Examkrackers 101 verbal reasoning?

[thesituation559]

Has anyone used this? It's for the MCAT but I feel like it would be great help for the reading comprehension section for the PCAT. I would appreciate any advice.

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[LightWeight]

i would like to know this as well. I did horrible on the verbal and reading comprehension.

 

[G8T0RGRL00]

I used that book However, I wouldn't say the passages and questions (p&q) in that book are representative of PCAT p&q. I felt that Examkrackers p&q were alot harder than the actual PCAT p&q.
I did do 2-3 passages/day from that book for 3-4 months and it made me feel a little bit more confident about taking RC section though.

 

[harmonidrum]

I bought the book, worked through 1 of the tests before I took a Pearson exam. I noticed the MCAT readings are much more difficult than PCAT readings, so I ended up giving the book to a friend of mine who is studying for the MCAT. I think Pearsons practice exams are your best bet for RC (I got a 97th percentile in RC).

 

[total foodie]

I ended getting that book from a friend who took the MCAT, but I did not read it until a week before I took the PCAT. I had been using "the Kaplan method" prior (which involved making a passage map). I was not doing too good with Kaplan's method, because my "map" always contained non-pertinent info. The examkrackers verbal strategy is to focus on the main idea and the tone of the author, which served me better. I still bombed the RC section, but I want to blame poor time management rather than any stategy I followed.

Personally, I will continue with the examkrackers method; I may even spring for the EK 101 passages in verbal reasoning, for more raw practice material.

 

[thesituation559]

What I plan on doing for the RC section is first dr collins ( I've heard it sucks for this part but just to warm up lol) then kaplan the exam krackers. I'll probably do 2 passages a day. Then I will take the 3 pearson test. Do the pearson exams show solutions to the problems after? In chem or Quant?

 

[G8T0RGRL00]

What I plan on doing for the RC section is first dr collins ( I've heard it sucks for this part but just to warm up lol) then kaplan the exam krackers. I'll probably do 2 passages a day. Then I will take the 3 pearson test. Do the pearson exams show solutions to the problems after? In chem or Quant?

Yup. You can see right answers and explanations for all of the sections except for the writing section (I don't think there was writing section in Pearson practice tests).

 

[harmonidrum]

What I plan on doing for the RC section is first dr collins ( I've heard it sucks for this part but just to warm up lol) then kaplan the exam krackers. I'll probably do 2 passages a day. Then I will take the 3 pearson test. Do the pearson exams show solutions to the problems after? In chem or Quant?

I wouldn't bother with DR Collins RC. I didn't even look at them or take them out of the packet.

 

[thesituation559]

Yup. You can see right answers and explanations for all of the sections except for the writing section (I don't think there was writing section in Pearson practice tests).

Great Thanks for the answer. How soon would you recommend buying these 3 exams? I'm still studying for the PCAT with the dr collins so I know I'm not ready to take them now. I am taking the test Sept 26th so I was thinking around sept 10 i should take one every 5 days.

 

[harmonidrum]

Great Thanks for the answer. How soon would you recommend buying these 3 exams? I'm still studying for the PCAT with the dr collins so I know I'm not ready to take them now. I am taking the test Sept 26th so I was thinking around sept 10 i should take one every 5 days.

I'd take one ASAP. Maybe leave one for a week before to see what you need to brush up on. But I found it easier to study Collins after seeing the Pearson exams.

 

[thesituation559]

I'd take one ASAP. Maybe leave one for a week before to see what you need to brush up on. But I found it easier to study Collins after seeing the Pearson exams.

Great advice. I will def do so after I go thru QAUNT section of dr collins. The test don't expire so i can login and take them any time? Also do I buy them on the pearson site? Thanks for all your advice

 

[G8T0RGRL00]

Great advice. I will def do so after I go thru QAUNT section of dr collins. The test don't expire so i can login and take them any time? Also do I buy them on the pearson site? Thanks for all your advice

According to the Pearson practice test site:
https://tpc-etesting.com/PCATOPT/About.aspx
"You will have access to the Practice Tests from the date of purchase until the end of the PCAT test cycle, which ends with the January PCAT test date."
You can also buy all the practice tests by following the link at the bottom of the website.

