EK 101 verbal passages - too easy?

[sotto voce]

What's the deal with the ExamKrackers "101 Passages in MCAT Verbal Reasoning" book? I really like the setup--it has 14 tests, each with seven passages (40 questions total) just like the real MCAT. However, having taken the first four tests (timed and everything), they seem too easy. That said, I was thinking/hoping the VR section would be my strong point, so if the passages are legit, that's awesome. But I don't want to be lulled into a false sense of security by easy passages, so I'm wondering if EK is known for having easy passages.

My scores have been 10, 9, 10, and 12. I am feeling more confident with each test, and I usually finish with 5-10 minutes to spare.

Thoughts?

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[JFK90787]

IMO EKs passages are easier than the AAMCs. That being said, I did about 10 of the EK tests and saw my scores rising (started around an 8, getting 10-12 consistently by the end), and at the same time saw my scores rising on AAMC tests as well.

I think EK is a very good supplement but prolly shouldn't be your focus. TPRH has verbal passages that resemble the AAMCs much better. I would recommend doing a few EK first then switch to TPRH.

 

[MDschoolorbust]

What's the deal with the ExamKrackers "101 Passages in MCAT Verbal Reasoning" book? I really like the setup--it has 14 tests, each with seven passages (40 questions total) just like the real MCAT. However, having taken the first four tests (timed and everything), they seem too easy. That said, I was thinking/hoping the VR section would be my strong point, so if the passages are legit, that's awesome. But I don't want to be lulled into a false sense of security by easy passages, so I'm wondering if EK is known for having easy passages.

My scores have been 10, 9, 10, and 12. I am feeling more confident with each test, and I usually finish with 5-10 minutes to spare.

Thoughts?

Pretty sure most on this board don't score that high/don't have that much time left at the end.
So good work! EK101 is the best Verbal prep out there.

 

[deleted357625]

Pretty sure most on this board don't score that high/don't have that much time left at the end.
So good work! EK101 is the best Verbal prep out there.

yea i scored in order so far 3, 4, 6, 8

Hopefully i can start average above 10+ towards the end

 

[sotto voce]

Pretty sure most on this board don't score that high/don't have that much time left at the end.
So good work! EK101 is the best Verbal prep out there.

Is it really, though? I went throught all the EK content review and thought the Verbal "strategy" was pretty meh. For me, I just spend a bit more time reading the passages so the questions don't seem so bad.

I will add that on the ACT English section, I scored a 34. On the Reading section, I scored a 35. So that may be a factor, idk.

Also, I've noticed that I am focusing better on the passages when I read them now. That's not due to something special about EK passages, it's just about practice, I think. But my mind used to race when I was reading the passages and I would be thinking about a bunch of random stuff--the other sections of the test, random women from my past, what I heard on NPR the day before, food, etc. I'm getting better at blocking that stuff out. Does anyone else deal with that kind of thing?

 

[sotto voce]

yea i scored in order so far 3, 4, 6, 8

Hopefully i can start average above 10+ towards the end

English as second language?

Also, if you want my amateur advice, it would be to spend more time on the passages. Doing that, at least for me, makes the questions easier. Good luck with your preparation.

 

[deleted357625]

Is it really, though? I went throught all the EK content review and thought the Verbal "strategy" was pretty meh. For me, I just spend a bit more time reading the passages so the questions don't seem so bad.

I will add that on the ACT English section, I scored a 34. On the Reading section, I scored a 35. So that may be a factor, idk.

Also, I've noticed that I am focusing better on the passages when I read them. That's not due to something special about EK passages, it's just about practice, I think. But my mind used to race when I was reading the passages and I would be thinking about a bunch of random stuff--the other sections of the test, random women from my past, what I heard on NPR the day before, food, etc. I'm getting better at blocking that stuff out. Does anyone else deal with that kind of thing?

My English/reading scores back then were above average on standardized tests, but seem to be my weakness so far for God only knows... But your good man, you will do fine on Verbal averaging like that, I wouldn't worry too much about it. Focus on the other sections, but don't completely forget about verbal and do some prac one now and then while mainly focusing on any weakness in other sections.

 

[sotto voce]

My English/reading scores back then were above average on standardized tests, but seem to be my weakness so far for God only knows... But your good man, you will do fine on Verbal averaging like that, I wouldn't worry too much about it. Focus on the other sections, but don't completely forget about verbal and do some prac one now and then while mainly focusing on any weakness in other sections.

