I'm going to be taking the new MCAT, but I've started working on some verbal reasoning passages from the old test and it hasn't been going well. I seem to consistently answer only half of the questions correctly per passage. Has anyone else started this poorly and improved to a descent score? I have until May to figure this section out.
Raising verbal reasoning score?
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I practiced 7 passages everyday for almost 3 months to raise my score from a 5-6 to a 8-10. Do a lot of reading and review each question carefully. Some ppl just naturally good at verbal, if you are not, use your hard work to make up for it. It's the last time in your life that reading can influence your success.
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1. Read for the main idea. Keep asking yourself what is the author saying?
2. Don't read into the questions. You can answer much of them from the main idea itself. Keep that in mind always
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wanted to throw some advice in here.. here's a link towards a thread I wrote a while ago that is still relevant for verbal (some other parts may not be applicable for the new MCAT)
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/thr...plan-picking-resources.1045943/#post-14714748
Verbal tips in post #11
I'd also add that while verbal is the hardest section to study for and improve your score in.. that doesn't mean it's not feasible in a normal time frame. You have to make sure you approach the section differently than the sciences though. The same studying that gets you more points in science won't get you more points here.
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/thr...plan-picking-resources.1045943/#post-14714748
Verbal tips in post #11
I'd also add that while verbal is the hardest section to study for and improve your score in.. that doesn't mean it's not feasible in a normal time frame. You have to make sure you approach the section differently than the sciences though. The same studying that gets you more points in science won't get you more points here.
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I started that from a similar point and ultimately ended up getting a nearly perfect VR score. There are ways to improve considerably!
Doing well in verbal boils down to a few things :
1) Reading the passage effectively - doing this means reading in a way that allows you to extract the critical information in a manner that corresponds exactly to the author and that correctly takes the entire passage into consideration. The whole point of verbal is to take information from the passage and apply it precisely in the questions. Doing this effectively requires you to read for the main point of the author rather then the details or background info. In each paragraph, the author will usually emphasize one main point that contains some sort of personal opinion and that personal opinion is what the test makers are using to create questions. Analyzing the passage in terms of the author's point in each paragraph will give it structure and guide you to the correct answers. It is extremely critical that you remember the author's points precisely.
2) Using that passage effectively in the questions - I believe the most significant problem people have with VR is personalizing the passage content while answering the questions. There will always be trap answers that make plausible references from the passage but are incorrect because they contrast the actual message of the author. An answer can make perfect sense but if the author does not bring it up, it is wrong. If the answer correlates correctly to the author but includes an extreme adjective like always or never, you have to make sure that the author used a similar adjective on the subject matter. This is why it so important to identify the author precisely in the passage, One word can change the entire meaning of a statement. Be very wary of these. Quite often, choosing the correct answer means choosing the less comfortable answer that does not contradict the author over one that makes sense but contradicts the author. Try to consistently stay mindful of your job in VR - to use exactly what is in the passage to answer the questions. You don't have to make sense of it, just make sure that you don't contradict it.
3) Look for the wrong answers, not the correct ones - When you get to the questions, read each question very carefully and know what it is asking before looking at the questions. Before trying to find a correct answer, eliminate the wrong ones. There are usually two that you can cross out right away. Get those out the way. When analyzing the last two, look for the one that is less consistent with the author and cross it out. Knowing three answers are wrong is the same as knowing one is right. The difference is, it is easier to find three wrong ones. If you really cant decide which to pick, this will at least give you a higher probability of guessing correctly.
4) Timing. You should never go over 8 minutes. Ideally, you want to be done with each passage after 7. No matter how hung up you get on an answer, it is always a better idea to eliminate and take an educated guess instead of wasting time that could be spent answering 2/3 easy questions later.
5) Practice and review - timed passages every day is a must. When you are done, spend even more time reviewing your work. Analyze everything in both your correct and incorrect answers. Ask yourself : did I understand the question and answer correctly? If so, did I pick something that made sense to me but not in relation to the passage vs did I think this correctly corresponded to the passage? If I thought this is what I read in the passage, how did I misinterpret this while reading? If so, how could I have approached the passage differently to grasp this?
Answer these questions and keep a journal of them. Write notes to yourself on how you messed up and how you need to improve. Refer to that journal before your next attempt at practice and be mindful of those points. This will keep your progress moving forward and help make/break habits that need making/breaking.
Hope this helps!
Doing well in verbal boils down to a few things :
1) Reading the passage effectively - doing this means reading in a way that allows you to extract the critical information in a manner that corresponds exactly to the author and that correctly takes the entire passage into consideration. The whole point of verbal is to take information from the passage and apply it precisely in the questions. Doing this effectively requires you to read for the main point of the author rather then the details or background info. In each paragraph, the author will usually emphasize one main point that contains some sort of personal opinion and that personal opinion is what the test makers are using to create questions. Analyzing the passage in terms of the author's point in each paragraph will give it structure and guide you to the correct answers. It is extremely critical that you remember the author's points precisely.
2) Using that passage effectively in the questions - I believe the most significant problem people have with VR is personalizing the passage content while answering the questions. There will always be trap answers that make plausible references from the passage but are incorrect because they contrast the actual message of the author. An answer can make perfect sense but if the author does not bring it up, it is wrong. If the answer correlates correctly to the author but includes an extreme adjective like always or never, you have to make sure that the author used a similar adjective on the subject matter. This is why it so important to identify the author precisely in the passage, One word can change the entire meaning of a statement. Be very wary of these. Quite often, choosing the correct answer means choosing the less comfortable answer that does not contradict the author over one that makes sense but contradicts the author. Try to consistently stay mindful of your job in VR - to use exactly what is in the passage to answer the questions. You don't have to make sense of it, just make sure that you don't contradict it.
3) Look for the wrong answers, not the correct ones - When you get to the questions, read each question very carefully and know what it is asking before looking at the questions. Before trying to find a correct answer, eliminate the wrong ones. There are usually two that you can cross out right away. Get those out the way. When analyzing the last two, look for the one that is less consistent with the author and cross it out. Knowing three answers are wrong is the same as knowing one is right. The difference is, it is easier to find three wrong ones. If you really cant decide which to pick, this will at least give you a higher probability of guessing correctly.
4) Timing. You should never go over 8 minutes. Ideally, you want to be done with each passage after 7. No matter how hung up you get on an answer, it is always a better idea to eliminate and take an educated guess instead of wasting time that could be spent answering 2/3 easy questions later.
5) Practice and review - timed passages every day is a must. When you are done, spend even more time reviewing your work. Analyze everything in both your correct and incorrect answers. Ask yourself : did I understand the question and answer correctly? If so, did I pick something that made sense to me but not in relation to the passage vs did I think this correctly corresponded to the passage? If I thought this is what I read in the passage, how did I misinterpret this while reading? If so, how could I have approached the passage differently to grasp this?
Answer these questions and keep a journal of them. Write notes to yourself on how you messed up and how you need to improve. Refer to that journal before your next attempt at practice and be mindful of those points. This will keep your progress moving forward and help make/break habits that need making/breaking.
Hope this helps!
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