ExamKracker VERBAL 101 SCORES

[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

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[Mister Pie]

FINALLY got my copy in the mail today despite having ordered 5 weeks ago....

EK1: 10

Will do a few more by test day, though I personally think it might be too late for me to fix any major problems.

These problems seem WAY harder than the TPR practice tests in the sense that the answer choices all seem really vague and not what I'd personally answer if it were a free-response question.

 

[Twitch]

EK 1: 8
EK 2: 9
EK 3: 10
EK 4: 9
EK 5: 10
EK 6: 10
EK 7: 10
EK 8: 10

New:
EK 9: 10
EK 10: 12

For AAMC 5R, 6R, 7R, 8R...managed to score straight 11s. I'd recommend EK and Kaplan verbal tests to anyone still struggling to improve scores. Kaplan helps with getting to understand difficult material and EK helps with the tricky questions....

How did y'all schedule the EK verbal vs others (like Kaplan/TPR). So do some of EK then do some from others or finish the EK 101 book first then move on to Kaplan?

 

[gujuDoc]

FINALLY got my copy in the mail today despite having ordered 5 weeks ago....

EK1: 10

Will do a few more by test day, though I personally think it might be too late for me to fix any major problems.

These problems seem WAY harder than the TPR practice tests in the sense that the answer choices all seem really vague and not what I'd personally answer if it were a free-response question.

They try to get you to think about the main idea, which is more like how the MCAT is. If you can get a hang of that, then you'll be good. TPR spends too much time on detail and the real verbal is nowhere nearly as easy as TPR workbooks.

 

[stoleyerscrubz]

i did an EK passage once a week for about 7 weeks then added kaplan by doing 3 passage mini-verbals timed at 27min.(daily for 2 weeks) then i did about 6 full length kaplans and EK 8-10 every 4 days or so.

EK is great prep but I think you need some source of difficult readings to do be it from kaplan or another source.

AAMC 4R, 6R, and 7 I did all within the last 10 days leading into the August MCAT. I did AAMC 3R and 5R verbal a long time ago.

How did y'all schedule the EK verbal vs others (like Kaplan/TPR). So do some of EK then do some from others or finish the EK 101 book first then move on to Kaplan?

 

[Mister Pie]

FINALLY got my copy in the mail today despite having ordered 5 weeks ago....

EK1: 10

Will do a few more by test day, though I personally think it might be too late for me to fix any major problems.

These problems seem WAY harder than the TPR practice tests in the sense that the answer choices all seem really vague and not what I'd personally answer if it were a free-response question.

EK2: 11 (barely scraped by-- made some careless errors, which were balanced by my lucky guesses)

Yeah Guju, I think you're right. The questions for EK seem a lot more focused on main idea and the logic of the author, which seems to be closer to what I saw on AAMC7 and AAMC8.

 

[FutureDoc2010]

1 - 8
2 - 9
3 - 10
4 - 10
5 - 10
6 - 10
7 - 10
8 - 10
9 - 9
10 - 10

Not quite sure what to make of these scores. All I want is a 10 on VR, hope that's reasonable. My AAMC verbals have been consistent 9's with a fluke 11 and i'm doing consistent 10s on kaplan verbal with an occasional 11. AAMC VR is definately more difficult for me atleast.

 

[Mister Pie]

Out of curiousity, how are you all doing on time with EK? For the first time this week I've been doing timed test (TPR and EK) and I've found strangely enough that I can finish with about 10 minutes left for both tests. This has never happened on any of my diagnostics. Is anyone else having the same discrepancy or did I magically learn how to read better during the last few days?

 

[FutureDoc2010]

I could finish EKs w/about 5 minutes to spare if choosed to so. However, I usually draw out the last few passages longer than needed becuase I have time to burn. Tomorrow I am going to take my last EK and see how fast I can finish it, just to give me more confidence with time.

 

[Twitch]

i did an EK passage once a week for about 7 weeks then added kaplan by doing 3 passage mini-verbals timed at 27min.(daily for 2 weeks) then i did about 6 full length kaplans and EK 8-10 every 4 days or so.

EK is great prep but I think you need some source of difficult readings to do be it from kaplan or another source.

AAMC 4R, 6R, and 7 I did all within the last 10 days leading into the August MCAT. I did AAMC 3R and 5R verbal a long time ago.

