EK VR 101 passages book

[researchprof]

For those who have used this book, and more importantly, taken the actual MCAT, how do the passages actually compare to what you find on the actual test? I have done some of the passages in the book and I have never gotten above a 9--I even scored a 4 one time. The answers they give appear ridiculous at times--not properly supported; now I am even thinking of abandoning the book and just use AAMC materials? Any thoughts? Also how do you think the AAMC VR compares to the real stuff?

Please excuse my convoluted post.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[fun8stuff]

Originally posted by researchprof
For those who have used this book, and more importantly, taken the actual MCAT, how do the passages actually compare to what you find on the actual test? I have done some of the passages in the book and I have never gotten above a 9--I even scored a 4 one time. The answers they give appear ridiculous at times--not properly supported; now I am even thinking of abandoning the book and just use AAMC materials? Any thoughts? Also how do you think the AAMC VR compares to the real stuff?

Please excuse my convoluted post.

It hurts me to say this because I also find them hard, but most people say that they scored about the same on the MCAT as what they were averaging with EK 101. Do some searches on this.

 

[JDAD]

I am also feeling the same way. I think the reading is too easy and the questions are too obscure.

I have some aamc materials to work from, but it seems that 101 has helped people in the past. I have take three, 9,7,8. Pretty sad because I got an 11 on aamc 3R.

Good luck though.

 

[researchprof]

Originally posted by jarrod_dale
I am also feeling the same way. I think the reading is too easy and the questions are too obscure.

I have some aamc materials to work from, but it seems that 101 has helped people in the past. I have take three, 9,7,8. Pretty sad because I got an 11 on aamc 3R.

Good luck though.

True. The reading is easy but the questions have some shades of obscurity. I also made an 11 on AAMC 3R.

Well, since verbal is kinda my weak spot I will just work with the book and not pay much attention to what I score. Again, God, please help me.

 

[UCLAstudent]

I am having trouble with it, too. I have scored a 7, 8, 9, and 8 (in that order... I was hoping my score was improving, until that last test ). I haven't taken any AAMC tests, yet, but I have heard that verbal on 3R is too easy (so you might want to take 4R, 5R, or 6R for a better indication).

 

[sdnstud]

i've taken the mcat before and am retaking it this april. i am also not scoring well on the EK101 tests (consistently scoring 8s). it is true that some questions are very vague and the answers very controversial. sadly, this is the way the real mcat is.

 

[DrSal]

i've noticed the same thing too. the reading really easy, and the answers really weird....

alot of ppl are saying this is what the real mcat is like...but the difference is that i'm scoring like 3 points more on aamc verbals...

i think practicing with 101 will kill my confidence (or confuse me even more)...what do u guys think?

 

[fuzzylogic]

ek's verbal practice is pretty hard. i did the entire book before i took the real mcat. i don't think i ever broke a 10 on those exams. however, it did train me to read faster and think more critically. on the real exam, i did do better than i thought what i was going to get.

don't get too frustrated. those questions are hard. the real mcat won't be as abstract as those ones in the book. good luck.

 

[researchprof]

So fuzzylogic I am inferring you "double-digited" the MCAT verbal.
That is hope for me then. My most frequent scores are 8's and once or twice I made 9, except for two tests where I made a 4 and 6 after being very tired from school exams; I did consider the 4 an "abuse" on my intelligence though. But again, I believe prayer works . . . still calling on Jah as regards April 17. Please God help!!!

 

[shock827]

yeah they seem harder. Once in a while, when you go and look back at the answer explanations you are like "WTF, it still doesn't make sense." But for the most part, I think the book is really helpful. Highly recommended to August MCATers!

What is weird is that I got a 10 on EK 101 test 4 and I absolutely suck at verbal. Hopefully it wasn't a fluke.... please God...

 

[stillpremed]

hell yeah i agree with you guys
the explanations are specific and you shouldnt be able to go back to find the answers, you only get the answers from the "feeling" which you get after you read the passage right? but then when you read the explanations, a lot of the explanations tell you the page number to look back to...
also, i find that a lot of the answers do come from looking back
maybe ijust suck

 

[gdk]

stillpremed, i've noticed that also. EK is big on not going back to the passage, unless you find you are finishing practice tests with time to spare. yet in the explanations of the answers, they often site a passage in the text that directly supports or excludes the answer choices.
it's interesting to see everybody else's scores on these tests, to find which ones seem to be turning out to be "hard" or "easy."
so far, i've scored 8, 9, 10, 8, 9 on the first five - same trend as UCLAstudent.
how are you guys doing on time?

 

[UCLAstudent]

Timing's pretty rough. It's hard to let a tough question go. Ugh.

 

[shock827]

Originally posted by stillpremed
hell yeah i agree with you guys
the explanations are specific and you shouldnt be able to go back to find the answers, you only get the answers from the "feeling" which you get after you read the passage right? but then when you read the explanations, a lot of the explanations tell you the page number to look back to...
also, i find that a lot of the answers do come from looking back
maybe ijust suck

I took 1 and 2 untimed as warmup to my verbal studies, but did pretty bad on those. Skipped test 3.

Test 4 and 5 in the book I got 10s... I guess I do better under time pressure. Or it still could be a fluke BTW, I got a 7 on verbal last year. I don't know what to think right now. It seems like I am doing better in verbal practice this year because I never broke a 9 last year on practice tests, but my PS is dropping for some reason. I sure hope this book is indicative of the real test!! At least based off tests 4 and 5. I think TPR is harder!

 

[farley is god]

I got 10 and 11 on the first two, respectively. Timing's never been a problem for me. There will be 2-3 that I miss on each section because of overlooking wording, but for the most part the right answers leave me scratching my head.

Hopefully I can find something that I'm doing wrong to increase my score another point.