Wondering what your strategy is for attacking PS passages? Do you read the whole passage first, then answer questions? or not read the passage, and go right to the questions utilizing the passage as needed?
Do you read PS passages first?
- Thread starter GCSDOC
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I always read the passage first but just enough so I know what info is located where, spending more time for graphs, tables, equations, images, etc.
IMO, the flaw with the latter strategy is that you might end up missing a subtle point - the passage is there to help you answer questions, so might as well exploit it
IMO, the flaw with the latter strategy is that you might end up missing a subtle point - the passage is there to help you answer questions, so might as well exploit it
I glance at the passage first, and then I go to the questions. On average, the passage in PS is 75% useless, in my opinion. Also, the useless portions of the passage are usually the hardest to understand. If you try to read it carefully and understand it well, you will be wasting time understanding things that are never questioned. This strategy served me very well on AAMC practice exams.
Large swaths of a PS passage will not be tested. Also, some "passage-based" PS questions actually have nothing to do with the passage, and can be answered without even looking at the passage. PS is basically the opposite of VR, in terms of the role of the passage.
Large swaths of a PS passage will not be tested. Also, some "passage-based" PS questions actually have nothing to do with the passage, and can be answered without even looking at the passage. PS is basically the opposite of VR, in terms of the role of the passage.
Yeh, I agree, but my practice score are 3pts lower in each section than where they need to be and was wondering if I should start reading ps/bs passages in their entirety before answering questions
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This depends so much on the type of passage... I took the Dec. 6th MCAT and I will tell you that there were 2 passages that if you didn't comprehend what was going on in the experiments, you were dead in the water.
My avg was a 12 in PS throughout the AAMC FL's.... So by no means a wizard, but I feel like the times I scored 13's happened when I was able to orient myself and then attack the questions.
There is an infamous passage in the practice tests about earthquakes, I feel like the two passages I referred to on the real deal were similar, in that it it really combined your reading comprehension skills with your knowledge of PS.
If I could go back in time to my test date, I think if I would have buckled down and really focused on the passage, I wouldn't have been so clueless with the questions.
It seems like when doing the practice FL's I was able to skim a lot more and still do well on the questions...my advice would be to make a real effort to understand what is going on macroscopically....not in a sense of minute details ie. "student then added 5 ml of 0.1 M NaOH"..... Boil this down to "ok they added a strong base in step 2" and if you need to do a calculation with that you know where it is and just refer back.
I think I made a mistake in my prep by not really focusing on understanding the passage/experiment in my own words or big picture sense.
My avg was a 12 in PS throughout the AAMC FL's.... So by no means a wizard, but I feel like the times I scored 13's happened when I was able to orient myself and then attack the questions.
There is an infamous passage in the practice tests about earthquakes, I feel like the two passages I referred to on the real deal were similar, in that it it really combined your reading comprehension skills with your knowledge of PS.
If I could go back in time to my test date, I think if I would have buckled down and really focused on the passage, I wouldn't have been so clueless with the questions.
It seems like when doing the practice FL's I was able to skim a lot more and still do well on the questions...my advice would be to make a real effort to understand what is going on macroscopically....not in a sense of minute details ie. "student then added 5 ml of 0.1 M NaOH"..... Boil this down to "ok they added a strong base in step 2" and if you need to do a calculation with that you know where it is and just refer back.
I think I made a mistake in my prep by not really focusing on understanding the passage/experiment in my own words or big picture sense.
This sounds like really good advice considering that you have taken the mcat and are confirming what everyone says in that PS is more conceptual than calculation based. My next full length I will try to read the passage for the main idea and then answer the questions while refering back to the passage as needed for detailed specific questions. Thanks!.
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Very useful advice. Thank you.
Yeah I remember that earthquake passage... ****!ng killed me... probably because I suck at verbal in general.
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AAMC 7!
Since I'm not a terrorist, GI Joe, a ninja, or a sorry sport, I have no need to "attack" passages. However, when I work through a passage and it's questions, I take a quick look at the questions first to see if I can simply answer some or all of them without reading the passage. That's saved me some good time on AAMC tests. And many times, I was sure glad, "I didn't read that," if you know what I mean. And saved lots of time! Or at least narrowed it down so I could focus my attention on fewer questions while reading.
