ExamKracker VERBAL 101 SCORES

[Futuredoctr]

I was curious if there was anyone else using these? I took the first one last night at a busy starbucks (to begin to aclimate myself to the "be prepared for anything" test climate) and I got rocked. I scored a 5!! . Its okay though because I knew verbal was going to be the hardest. I was curious if anyone else using these tests could post their scores and or advice (I know there was a thread a while back, but that was for the April exam and I'm in need of encouragment and advice from the august takers. Thanks

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[osuguy]

here are my ek scores
#1: 6
#2: 10
#3: 10
#4: 7
#5: 9

on tpr ive gotten
#1 : 5
#2: 6
#3: 6
#4: 7
#5: 7
#6: 9
#7: 6


My score pretty much jumps around alot. i just took aamc #3 and got an 11 so i have no idea if im actually gettin better or its just plain luck. i started doing ek verbal about after my 2nd tpr test and it looks like ive been improving though. with less than 3 weeks until aug 22nd im hoping this is the case...

 

[blackmamba24]

thats how my scores been doing lately.... i hate verbal bc if u get a hard passage that u missed most of the main idea ur score is screwed...

 

[futuredoctor10]

I switched to a new method, where I read exteremely rapidly, and refer very often to the passage. I did EK8, 40 questions over 7 passages (I did not do the last question of every passage, worked out to a nice 41 questions). I finished with 12 minutes to spare, and to my surprise only 5 wrong! This translates to a 12. I am sticking with this method to the end

Interesting. How fast do you read the passage and subsequently do the questions? (Like 3 min/passage, 5 min/questions?)

I notice on AAMC particularly (somewhat on EK) that ALOT of answers are located in the passage, so I could see how this method would work well.

 

[Raigon]

okay, I'm getting a bit pissed off now. My first EK verbal 101 score was a 6, and my 2nd was an 8! AN EIGHT!!!

Dude, people say that if you don't get at least a 10 on the 2nd EK test, you are screwed for the AAMC.

Damn it, I AM NOT going to be swiped from entry to medical school just because I have verbal reasoning skills. I mean, I DO GET 12s on my other subjects, aka physical sciences, and biological sciences.

I have a strong urge to chuck my EK Verbal 101 into the fire and burn it. BURN BABY BURN!!!

*takes a deep breath*
































Okay... I think I've calmed down. Someone help me with my verbal? Cuz I feel that my weakness isn't the "verbal" part, it's the "reasoning" part. I understand the passage perfectly fine, and I've kept a main idea in my head, but for some reason, I can't seem to reason very well with the questions, because I always narrow the answers to 2, and the answer is always one of them, and unfortunately not the answer I chose 9 times out of 10. YES 9 times out of 10.

 

[Scarletblack]

Dude I feel you ^

EK #1 = 6
EK #2 = 9
EK #3 = 9

Bah still dunno how to get to a 10...

On my Kaplans:

Verbal #1 = 7
Verbal #2 = 12
Verbal #3 = 10

^Wish those meant somethin...

 

[engineeredout]

okay, I'm getting a bit pissed off now. My first EK verbal 101 score was a 6, and my 2nd was an 8! AN EIGHT!!!

Dude, people say that if you don't get at least a 10 on the 2nd EK test, you are screwed for the AAMC.

Dude I dunno where you heard that, but I don't see why that one test would be a better predictor than anything else.

And if it is, I'm screwed too because I got an 8 as well on it.

 

[qazwsxedc]

guys i'm starting to get scared b/c my verbal scores are dropping...this is my 2nd time writing this test so that makes things even scarier i usually get most of the questions right in first 6 passages, but then make most of my mistakes in the last 3 passages.

here are my ek scores...
1 - 48/60
2 - 47/60
3 - 45/60
4 - 43/60 (6 wrong in the first six passages, and 11 wrong in the last 3)

i'm dropping by ~2questions each test. i'm getting more wrong, AND it's taking me longer to do the tests. what should i do? i'm writing in a month. i can't mess up on this test again...should i be concerned or am i just over analyzing?

