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anyone get a 13-15 on Verbal this past april?
Started by txknockout
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13 V.
I read A LOT. It's my opinion that the more comfortable you are reading dense material (IE research papers, academic journals, overly wordy literature) the better shaper you're in for the MCAT. The important thing is to read for meaning and content, not specific details. You want to understand the big picture with whatever you're reading - you don't need to memorize the details because they're written right in front of you.
Good luck,
S
I read A LOT. It's my opinion that the more comfortable you are reading dense material (IE research papers, academic journals, overly wordy literature) the better shaper you're in for the MCAT. The important thing is to read for meaning and content, not specific details. You want to understand the big picture with whatever you're reading - you don't need to memorize the details because they're written right in front of you.
Good luck,
S
stoic said:
i don't agree that feeling comfortable with "dense" material is necessary for success on MCAT verbal, as most of the passages aren't particularly dense. boring as hell, to be sure, but not very difficult reading. the primary difficulty with verbal is the subjective nature of the questions. i do agree that reading for content is the most effective way to answer the questions, as many are main idea oriented. after reading each paragraph, ask yourself what is the point of the information, and how does it relate to what you've already read. don't get bogged down in details.
I stand by my assertion that reading dense material is helpful. "Dense" subject matter has a lot of detail that isn't always needed to grasp the big picture. Gives ya good practice shorting the ideas from the details.
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I think, without a doubt, if I read more as a child I would be a better MCAT verbal tester. The first time I took the MCAT 6 years ago I scored a 6 on the VR. I just took the Kaplan FL#1 and I got 10 wrong - equaling a 9. I went over my answers and there were 4 dumb mistakes I had. There were a few challenging ones (I got two wrong on the bebop passage, and two wrong on the last one but I rushed through that one)
Now that I've been out of school for 6 years, and I'm more settled - I do read a little more. I never read as a child. Now instead of listening to hip-hop, I listen to NPR every day. Over a couple of years you just pick up more about life and it generally makes you better prepared for the VR.
Plus I really like the Kaplan method of roadmapping the passage. I like it because as I write down a short summary of each paragraph I do spend the 10 seconds you can to formulate, in your head (and on paper if I'm able to), what the main idea was of that paragraph. And now that I'm predicting answers instead of finding the right one among the four, I'm getting many more questions correct.
Now that I've been out of school for 6 years, and I'm more settled - I do read a little more. I never read as a child. Now instead of listening to hip-hop, I listen to NPR every day. Over a couple of years you just pick up more about life and it generally makes you better prepared for the VR.
Plus I really like the Kaplan method of roadmapping the passage. I like it because as I write down a short summary of each paragraph I do spend the 10 seconds you can to formulate, in your head (and on paper if I'm able to), what the main idea was of that paragraph. And now that I'm predicting answers instead of finding the right one among the four, I'm getting many more questions correct.
I got a 13 verbal this time. Too bad I hadn't broken that mark back when it was 13-15, I would have had the top score possible (on verbal) 🙂
I read all the time and have since I was a kid. I tested the rule that you could check out as many books as you wanted from the library as a kid - I took home bags full. I read stuff I like, mostly science fiction, fantasy, and everything by Stephen King. I don't like dry reading, but I do it anyway when I have to
I think the hard part is the stupid subjectivity of the answers. I know on TPR that even given the right answer (what they call the right answer) I wouldn't pick it if given the choice. If an answer sucks, it sucks. I felt close to moral outrage at how stupid some of the answers are. It's almost like you have to take reading comprehension to the paranormal level to understand and I don't get what value that kind of distinction makes for med schools. Maybe they know.
No good advice, except read and practice a lot, preferably with a prep company.
I read all the time and have since I was a kid. I tested the rule that you could check out as many books as you wanted from the library as a kid - I took home bags full. I read stuff I like, mostly science fiction, fantasy, and everything by Stephen King. I don't like dry reading, but I do it anyway when I have to
I think the hard part is the stupid subjectivity of the answers. I know on TPR that even given the right answer (what they call the right answer) I wouldn't pick it if given the choice. If an answer sucks, it sucks. I felt close to moral outrage at how stupid some of the answers are. It's almost like you have to take reading comprehension to the paranormal level to understand and I don't get what value that kind of distinction makes for med schools. Maybe they know.
No good advice, except read and practice a lot, preferably with a prep company.
