Best way to improve Verbal Reasoning score?

[Hollywood Mike]

I already took the MCAT and did very well (8 VR, 12 BS, 13 PS) but I know I can improve since at the time I took it I had not taken the second half of physics or any ochem. I'm taking it in August and I started my studying about a month ago. I've been doing 3 Verbal Reasoning passages per day and continue to bounce around between 7 and 10. The most demoralizing thing is that I don't even demonstrate an upward trend. I will go from high-fiving my imaginary friends after I get an 11 or 12 to throwing my book against the wall when I get a 6. WHAT IS THE SECRET? HELP!

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[brood910]

What's rly working well for me is to focus on first + last sentences of each paragraph.

 

[uvrsol]

I agree with Brood. By doing that, my scores have jumped from 6-8 to 9-10.

 

[Shipley231]

I already took the MCAT and did very well (8 VR, 12 BS, 13 PS) but I know I can improve since at the time I took it I had not taken the second half of physics or any ochem. I'm taking it in August and I started my studying about a month ago. I've been doing 3 Verbal Reasoning passages per day and continue to bounce around between 7 and 10. The most demoralizing thing is that I don't even demonstrate an upward trend. I will go from high-fiving my imaginary friends after I get an 11 or 12 to throwing my book against the wall when I get a 6. WHAT IS THE SECRET? HELP!

Sort of off topic from your question (I don't have much insight for you, sorry), but how did you score so well without having o-chem or physics 2? Did you self teach? Was your test not o-chem heavy? I ask because I'm writing in August and also have not taken any o-chem yet. I consider it to be a big weakness but I'm working on it diligently.

 

[Uafl112]

as my friends have told me, theres no secret technique for verbal reasoning. It comes down to the skill of taking all the supporting info in the passage and figuring out the bigger picture. From there its all about critical thinking to answer the questions. It sounds like you're really frustrated about this and that might be getting in the way a bit. Just know that since you've scored as high as a 10 before, you can do it again. Just relax and trust yoursself

 

[listener23]

What's rly working well for me is to focus on first + last sentences of each paragraph.

So do you not read everything?

 

[RC4L]

as my friends have told me, theres no secret technique for verbal reasoning. It comes down to the skill of taking all the supporting info in the passage and figuring out the bigger picture. From there its all about critical thinking to answer the questions. It sounds like you're really frustrated about this and that might be getting in the way a bit. Just know that since you've scored as high as a 10 before, you can do it again. Just relax and trust yoursself

^I agree. @ Hollywood Mike- I struggled with the same thing. People say it all the time but the answer is really always in the authors personal words. I always interpreted that as what I thought the author was trying to say but I failed to realize I was still using my opinion instead of the authors. In each paragraph look for at least one sentence where the author clearly states his or her opinion on the matter at hand. Sometimes you have to read through a mess of quotes and details but there is always some sort of phrase in there where the author adds a personal statement rather than educating the reading on background. Try writing down one sentence per paragraph stating exactly what the author said and try to stick with the exact wording to avoid misinterpreting anything. This builds a logical flow of ideas for you to structure everything you just read. If any answer contradicts what the author said, no matter how much sense it makes, it is false. Try to avoid forming any opinions as you read and restrict your answers to absolutely only what the author is telling you. . This technique worked wonders for me.

 

[brood910]

So do you not read everything?

I still read everything, but I try to focus MORE on those sentences as they usually tell me what the main points are.

 

[Hollywood Mike]

Sort of off topic from your question (I don't have much insight for you, sorry), but how did you score so well without having o-chem or physics 2? Did you self teach? Was your test not o-chem heavy? I ask because I'm writing in August and also have not taken any o-chem yet. I consider it to be a big weakness but I'm working on it diligently.

For O-chem, I self-taught by just reading the textbook I was supposed to read the following semester for my class. It was definitely more dense and had more information than necessary, but sometimes it takes reading the finer details to understand the entire picture. And as for Physics 2, my dad has a PhD in Physics and is actually a college professor so he essentially gave me a lecture twice a week.