 

[Entropy2009]

#1 - 7
#2 - 8
#3 - 12
#4 - 13 (I found the last passage to be the most difficult)

It seems to me that they are getting easier as they go on. Hopefully I am just becoming more accustomed to the exam.

 

[Entropy2009]

okay, I'm getting a bit pissed off now. My first EK verbal 101 score was a 6, and my 2nd was an 8! AN EIGHT!!!

Dude, people say that if you don't get at least a 10 on the 2nd EK test, you are screwed for the AAMC.

Damn it, I AM NOT going to be swiped from entry to medical school just because I have verbal reasoning skills. I mean, I DO GET 12s on my other subjects, aka physical sciences, and biological sciences.

I have a strong urge to chuck my EK Verbal 101 into the fire and burn it. BURN BABY BURN!!!

*takes a deep breath*
































Okay... I think I've calmed down. Someone help me with my verbal? Cuz I feel that my weakness isn't the "verbal" part, it's the "reasoning" part. I understand the passage perfectly fine, and I've kept a main idea in my head, but for some reason, I can't seem to reason very well with the questions, because I always narrow the answers to 2, and the answer is always one of them, and unfortunately not the answer I chose 9 times out of 10. YES 9 times out of 10.

From what I have heard and tested AAMC is easier than EK; EK purposely elimnates the easier questions.

 

[Scarletblack]

Still kinda worried about the plateau I'm having with verbal. Is there any way to break that?

 

[Raigon]

Gah, I HATE VERBAL REASONING

EK Verbal 101 scores so far :

Test 1 : 6
Test 2 : 8
Test 3 : 8

I would've hoped I'd at least break a 10 by now... BUT NO, I'm stuck at 8. I'm finding that on this test, because there is a limit in time, I become a bit tense and nervous, which makes my mind wander off, thinking how bad it would be to mess up. As a result, I continually look at the time, and when I read the passage, I'm like... "WHAT?" and I tend to reread the same sentence like... 5 times.

And once I tried reading a passage once without re-reading. Then when I tried to summarize, I just realized I did not absorb anything. In fact, I just knew the passage was saying something about authors and revenues, but I did not understand wtf the passage was talking about.

But I admit I did laugh my ass off on Test 3 passage III, regarding Freud and his theory of the fire-fighting penis.

Gosh, is there any hope for my verbal? Meow...

 

[Entropy2009]

Agreed on the penis-fire-extinguishers; the verbal is my favorite section because of the interesting things I get to read about.

 

[slin701]

has anyone tried the new ek verbal 2nd edition? there are less passages than the first edition and its not 60 questions... any reviews? also, i've tried to get ahold of the book, but none of the bookstores in the area have it and it'll take 3 weeks with bn.com since its back ordered..any suggestions? Should i just continue to practice with the first edition even if the test is 85minutes with more questions compared to the 60 minutes/40 questions???

 

[nfg05]

has anyone tried the new ek verbal 2nd edition? there are less passages than the first edition and its not 60 questions... any reviews? also, i've tried to get ahold of the book, but none of the bookstores in the area have it and it'll take 3 weeks with bn.com since its back ordered..any suggestions? Should i just continue to practice with the first edition even if the test is 85minutes with more questions compared to the 60 minutes/40 questions???

The content of the 2nd edition is exactly the same as the first. Just do 7 passages at a time (roughly 40 questions) out of the 1st edition book and you will be getting the 2nd edition experience.

 

[Raigon]

AAAAAARRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

!@#$~~~~~

WTF, I did my best, and I still got a f***ing 7. GAH, WTF IS WRONG WITH MY VERBAL REASONING, F***ing (insert creative swear word here)

My EK scores are getting frustrating to the point I feel like tearing up my stuffed animals. (YES, I have stuffed animals, someone important gave them to me, what of it? =P)

GEEZ, LOOK AT MY F***ING SCORES :

EK 101 Test 1 : 6
EK 101 Test 2 : 8
EK 101 Test 3 : 8
EK 101 Test 4 : 7

LOOK AT THEM, GAH, I was expecting you know... at least a 10 on one of them, but noooooooo, I just can't break a 10.