I have read that EK 101 verbal passages are really good, combined with the verbal reasoning review book. Seach the forum, a lot of people like it. I have them, and hopefully will help me achieve a 10... Not likely to reach above that 'cause of language barrier... 😡
If you're taking a review course, I wouldn't worry too much yet. My verbal score was stuck at 10 for a while before it started shooting up. I think that after doing many passages, your brain starts getting better at picking the correct answers, even if you're not aware of it (thus improving your "guessing") I also found TPR's advise to pick the wishy washy answers to work well
i haven't taken the mcat "for real"- but my first full length gave me a 13- and when i took all the practice passages, i barely ever missed.
i'm a big fan of reading the economist, because they have a ton of really short articles about the size of an mcat passage. and there is a lot of variety in the subject matter, and some of it is just as obscure. so i'd go out and get an economist or two.
the new yorker is also very good for the same reason- although the articles are a little longer.
i try and read a few articles a day to help me, but also cuz it's nice to know what's going on in the world.
i'm a big fan of reading the economist, because they have a ton of really short articles about the size of an mcat passage. and there is a lot of variety in the subject matter, and some of it is just as obscure. so i'd go out and get an economist or two.
the new yorker is also very good for the same reason- although the articles are a little longer.
i try and read a few articles a day to help me, but also cuz it's nice to know what's going on in the world.
the economist is the perfect magazine: its like the usa today for smart people. and, the magazine is perfectly made so you can read only what is interesting to you. the best news mag ive seen.
then again, i got an 11. so disregard everything i said.
then again, i got an 11. so disregard everything i said.
My take on the verbal is that with enough studying and practice one could attain a score of an 11 (maybe 12). However, for all these people in the 13-15 range, the trend is that they were reading esoteric crap from the womb. So unless you read russian literature for fun, I would set a more realistic goal of attaining a 10-11 and leave the 13-15 for the verbal g0ds.
I got a 15 V (certified verbal god). I agree that 11 or 12 is a more realistic goal, but if you are really on top of things in PS and BS, maybe you can get a bit higher. The only advice that works is to read lots. Don't worry about reading boring crap, read stuff you like to start with (make sure it is on a high level). Then, when you are making 11 or 12 on the AAMC tests, move on to the boring crap.
How I got a 15: I have a wide range of interests so 99% of passages are of SOME interest to me. Besides that, I'd say luck was what got me the last 2 or 3 points.
One caveat to all this crap I typed: if you don't like to read, forget about making 13-15 on verbal and just try to get 10 or 11 and then save your 15's for the sciences.
How I got a 15: I have a wide range of interests so 99% of passages are of SOME interest to me. Besides that, I'd say luck was what got me the last 2 or 3 points.
One caveat to all this crap I typed: if you don't like to read, forget about making 13-15 on verbal and just try to get 10 or 11 and then save your 15's for the sciences.
i enjoyed pretty much everything on the MCAT verbal passages. none of it was really that boring. however, i do think that we can all set aside our biases for a 60 question test, therefore i dont believe "interest" in the passages is a real reason for relative failure on the verbal.
i think its much more innate than PS or BS. sure you can improve, and people do, i just think if youre a verbal god, like marvin oc, then youre a verbal god.
i think its much more innate than PS or BS. sure you can improve, and people do, i just think if youre a verbal god, like marvin oc, then youre a verbal god.
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Okay, seriously, how do people bump threads this old? I tried to find a post I made way back in July of this year and already it had been removed from the board and put in the archive. Am I missing something, or is this forum wildly inconsistent with when it prunes threads?
Yeah, that's what I always do. But my profile statistics only go back to late July. I then tried flipping through the pages on the MCAT forum, only to find that they too end at late July. I figured the threads from before then must have been pruned.
what if your problem is that you consistently misread questions and answers???
how quickly do you read through the paragraph?
the "trick" is reading for content and getting a handle on how questions/answers for this kind of test are generated. the answer is either in the question or a short step of inference away.
Woah that sounds deep. Could you explain the inference part a little more?
Ive gotten pretty good at reading for the main idea. I try and review the way ek wants us to and its pretty effective the only thing is i don't understand how to read questions and pick the right answers. I think my problem comes down to reading question stems and understanding what the question is asking and which is the best answer. Could you share any tips on how i can practice this technique/strategy?
i took the test in may and got a 13 on VR. I think personally EK101 was really bad, the questions werent similar at all, the best advice I can give is to not panic, the difference between a 11 and 13 is probably a few questions that I guessed correctly, so just remember that you gotta make the best guess you can and do problems to work on your guessing or rather educated guessing skills.
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