When you guys say Kaplan are y'all referring to the section tests (~13 of them) or the VR portion of the FL (~11 of them). Does the section test have a scale?

Based on what you said perhaps the best strategy is to mix and match (esp if you have some time before the actual test):

So the next two-three months:
1a. Do 1 Kaplan VR section test every week for next 6 weeks.
1b. Then do 1 test (out of 11) from EK101 every week for next 6 weeks.

After that alternate the remaining Kaplan VR section test & EK101 till complete. I figure breaking it up like this provides a decent variety later in the game whereas earlier on it helps set consistency (if there is such a thing in VR).

This is in addition to the Kaplan FL & AAMC stuff. What do you guys think? I figure the Kaplan VR section test should take 11 weeks (11 passages) and Kaplan Section would take 13 weeks. That's almost what 5-6 months.

 

[jon0013]

been finishing EK with bout 5-10 min to spare...had to speed up at end to finish the verbal section of Kaplan FL 10 today....it was a bitch...

 

[stoleyerscrubz]

I was talking about the kaplan section tests that have 13 verbal exams from what I know.

I'm pretty burnt out on verbal now after doing 10 EK passages and about 9 total kaplan verbals. So i can't recommend stretching this out beyond 3 months. once i learned how to read EKfor the main idea I was ready to move onto the denser passages of kaplan. after both i feel ready for AMMC that has dense readings and EK type questions

Take a look at both as you study and create your own program. i don't remember seeing people suggesting kaplan and EK together for verbal but glad I did it.

When you guys say Kaplan are y'all referring to the section tests (~13 of them) or the VR portion of the FL (~11 of them). Does the section test have a scale?

Based on what you said perhaps the best strategy is to mix and match (esp if you have some time before the actual test):

So the next two-three months:
1a. Do 1 Kaplan VR section test every week for next 6 weeks.
1b. Then do 1 test (out of 11) from EK101 every week for next 6 weeks.

After that alternate the remaining Kaplan VR section test & EK101 till complete. I figure breaking it up like this provides a decent variety later in the game whereas earlier on it helps set consistency (if there is such a thing in VR).

This is in addition to the Kaplan FL & AAMC stuff. What do you guys think? I figure the Kaplan VR section test should take 11 weeks (11 passages) and Kaplan Section would take 13 weeks. That's almost what 5-6 months.

 

[stoleyerscrubz]

i usually finish with 1-2 minutes to spare. i pace myself by checking the time every 3 passages and speed up and slow down accordingly. I try to go into the last passage with 8-10 min but on AAMC 7 i got to the last passage with only 5 min left.

 

[jon0013]

i usually finish with 1-2 minutes to spare. i pace myself by checking the time every 3 passages and speed up and slow down accordingly. I try to go into the last passage with 8-10 min but on AAMC 7 i got to the last passage with only 5 min left.

hey stoley....is it just me or are you havin more trouble with the kaplan section verbal tests? one thing that really helped me was checking time every 4 passages just to make sure im on the right track...i took the advice from an SDNer last week...i used to check after each passage and it just threw me off....

 

[Mister Pie]

Updated (not that anyone cares):
EK1 - 10
EK2- 11
EK3 - 12
EK4 - 10

Almost fell asleep doing EK4. Eating a big meal right before verbal is an extremely bad idea! Gonna do one last test tomorrow. Hopefully it'll be double digits... that would make me a lot less worried about the real thing. Man, I wish I had gotten this book sooner.

 

[stoleyerscrubz]

jon0013,
it took about 2 tests to get used to the style of passages and questions but i always seem to finish with no more than 2 minutes left on AAMC, kaplan, EK.

Mister Pie,
stop now so you can have peace of mind knowing you scored 10+ on all of the EK exams you took.

 

[Mister Pie]

jon0013,

Mister Pie,
stop now so you can have peace of mind knowing you scored 10+ on all of the EK exams you took.

Believe me... I am extremely tempted to. Right now it's a debate between getting more practice versus ending on a good note.

 

[stoleyerscrubz]

go for the good note. If you have to practice just read some passages for speed and contemplate the main idea. don't do any questions.

Believe me... I am extremely tempted to. Right now it's a debate between getting more practice versus ending on a good note.