I AM NOT GETTING ELIMINATED FROM MEDICAL SCHOOL BECAUSE OF VERBAL REASONING






















Long hour of tantrum later - I've calmed down. I'm going to review my answers now.

 

[StayingSteady]

Finally mustered up the courage to try the first test... got an 8, but dunno if that's considered good for the first test

so far I've been practicing with Kaplan, so hopefully the low score is just me getting adjusted to the completely different style of questions. In any case, I've noticed that very few people on this thread have gotten stuck on or plateaued at the score that they got on their 1st EK test. I've flipped through some other passages in the book and they definitely seem a lot easier, so maybe the first test is intentionally harder than the others (which any smart test-prep company would try to do). Did anyone else notice this? Or am I just making up excuses

 

[ofoshoukno]

AAAAAARRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

!@#$~~~~~

I AM NOT GETTING ELIMINATED FROM MEDICAL SCHOOL BECAUSE OF VERBAL REASONING

I hear your pain man, Verbal is the tool of the devil. But I assure you the best plan of action is to keep practicing(-at least thats what my friends who got 10+ on VR keep telling me)

 

[Give me vicodin]

i think we can all agree that ther verbal is BULL...ive only managed to break a ten once!!

EK1 - 8
EK2 - 6 WTF
EK3 - 9
EK4 - 10!!! HURRAH
EK5 - 9
EK6 - 9

as you can see 9 is pretty consistant...im having a problem of spending too much time on some pasages...as i made an 8 on AAMC 3...had to guess on 6 of the last 7 questions! if i had one more right it would have been a 9.

How is everyone doing for time?

 

[nfg05]

I feel like EK tries to trick you more than AAMC. I have a glass ceiling of 11-12 on EK 101 verbal tests, but hit 15, 14, and 14 on my last three AAMC's. EK is definitely harder than AAMC (and hopefully the real thing)

 

[BlueElmo]

I feel like EK tries to trick you more than AAMC. I have a glass ceiling of 11-12 on EK 101 verbal tests, but hit 15, 14, and 14 on my last three AAMC's. EK is definitely harder than AAMC (and hopefully the real thing)

Exactly what I thought. Those questions that Orsay wrote is so -detail oriented and tricky that I find myself going "wtf was he thinking?" But I found AAMC verbal to be much more manageable. Even got a 12 on AAMC 8.

 

[Raigon]

Guys, check this out - I did verbal test 5, and guess what I got? After experiences from 4 hard-fought battles :

Test 1 - 6
Test 2 - 8
Test 3 - 8
Test 4 - 7

Guess what I got? I got a scaled score of...

*Trumpet blare* Da da da na na da da!

7

Aw geez, I am feeling a bit suicidal. I would've thought that, seeing the performance of other people on this thread, I would've at least broken a 10 by now. But nooooooo, I keep getting stuck at 6~8. This is F***ed up. I'm useless I think I'm going to go kill myself now.

Or maybe I'll calm down, and keep practicing, and wait to see what my actual verbal score on the aamcs are before acting hastily. Yeah I think I'll do that.

Kind of hard to make it to medical school if you're dead huh? =D

You know... I took the test twice today just to see the result. And whenever I'm under timed conditions, I always get a 6~8. However, when I'm not timed, and I'm reading the passage as if I'm not timed, I always get almost every single question correct, because I'm enjoying the passage. Unfortunately, taking the tests as if I'm not timed usually results in me finishing the test in 2 hours, which is quite not allowed. Cuz it's like, when I'm timed, I'm so nervous, I'm like... wtf is the thing talking about? And I literally re-read the question 3~5 times, and all of the answers without absorbing a single piece of information. And when I'm relieved from any stress, I feel like I'm reading a magazine, and I'm enjoying it, and I'm like... oh wow, this is so easy, I'm absorbing everything. Any suggestions?