Thanks man. My plan is to do 1-2 verbal tests every day until the exam. I wouldn't mind a score like 9/12/9 or something like that. Actually, if I break 30 in any way, shape or form, I will be ecstatic.

Good luck with your studying.

Note: I just remembered a few of the EK strategies, and actually I do use them for VR. They're second nature now that I've been reviewing heavily, but I originally got them from the EK Verbal content review book. A good one is to get inside the head of the author and figure out his/her background and perspective. Also, ask yourself the question: What's the point of this damn essay? What argument is being made? That strategy has helped me quite a bit. So I guess I would tentatively recommend EK for verbal.

 

[MDschoolorbust]

Is it really, though? I went throught all the EK content review and thought the Verbal "strategy" was pretty meh. For me, I just spend a bit more time reading the passages so the questions don't seem so bad.

I will add that on the ACT English section, I scored a 34. On the Reading section, I scored a 35. So that may be a factor, idk.

Also, I've noticed that I am focusing better on the passages when I read them now. That's not due to something special about EK passages, it's just about practice, I think. But my mind used to race when I was reading the passages and I would be thinking about a bunch of random stuff--the other sections of the test, random women from my past, what I heard on NPR the day before, food, etc. I'm getting better at blocking that stuff out. Does anyone else deal with that kind of thing?

I scored that high on ACT and SAT Verbals and I think EK is wonderful for prepping for the MCAT. I've never gotten below 10 on any AAMC.

One word of advice is that as soon as you finish the last question on a verbal passage, click the next button and don't think about the previous passage. At all. don't think about the previous questions. Move on!

 

[PreMedOrDead]

I scored that high on ACT and SAT Verbals and I think EK is wonderful for prepping for the MCAT. I've never gotten below 10 on any AAMC.

One word of advice is that as soon as you finish the last question on a verbal passage, click the next button and don't think about the previous passage. At all. don't think about the previous questions. Move on!

I don't think the ACT and MCAT Verbal have any correlation at all... I got 36's on both Reading and English, and my MCAT Verbal never got above a 10. 😕

It's over for me now, but I wish I'd had a better supplement for my verbal studying. I didn't find out about the EK 101 book until about 2 weeks before the real thing so I had no time. I didn't find Kaplan's Verbal too helpful, I always found it took far far too much time to "Map" passages. Though they had great content review for the BS and PS sections.

 

[sotto voce]

I don't think the ACT and MCAT Verbal have any correlation at all... I got 36's on both Reading and English, and my MCAT Verbal never got above a 10. 😕

It's over for me now, but I wish I'd had a better supplement for my verbal studying. I didn't find out about the EK 101 book until about 2 weeks before the real thing so I had no time. I didn't find Kaplan's Verbal too helpful, I always found it took far far too much time to "Map" passages. Though they had great content review for the BS and PS sections.

Yeah, EK 101 is great, although perhaps a bit too easy, as we previously discussed. 14 full-length verbal reasoning tests, set up just like the real thing, or pretty close, anyway.

 

[Cinclus]

Even if it is slightly easier, I found that the scores matched up quite well with my scores on the AAMCs and the real deal (actually, I did a tad bit better on the AAMCs).

 

[09ine]

I found the AAMCs to be alot easier than EK101, although the latter did make me think more.

 

[angldrps]

Although EK 101 is excellent practice, i found EK's passages to be a lot easier than AAMC 's verbal. This is mostly because EK had less dry/boring passages. I found EK's passages to be interesting which gave me a better idea of author's main idea and this consequently led to getting more questions correct.

 

[DocBBear]

In my experience, EK's 101 was a great resource providing excellent, test-like practice. I also thought EK was harder; oftentimes looking at the answers I would disagree with the reasoning presented. That said, using only the EK method and 101 Passages I scored a 13 on the real deal; my scores on 101 were generally 10, 11, or 12, and never did I get a 13. Like others I'll reiterate that focusing on the main idea and what the author's opinions are--while recognizing your own may differ--are the two most important aspects to do well, and EK really preaches this. Good luck!

 

[solitarius]

overall, i find the philosophy passages to be the most difficult to read efficiently.

OP, why aren't you using that extra time to up your score? Don't you find some of the passage questions to be difficult?

 

[bdc142]

EK 1-8:
9, 9, 12, 12, 9, 9, 10, 10

AAMC 3, 4, 7
10, 11, 10

I'd say they're relatively good indicators for AAMC.

