EK 101 Verbal.... getting OWNED

[rockyDoctora]

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So, I bought and have been using the EK 101 verbal passages for my MCAT exam a month from now (Aug. 18th) and I'm really freaking out because of the recent scores I've been getting on the verbal sections. At first I started off with a meager score of 7, then had a pretty good upward trend, which gave me the conception that I was beginning to understand the gist of the VR section. Right then is when I started to go back down again 🙁

My scores were from practice tests 1-8:
7, 8, 10, 8, 10, 7, 7, 7

The consistent 7's are really worrying me.. it's really bad. I do seem to run out of time towards the end, but I don't think that's the problem since I don't get all that many questions wrong on that last passage.

I'm not sure what's been wrong, but my general strategy involves trying to get each of the passages done in about 7-8 min straight up. I do tend to sort of burn out towards the end and sometimes run out of time (1-2 min short).

I was also wondering how good of a predictor these numbers are at this point in time for me.

Thanks!!!!

 

[SephirothXR]

They're good practice but don't let those worry you. Take AAMC tests to gauge your performance since those are the most representative.

 

[Invictus1911]

Don't get discouraged, I have hit a plateau as well. Just look at what's going on, and don't do the same thing you've been doing. Up the ante, and do more intense training. For me, I am reading under 2:30 but not able to retain the important pivotal points in the passage. Therefore, I'm going to start doing retention drills where I look at different articles (www.aldaily.com www.science.com etc) and try to read quickly while summarizing the articles on a separate paper. Don't get anxious, you have time.

 

[PlatinumPenny]

just got my EK 101 book today...hopefully ill do a practice test tonight and see how it goes

 

[rockyDoctora]

I guess the most I can really do is a lot of practicing... I'm going to do another section tomorrow and see how that goes. I'm definitely gonna focus on timing so that I wont lag behind as I usually do, and also read closely. I feel like I spend too much time just looking back at the passage when I'm not confident enough in what I retained after I read the passage. I've tried to see what kind of questions I've been getting wrong, but it seems like all different types.

Do you guys recommend doing whole sections or a smaller # of passages each time? I hear people are divvying up the sections like 3 passages a morning to help them focus more. I've just been doing whole sections to work on my stamina, but maybe to focus on the readings and questions individually would let me understand the section better...?

Yeah and I still haven't taken an AAMC exam yet, but I hope those will indicate otherwise. Thanks for the encouragement!

If anyone else has other feedback or suggestions, I'd really appreciate it!

 

[rockyDoctora]

just got my EK 101 book today...hopefully ill do a practice test tonight and see how it goes

Good luck! Happy studying! When are you registered to take the MCAT?

 

[ACal]

I have done 12 out of the 14 test in EK101 and I think the tests get harder after the first 7 or 8. I had similar score patterns as you where it went up and then came down... I think the first half of the book is pretty decent but there are a lot of errors throughout the answer keys, ALWAYS double check the actual explanations to see which one is right. As for the second half, especially the last 4 tests, the passages were pretty hard and some of the questions were pretty ridiculous and had very arguable answers...

 

[rockyDoctora]

I have done 12 out of the 14 test in EK101 and I think the tests get harder after the first 7 or 8. I had similar score patterns as you where it went up and then came down... I think the first half of the book is pretty decent but there are a lot of errors throughout the answer keys, ALWAYS double check the actual explanations to see which one is right. As for the second half, especially the last 4 tests, the passages were pretty hard and some of the questions were pretty ridiculous and had very arguable answers...

I did find 1 error as I was going over the wrong answers so far in the EK 101. So you mean there are errors between the page with all the letters listed and the letter marked in the explanations right?

 

[ACal]

Yes, and they are more often for the later tests

 

[rockyDoctora]

Thanks for the heads up!

 

[plzNOCarribbean]

Don't get discouraged, I have hit a plateau as well. Just look at what's going on, and don't do the same thing you've been doing. Up the ante, and do more intense training. For me, I am reading under 2:30 but not able to retain the important pivotal points in the passage. Therefore, I'm going to start doing retention drills where I look at different articles (www.aldaily.com www.science.com etc) and try to read quickly while summarizing the articles on a separate paper. Don't get anxious, you have time.

wow, that aldaily is a great way to practice. thanks for the link

 

[Invictus1911]

wow, that aldaily is a great way to practice. thanks for the link

Yeah it really is lol. I used it for when I was studying for the GRE.

 

[duckymd]

I used EK's verbal passages for practice. I started realizing the passages were actually EXTREMELY easy to read, very simplified, not convoluted at all. In addition, the questions were worded very awkwardly and sometimes, I was absolutely sure there were two correct answers. This is quite the opposite on the real MCAT which might have tough passages with lots of details, but in general, the questions would definitely have clear-cut answers.

I kept on scoring 9's on EK and was rather discouraged, but ended up scoring 11's and 12's on AAMC practice tests, and 11 on the real thing.

Use EK for timing, but don't rely on it as a good indicator of difficulty

 

[eptp]

Use EK for timing, but don't rely on it as a good indicator of difficulty

So you thought the real thing was, dare I say, "easier" than EK? My EK 101 scores are all over the board and messing with my confidence..

 

[duckymd]

So you thought the real thing was, dare I say, "easier" than EK? My EK 101 scores are all over the board and messing with my confidence..

I just don't think EK is that great of an indicator. Not saying that the real thing is easier, either. The MCAT offers a variety of passages, with varying difficulty levels (for example, philosophical and art history passages are more embellished and convoluted, while science passages are more "comfortable" for us). I found the tone, diction, and syntax of each passage in EK very flat and very similar throughout the book. I'm not sure if these passages were all written by the same author (Orsay), but it sure felt like it.