 

[Mister Pie]

Hmm, think maybe I'll do that stoleyrscrubz. It's not like I can "learn" from mistakes on verbal anyway (at least, not in the same sense as the science sections). Good luck to ya if you are taking the test tomorrow!

go for the good note. If you have to practice just read some passages for speed and contemplate the main idea. don't do any questions.

 

[stoleyerscrubz]

form DL

the passages were very similar to an EK exam. They took up about 1.5 of the page and were interesting. There were the two 10 question essays on the real deal. I was pretty surprised after the FULL 1 page essays that were tough reads on AAMC practice test 7. AAMC practice test 7 also had a lot of fuzzy answers but the real deal had solid answer choices. I still recommend doing kaplan and EK passages if you have the resources.

I can't say everyone had the same experience on the real deal but I feel very lucky right now.

Also I scanned the exam to see if there were any full page passages(none) and any 10 question passages (2). So I did the 10 question passages first. This is something I did not do on practice but wanted to avoid finding a 10 question passage at the end with only 8 minutes to go.

 

[Twitch]

form DL

the passages were very similar to an EK exam. They took up about 1.5 of the page and were interesting. There were the two 10 question essays on the real deal. I was pretty surprised after the FULL 1 page essays that were tough reads on AAMC practice test 7. AAMC practice test 7 also had a lot of fuzzy answers but the real deal had solid answer choices. I still recommend doing kaplan and EK passages if you have the resources...

This is great news. That means practicing with EK/Kaplan would prepare us well. Just curious on the 10 questions - did you happen to read the thread on experimental passages. I'm wondering if it's a better to do them last (assuming one believes experimental passages exist - I'll see if I can dig up the thread which has he's theory that most likely the 10 q ones are experimental).

 

[JHL]

Who got EK or Kaplan exams that i can buy ?

 

[stoleyerscrubz]

I don't recommend EK full length exams unless you ran out of all the AAMC exams. I do recommend their 30 minute end of chapter exams included in the complete package and also EK verbal 101. I never got to touch my 1001 bio passages.

 

[stoleyerscrubz]

i did not read that post. I'm a guy that likes to have peace of mind. I'd rather have a 6 questions passage to answer in the end than a 10 question passage. Going home thinking that a 10 question passage I did not complete may have been experimental would not give me peace of mind. everybody is different.

This is great news. That means practicing with EK/Kaplan would prepare us well. Just curious on the 10 questions - did you happen to read the thread on experimental passages. I'm wondering if it's a better to do them last (assuming one believes experimental passages exist - I'll see if I can dig up the thread which has he's theory that most likely the 10 q ones are experimental).

 

[gujuDoc]

Who got EK or Kaplan exams that i can buy ?

Me = confused....

Are you asking for the Verbal sectional tests and Verbal 101 book??? Or are you asking for the full lenth exams???

EK full lenths are not recommended cuz with the exception of the Verbal, they are not the best science sections in terms of how they compare to the real deal.

Their 16 mini MCAT book, on the other hand, is supposed to be superb!!!!!

I'd recommend you get that.

If you are looking for a cheaper price to buy EK material, then you may find it at http://www.walmart.com

For other stuff, PM me and I'll tell you what I have. I'll give it to you for free. Kaplan tests, I've heard are quite a bit different but yet have a predictive value. Many people who took Kaplan ended up with scores similar to their Kaplan or AAMC range. So I'd recommend using theirs.

But again, I'm confused as to what you are asking for?? Would you please clarify? Thanks in advance.

 

[JHL]

Me = confused....

Are you asking for the Verbal sectional tests and Verbal 101 book??? Or are you asking for the full lenth exams???

EK full lenths are not recommended cuz with the exception of the Verbal, they are not the best science sections in terms of how they compare to the real deal.

Their 16 mini MCAT book, on the other hand, is supposed to be superb!!!!!

I'd recommend you get that.

If you are looking for a cheaper price to buy EK material, then you may find it at http://www.walmart.com

For other stuff, PM me and I'll tell you what I have. I'll give it to you for free. Kaplan tests, I've heard are quite a bit different but yet have a predictive value. Many people who took Kaplan ended up with scores similar to their Kaplan or AAMC range. So I'd recommend using theirs.

But again, I'm confused as to what you are asking for?? Would you please clarify? Thanks in advance.