 

[Girly X]

EK is good for their strategy. But AAMC verbal is harder because their passages are not as interesting. I actually enjoyed the content in most of EK 101. Their strategy will help you make it through the tougher AAMC passages though. But you need to do all the aamc full lengths to get a realistic idea of the type of content you will be faced with.

 

[Buttafuoco]

The biggest difference between the MCAT and EK 101 tests was passage length for me. I would follow that guy I whose name I can't recall (starts with V I think)'s suggestion and definitely aim for speed on several practice sessions.

 

[Temperature101]

I think AAMC VR are harder...Scoring 7-6 on EK test 1 and 2 and I just scores a 4 on AAMC5...Scary..isn't it?. I have about 45 days to bring up that score to 27+ after scoring 9PS 4VR 8BS on AAMC5. Is that even possible?

 

[sotto voce]

overall, i find the philosophy passages to be the most difficult to read efficiently.

OP, why aren't you using that extra time to up your score? Don't you find some of the passage questions to be difficult?

I do go back and check over the hard questions, but by that point in time I'm kind of out of "the zone" and I'm mostly worried I'll change some right answers to wrong ones.

My goal now is to focus a bit harder (still having trouble with my mind wandering off).

 

[osprey099]

I've taken 4 EK101 tests and I have gotten these scores based on the order I took them:

Test 14: 9
Test 1: 10
Test 2: 10
Test 3: 10

What worries me, like what others have already mentioned, is that a lot of their passages are not as boring as what I was expecting.

 

[sotto voce]

I've taken 4 EK101 tests and I have gotten these scores based on the order I took them:

Test 14: 9
Test 1: 10
Test 2: 10
Test 3: 10

What worries me, like what others have already mentioned, is that a lot of their passages are not as boring as what I was expecting.

Nice work. I'm gonna take a fifth one right now and see how it goes!!

^Edit/Update: 33/40 ==> 11

 

[ccrone]

What's the deal with the ExamKrackers "101 Passages in MCAT Verbal Reasoning" book? I really like the setup--it has 14 tests, each with seven passages (40 questions total) just like the real MCAT. However, having taken the first four tests (timed and everything), they seem too easy. That said, I was thinking/hoping the VR section would be my strong point, so if the passages are legit, that's awesome. But I don't want to be lulled into a false sense of security by easy passages, so I'm wondering if EK is known for having easy passages.

My scores have been 10, 9, 10, and 12. I am feeling more confident with each test, and I usually finish with 5-10 minutes to spare.

Thoughts?

I made a 28Q on the MCAT (9BS/9PS/10V). In other words, a good, solid score. I took an EK practice test the other day, and scored a 6. Note that I did absolutely zippo prep for the MCAT I took last August.

All of that is to say: this practice stuff is great practice. I wouldn't put much stock in practice "scores," though.

But that's just me. 😉

 

[osprey099]

Nice work. I'm gonna take a fifth one right now and see how it goes!!

^Edit/Update: 33/40 ==> 11

Congrats! I have yet to hit 11 lol. I keep getting 10s..

 

[sotto voce]

Congrats! I have yet to hit 11 lol. I keep getting 10s..

Eh it just depends on the passages you get. I just took a sixth test and got another 11 (+33/40). I missed five questions in the first two sections (wtf!), then had four perfect passages, then I missed the last two questions over the last passage. 🙁 Anyway the point is, some passages are just more interesting, and some are easier, too.

 

[osprey099]

Eh it just depends on the passages you get. I just took a sixth test and got another 11 (+33/40). I missed five questions in the first two sections (wtf!), then had four perfect passages, then I missed the last two questions over the last passage. 🙁 Anyway the point is, some passages are just more interesting, and some are easier, too.

yea I know, but for my tests I've taken so far, I usually get 1 wrong on each passage and 2 wrong on like 1 or 2 passages. I never get a perfect passage lol. w/e imma take some tomorrow and post again.

 

[sotto voce]

yea I know, but for my tests I've taken so far, I usually get 1 wrong on each passage and 2 wrong on like 1 or 2 passages. I never get a perfect passage lol. w/e imma take some tomorrow and post again.

Do it! I just took another one and got a 10. 🙁 Time to take a couple days off from VR. Good luck with your studying.

 

[wookiewookie]

I'm looking to buy EK Verbal 101 as my sole resource for verbal. I have not started studying for MCAT yet and am just coming off my pre-reqs, (but I can tell I need to do alot of work).

Is EK 101 verbal sufficient as the lone resource?

Is EK 101 2008 ok to use? I believe the 2nd edition is the only one available.