 

[PlatinumPenny]

There seems to be so many mixed opinions about EK 101. I'm wondering if its still worth going thru the book. I'm doing TPR verbal and have plateaued at a score of 8 (nothing to brag about) In reviewing my answers there's no consistency in the types of questions I miss. Not sure what to do to take my score to the next level. Any suggestions would be helpful.

 

[rockyDoctora]

There seems to be so many mixed opinions about EK 101. I'm wondering if its still worth going thru the book. I'm doing TPR verbal and have plateaued at a score of 8 (nothing to brag about) In reviewing my answers there's no consistency in the types of questions I miss. Not sure what to do to take my score to the next level. Any suggestions would be helpful.

I'm pretty much there too. I feel like none of my question types really fall into any type of category. Because of this I feel like I just need to pay more attention to the passage and read the questions more carefully. When I do go over the answers, I always easily find 4 or 5 questions I missed because of a careless mistake, like being unaware of the NOT's and overlooking an obvious answer.

I'm planning on reading more thoroughly with stronger focus and clear thinking - I often catch myself reading parts of passages over and over again.

I'm also planning on doing some vocab review because I think my vocab is a little rusty and going over 20 or so words a day will benefit on test day to make it easier for me to understand the more convoluted passages.

 

[Forester]

I would definitely recommend EK 101, I think the passages are a bit more interesting then what you get on the real deal and it has a few ambiguous questions but overall it is valuable for timing and conditioning.

I'm am sure my meager 6 in verbal kept me from being accepted last year. So this is an obvious area i have focused on. I used kaplan last year and scored between 6-8. Since i've used EK my scores have been 10-11 and so have my AAMCs. Maybe its confidence, who knows, but I'll take it.

 

[rockyDoctora]

I would definitely recommend EK 101, I think the passages are a bit more interesting then what you get on the real deal and it has a few ambiguous questions but overall it is valuable for timing and conditioning.

I'm am sure my meager 6 in verbal kept me from being accepted last year. So this is an obvious area i have focused on. I used kaplan last year and scored between 6-8. Since i've used EK my scores have been 10-11 and so have my AAMCs. Maybe its confidence, who knows, but I'll take it.

Hmmm well I have yet to take the AAMC practice exams, so we'll see how that goes..

 

[duckymd]

Also, did anyone notice how many mistakes there were in this book?

Sometimes I found that the explanation section had different answers than the answer table, an error I found almost once every practice test.

 

[rockyDoctora]

there are a lot of errors throughout the answer keys, ALWAYS double check the actual explanations to see which one is right.

I guess there are... So far, I've only found 1, - this is out of going over the answers I got wrong though (#1-8), so not sure about the book as a whole.

 

[Melomare17]

Also, did anyone notice how many mistakes there were in this book?

Sometimes I found that the explanation section had different answers than the answer table, an error I found almost once every practice test.

it depends on which version of the book you have. if you have the one with 14 tests, and it was an earlier one, then yea it will have more errors than a more recent one

 

[tiktok22]

i honestly thought EK 101 Verbal was the best verbal prep, for me at least.

i also had scores all over the board. it was especially hard to take when i would think i had done well on a practice test but then come out with a 7. in a sense though i think it actually helped me compartmentalize my test anxiety and just focus on the passages. which def helped on my actual MCAT (i took the 6.16 with the killer PS and scored an 11)

so bottom line: don't get discouraged!! no matter what happens during the exam, just relax. you have worked so hard for this beast and will do well! just keep up your practice!

 

[PlatinumPenny]

Ok so I finally man-up'd and took my first EK verbal test. I got a 7 but I also took an extra 8 mins to complete the test. My overall impression is that the passages are alot more interesting to read compared to TPRH or the real deal. I understand the passages much better. But the questions seem a bit more tricky and I felt I couldn't rely too much on my MCAT intuition. Alot of the choices were attractive and I really had to pinpoint the differences in answer choices to finally pick one. So I felt like I was spending more time than usual.

 

[rockyDoctora]

Ok so I finally man-up'd and took my first EK verbal test. I got a 7 but I also took an extra 8 mins to complete the test. My overall impression is that the passages are alot more interesting to read compared to TPRH or the real deal. I understand the passages much better. But the questions seem a bit more tricky and I felt I couldn't rely too much on my MCAT intuition. Alot of the choices were attractive and I really had to pinpoint the differences in answer choices to finally pick one. So I felt like I was spending more time than usual.

Hmmmm yeah. I haven't taken any other verbal except for Kaplan and EK101 so I can't really relate. People on here have been inclined to mention that the EK passage really are more interesting to read.

What i know about Kaplan is that they like to throw in passages that have a lot of names and dates... and they just get hard to keep up with and I get confused with all the names and have to look back to the passages whenever they have a question with a name in it.

I'm gonna start practicing the VR without time and see what exactly I'm doing wrong. If its the time factor then I should be getting most of it right.

 

[MedicineManACL]

I am getting owned by EK Verbal as well Tests 1-3 (8,8,9)

I am going for a 10-11 on real MCAT so lets hope I can pull it up by 8/12

I averaged ~10.7 through 9 Kaplan FLs. I take AAMC 3 tomorrow!

The EK questions are getting me not the passages. Oh well I hope I do OK on VR tomorrow.

 

[YouNeverKnow22]

I feel EK is pretty easy overall, timing is the only issue I face when doing practice exams