I'm just looking to get more practice exams. I already got the Ek materials, 16 mini-cat, 1001's sciences,and 101 verbal but i'm worried about verbal. I'm at at 5-6 right now and i think i need more verbal practice.

 

[gujuDoc]

I'm just looking to get more practice exams. I already got the Ek materials, 16 mini-cat, 1001's sciences,and 101 verbal but i'm worried about verbal. I'm at at 5-6 right now and i think i need more verbal practice.

I saw this after I saw your PM to me, so ignore the part where I told you how to get 101 book etc. etc.

I'll send you the other stuff though.

 

[PleaseMiami]

With all this talk about if EK correlated with the actual mcat scores of the August takers...what's the consensus??!!! Is it accurate?? Were the first few tests easier(esteem boosters)?? C'mon guys! don't leave the rest of us hanging! Fill us in!

 

[gujuDoc]

With all this talk about if EK correlated with the actual mcat scores of the August takers...what's the consensus??!!! Is it accurate?? Were the first few tests easier(esteem boosters)?? C'mon guys! don't leave the rest of us hanging! Fill us in!

Do a search and you'll probably find the answer. But in short, yes most people on here, who used EK Verbal have gotten very accurate predictors of their performance in the Verbal section by their practice tests.

 

[NapeSpikes]

With all this talk about if EK correlated with the actual mcat scores of the August takers...what's the consensus??!!! Is it accurate?? Were the first few tests easier(esteem boosters)?? C'mon guys! don't leave the rest of us hanging! Fill us in!

I didn't find the first two tests to be easier than the rest of the book at all. If you're scoring well, it's a good sign!

Me--Average over all 11 tests: 10 (a couple 9's, a couple 11's, almost always 10)

Actual August 2005 VR: 9

So...pretty accurate, assuming you give yourself exactly the time allotted, and you did not take these tests before.

 

[gujuDoc]

Even if you have used the tests before, you don't necessarily remember the exact questions and answers, so it is still of good use. I found that retaking tests I had used before still had no impact on inflating my diag scores, because my diag scores were still relevant to my level of understanding and to my test taking abilities, but not a result of memory of using the test before.

 

[axp107]

bumping this... seems like noone's totally owning EK 101 (most people are getting in the 8 - 10 range)

 

[RoadRunner17]

EK1: 11
EK2: 11
I was quite impressed with how it felt compared to the actual MCAT and to a lesser extent, AAMC tests. It did a pretty solid job of mimicking that annoying grouping of answer choices that you'd find on a real MCAT.
What exactly is the strategy in the EK Verbal manual? I don't have that, and was wondering what the strategy is like compared to the Kaplan and TPR ones. Is it significantly different that it helps? Right now, I do what I've always done for any verbal/reading comprehension test (GRE, SAT II, AP English, etc)... skim the passage, get the general idea, get an idea of the different parts of the passage, then attack the questions and refer back to the passage for specific information. Seems simple to me, but I can't help but feel I can (and I need to) improve on this.
Right now, I'd say I am at the 10-11 level of verbal reasoning, and I can't quite seem to get myself over the hump to 12+. Maybe if I waffled over answer choices a lot less and went with what I initially think is the right answer, I might get more questions right. Has anyone been in this situation before? (getting over the hump)

 

[quiksilver87]

Does everyone do all the 9 passages when they take a test? Why dont you just take 7 and convert the timing and the score?
How long are we supposed to give ourselves for 9 passages?

 

[RoadRunner17]

85 minutes for 9 passages, the way they did it before the new CBT test began being administered

 

[axp107]

blah...

1: 8
2: 8
3: 10
4: 9

really annoying :S

 

[littlealex]

I got 10's and 11's on EK 1-9, didn't do the 10th one.

I got a 10 on the actual test, but I felt like I got a 12... Turns out I didn't.

 

[vicinihil]

haha felt like a 12...that's awesome...I wonder how that feels like

When i took it last year, it felt like a 2...no seriously...but I got a 9. Maybe if I feel a 15 I'll get a 10 this time around

 

[RoadRunner17]

I just wonder what kind of things one can really change in the approach to verbal reasoning.. they aren't kidding when they say its the hardest score to raise on the MCAT. Fortunately I'm getting consistent 11's, but I would like consistent 13's. Call me greedy, but that's what I need in order to make a retake worthwhile.

