want to go to the Harvards or the Johns Hopkins and such so hey can't blame them for getting a head start!

Why not, do it if you want to. Just make sure you focus on finding a good strategy for the verbal. Try things other than just doing a full read.

it's basic reading comprehension. read a bunch of passages, understand the main points, answer questions. the reason why people have problems is that the curve is less generous and there are several passages in a row so it's a bit of slog, especially if you have to read about a boring topic.

If you have time and you're not doing anything else, can't hurt.

Originally Posted by Plue00

I just finished my first semester and I was wondering if it's too early to start reviewing for the verbal part of the MCAT. It's kind of the only thing I can review since I'm only in biology right now and I'll be taking chemistry over the summer.

I've always been an average English student so that's why I worry about that section.

No, it's never too early to start prepping. I started studying for VR informally from my first day of undergrad because English isn't my first language and because I didn't feel that I was on an "even playing field" with my peers. I recommend following an adapted form of SN2ed's study plan to suit your schedule several months before you're registered to sit the MCAT. That said, reading a little bit everyday, keeping up a regular journal/diary, reading the paper every day, writing for your school newspaper, and taking a lot of writing and reading intensive courses in a variety of disciplines are all great ways to gear up. I highly recommend maintaining your SAT habits by writing for 30 minutes daily and reading a newspaper/listening to informative podcasts for ~45 minutes daily.

I did about an hour a week since 2nd semester freshman year (only verbal). It can't hurt, but don't let it take over your regular study time just yet.

If you feel the need to get a head head start on VR, which to be honest I don't see the need for at your stage, I'd recommended you get into the habit of reading The Economist, The Atlantic, or other publications with moderate length, intermediate level writing on a regular basis. Get used to dissecting what you read as you read it. If you get the critical thinking part down, you'll find VR not to be such a daunting section come time for real MCAT prep.

Originally Posted by Plue00

I just finished my first semester and I was wondering if it's too early to start reviewing for the verbal part of the MCAT. It's kind of the only thing I can review since I'm only in biology right now and I'll be taking chemistry over the summer.

I've always been an average English student so that's why I worry about that section.

If you got less than a 750 on the SAT verbal, I actually would highly recommend it. Get your hands on every LSAT, GMAT, GRE, etc. pdf of passages you can find on the internet (they are out there). Do a little everyday and build up your reading comprehension. The people who will tell you not to, are basically the people who already have strong reading comprehension abilities. The MCAT is all about reading comprehension (yes, even the science passages). You can know all the material in the world, but if you can't quickly and accurately understand what you are reading, well then you are screwed. Don't start any MCAT passages until you are about 6-7 months out. You don't want to waste them all. For the MCAT verbal, you can draw from EK, Kaplan, Princeton, AAMC, and Berkeley. Altogether there is plenty of material to keep you busy for a couple years. If I could go back and redo anything from my undergraduate years, this is what I would do honestly.

You can start by reading articles that others have mentioned to polish your critical reading skills, but DO NOT waste any practicing materials. You want to save those for about 4 months before the actual MCAT.

Originally Posted by FattySlug

You can start by reading articles that others have mentioned to polish your critical reading skills, but DO NOT waste any practicing materials. You want to save those for about 4 months before the actual MCAT.

+1

Follow my lead and serve yourself a daily cocktail of New York Times, The Economist, and CosmoGirl.

Originally Posted by percy

+1

Follow my lead and serve yourself a daily cocktail of New York Times, The Economist, and CosmoGirl.

Thanks! I have to say I haven't really read much this semester other than random science/nature mag articles. Now that summer is coming up, any other suggestions?

Originally Posted by Plue00

Thanks! I have to say I haven't really read much this semester other than random science/nature mag articles. Now that summer is coming up, any other suggestions?

If you really want to overkill it, try the Wall Street Journal. If you can get into the habit and comfortably read that everyday, you'll kill the Verbal portion.

Good luck!

One thing you could do that will help you get the highest VR score possible is to study as if you were going to take the LSAT. Acquire LSAT practice materials and practice for each of the 3 sections (logic games, logical reasoning, and reading comprehension). This is what I did, not because I had the foresight to do so, but because I was originally intent on becoming a lawyer. I have no concrete evidence, but I believe this allowed me to score a 12 on MCAT verbal while only getting 11's in phys/bio sciences sections.

Originally Posted by Knocked Up

If you got less than a 750 on the SAT verbal, I actually would highly recommend it.

Whoa, since when has getting anything less than 750 on the SAT verbal the sign of average reading comprehension? I used to think that anything above a 600 was a good thing, apparently I was wrong.

Also try reading a lot of this stuff that's being suggested on a computer screen. Maybe it's just me, but there's a huge difference between reading a book or a newspaper for hours and staring at a computer monitor reading in-depth passages for hours. Paper is a lot easier on my eyes.

Moving to the MCAT discussions forum.

I was in Aerospace engineering and wanted to be an astronaut my freshman year of college...