Challenge: EK 101 VR Test 5 - Passage 1

[Phoenix.]

Seriously, has anyone had success with this passage? It's in Examkracker's 101 Verbal Reasoning Passages in Test 5 (the first passage: about music appreciation). I generally get 0, 1, or at most, 2 wrong on verbal passages (EK or AAMC). However, I got 5 out of 7 wrong on this passage! I thought their explanations were a little bogus as well. So, I gave it to two other people who read several books a week (one a seasoned lawyer), and they also only got 2 out of 7 right. However, it's not even like two of the answers were obvious. We each got two different questions right than the other two. So, I'm thinking this passage is purely random. I think they put it in there to trip you up on purpose so you feel that you're not doing quite as well as you'd thought.

So, has anyone gotten 4, 5, 6 or SEVEN right on this passage? The only thing I can compare it to is that tricky AAMC 5 VR passage about Picasso. But at least there if you went with your gut it wasn't impossible to figure out what they were looking for!

Thoughts? Strategies for these types of passages? At this point I'm assuming it's random, that everyone will equally get it wrong if we get one like this on test day, and not to stress about it....

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[thecoolest47]

Seriously, has anyone had success with this passage? It's in Examkracker's 101 Verbal Reasoning Passages in Test 5 (the first passage: about music appreciation). I generally get 0, 1, or at most, 2 wrong on verbal passages (EK or AAMC). However, I got 5 out of 7 wrong on this passage! I thought their explanations were a little bogus as well. So, I gave it to two other people who read several books a week (one a seasoned lawyer), and they also only got 2 out of 7 right. However, it's not even like two of the answers were obvious. We each got two different questions right than the other two. So, I'm thinking this passage is purely random. I think they put it in there to trip you up on purpose so you feel that you're not doing quite as well as you'd thought.

So, has anyone gotten 4, 5, 6 or SEVEN right on this passage? The only thing I can compare it to is that tricky AAMC 5 VR passage about Picasso. But at least there if you went with your gut it wasn't impossible to figure out what they were looking for!

Thoughts? Strategies for these types of passages? At this point I'm assuming it's random, that everyone will equally get it wrong if we get one like this on test day, and not to stress about it....

i got 6/7 on that passage a couple months ago. interesting read.

 

[Phoenix.]

thecoolest: Any suggestions then? How do you usually score? If you're regularly getting 15 I'll assume you're one of the MCAT superstars. If you're normally getting 10 or 11 on VR sections, then I've got a serious gap in my VR abilities that I'll need to figure out.

 

[thecoolest47]

on aamc 3 to 10 ive ranged between 10 and 14... on random verbal tests i usually get like 4-6 wrong total. I usually get 1 or 2 wrong on the really hard passages, and perfect on the easier ones.

 

[simpleman]

haha, i got 1 correct answer out of 7, so you did better!!

 

[quiksilver87]

I didnt get there yet! I am going to finish the TPR verbal workbook, then ill get to you!

 

[scotties123]

i wouldnt sweat it too much. I typically get about 9-12 wrong on the entire verbal section, but with EK it seems that ill go entire passages without a single thing wrong, then one passage ENTIRELY wrong. usually its because I just completely missed the main point, or thought the main point was opposite to what it really was.

 

[PseudomonasPAO1]

i wouldnt sweat it too much. I typically get about 9-12 wrong on the entire verbal section, but with EK it seems that ill go entire passages without a single thing wrong, then one passage ENTIRELY wrong. usually its because I just completely missed the main point, or thought the main point was opposite to what it really was.

I got 3/7 right on that passage, tricky bugger..And I performed similarly scottie, 0-1 wrong on most passages, then 3-4 wrong on 1-2 passages. I would pull 9/10s on most EK101 sections.

After doing about half of EK101, I noticed a trend that worried me. A lot of their questions reference the passage directly (lines xx-yy), which is not really representative of the real test. When you switch to AAMC, you will see more general questions, or they will ask about a word and not give you the line #. Nonetheless, it's still good practice and hopefully it improved my VR score

 

[Phoenix.]

Thanks, guys. That's exactly what I'm finding. I'll just move on and not sweat it. Hopefully there won't be one of those on the real thing, but if so, there's hopefully a nice curve.

 

[inside_edition]

you know what sucks? i scored 4/7 on that practice passage but on the real test i only got a 5 in VR.