Verbal...is this even possible?

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TactFR44

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rant warning...help needed

Hey guys. I'm feeling pretty discouraged with Verbal. I took my first EK practice 30 min review. I won't even say what I got but it's low. Like bottom of the barrel.

Im an audiovisual learner. Always have been. Combination of lecture recordings and powerpoints were golden for me in undergrad. I never read textbooks unless I had to.

I love writing so english isn't totally a dislike of mine (wrote a thesis) and I'm pretty used to reading absracts and such.

My question then is for people who are audio learners by nature or those that had big improvements. What strategies have worked for you? I read quietly to myself but idk if this will be feasible during an actual administration. I have read the EK content book and will be practicing main ideas and question stems (the former being more helpful in my opinion). I have all TBR (I average around 2-3 missed on the practices I have done so far), EK 101 (6/14 on the intro passage :( but way worse with EK. As stated, I have been doing EK strategies. Is TPRH really as good as people say it is? I will dish out the dough for it. I'm doing fine in physics, chem, and orgo. Bio is also more tough but I'll manage that one better.

I apologize for spelling errors. I just started my shift in the hospital and on this darn cell.

Thanks anyone for the help.

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Very similar to your situation. I stopped using EK though and decided to focus on verbal SAs. I basically go through a few verbal SAs per week and postgame each question to figure out why the correct answer is correct. There is definitely a trend in how the answers are worded and it is becoming intuitive to eliminate at least two wrong answers. However, there are some questions that are straight comprehension and recall of what was just read, those seem to be the ones I have the most difficulty with. Try some AAMC material and then if needed, go back to retry EK. I don't think it is good to learn how EK thinks for answer rationale since they are not the ones creating the actual exam. Good luck!
 
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Very similar to your situation. I stopped using EK though and decided to focus on verbal SAs. I basically go through a few verbal SAs per week and postgame each question to figure out why the correct answer is correct. There is definitely a trend in how the answers are worded and it is becoming intuitive to eliminate at least two wrong answers. However, there are some questions that are straight comprehension and recall of what was just read, those seem to be the ones I have the most difficulty with. Try some AAMC material and then if needed, go back to retry EK. I don't think it is good to learn how EK thinks for answer rationale since they are not the ones creating the actual exam. Good luck!

Thank you for the quick reply. I will incorporate that into my regimen.
 
I read to myself as well, and refer to a not-so-imaginary entity (I hope not or else I'm crazy:D) as I answer questions.

Personal bias - I've solved Verbal passages from all of the well-known test prep companies, and TPR is my favorite! However, I have developed an affinity towards TBR's verbal method (which includes a primer on deductive and inductive reasoning).

For what it's worth, I wrote a guide (link in my signature thingy), where I explain that one's process of elimination requires an informed methodology. There has to be a reason why you eliminate answer choices. For me, my PoE is based on deductive reasoning (logic, arguments, etc.) like one would see/read wrt Sherlock Holmes.
 
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I read to myself as well, and refer to a not-so-imaginary entity (I hope not or else I'm crazy:D) as I answer questions.

Personal bias - I've solved Verbal passages from all of the well-known test prep companies, and TPR is my favorite! However, I have developed an affinity towards TBR's verbal method (which includes a primer on deductive and inductive reasoning).

For what it's worth, I wrote a guide (link in my signature thingy), where I explain that one's process of elimination requires an informed methodology. There has to be a reason why you eliminate answer choices. For me, my PoE is based on deductive reasoning (logic, arguments, etc.) like one would see/read wrt Sherlock Holmes.

Thank you so much. I appreciate it. I just hope to see some improvements because right now I'm pretty bummed about my results. TBR chem I have been getting like 1 wrong or none with time to spare. Same with orgo. Difference between those two is the errors in content which arise can be fixed more readily. I have always struggled with reading comprehension (sat math 700) sat reading like 590 :(
 
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