Increasing Comprehension in PS and BS

[TexasSurgeon]

Does anyone feel like you're getting the information down but when it gets to the passage, you have trouble comprehending the ideas they're getting across to you?

Any suggestions to solve this issue? Happens to me all the time. My biggest solution right now is to do free-standing questions. But I figured I'd ask you guys

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[gene_pool]

People have mixed views on this, but you could try reading the questions before the passage... this helps me prime for what the passage is roughly going to be about..

I noticed that the passages that are hardest for me to understand are those esoteric experimental ones, and one's with multi-step chemical reactions. When I post-phrase, I will deliberately go through step by step and analyze the purpose of each component of the experiment and/or what steps are involved. This has helped me build some comfort with these sorts of passages.

You could also look at where you could have anticipated things. For the most part, information is included for a purpose.. when certain topics are brought up there are likely only a handful of different ways they can ask about the information they just presented you.. you can practice trying to come up with the different variations of questions they could have asked based on the information they gave

Also, I think that visualization is very helpful for the sciences... You can work on having certain visuals cue up automatically in your head when you read about certain topics..

Hope any of this helps

 

[erythrocyte666]

I had this exact same problem especially for BS, and frequently I'd miss 1 or 2 questions for which relevant info was stated directly in the text or graph (like literally misreading the axes).
I wasn't fully able to fix that, but I still had a strategy to combat that: I'd first finish the discretes in 10 mins or less, then all orgo passages (my strong suit) in under 6 mins, then all the short bio passages as quickly as possible, and by the time I'd get to the last couple killer passages I'd have 20-25 mins left to read carefully
For PS: I'd do all discretes within 10 mins, then all chem passages (strong suit), then physics passages with pictures and tables, then those 1-2 abstruse VR-like passages.
So figure out your strengths and do relevant passages more quickly, and aim to take under 10 mins for discretes rather than the 13 mins people recommend.
Doing FSQs is the last thing that can help you in improving passage reading comprehension. Also, the visualization thing mentioned above helps as well.

 

[TexasSurgeon]

People have mixed views on this, but you could try reading the questions before the passage... this helps me prime for what the passage is roughly going to be about..

I noticed that the passages that are hardest for me to understand are those esoteric experimental ones, and one's with multi-step chemical reactions. When I post-phrase, I will deliberately go through step by step and analyze the purpose of each component of the experiment and/or what steps are involved. This has helped me build some comfort with these sorts of passages.

You could also look at where you could have anticipated things. For the most part, information is included for a purpose.. when certain topics are brought up there are likely only a handful of different ways they can ask about the information they just presented you.. you can practice trying to come up with the different variations of questions they could have asked based on the information they gave

Also, I think that visualization is very helpful for the sciences... You can work on having certain visuals cue up automatically in your head when you read about certain topics..

Hope any of this helps

Thank you, I'll try that out! I'd always stayed away from reading the question stems

I had this exact same problem especially for BS, and frequently I'd miss 1 or 2 questions for which relevant info was stated directly in the text or graph (like literally misreading the axes).
I wasn't fully able to fix that, but I still had a strategy to combat that: I'd first finish the discretes in 10 mins or less, then all orgo passages (my strong suit) in under 6 mins, then all the short bio passages as quickly as possible, and by the time I'd get to the last couple killer passages I'd have 20-25 mins left to read carefully
For PS: I'd do all discretes within 10 mins, then all chem passages (strong suit), then physics passages with pictures and tables, then those 1-2 abstruse VR-like passages.
So figure out your strengths and do relevant passages more quickly, and aim to take under 10 mins for discretes rather than the 13 mins people recommend.
Doing FSQs is the last thing that can help you in improving passage reading comprehension. Also, the visualization thing mentioned above helps as well.

Thank you! I'll try that out tomorrow as well


So my motivation for the FSQ's is this: A lot of the times I'll do a chapter and the passages and what not, but I honestly don't feel 100% down on the material and that carries over into the passages. So I feel weak in a certain concept and then I go into a passage, get tripped by the comprehension issues, so that complicates stuff more. But I feel like if I can understand the sciences better through the problems, then I'll have that much more confidence when reading since the small nuances of the problems will carry over into the reading and then increase my comprehension. Thoughts?

 

[faith hopelove]

I answer the FSQ first as well. It helps me get into the test without messing up on the passages. Most of the time when I am just starting my brain feels like it's floating so to bring it back down I start with the FSQ which works best for me. Do what works best for you. I like the idea of starting with certain passages first that would strengthen my score. I will try that too.

