Odd Phenomenon - AAMC Verbal

[Lunasly]

Just curious to know if this happens to you guys as well, but during post-game analysis of verbal from the AAMC exams, I like to redo the entire passage again, timed. This is before I view the answers to the questions in the first place. Oddly enough, I seem to do worse than my first time.

I have attributed this to a lack of confidence in the answer choices I selected the first time around. I don't always remember the answer choices I selected the first time around, but if I do I tend to doubt the answer for some reason even though in most cases it is correct!

Ultimately, this has led to a lack of confidence in my ability to perform well in this section. Over the last few exams I have written, I have scored two 6's and one 8. I have not found post-game analysis of verbal to be very beneficial thus far. It's really a hit or miss for me – do I understand the passage or do I not understand the passage.

What has really driven my score down is my inability to stay focused while reading. I get anxious and begin to think about whether I'll understand this passage or not rather than actually trying to understand it! I'm not dumb. I can read an article and understand it. However, it seems that under this kind of pressure I can't focus on what I am actually reading.

Any advice? I currently use PanRoasted's strategy for those of you who are familiar.

Thanks for the help.

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[musicalfeet]

Just curious to know if this happens to you guys as well, but during post-game analysis of verbal from the AAMC exams, I like to redo the entire passage again, timed. This is before I view the answers to the questions in the first place. Oddly enough, I seem to do worse than my first time.

I have attributed this to a lack of confidence in the answer choices I selected the first time around. I don't always remember the answer choices I selected the first time around, but if I do I tend to doubt the answer for some reason even though in most cases it is correct!

Ultimately, this has led to a lack of confidence in my ability to perform well in this section. Over the last few exams I have written, I have scored two 6's and one 8. I have not found post-game analysis of verbal to be very beneficial thus far. It's really a hit or miss for me – do I understand the passage or do I not understand the passage.

What has really driven my score down is my inability to stay focused while reading. I get anxious and begin to think about whether I'll understand this passage or not rather than actually trying to understand it! I'm not dumb. I can read an article and understand it. However, it seems that under this kind of pressure I can't focus on what I am actually reading.

Any advice? I currently use PanRoasted's strategy for those of you who are familiar.

Thanks for the help.

This sort of happens to me also (but across the 3 sections), where I'll do worse in practice than when I do FLs. Could it be that you are more concentrated the first time through because you're more "worried" and therefore have a bit more adrenaline to keep you focused? The second time around, you're likely not to be as worried, as you've already done it. I feel like Verbal is much more about keeping your focus than anything else. The passages where I'd miss the most questions tended to be the ones where my concentration began to wander into thoughts like "this passage is boring" or "I'm not quite sure what I'm reading".

I'd suggest to really pay attention for your practice sessions and full lengths to your state of mind. It could probably help you figure out what exactly is causing your drop in verbal when you do the same passage a second time.

 

[Lunasly]

I just can't maintain focus while reading (and I am also a slow reader in that I finish answering a passage within 8 to 8.5 minutes on average) and I don't know how to fix the problem. My exam is in 1 week and I can't score above a 7 in verbal. It's embarrassing. I realize after a few seconds that I have no clue what I just read and I fear that if I go back to re-read that I will run out of time.

 

[texan2414]

Hey,

I think you self-diagnosed your problem already. You need to improve upon 1) focus 2) reading comprehension 3) self-confidence.

Before wasting the valuable AAMC exams, how about just go to reading sources such as NYTimes or Economist and just read articles for the sake of it. Try to put yourself in the mind of test writers and ascertain what questions WOULD you ask of the material in front of you if you were writing test questions. What I do is download humanities/psychology/history/philosophy articles on random topics from JSTOR (you can use any other database in your library) and read them, understand the points and assertions made and try to relate information in "MCAT-question" sort of way. For example, ask yourself strengths/weakenesses of an idea in the passage or how would you refute an assertion made in the passage, identify author's assumptions as he makes his argument, etc etc. If you have to look at sample verbal questions from AAMCs take a look at your old exams and what sorts / types of questions AAMC asks. I used the Official MCAT guide and they list 4 categories of questions. Doing this will really help you (I'm sure) and will remedy the problem of focus/reading comprehension.

Lastly to build self confidence, I think identifying the category of passage that you tend to do worst on is key. For me social science passages are where I perform the worst on so I save those passages LAST. It's really difficult for me to comprehend linguistic acquisition or when a passage talks about some cognitive psychology- I do get bogged down by trivial details as it is a social "science" and end up not understanding the main point BUT I know that I have done my absolute best on previous questions on humanities/natural science passages, so I should be okay. Depending on what score range you are aiming, this is what it really boils down to - because everyone will have passages that they are uncomfortable with on exam day so logically, you should strategize passages you ARE comfortable with and thus spend more time on those before harder ones.

I will be retaking MCAT for a third time after not improving on my prior verbal scores (scored 6 both times last year) and this time I am basically ditching all the TPR/EK strategies and going to the makers of the exam - AAMC! I am trying to develop intuition and the AAMC question writer mindset to help me on the questions. I have only started doing this so I don't have much evidence of improvement but I can't think that this is to no avail. Just posting what I thought might benefit you as well.

All the best with your studies,

 

[Lunasly]

Thanks for the advice. I'm one week away and I have done most of the AAMC exams. I have also done the verbal self assessment and most of the TPR verbal workbook. This will be my first time writing. I intend to register for the exam again during the end of the winter break to get another shot. During the school year I will follow that advice for reading those types of articles more often. I watch the news every single day. Perhaps my time would be better spent if I read the news instead.