Dramatic Verbal Strategy changes

[bluesTank]

Hey guys, I have my MCAT in less than three weeks, and I just to a diag today and scored a 6 on verbal (10 PS 12 BS). Now this is the lowest I've gotten in a long time, yet its still around where I usually am, the highest i've gotten so far was an 8 and that was once.

Now what I usually do is just read straight through, and highlight things I think are important. I usually don't have problems with time, its just that i'm dumb or i'm missing something important here.

Basically I need some ideas to completely change, because obviously I am doing something wrong. Just getting very stressed out about this now. I have been doing passage after passage, and I even finished my TPR verbal workbook, and am working on EK's.

Any ideas would be great, THANKS

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[qtrlifecrisis]

I started out with a 7 on diag, and I got a 12 on my last verbal (AAMC- 4). EK 1001 has really helped me...I try to do at least three passages most days (ends up being every couple days). Practice is the way to go!

 

[zephyrhills123]

Hey guys, I have my MCAT in less than three weeks, and I just to a diag today and scored a 6 on verbal (10 PS 12 BS). Now this is the lowest I've gotten in a long time, yet its still around where I usually am, the highest i've gotten so far was an 8 and that was once.

Now what I usually do is just read straight through, and highlight things I think are important. I usually don't have problems with time, its just that i'm dumb or i'm missing something important here.

Basically I need some ideas to completely change, because obviously I am doing something wrong. Just getting very stressed out about this now. I have been doing passage after passage, and I even finished my TPR verbal workbook, and am working on EK's.

Any ideas would be great, THANKS

It's been almost a year since I took the MCAT, but the verbal was by far my strongest point with barely any studying (I got a 12), so I'm a little rusty on what exactly the verbal section was all about. I would comment that I personally feel underlining/circling words at all wastes time and distracts me from feeling the flow of the passage.

I don't know your approach to answering verbal questions, so if you're already doing what I'm going to describe, I guess I can't really help you! To me, the hardest types of questions are applying what the author is saying to a different scenario (like, "Based on what the author is saying, what is least/most likely to support..."). My approach is to read the question/answers and figure out exactly what it is asking before going back to the passage. Also, I'm not trying to figure out what the right answer is, just trying to at least semi-understand what the question is asking. Then, I skim the passage looking for a statement that shows what the author's feelings are. This can be either explicitly stated or implied through particular word use or tone. I compare what the writer says to what each answer choice is saying and choose the best match. Also, if something just isn't making sense, I move on. I'll come back to it later, if there is time.

If there is time, I do try to re-read the passage for comprehension, but that is only if I'm really confused on it. I usually read very carefully only the applicable portions for each question, as I go through the questions.

Maybe a good thing to read would be one of those "opposing viewpoints" type books, so you get a feel for thinking critically about arguments. I can't remember, but I feel like a lot of the passages in the verbal section were persuasive type writings.

Hopefully that made some semblance of sense and was helpful!

 

[badasshairday]

Thats interesting. I always really bog myself down and do worse on passages when I highlight a lot. I am going to keep the highlighting to a minimum and see how that goes.