 

[Jack Westin]

Focus on knowing the basics. For instance, what's frequency in terms of physics? You should automatically think, "Frequency is the amount of cycles you do per second." This is how the MCAT is designed. Focus on the basics by thinking about just the definition and equation when a question about this topic arises. Write the equation down and look at it, it will make your life a lot easier because you'll immediately start connecting the dots. A combination of this and doing a ton of questions leads to a high score.

 

[TexasSurgeon]

Focus on knowing the basics. For instance, what's frequency in terms of physics? You should automatically think, "Frequency is the amount of cycles you do per second." This is how the MCAT is designed. Focus on the basics by thinking about just the definition and equation when a question about this topic arises. Write the equation down and look at it, it will make your life a lot easier because you'll immediately start connecting the dots. A combination of this and doing a ton of questions leads to a high score.

When you say "ton of questions", are you referring to free standing ones or passages?

 

[Jack Westin]

A combination of both is important. Your goal should be to do 50 free standing every day and up to 14-20 passages in a day (this is if you're studying full time). At some point, you will be on a roll. Everything will make sense, everything will connect. Expect to struggle a lot in the beginning and work your way up to that many questions in a day. Start with doing 10 stand alone questions and only 3 passages a day and increase that number as it becomes easier. The more you do, the faster and more accurate you become.

 

[erythrocyte666]

A combination of both is important. Your goal should be to do 50 free standing every day and up to 14-20 passages in a day (this is if you're studying full time). At some point, you will be on a roll. Everything will make sense, everything will connect. Expect to struggle a lot in the beginning and work your way up to that many questions in a day. Start with doing 10 stand alone questions and only 3 passages a day and increase that number as it becomes easier. The more you do, the faster and more accurate you become.

What would you say is an upper limit to the volume of passages?

 

[Jack Westin]

50 stand alone and 20 passages a day is definitely the upper limit. I wouldn't suggest doing that many until you're ready to do practice exams. Try to work your way up to that many. On days you do practice exams, don't do any questions.

It's super difficult for students to stick to doing that many questions because either life/school gets in the way or they get emotional when they do questions. That's why I recommend spending 3 months on just studying MCAT. I do not mean live in the library all day. That's a waste of time. What I really mean is that you must make MCAT studying priority for 3 months. You can and should still do fun activities, etc during that time but MCAT takes precedence.

As for the emotional part, people lose confidence when they get questions wrong. They also get super happy when they get a set of questions right. ("I got 6 out of 6 right!") This leads to emotional distress. And because of this, they stop doing questions. Keep your emotions away from the MCAT. Fighting through this internal conflict is key. You can't let yourself get happy when you get a question right, and you can't let yourself get upset when you get a question wrong. Staying cool, calm, and collected the entire time is vital to improve. The emotional roller coaster will hurt your chances of doing well.

It's also important to realize that reviewing content is 1/4 MCAT studying. A lot of students make the mistake of solely reviewing content for almost the entire duration of their exam preparation. They totally ignore doing questions and the important AAMC exams until they feel "ready" or have "gone over all the content." They also want to "save all the good exams and questions" because they "don't want to waste them." This is illogical on so many levels. They end up scoring poorly their first time taking the exam and then spend another 2 months devoting all their time to questions and exams when they study the second time. That's why students tend to score better on their second attempt.

 

[cavsfan]

A combination of both is important. Your goal should be to do 50 free standing every day and up to 14-20 passages in a day (this is if you're studying full time). At some point, you will be on a roll. Everything will make sense, everything will connect. Expect to struggle a lot in the beginning and work your way up to that many questions in a day. Start with doing 10 stand alone questions and only 3 passages a day and increase that number as it becomes easier. The more you do, the faster and more accurate you become.

I could not agree more!

 

[JuanPabloCastel]

I think people tend to rush through the passages. Most MCAT questions are ridiculously simple if you know what they're asking. Take 5 seconds to think about each paragraph and how it relates to the others. This really improved my BS (and VR).
Sorry, no suggestions for PS. I was doing really well on AAMCs from the beginning but I just took the jan 10 test. PS was brutal on there. If your test is anything like it, focus on formulas and doing quick mental math.

 

[TexasSurgeon]

I think people tend to rush through the passages. Most MCAT questions are ridiculously simple if you know what they're asking. Take 5 seconds to think about each paragraph and how it relates to the others. This really improved my BS (and VR).
Sorry, no suggestions for PS. I was doing really well on AAMCs from the beginning but I just took the jan 10 test. PS was brutal on there. If your test is anything like it, focus on formulas and doing quick mental math.

Yeah sounds good, thanks man