English as a 2nd language

[HanS0L0]

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Hi guys,
English is my 2nd language, and I have been in the States for 4 yrs. My biggest concern is MCAT verbal session, how can I survive and do well on it? "Practice makes perfect." true, but it just seems somewhat impossible to me (Don't get me wrong, I do practice a lot). Is princeton review helpful? I heard that many med schools look at your MCAT score first (especially the verbal part) before they even read the rest of your application, and that makes me even more worried. Any advice and suggestion would be greatly appreciated. Thanks much. Good luck to you all~


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[DAL]

If you don't naturally score well on the Verbal, the only real answer is practice. Princeton Review, Kaplan, Examkrackers, and other commercial companies have methods to improve your score, but you'd have to try out each method to determine what works best for you. I tried Kaplan and Examkrackers and liked the EK method best, but I found out about it too late to use it on the test. You should definitely get Examkrackers 101 Verbal Passages to help improve your verbal skills. The 101 Verbal Passages by EK resembles the actual AAMC Verbal material better than anything else out there.

I don't know for sure, but I imagine you'd have a little more leeway as far as your verbal score goes since english is your second language. Still, you should try to score as best as possible on it. Maybe some other users will have more helpful advice, but all I can really offer is to do focused practice. That is, use only materials that'll really help you improve your verbal skills. Good luck!

 

[Challenge]

Hi I'm also a non-native English speaker. I've been in the U.S. for almost 9 years but English is still a major barrier to me since I came here when I was 18. (the older you are, the harder to learn a second language) I also have a learning disability (ADHD). But after numerous practice, which include reading top-notch newspapers, magazines...etc., your verbal score will be improved drastically someday. However, keep in mind, many people whose English is not their first language don't fully overcome their language barrier. This could be something that they should live with it for the rest of their lives. Nonetheless, it's abolutely possible to communicate effectively with patients and become great physician. Because reading, writing, listening and communication skills do not always correlate.

Critical reading is essential. Don't just read. Think while you read. Reading 100 books may help you but that may take more than 5years. To improve verbal score in a short period of time, you should learn the knack of a trade how to read for the MCAT verbal passage. Good luck.

 

[Khurshid]

Hello everyone,

I am from Afghanistan and have lived in States for almost 10 years now. I have graduated from private university, B.S with 3.87 GPA, magna cum laude and departmental honors. I have been working at Washington University school of medicine since 2007 (nutritional Sciences) . I have joined orhopedic surgery since oct 2010. have 2 papers published an 3 abstracts submitted in AAOS and Mid America... I am also a member of community and help in any way I can since 2008. I recently took MCAT and scored 18 🙁....... too low. considering all the above + being disadvantaged, and woman. What are my chances of getting into med school? any advice?

 

[SN2ed]

That score is far too low for both DO and MD schools. You basically have no chance with that score.

 

[RunawayMD]

18 is too low - you need to retake it and score higher. Do all you can to improve (refer mcat study guide).

As for improving your verbal score: read read read. Devote 1-2 hours of your day to reading either high quality books (science thrillers?) anything that interests you and uses profound vocabulary. Newspaper would be perfect but can be hard to read if you're not interested. Keep in mind, medical schools will consider English being your second language but you still need to score as high as you can.

Cheers

 

[Flamen04]

I have been living in the US for 10 years now, and I still have not fully overcome the language barrier. I still have an accent, find difficult to understand some idioms, etc. However, that does not mean you can't get a decent score on the verbal. With practice, you should be able to get at least in the 10-11 range. I greatly recommend the EK 101 book. It raised my score from an 8 to 11. It might not seem like a huge raise, but it is a difference of 8+ questions right.

 

[PingPongPro]

Don't be too afraid of the MCAT verbal section. A lot of people have difficulty with it, both native and non-native english speakers. Keep in mind that the MCAT verbal section is not solely a language test. What I mean is, the verbal section is actually a logic test. It tests your ability to think logically, make arguments, and understand how to reason. Of course you need to have a certain understanding of the English language to do well, but don't overestimate the language aspect of this section.

 

[Khurshid]

thank you so much everyone for all your advices. It'll retake mcat again. My friend insist that I apply this cycle and retake mcat in august, but I don't think I can raise my score this soon. I think I should apply next cycle and be well prepared. Also, my friend told me about probationary period? do you guys know anything about that? she said, she has 2.9 GPA and she is taking some classes as her probation period and if she does well then she will be admitted in to Medical school!!!!!!!

 

[BME11]

I'm ESL too. I was in the same boat as you were a few months back. What I did was that I began to read everything I laid hands on. Don't just read, try to understand it. I find that when I tried too hard to get the meaning I tend to read really really slow, I end up forget what I just read. My advice to you is to practice reading at a pace that it's not slow and you can comprehend it. I got into a habbit of reading for details but that's not what the MCAT is asking for. Just read and focus and get the main idea. One more thing...PRACTICE and READ everything you can get your hands on. Try reading boring stuff that you'd never find reading. Find a news magazine and read those it helps.. This takes months so pace yourself good luck. I know being ESL sucks.