Cuz here's what happened :

Untimed - 11
Timed - 7

 

[BlueElmo]

Guys, check this out - I did verbal test 5, and guess what I got? After experiences from 4 hard-fought battles :

Test 1 - 6
Test 2 - 8
Test 3 - 8
Test 4 - 7

Guess what I got? I got a scaled score of...

*Trumpet blare* Da da da na na da da!

7

Aw geez, I am feeling a bit suicidal. I would've thought that, seeing the performance of other people on this thread, I would've at least broken a 10 by now. But nooooooo, I keep getting stuck at 6~8. This is F***ed up. I'm useless I think I'm going to go kill myself now.

Or maybe I'll calm down, and keep practicing, and wait to see what my actual verbal score on the aamcs are before acting hastily. Yeah I think I'll do that.

Kind of hard to make it to medical school if you're dead huh? =D

You know... I took the test twice today just to see the result. And whenever I'm under timed conditions, I always get a 6~8. However, when I'm not timed, and I'm reading the passage as if I'm not timed, I always get almost every single question correct, because I'm enjoying the passage. Unfortunately, taking the tests as if I'm not timed usually results in me finishing the test in 2 hours, which is quite not allowed. Cuz it's like, when I'm timed, I'm so nervous, I'm like... wtf is the thing talking about? And I literally re-read the question 3~5 times, and all of the answers without absorbing a single piece of information. And when I'm relieved from any stress, I feel like I'm reading a magazine, and I'm enjoying it, and I'm like... oh wow, this is so easy, I'm absorbing everything. Any suggestions?

Cuz here's what happened :

Untimed - 11
Timed - 7

Have you tried AAMC tests yet? Their verbal is worlds apart from EK verbal. Try it.

 

[BlueElmo]

Wow, I just realized how stupid some of these questions/explanations are.

For example, consider #1 test question #14. I still think the answer to that one is C and Orsay's solution got this completely backwards. The same thing with questions number 36.

And also, question #40's solution was so ridiculous I just laughed out loud. "Look carefully at the use of the verbs in the quotation, it becomes clear that an experiment..."
I would love to have a debate with Orsay on this question and I would bet $100 that my explanation to this question would be far superior to his.

 

[Tutmos]

Wow, I just realized how stupid some of these questions/explanations are.

For example, consider #1 test question #14. I still think the answer to that one is C and Orsay's solution got this completely backwards. The same thing with questions number 36.

And also, question #40's solution was so ridiculous I just laughed out loud. "Look carefully at the use of the verbs in the quotation, it becomes clear that an experiment..."
I would love to have a debate with Orsay on this question and I would bet $100 that my explanation to this question would be far superior to his.

I've been finding about 1 to 3 questions in each set of 40 (2nd edition) that provide wrong answers. Most of the time it's a function of the writer apparently not realizing the actual definition of a word or not being careful about exactly how things are phrased. He knew what he wanted to say but it's not on paper. It almost seems like it was rushed or someone got sick of looking closely at everything.

When I see those mistakes I take a deep breath and calculate my score with and without the error to see if it made a difference before getting mad. I just hope the actual MCAT writers are a little more deliberative.

 

[wrathofgod64]

BlueElmo I agree with u on Test #1 Question #14. The answer requires that you assume outside information that's not in the passage, which almost all prep companies say you shouldn't do.

 

[nfg05]

I see why people recommend EK because it is much more nuanced and does require thinking similar to the AAMC stuff. For sure, it's worlds ahead of Kaplan which is the only other thing I've used. However, each time one of the explanations contradicts itself or employs a logical fallacy, it just erodes my confidence in the book, which is important since I don't like admitting I'm wrong .

 

[BlueElmo]

BlueElmo I agree with u on Test #1 Question #14. The answer requires that you assume outside information that's not in the passage, which almost all prep companies say you shouldn't do.

Yeah, but that is only part of the problem here. I mean their solution says "it is true we have no evidence from within the passage that smoking marijuana cigarettes is dangerous."

But if you go to the passage, "studies at University of Maryland and UCLA indicated that the regular smoking of only two marijuana cigarettes a day would tend to promote toe fungus and thrush."

