Any help on my verbal situation would be appreciated!

[miringains]

Advertisement - Members don't see this ad

hey all long time lurker... writing my mcat august 10th

so after I got through content review, I did AAMC's 3-6, and scored pretty well with scores hovering around 30-34, I would say the average would be roughly 11/9/11 (PS,VR,BS)


Anyway, I figured I could bring up my verbal score so I started doing LOTS of practice with EK 101. To my pleasure, I started focusing on the main idea/tone etc etc, and consistently scored 11+ on the 101 verbal tests.

So I did AAMC 7.... and I scored a 7 on verbal.

I brushed it off, and did AAMC 8

I scored a 7 again.


I today did AAMC 9 and got an 8...


I do not know what is happening and am freaking out...I was doing better on the verbal stuff in the beginning.... and EK seems not accurate at all? I don't know what is happening honestly. I find that the EK passages are MUCH easier to understand whereas AAMC I am always kind of lost as to what is going on... I have roughly 2.5 weeks left until the terrible day and would love for some people to assess my situation 👎


Also, random but have the BS sections on MCATs lately been "justified verbal reasoning" sections as my friends tell me? They said almost 0 knowledge of biology was required

 

[BestDoctorEver]

hey all long time lurker... writing my mcat august 10th

so after I got through content review, I did AAMC's 3-6, and scored pretty well with scores hovering around 30-34, I would say the average would be roughly 11/9/11 (PS,VR,BS)


Anyway, I figured I could bring up my verbal score so I started doing LOTS of practice with EK 101. To my pleasure, I started focusing on the main idea/tone etc etc, and consistently scored 11+ on the 101 verbal tests.

So I did AAMC 7.... and I scored a 7 on verbal.

I brushed it off, and did AAMC 8

I scored a 7 again.


I today did AAMC 9 and got an 8...


I do not know what is happening and am freaking out...I was doing better on the verbal stuff in the beginning.... and EK seems not accurate at all? I don't know what is happening honestly. I find that the EK passages are MUCH easier to understand whereas AAMC I am always kind of lost as to what is going on... I have roughly 2.5 weeks left until the terrible day and would love for some people to assess my situation 👎


Also, random but have the BS sections on MCATs lately been "justified verbal reasoning" sections as my friends tell me? They said almost 0 knowledge of biology was required

Some people think EK is more difficult others think AAMC is. Therefore, this is debatable. From my perspective, I think EK is easier since the passages are much more interesting. I think you should pay careful attention to the question stem because some of the answers can be extrapolated from the question stem. I started doing that and I am seeing huge progress. Was averaging 7 before and now I am up to a 9. Also, do not try to understand every singe passage at 100%.

 

[miringains]

Some people think EK is more difficult others think AAMC is. Therefore, this is debatable. From my perspective, I think EK is easier since the passages are much more interesting. I think you should pay careful attention to the question stem because some of the answers can be extrapolated from the question stem. I started doing that and I am seeing huge progress. Was averaging 7 before and now I am up to a 9. Also, do not try to understand every singe passage at 100%.

that is actually really good advice on not worrying about understanding 100%, makes a lot of sense and I will apply that tomorrow. Could you elaborate a bit on extrapolating from the question stem?

Last I wanted to ask, are you guys generally totally confident with your picks on verbal? I generally use POE and end up going alright so its either A or C.... lets go with C and it feels sketchy as hell brahs

 

[BestDoctorEver]

that is actually really good advice on not worrying about understanding 100%, makes a lot of sense and I will apply that tomorrow. Could you elaborate a bit on extrapolating from the question stem?

Last I wanted to ask, are you guys generally totally confident with your picks on verbal? I generally use POE and end up going alright so its either A or C.... lets go with C and it feels sketchy as hell brahs

This is where the question stem comes into play. Some questions have two answers that are close. What you do is read the question carefully and compare it with the two answers and you might see that one of the two answers make more sense.

 

[FacelessMage]

What I found helpful with verbal was going back and looking at all my practice tests and seeing why I chose specific answers. It really helped me to get an idea of why I was getting certain questions right and why I was getting them wrong. I started to see trends in questions and answers, and now when I do verbal, I'm able to spot those and answer more correctly.

 

[shaboobly]

that is actually really good advice on not worrying about understanding 100%, makes a lot of sense and I will apply that tomorrow. Could you elaborate a bit on extrapolating from the question stem?

Last I wanted to ask, are you guys generally totally confident with your picks on verbal? I generally use POE and end up going alright so its either A or C.... lets go with C and it feels sketchy as hell brahs

i use poe for the easy choices to eliminate, but when it really comes down to it, the correct answer will be supported, related, or an exact quote from the passage (sometimes they do this to trick you so watch out for these). you also really want to find the answer that ANSWERS the question, because i have noticed they throw questions in there with right info from the passage, but it's irrelevant to answering the question which makes the choice wrong.

my ek 101 verbal avg so far is about 8.5, but the aamc verbals i have taken have either been a 9 or 10. there were a couple tests before my first take of the mcat where i scored a 7, but others i scored a 9 as well. ended up with a 6 on the real thing, but i think it's because i didn't really practice verbal as i have been and now i have consistently receiving 9 or 10s, which is what i like, consistency.

