Tips on Boosting Verbal Reasoning Score?

[agoron]

Hey all!

I know there are different strategies that work for everyone, but what are some good tips and tricks for boosting my verbal score? I've only taken 2 AAMC practices so far and my test is in January, but my first score was a 28 9 PS /9 VR/ 10 BS on AAMC 3. The second test I took was AAMC 8 a week later, and I scored a 32 10/9/13 (still can't believe I boosted my score 4 points in a week.)

I used to think I was pretty good at verbal, but the passages have been proving a lot more challenging for me than I thought they were going to be, and I don't want to be in a verbal slump. I have EK 101 Verbal Passages, and I'm planning on putting in some good time with that. My problem just seems to be either blatantly not understanding a question or understanding the material a question refers back to, based on how it's worded or written/how complicated it is. Often times, I'll narrow down my answers to two choices and pick the wrong one.

Like I said, I know everyone is different, but any advice to increase my verbal score would be much appreciated! My MCAT goal is a 33-35, and I have about 2 months until the exam.

Thanks!

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[AwayFromReality]

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/thr...rent-mcat-studiers.285092/page-2#post-6022602
This guide by a different sdn user really helped me in my verbal prep. Its long, but I recommend you read all of it. The gist of is to do passages under harsher timed conditions, learn to read actively/ force yourself to not reread sentences and learn the various types of questions that are present in verbal section. Obviously all of this requires A LOT of practice.

My strategy involved using EK101 and Princeton review hyperlearning (alternating between the two every 3rd passage). I have been trying to do 3 timed passages every day and then carefully reviewing the solutions for every answer choice for every single question. It has helped me tremendously. Reviewing the questions after you are done is the biggest thing. That's where you learn what type of questions you are doing wrong and how to develop strategies specifically for those questions.

Finally when I first started taking the full lengths I noticed I was getting burned out by the end of the verbal section. I was simply not used to the mental strain required for 7 straight passages since I was used to doing 3 in a row. Look at your score breakdown and see if that is the case with you. Are you doing worst towards the last few passages? If so developing mental endurance will help raise your score.

 

[DaMedDude]

I only scored a 10 on the actual MCAT but was averaging 13-14 on the practice aamc exams. Verbal reasoning is all about timing. I don't recommend skipping passages but you need to be able to recognize the hard and easy passages right away. The easy passages you can read through in just a couple minutes and answer the questions quickly. ~5-6 mins to knock out an easy passage + questions. There are typically 3 really easy passages on aamc. Take the 7-9 mins on the 2 medium difficulty passages (this is probably how you are reading and answering all the passages). Then take 12-14 mins on the 2 difficult passages.....usually 5,6 or 7 on the aamc. I know it sounds like common sense, but you cannot spend the same amount of time on every passage...you need to spend the appropriate amount of time for each passage.....dish out a limit based on the difficulty you assume on the first paragraph and place in the exam (typically passages start out easy and get progressively harder...like passage 1 is really easy but passage 7 is really hard... but this is not always the case)...many people don't do this. I didn't do it on the real thing because I freaked out but I had verbal down to an art on the practices.