EK verbal

[lady bug]

I'm thinking about trying the EK verbal strategy because kaplan just isn't working for me....I don't end up finishing the full length verbals. Anyone had success with the Ek strategy? It seems a bit risky to not go back to the passage at all. After all, there are detail questions in the verbal section.

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[Mr. Z]

Ladybug,

ek doesn't say not to go back to the passage, the say only to use it when absolutely necessary. Read for the main point, once you've figured out what the main point is attack the questions. Often, if you understand the main point you can answer all types of questions without referring back to the passage, even those questions with direct quotations from the passage. Going back to the article wastes time, and lots of it, so only use it when necessary. And don't forget about using question stems as a source of info, a lot of times the writers of the questions reveal the main point of the passage when asking other questions.

Three weeks ago, I scored an 8 on aamc III, since, I've made significant progress using their techniques, missed scoring a 12 on aamc IV by one question.

It may seem stupid, but I realized what the verbal was all about doing one of the aamc practice problems. I had a total revelation, where I was like "so that's what they are looking for". For me, it was just realizing that you need to really define (very specifically!!! I can't overstate this) the main point. It's very specific and once you figure it out, the questions are considerably easier. In my previous attempts at verbal i thought the main points where very broad and encompass the whole passage. But, its just not that way, the main point is very specific and the rest of the passage is just there to support it. I know this is simple and obvious, but I wasn't realizing it before, and was scoring 8-9's, now I haven't scored below 10 since my "revelation".

Make sure you practice, I do at least 2-3 passages every night, allowing about 19 min for 2 passages.

sorry if i sound like a promo for EK, i can't say for sure whether i would have had this breakthrough without them or not.

 

[Glucose]

I'm using EK, but the verbal is really discouraging me cus I'm doing really badly. I'm averaging 7 right now and can't seem to enter the double digits. When I was using Kaplan either the practice tests were easier or their strategy was better for me cus I was averaging
I'm sticking to it though.

 

[limit]

And just in case you're a little fuzzy on the main idea, just get the "Which of the following best explains the central thesis of the passage" question right, and BANG... you got yourself a main idea

 

[ancientmd]

Mr. Z-
I am finding that once I find the main idea, I start to read faster through the passage... do you find yourself doing the same? How much do you stick to the program by reading every single word? I find this slows me down somewhat. But your right, the main idea is the key... its kind've weird, but thats it.

 

[Mr. Z]

ancient,

I'm having a very similar experience to you. I'm getting better at identifying the main idea and am getting faster at reading the passage. Once i have the main idea, i almost feel like i don't have to read the rest of the passage, though, i always do.

And I do read every word, except now I don't drown myself in the details. The details are there in the passage and are easy to find should you need them, there is no need to commit every little fact to memory, which is kinda what i used to do. For example, when i would read a paragraph that had all sorts of facts and info, i would think to myself, "wow there is lots of good stuff here for questions" I would then proceed to underline, memorize etc... of course there would rarely be any questions from that stuff i hightlighted. So i just wasted time, and obscured the main point with the details, very counterproductive. Reading for the main point takes a little faith, but as you learn to do this, your reading speed increases substantially and consequently, the time you get to spend on questions increases as does your score

I was sort of reluctant to make my first post. I don't think it is very helpful, it's sorta of like explaining to someone how to ride a bike by saying "just get on a pedal". But, those were my experiences, and this coming from someone who was really struggling with verbal, now i'm feeling its one of my better areas. We will see...

 

[rCubed]

about the EK 101 passages book, the passages seem to resemble the AAMC stuff, but is it just me or are the questions very detail based? if i refer back to the passage the right answer is there word for word.
i know alot of u have said that EK resembles the mcat verbal section the most, but does that extend to their 101 book also or just the verbal and math one?

 

[wgu]

I've been working the 101 passages too. The answer explanation almost always refer to detail which is kinda strange. The questions in general involves a lot of thinking though and inference.

Has anyone else been doing well on Kaplan and PR stuff but then got their ass kicked by the 101 passages? My PR tests were 10-11 but the last 2 tests I took in the 101 book were both 8.