Is Orsay implying toe fungus and thrush are not dangerous? Well thrush is a "fungal infection of the mouth, vagina or penis" according to Wikipedia. WTF? I'm guessing this is dangerous.

I mean, anyone else agree this is just pure ignorant contradiction? There are bunch of such shoddy answers/explanations. I thought 2nd edition was supposed to have gotten rid of these kinds of blatant erros. I feel tempted to just not do these EK exams and just stick to AAMC. But then again I paid $50 for this book, which makes me even more pissed.

 

[StayingSteady]

Yeah, but that is only part of the problem here. I mean their solution says "it is true we have no evidence from within the passage that smoking marijuana cigarettes is dangerous."

But if you go to the passage, "studies at University of Maryland and UCLA indicated that the regular smoking of only two marijuana cigarettes a day would tend to promote toe fungus and thrush."

Is Orsay implying toe fungus and thrush are not dangerous? Well thrush is a "fungal infection of the mouth, vagina or penis" according to Wikipedia. WTF? I'm guessing this is dangerous.

I mean, anyone else agree this is just pure ignorant contradiction? There are bunch of such shoddy answers/explanations. I thought 2nd edition was supposed to have gotten rid of these kinds of blatant erros. I feel tempted to just not do these EK exams and just stick to AAMC. But then again I paid $50 for this book, which makes me even more pissed.

Dude, I totally agree. It seems like common knowledge that marijuana cigarettes are dangerous. I don't really understand that answer, but the only explanation I can really bring myself to accept is that the author was only talking about marijuana when mentioning toe fungus, thrush, etc... not necessarily marijuana CIGARETTES (which I guess are different?). I dont think AAMC would pull that kind of stuff though.


On another note, I converted the 60-question conversion scale to the 40-question scale using proportions and all that jazz, but do y'all think that that scale is a true representation of the typical 'real MCAT' scale? It seems awfully unforgiving.

 

[nfg05]

On another note, I converted the 60-question conversion scale to the 40-question scale using proportions and all that jazz, but do y'all think that that scale is a true representation of the typical 'real MCAT' scale? It seems awfully unforgiving.

FYI, EK has posted an updated scale for the 2nd edition on their website:

40 15
39 14
37-38 13
35-36 12

33-34 11

30-32 10
28-29 9

26-27 8

23-25 7

20-22 6

18-19 5
15-17 4
13-14 3
9-12 2

<9 1


Source: http://examkrackers.com/announcement.php

 

[StayingSteady]

FYI, EK has posted an updated scale for the 2nd edition on their website:

40 15
39 14
37-38 13
35-36 12

33-34 11

30-32 10
28-29 9

26-27 8

23-25 7

20-22 6

18-19 5
15-17 4
13-14 3
9-12 2

<9 1


Source: http://examkrackers.com/announcement.php

ye ye that's the one I used... ouch

 

[futuredoctor10]

do y'all think that that scale is a true representation of the typical 'real MCAT' scale? It seems awfully unforgiving.

I hope so. It does seem awfully unforgiving!

 

[StayingSteady]

I hope so. It does seem awfully unforgiving!

Lol, you agree that it seems awfully unforgiving... so you hope it's a true representation? haha

 

[skinwoman]

for those who hit a plateau or see their scores start to dip in the weeks before the exam, don't panic. it happens to many of us whose brains are fried from the stress and fatigue of MCAT prep. in my case, my VR score started to dip around 2 weeks before test day, and it became the difference between a "woo hoo!" vs. "should i retake?" score. it was unnerving because VR had previously been consistent, so i paid shameful 2-day shipping fees to get the EK 101 VR book in hand one week before test day. the first exam *blew*, but i agree with those who say that this book is great practice. it ended up being a decent score predictor, as well. i only had time to complete the first 5 tests, scoring an 11 on each of the last few i took, and ended up with an 11 on the real thing. EK 101 VR tests are harder than what most of us see on test day, but the day-of feeling of "holycrapthissectioncouldruinme" sort of evens things out.

bottom line: don't be discouraged by a sudden fluctuation in VR scores. follow EK's advice and take a VR break, clear your mind by doing something fun or relaxing. i think EK has the best VR strategy if it's followed diligently: 100% focus, confidence, keep moving, etc.

