Doing the 10Q Verbal passages first

[IckeyShuffle]

---

Members don't see this ad.

So here is the deal. I tend to lose focus during the Verbal section about midway through. Unfortunately, this is usually when the ten question whoppers hit, at least on the AAMC pratice tests, and it is pretty much a downward spiral from there. Does anyone think it would help to go straight to these passages first and give them 10 minutes apiece and leave 9 minutes to rest of the passages? That gives me 2 minutes of buffer time. Does anyone succesfully use this strategy? Is it too late in the game to try this? I have done all AAMC so i dont have anything left to practice with. I have been getting 9's but recently got a 7 on AAMC 9 so i am very paranoid and figure it cant get much worse. Any suggestions?

 

[4s4]

It depends on you personally, but I think that would throw me off since I like feeling like I'm completing a lot of passages in the beginning. Whenever I see those 10 q ones, I tend to panic and start messing up. That's why I tend to do a lot better on EK since I am assured that everything is all nice and evenly distributed.

Sometimes, I try to give myself > 10 min for those passages and ~ 5 min for the 5 q ones, but I don't know if that's a good strategy. For some easier 5 q ones, it works, but sometimes I end up getting 2/5 for that. I don't know =S Verbal is so confusing.

 

[IckeyShuffle]

yeah i see your reasoning. The ten passages is where i start losing my cool. I seem to be okay on the science sections. I havnt gotten below a ten on those, i feel like for verbal it is pretty much luck at this point whether i get a 7-8-9. I think it is really too late in the game to start changing my strategy. I will probably just hold on for dear life during the real deal verbal and hope my focus is better than ever.

 

[Surg Path]

So here is the deal. I tend to lose focus during the Verbal section about midway through. Unfortunately, this is usually when the ten question whoppers hit, at least on the AAMC pratice tests, and it is pretty much a downward spiral from there. Does anyone think it would help to go straight to these passages first and give them 10 minutes apiece and leave 9 minutes to rest of the passages? That gives me 2 minutes of buffer time. Does anyone succesfully use this strategy? Is it too late in the game to try this? I have done all AAMC so i dont have anything left to practice with. I have been getting 9's but recently got a 7 on AAMC 9 so i am very paranoid and figure it cant get much worse. Any suggestions?

Only one way to find out: try it! I tend to do passages in order, but have tried other methods also. I think it's all about finding what works for you. I often read too closely, so for me, the more questions per passage, the better.

Another thing that works for me: I rarely choose a right answer, but I eliminate the three worst answers. This might sound obvious, and it is. However, the passage often provides info to reject part of an answer. And, if one word in the answer doesnt have a logical basis from the passage, the answer is wrong. That's some of my strategy. Hope it helps.

 

[Disinence2]

Ive done the 10 question passages first every time. I think it works well to get the long ones done first. Don't want to have to make 10 guesses at the 5 min warning.

 

[BruceWayne]

What I'm trying to do is 30-30-25.

In other words, 30 min for three passages
30 for another 3
and 25 for another set of three.


The ones with the longest passages or most questions, i put them in the 30 min group.

 

[go lakers]

another strategy that i use is give yourself (# of questions + 2) minutes per passage. and after doing the first 2 i always skip ahead and look for the 10Q passage and do it 3rd. no reason.. i just like to get it out of the way by the 3rd passage because my gears are really going by then.