EK MCAT 101 Passages VR - bad score on first VR test- any ideas?

[premed-molecule]

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I'm using MCAT 101 passages in MCAT (VR 2nd edition) to study for the MCAT.
Here are my scores so far:
VR warm up: 9/17 ~6
VR test#1 : 15/40 ~ 4

Absolutely devastated by my scores and I am wondering how close up these passages are to the new MCAT? I know for the last passage, I was running out of time and had to guess on 6 questions. TIME management is definitely noted for things to improve. ANY OTHER IDEAS for improvement? What else can I use for practice passages?

 

[Sir.SavaLottaLife]

I think the first one is the hardest in that book. I scored a 5 on the first and I averaged ~8-9 on the rest. I've seen other people also start out with very low scores and end up making 8 and 9s in that book. And it seems its also almost impossible to score 13+ in that book because some of the reasonings behind some answers are off the wall. I'm not sure exactly how it compares to AAMC though. I took the old AAMC 11 practice test a while ago and got a 7 and that was the first VR test I had ever seen, I wasn't even familiar on the format. However I have seen improvement and I've only missed one question in the past 3 practice passages that I have done.

As far as advice, I would keep doing a few more and see where you end up scoring, and don't worry about their explanations and logic because I think thats where they differ the most. And for improving, I think the best thing is to just do as many passages as possible. If you don't read a lot, your reading comprehension and speed will improve moderately but I think the biggest thing is that you'll start to get a good feel for the question types and what makes an answer flawed. Do this by doing passages untimed for a few weeks, and focusing on what makes the other answers wrong, rather than why the correct answer is right. This is something I didn't really grasp until I had done many many passages, mainly from TPRH verbal workbook; you have to use process of elimination on almost every question because there are many times where I question sounds right, but another one sounds better. You should NEVER answer a VR/CARS question without reading every answer choice.

Then worry about speed and strategy later. There are tricks to getting faster too, but its better/easier to make that transition if you have a feel for the passages/questions first. You can't be a great quickdraw shooting cowboy until you get good aim first lol.

 

[premed-molecule]

I think the first one is the hardest in that book. I scored a 5 on the first and I averaged ~8-9 on the rest. I've seen other people also start out with very low scores and end up making 8 and 9s in that book. And it seems its also almost impossible to score 13+ in that book because some of the reasonings behind some answers are off the wall. I'm not sure exactly how it compares to AAMC though. I took the old AAMC 11 practice test a while ago and got a 7 and that was the first VR test I had ever seen, I wasn't even familiar on the format. However I have seen improvement and I've only missed one question in the past 3 practice passages that I have done.

As far as advice, I would keep doing a few more and see where you end up scoring, and don't worry about their explanations and logic because I think thats where they differ the most. And for improving, I think the best thing is to just do as many passages as possible. If you don't read a lot, your reading comprehension and speed will improve moderately but I think the biggest thing is that you'll start to get a good feel for the question types and what makes an answer flawed. Do this by doing passages untimed for a few weeks, and focusing on what makes the other answers wrong, rather than why the correct answer is right. This is something I didn't really grasp until I had done many many passages, mainly from TPRH verbal workbook; you have to use process of elimination on almost every question because there are many times where I question sounds right, but another one sounds better. You should NEVER answer a VR/CARS question without reading every answer choice.

Then worry about speed and strategy later. There are tricks to getting faster too, but its better/easier to make that transition if you have a feel for the passages/questions first. You can't be a great quickdraw shooting cowboy until you get good aim first lol.

Wow, that really makes me feel a bit better knowing that the first test is harder. I never thought about taking the passages untimed before but it is definitely something I will try. Might also invest in TPRH verbal workbook for additional passages. Thank you!

 

[allanMED15]

Just finished the May test date today and I will say that the EK passages were so much easier than the real thing. The CARS section today was brutal. But then again, those books were made for the old test, so style wise they may not be exactly the same, but they are definitely good practice I think.

 

[premed-molecule]

Just finished the May test date today and I will say that the EK passages were so much easier than the real thing. The CARS section today was brutal. But then again, those books were made for the old test, so style wise they may not be exactly the same, but they are definitely good practice I think.

Oh man. Sorry to hear that. How did you feel towards time for the CARS section? Also, how was Physics?!? (was there a lot incorporated?)

 

[allanMED15]

Oh man. Sorry to hear that. How did you feel towards time for the CARS section? Also, how was Physics?!? (was there a lot incorporated?)

I ran out of time for the last section. Still got some answers down, but I had to rush to choose what looked like the best choice, so I am sure there were some distractors in there that made me pick the wrong choices, but oh well.

Physics wasn't bad, and I haven't taken Physics II. It really was so heavy in biochem.

 

[premed-molecule]

I ran out of time for the last section. Still got some answers down, but I had to rush to choose what looked like the best choice, so I am sure there were some distractors in there that made me pick the wrong choices, but oh well.

Physics wasn't bad, and I haven't taken Physics II. It really was so heavy in biochem.

If you could estimate how many questions were Physics based, what would you say?

 

[allanMED15]

If you could estimate how many questions were Physics based, what would you say?

Oh goodness, I have no idea. That whole part of the morning is mush now. Some retroactive interference maybe? haha

 

[Dreamstoo]

I believe my friend got a 6 on one of the EK tests to he got a 11 on the real VR back in 2013.

 

[Mr. Beefy Lion]

Try different strategies. I tried a ton of different recommended strategies and none of them worked. I just started my own strategy where I read the last paragraph first and I have been doing much better. I started off terrible at cars (still not good) but have been getting much better from doing a ton of passages and using my strategy.

 

[premed-molecule]

UPDATE:
VR test#1 : 15/40 ~ 4
VR Test#2: 26/40 ~ 8

I struggled with the Philosophy passages/time for sure but I think the Kaplan course I took definitely helped with raising the score. I'll keep updating as I finish the book. The exam date is September 12th!

 

[StudyLater]

Absolutely devastated

You guys really love this word to describe doing kind of bad on the hardest grad test in the world.

Also note whatevertest #1 is often times the hard one. You know, so you can "see improvement" as you go along, and recommend "our book" to your friends.

Don't even know what MCAT101 is by the way. Just use the good ****. EK and AAMC.

 

[Sir.SavaLottaLife]

I started off getting 6's and 7's in EK101 and I worked my way up to 9's and 10's. I made a 126 in the CARS when I tested in june. Keep at it, and I highly recommend switching to AAMC passages as you get closer to your test date just to get used to them because no one perfectly replicates the official stuff.

 

[Sir.SavaLottaLife]

UPDATE:
VR test#1 : 15/40 ~ 4
VR Test#2: 26/40 ~ 8

I struggled with the Philosophy passages/time for sure but I think the Kaplan course I took definitely helped with raising the score. I'll keep updating as I finish the book. The exam date is September 12th!

 

[premed-molecule]

I started off getting 6's and 7's in EK101 and I worked my way up to 9's and 10's. I made a 126 in the CARS when I tested in june. Keep at it, and I highly recommend switching to AAMC passages as you get closer to your test date just to get used to them because no one perfectly replicates the official stuff.

Eh. I ended up taking my 2nd FL today and got a 122 in CARS. On the first FL I had 123. I was running out of time for both and now I am worried about the lack of increase in my score. I will be taking more EK101 practice tests and doing more Kaplan passages before my next FL. Hoping it improves the score.