 

[futuredoctor10]

Lol, you agree that it seems awfully unforgiving... so you hope it's a true representation? haha

Whoops! I meant to say "I hope not" (in regards to the scale being a representation of a true MCAT scale), and that it seems unforgiving.

I have been studying too much it seems I can't even type properly LOL

 

[BlueElmo]

EK 1: 8
EK 2: 10

The second one was slightly better in terms of trickiness. But I ran over by 4 minutes! I thought I was on Passage V when I was really on Passage IV. I had like one minute left for the last passage, so I ended up going over by 4 minutes. I'm so mad at myself.

My problem is I spend so much time for the first two passages that I feel the time crunch for the last two passages. I always do that for paper-pencil test. But this problem is not so severe on CBT. Thank God.

If there were only 6 passages for Verbal, it would be perfect.

 

[Raigon]

for those who hit a plateau or see their scores start to dip in the weeks before the exam, don't panic. it happens to many of us whose brains are fried from the stress and fatigue of MCAT prep. in my case, my VR score started to dip around 2 weeks before test day, and it became the difference between a "woo hoo!" vs. "should i retake?" score. it was unnerving because VR had previously been consistent, so i paid shameful 2-day shipping fees to get the EK 101 VR book in hand one week before test day. the first exam *blew*, but i agree with those who say that this book is great practice. it ended up being a decent score predictor, as well. i only had time to complete the first 5 tests, scoring an 11 on each of the last few i took, and ended up with an 11 on the real thing. EK 101 VR tests are harder than what most of us see on test day, but the day-of feeling of "holycrapthissectioncouldruinme" sort of evens things out.

bottom line: don't be discouraged by a sudden fluctuation in VR scores. follow EK's advice and take a VR break, clear your mind by doing something fun or relaxing. i think EK has the best VR strategy if it's followed diligently: 100% focus, confidence, keep moving, etc.

Really? If I assume what you're saying is true, then

1. I'm screwed if EK is an accurate prediction of your actual aamc scores. I didn't hit a plateau, I can't GET OFF the plateau. I've taken 6 tests and I have yet to see a score higher than an 8. What's pissing me off is the fact that I'm scoring 12s and 13s on my sciences, but I can't seem to break that glass ceiling in EK verbal. Let me show you my scores :

Test 1 : 6
Test 2 : 8
Test 3 : 8
Test 4 : 7
Test 5 : 7
Test 6 : 7

And you said you get mostly 11s on your verbal on EK, and you got an actual 11 on your aamc. And what of me? Am I going to score a 7 on my actual MCATs? Way to make me feel better.

WHY THE !@#$ AM I NOT IMPROVING!!! F***

And what's freaking me out is, when I actually am not under timed conditions, I score 10~11, but take around 2 hours to finish 7 passages!!! WTF

 

[StayingSteady]

Really? If I assume what you're saying is true, then

1. I'm screwed if EK is an accurate prediction of your actual aamc scores. I didn't hit a plateau, I can't GET OFF the plateau. I've taken 6 tests and I have yet to see a score higher than an 8. What's pissing me off is the fact that I'm scoring 12s and 13s on my sciences, but I can't seem to break that glass ceiling in EK verbal. Let me show you my scores :

Test 1 : 6
Test 2 : 8
Test 3 : 8
Test 4 : 7
Test 5 : 7
Test 6 : 7

And you said you get mostly 11s on your verbal on EK, and you got an actual 11 on your aamc. And what of me? Am I going to score a 7 on my actual MCATs? Way to make me feel better.

WHY THE !@#$ AM I NOT IMPROVING!!! F***

And what's freaking me out is, when I actually am not under timed conditions, I score 10~11, but take around 2 hours to finish 7 passages!!! WTF

Obviously you know the problem

 

[spyderracing32]

Blue Elmo I feel you on a lot of your grievances. I took exam 3 today and some of the questions are really bad (vague answer choices, poor explanations, etc.).

