Advice on Critical Reading

[RMarquez05]

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Hey guys,

Would anyone happen to know a good way to tackle the critical thinking on the PCAT. This is the only section where I get the lowest lowest score. This really affects my composite score. I know reading and practicing would improve it, however I don't really see any change. If anyone has any advice or what study material they used to improve in this section I would really appreciate it! Thank you in advance.

 

[fluffysnow]

Hey guys,

Would anyone happen to know a good way to tackle the critical thinking on the PCAT. This is the only section where I get the lowest lowest score. This really affects my composite score. I know reading and practicing would improve it, however I don't really see any change. If anyone has any advice or what study material they used to improve in this section I would really appreciate it! Thank you in advance.

I just took the exam today and got a 99 in CR.
I don't know if other people do this, but I never read the whole passage before I start answering questions.
The best thing about the PCAT CR questions is that they directly mention which paragraph the question is referring to, unless it's a global question. One strategy that I used throughout the test was to just not think too hard about the global questions, and instead focus on answering the ones that referred to specific paragraphs. By answering those, you will have already read a good 3, 4 paragraphs. To answer the ones about main idea, read the first and last paragraph. Usually, the thesis is pretty clear. To answer the ones about tone, look for opinion-oriented words. By using these strategies, I finished all questions with 4 minutes left to review the ones I flagged.
The study materials that I used in preparing for the PCAT were Dr. Collins and Pearson and Kaplan practice exams. Dr. Collins' CR section is honestly kind of horrible and sometimes it seemed as if the answers were straight up wrong. The Kaplan CR sections strongly resembled the CR section on the exam today. If you want more practice, you should take a look at the Examkrackers verbal reasoning for the MCAT. But also, their questions are harder than those on the PCAT and the general consensus is that there are a lot of typos in the book.

 

[atnguy13]

If you want more practice, you should take a look at the Examkrackers verbal reasoning for the MCAT. But also, their questions are harder than those on the PCAT and the general consensus is that there are a lot of typos in the book.

Does exam crackers have passages like the PCAT? I would assume if its verbal reasoning, it would just be short sentences and such like Dr. Collins before verbal reasoning was taken out of the PCAT

 

[RMarquez05]

I just took the exam today and got a 99 in CR.
I don't know if other people do this, but I never read the whole passage before I start answering questions.
The best thing about the PCAT CR questions is that they directly mention which paragraph the question is referring to, unless it's a global question. One strategy that I used throughout the test was to just not think too hard about the global questions, and instead focus on answering the ones that referred to specific paragraphs. By answering those, you will have already read a good 3, 4 paragraphs. To answer the ones about main idea, read the first and last paragraph. Usually, the thesis is pretty clear. To answer the ones about tone, look for opinion-oriented words. By using these strategies, I finished all questions with 4 minutes left to review the ones I flagged.
The study materials that I used in preparing for the PCAT were Dr. Collins and Pearson and Kaplan practice exams. Dr. Collins' CR section is honestly kind of horrible and sometimes it seemed as if the answers were straight up wrong. The Kaplan CR sections strongly resembled the CR section on the exam today. If you want more practice, you should take a look at the Examkrackers verbal reasoning for the MCAT. But also, their questions are harder than those on the PCAT and the general consensus is that there are a lot of typos in the book.

WOW, Thanks a lot!! Honestly!!
I took the pcat Friday and I am soooooo embarrassed to post my CR score. That KILLED my composite score grade. I was studying Colling CR as well but like you said, it just doesn't seem to help and the answers are weird. I will definitely take your advice on this. Thanks a lot!