 

[vicinihil]

haha im here hoping for a 10 or 11 and you're wanting a 13. From my knowledge, anywhere above a 12, you're looking at luck of the draw.

I'm retaking to get my verbal into double digits and Sciences into 13-14-15 range.

 

[quiksilver87]

EK 1 = 5
EK 2 = 6
EK 3 = 8 (I took 7 extra minutes though!)
EK 4 = 9 ( on time!)

However, I do 7 passages in a row! for the 4rth test...I did the last 2 passages from the 3rd and first 5 from the 4rth...I do them in 66 minutes...I take 6 more minutes because there are approximately 46 questions (instead of 40) when I do the 7 passages...

I will keep you posted on my scores...
why did this thread die so quickly?

 

[soccerpunk60]

Ek1: 8
EK2: 7
Ek3: 10
Ek4: 11

taking the 5th section tomorrow, let's hope the trend continues!!

also, i really hope you guys are right and that these sections are accurate predictors. retaking in a couple weeks and just hopin for that double digit score in vr!

 

[BobbyT]

Does Examkrackers help boost your MCAT scores? Because reading online some students who have taken the MCAT the second time around without studying the MCAT the first time did better on their MCAT.

 

[RoadRunner17]

haha im here hoping for a 10 or 11 and you're wanting a 13. From my knowledge, anywhere above a 12, you're looking at luck of the draw.

I'm retaking to get my verbal into double digits and Sciences into 13-14-15 range.

Same here.. I want to improve on my 11 (because for some reason, I was killing the Kaplan verbal sections the first time around... I was getting 13's, but as it might appear, Kaplan verbal isn't that great.. and then again, the conditions in which I was studying last time weren't very ideal at all) from the previous administration.

However, sciences are more of a priority as I got 10's in both sections... thankfully science scores are more pliable than verbal. My thinking is that if I can improve my verbal score through better comprehension of the material and catching myself from getting 'tricked' by wording/phrasing of questions and answer choices (so far, that's what I've identified as the main causes for the incorrect choices I've made in VR, and to a lesser extent, the PS sections I've been doing), it'll help me a bit on the other sections as I practice on those too.

Bottom line, I want to improve all around, and not be resigned to getting 11's on EK. Again, yes I sound greedy but hey, I need to make it worthwhile to retake (I haven't signed up for a September administration yet).

Anyway, just took EK VR 3. Having slept 10 hours the night before, I thought there weren't even any passages that I had any trouble understanding. The six questions I got wrong resulted from either 1) misunderstanding the question and what it was asking... don't ask me why, but sometimes I rush through and miss out on it, and 2) extrapolating a little too far and choosing an answer that's not quite relevant to the question, which leads me back to 1). I think it's something that can be addressed through practice, and being a little more careful when reading the questions. I guess verbal reasoning is not just about understanding the passage, it's understanding what the question is asking and what the answer choices have to do with that. In the end, I think its all about the passages you get.. they seem to vary in degree of difficulty for different people.

EK 1: 11
EK 2: 11
EK 3: 12

 

[quiksilver87]

I also think it has a lot to do with the passages you get...If you are not familiar with the material then you can get really screwed...For example, if you are not good with politics, you are already at a disadvantage because you wont be familiar with a lot of the terminology they use...

 

[soccerpunk60]

anyone feel like these EK passages are just too easy/straightforward reads? like taking my time and reading through i find myself completely understanding the psg, makes the questions that much easier.

for some reason, i feel as if aamc vr psgs are not as easy reads as Ek makes it out to be

 

[quiksilver87]

I havent really done any aamc passages...But I find that yeah, the reads have been pretty straightforward (i guess with a few exceptions)...

 

[sehnsucht]

my scores were between 10 and 13. overall, i would say the EK verbal 1001 book was good practice for the AAMC tests because I was consistently scoring 11-13 on the AAMC tests (3-9).

 

[quiksilver87]

damn, how do you people do it...

 

[vicinihil]

DAMN thats what I like to know. Who else here NOT born here....I think we should be affirmative actioned in just like the URMs

 

[vicinihil]

yes I'm playing the race card....mwahaha even though asians are OVER-repped, but race card nonetheless