I got #31 wrong by answering that the passage suggests the author would disagree that most publisher would try to take advantage of a naive author. It is never stated that they would, but the correct answer "For the most part, royalty payments will determine an author's compensation." was sidestepped as being disagreeable to the author by stating that it was really the book sales that determined the authors compensation (when in reality, and as stated in the text, it is the combination of both!). I find the AAMC does a much better job of creating more polarized answers that can't be so easily contested.

 

[skinwoman]

wow. i was only sharing my experience as someone who embraced the EK verbal strategy after going through a verbal slump and saw results. my intention is not to make anyone "feel better," but to offer advice from someone who's been there before, knows how much it sucks, and found something that worked. this book isn't any more of a score predictor than any other study aid, but it's good practice for the tough stuff so one can avoid getting completely derailed by test day nerves.

as i noted above, part of the EK verbal strategy is to take a break from verbal if you're getting frustrated. it's easy to burn out on this stuff, and a day off can do wonders. you also gotta do the heavy lifting and review each answer after each practice test to figure out why you got an answer wrong, why the right answer is right, etc. if you don't know why your scores have plateaued, then you aren't looking in the right direction, and all the shouting in the world isn't going to raise that score. neither is the frustration over the 60 minute time limit. you have to learn how to operate within the MCAT's time constraints: that's part of the test.

 

[blackmamba24]

omg that royalty passage pissed me off.... in reality royalty payments are determined by book sales and when the damn passage says "bulk"... grr ek

 

[bionda]

I have the 2002 edition of the EK books and I cannot figure out how everyone is doing the scale score conversion if you're only doing 40 questions...could someone give me a little insight? i'd be forever in your debt!

 

[zogoto]

It's on the examkracker's website, under announcement.

 

[Tutmos]

The further I seem to get into the book the more prevalent garbage answers appear to be. I found 5 questions in test 6 that were dubious at best and using the standard of "best answer" were clearly wrong. That makes the scoring schema pretty pointless when they have such half -"posterior" quality control. The aamc tests I've done so far don't have this problem. They have some tough questions, but in the end at least they're right about them. The EK book has some tough questions because the answer they provide are wrong. Not quite the same thing.

My ringing endorsement of the book, EK 2nd edition 101 Verbal Passages, would be, it's not very good, other than for getting your timing down and thinking about the material you've read. Furthermore its most redeeming quality is that it isn't nearly as bad as the other competitor, Kaplan, that I have experience with. With such a niche market maybe it's tough to get first rate materials out from JV operations.

I should add that the actual content of the passages in the EK book is significantly more like the aamc test materials, just not the questions and answers .

If I had to make the choice over again, yes I'd still buy it, it's good practice but irritating as all hell because of the errors.

 

[Raigon]

wow. i was only sharing my experience as someone who embraced the EK verbal strategy after going through a verbal slump and saw results. my intention is not to make anyone "feel better," but to offer advice from someone who's been there before, knows how much it sucks, and found something that worked. this book isn't any more of a score predictor than any other study aid, but it's good practice for the tough stuff so one can avoid getting completely derailed by test day nerves.

as i noted above, part of the EK verbal strategy is to take a break from verbal if you're getting frustrated. it's easy to burn out on this stuff, and a day off can do wonders. you also gotta do the heavy lifting and review each answer after each practice test to figure out why you got an answer wrong, why the right answer is right, etc. if you don't know why your scores have plateaued, then you aren't looking in the right direction, and all the shouting in the world isn't going to raise that score. neither is the frustration over the 60 minute time limit. you have to learn how to operate within the MCAT's time constraints: that's part of the test.

Haha, I meant no offense skinwoman - I was only venting my frustration. I need to do that or I'll explode, so no need to get so defensive. I'll apologize if it makes you feel better. The fact you're watching everyone getting at least one 10 on their first 5 tests and not yourself won't exactly make your day (or days).

