My two cents,
I would not recommend ever skipping the passages before answering questions, no matter how pseudo-discrete they are. Nor would I suggest attacking discretes first, as I think it is an absolute waste of time to try and flip through and find them. The passages are a great resource, often reinforcing/reminding you of formulas, and more importantly, general relationships between things you are about to be tested on in the questions immediately preceding. It is much better to take the three minutes to read the passage, and be reminded, than possibly get something wrong because you didn't remember/understand the context of the question fully.
PS passages are so short you should forget writing any map. In fact, as I'm improving on verbal I find that the kaplan mapping strategy is a waste of time if you actually write it out. Do this mentally! Highlight key points and relations in the passage. This serves two purposes: 1) it reinforces the idea you are highlighting in your mind, and 2) it provides an extremely convenient way to break the passage down so you can find other information quickly. You simply have to keep track of how the information is presented (how the ideas flow logically from one to the other), and you can locate anything within an instant without a written map. This in a sense is a better map imo.
Reading the passage should really take about 1min tops, it is so short and usually you can skip over many details (like the exact value of some constant) until you need it for a question. Next, hit the questions IN ORDER. Don't try and pick out the discretes. There will be questions which require absolutely no computation, and only a basic understanding of the passage to answer. These are gold, and would be missed if you looked for the discretes. Discretes imo take the longest to solve on the PS, because they are most computationally heavy.
This is how attacking the questions should go:
1) read the question, and preform a method of attack. Do you know how to solve this, what relations are needed, how does this fit in with the passage?
2)Scan the answer choices, looking more for trends than the actual numbers. What are the units, what are the ratios, what is different about the answer choices. This will help you do all the things I pointed out in 1. If after having done so, you cannot answer most of the questions in 1. mark the question, randomly guess, and move on to the next question and repeat. Otherwise, move on to 3.
3) Attack the question. If it has something to do with the passage, quickly relocate and reread the relevant sentence or two, even if you remember the answer explicitly. It never hurts to double check, and the better you remember it the less time it takes to locate and verify. If there is computation involved, WRITE OUT THE FORMULA. It helps to visualize what is going on. Also, round off all the numbers and ballpark it. No need to carry any decimals, just note in what direction your answer is going to be off. Even if you need to write out the calculation (often times it will be so simple you will not need to), rounding will speed it up 100% if not more.
Go through the entire section like this. You should not need to spend more than 30-45 seconds on any one question. You will get to the end with more than enough time to spare. I usually finish with ~30-35 minutes left. At this point, relax a bit. You have finished the section and put an answer on every question, take 5 seconds to breathe and focus. At this point, if you were to submit the test, you should be at the 7 range at least. If not (or you have significantly less time left than 25 minutes), you seriously need to go back and consider why you needed so much time, or in what areas you simply had no idea how to go about solving the problem. This isn't a pacing issue, you just don't know the material.
Now that you have at least put an answer for everything (either you marked and guessed, or solved the problem), it is time to go back and start earning the real points. Go through each marked question. When you get there, you need to ask yourself honestly : Do I have at least some clue as to what I would need to know, or do, to solve the problem, and can I find that information out from the passage or from logically reasoning through what I know? This is critical, if you have zero clue how to solve it, or how it relates to the passage if it isn't discrete, don't waste time, move on. As soon as you come to a question you think you might have a chance of figuring out, attack it. Give yourself 3-5 minutes (5 mins will seem like an eternity) and use every tool at your disposal. Eliminate every answer choice you can, guess if you need to, and move on to the next. It is this part that separates the men from the boys IMO, and is the real heart of the MCAT. Succeeding here is more about your ability to reason, and answer things you don't know for sure based upon the things you are comfortable with than memorizing every detail. This is what will bring your score up to 12 and above.
This is how I attack every section. I've finished every practice full length PS and BS section in this manner, with plenty of time to spare even after doing the above. I usually even have enough time to go back and review every question (after doing the above) twice over. You will guaranteed finish each section doing it this way. Keep in mind though, there is no substitute for knowing what is required on PS and BS sections. Your score using this method will adequately reflect your knowledge, and show you what you need to reinforce before test day.
Like anything else, take it with a grain of salt. I have an incredibly strong PS background and hence it comes faster to me than most.
thanks a lot for all that explanation