 

[miringains]

I still cannot figure out why I do so much better on EK! I really do just find the AAMC passages harder to understand it seems

Another scenario I was curious about. Sometimes (rarely) I read the whole passage (and it takes 2-3 minutes)....and then realize I have no idea what I just read. I freak out because I realize I just wasted valuable time, and end up just doing the questions by referring back to the passage and scanning for the words it asks for. What would you guys do if this happens? This generally happens on obscure topics.... like a certain tomb passage in one of the practice AAMCS 😉

 

[miringains]

upppppppp

 

[shaboobly]

idk man, i find the AAMC verbals easier than EKs.

 

[OCDOCDOCD]

EK's verbal difficulty is...different. On the one hand it's easier in that it doesn't have very many "WTF" humanities passages which people typically do the worst on, and instead has a lot of science and mechanistic passages (which people typically do the best on). On the other hand, it's harder because the logic needed to answer the questions often requires some very tenuous leaps which you're unlikely to get right.

If you have the money, I'd suggest getting the TPRH verbal workbook and AAMC verbal self-assessment. You only have 2.5 weeks left which probably leaves you with just enough time to finish both.

 

[Temperature101]

I still cannot figure out why I do so much better on EK! I really do just find the AAMC passages harder to understand it seems

Another scenario I was curious about. Sometimes (rarely) I read the whole passage (and it takes 2-3 minutes)....and then realize I have no idea what I just read. I freak out because I realize I just wasted valuable time, and end up just doing the questions by referring back to the passage and scanning for the words it asks for. What would you guys do if this happens? This generally happens on obscure topics.... like a certain tomb passage in one of the practice AAMCS 😉

You just need to understand the big picture in some passages. There are usually 3-4 passages on each AAMC test tha are very difficult to read...It is unlikely you will understand them unless you are a philosophy major. Just focus on the big picture.

 

[Mehd School]

I'm averaging a 10.8 on EK (n=6)with my last two tests at 12's.

My aamc vr average is a 7. A freakin' 7. I'm exploring other options. Aamc passages seem much longer and convoluted. I can breeze through EK passages a 6 mins/ passage and nearly ace them. Aamc not so much.

 

[Rafat1991]

I feel the same way. I already took the MCAT so used up all but one of the AAMC PT's and now have to rely EK. And so far I am finding EK a lot easier. I am scoring in 34-36 correct range on EK. I guess im on the same boat as the OP. I think its the lack of humanities passages in EK that makes it less realistic. But I dont know any source that really has realistic MCAT style passages especially in the humanities. Sometimes I hate the AAMC for being so poor at providing adequate practice material. No wonder no one scores above 14 on the VR.

 

[OCDOCDOCD]

I feel the same way. I already took the MCAT so used up all but one of the AAMC PT's and now have to rely EK. And so far I am finding EK a lot easier. I am scoring in 34-36 correct range on EK. I guess im on the same boat as the OP. I think its the lack of humanities passages in EK that makes it less realistic. But I dont know any source that really has realistic MCAT style passages especially in the humanities. Sometimes I hate the AAMC for being so poor at providing adequate practice material. No wonder no one scores above 14 on the VR.

TPRH Verbal Workbook does. Their questions/passages are actually extremely similar to what you find on the AAMC PTs. Plenty of humanities passages too.

There's also the AAMC verbal self-assessment. You don't get your answers until the end, but you also get 120-something verbal questions and 22 or 23 passages.

 

[NinjaMed]

hey all long time lurker... writing my mcat august 10th

so after I got through content review, I did AAMC's 3-6, and scored pretty well with scores hovering around 30-34, I would say the average would be roughly 11/9/11 (PS,VR,BS)


Anyway, I figured I could bring up my verbal score so I started doing LOTS of practice with EK 101. To my pleasure, I started focusing on the main idea/tone etc etc, and consistently scored 11+ on the 101 verbal tests.

So I did AAMC 7.... and I scored a 7 on verbal.

I brushed it off, and did AAMC 8

I scored a 7 again.


I today did AAMC 9 and got an 8...


I do not know what is happening and am freaking out...I was doing better on the verbal stuff in the beginning.... and EK seems not accurate at all? I don't know what is happening honestly. I find that the EK passages are MUCH easier to understand whereas AAMC I am always kind of lost as to what is going on... I have roughly 2.5 weeks left until the terrible day and would love for some people to assess my situation 👎


Also, random but have the BS sections on MCATs lately been "justified verbal reasoning" sections as my friends tell me? They said almost 0 knowledge of biology was required

There is no need to be upset. It will be okay, just keep practising. Try the TPR Verbal book, if not that, give Nova a try. You just have to be aware of what the author is trying to tell you, but also what the examiner (test maker) is asking. It's good to be aware, lest your jimmies get rustled.