Yeah I took a break, took a day off and the next day, I scored a 7 (23/40) - my problem isn't constantly going to the passage, it's my lack of focus. I'm getting a bit scared that I'm going to run out of practice material and see no visible movement, and find myself trapped in a perpetual cycle of scaled scores of 6~8.

Yes, I do review all the answers, and fact is I'm not improving. But I do feel better after venting it out on the forums, and I confine myself to this thread to complain rather than spam around on other threads and cause my permanent removal from SDN. But yeah, I'll stop complaining. Lol. It does me no good, and it annoys other people.

I think 14 tests aren't enough for me to improve, I need about 20~30.

 

[StayingSteady]

Haha, I meant no offense skinwoman - I was only venting my frustration. I need to do that or I'll explode, so no need to get so defensive. I'll apologize if it makes you feel better. The fact you're watching everyone getting at least one 10 on their first 5 tests and not yourself won't exactly make your day (or days).

Yeah I took a break, took a day off and the next day, I scored a 7 (23/40) - my problem isn't constantly going to the passage, it's my lack of focus. I'm getting a bit scared that I'm going to run out of practice material and see no visible movement, and find myself trapped in a perpetual cycle of scaled scores of 6~8.

Yes, I do review all the answers, and fact is I'm not improving. But I do feel better after venting it out on the forums, and I confine myself to this thread to complain rather than spam around on other threads and cause my permanent removal from SDN. But yeah, I'll stop complaining. Lol. It does me no good, and it annoys other people.

I think 14 tests aren't enough for me to improve, I need about 20~30.

dude don't sweat it. obviously if you're able to get 10-11 when you take the tests NOT under timed conditions, then your problem isn't reasoning--it's time management. If what everyone says is true, and EK is actually a legit predictor, then don't waste those tests until you can get your timing down. Do you have kaplan materials? with the kaplan course, you get access to 20 something verbal tests, and while they aren't necessarily representative of the real thing, I've found that their passages require a lot more concentration in order to fully comprehend them. So you should practice with those, and then when you go back to EK, their passages will seem like cake.... and I don't know for sure, but I think (and dearly hope) that the real MCAT passages are more like the EK passages.

Also, have you taken any AAMC? How are you doing on those?

 

[futuredoctor10]

with the kaplan course, you get access to 20 something verbal tests, and while they aren't necessarily representative of the real thing, I've found that their passages require a lot more concentration in order to fully comprehend them. and I don't know for sure, but I think (and dearly hope) that the real MCAT passages are more like the EK passages.

Don't worry! I was in the Kaplan course and some of their VR passages, you don't even understand what they are talking about. But like you said, it's great preparation for EK or AAMC verbal sections - which in my opinion, are much more easy to read and understand. (Of course some AAMC questions are still tricky, but at least I think passages are much easier to comprehend on AAMC than in Kaplan).

Also, have you taken any AAMC? How are you doing on those?

Yeah good advice- maybe you can take an AAMC exam (so you can do the VR) and see how you do. You may find those easier than EK (I have heard some people do 1-2 points better on AAMC than EK).

 

[garyinthehouse]

Guys, i did the ek first edition verbal all the way through a few months ago, and would like to do it again...Would it be worth my while to erase my work and start anew? I really don't seem to remember passages or answers.

thanks!

 

[BlueElmo]

Update:

EK #3: 10

Man, that Freud and penis-penis competition or whatever it was totally screwed me over. Got a 3/6 on it. The passage was the most interesting I ever read for a Verbal section but the questions were totally out of it.

On a alarming note: I just took AAMC 9 and got a 9 on verbal. Damn, and I scored a 12 on AAMC 8. How the hell do scores fluctuate so much?

 

[Scarletblack]

yay I broke 10 on EK...

But what the hell was that guy smoking when he was talking about child selling??? (EK practice 6)

 

[Raigon]

yay I broke 10 on EK...

But what the hell was that guy smoking when he was talking about child selling??? (EK practice 6)

lol I remember that one