 

[total foodie]

Great advice. I will def do so after I go thru QAUNT section of dr collins. The test don't expire so i can login and take them any time? Also do I buy them on the pearson site? Thanks for all your advice

The pearson site tells me I have access to my tests until the end of the January PCAT test cycle. So sometime in January it appears

 

[thesituation559]

thanks for the responses. We can take the test multiple times correct? Take it once learn our mistakes and take it again? Or is it a one and done thing?

 

[G8T0RGRL00]

thanks for the responses. We can take the test multiple times correct? Take it once learn our mistakes and take it again? Or is it a one and done thing?

Yup. You can take practice tests multiple times.
Like harmonidrum said, I would suggest that you take one practice test as soon as possible to figure out your base-line score (you can view your scaled and percentile scores for each sub-sections and composite at the end of each exam). Go over the questions you got wrong and review/study content.
Repeat for 2nd practice test (about midway between now and your September test) and last practice test near your actual PCAT date.
Just my two cents Best of luck

 

[futurpharmacis]

Has anyone gotten over a 20 percentile on the RC of the PCAT after using examkracker 101 verbal reasoning?

 

[owlegrad]

Has anyone gotten over a 20 percentile on the RC of the PCAT after using examkracker 101 verbal reasoning?

Do you know how percentiles work? 20th percentile would be a terrible score.

 

[thesituation559]

Has anyone gotten over a 20 percentile on the RC of the PCAT after using examkracker 101 verbal reasoning?

You should be able to get 20th percentile without even studying

 

[mitchlucker]

The reading sections are similar enough to overlap practice materials (though I wouldn't use PCAT reading to study for MCAT verbal).

It can't hurt to have EK101 for PCAT verbal. It will be significantly harder than anything you've practiced so far, and be significantly harder than the RC you will see on your actual PCAT.

If you can improve on EK101 verbal sections, then your PCAT RC score will shoot up.

EK101 book is about $30 online. 1 Pearson practice test is $35 online. If you're really serious about boosting RC over the other sections, then buy the book.

Note: Got an 88 on PCAT reading. (94 composite) Was confident enough after taking 1 PCAT practice that I would be fine for the test. (thus, only studied for Wednesday, Thursday, Friday before my Saturday test) The hardcore studying I did for the MCAT 6 months prior carried over to the PCAT, and only had to brush up on my math for the PCAT. (Took the PCAT as a back up in case I never get into med school.)

 

[Pharmgrlnxdor]

I used this book and did two reading passages a day. This allowed me to practice much more than I would have using anything else. The practice fine tuned my ability to read complicated verbose passages fast and forced me to concentrate and pull out the pertinent info. People will say that you can't improve in this area or the verbal area...that is just bull. Read two passages and answer the questions in the allotted time per day for several weeks prior to your PCAT. Save several passages for two actual PCAT length reading comprehension self-tests...meaning spend (I think it is 50 minutes) the same amount of time doing the same amount of passages two times before (preferably the week before) your actual PCAT. In my opinion this is one of the best ways to improve your RC score. Yes, the passages are much harder than what you will encounter on the PCAT, but so what...this just means that you will be uberprepared with just some minimal effort on your part. I believe I spent a whopping 20 minutes a day for three weeks on this portion of the test. I got an 88 on this part of the test. Good luck!

 

[futurpharmacis]

To those who used examkracker 101 MCAT verbal reasoning and did well on the reading comprehension of the PCAT, did you score high the first time you took the practice tests of the book?

 

[mitchlucker]

To those who used examkracker 101 MCAT verbal reasoning and did well on the reading comprehension of the PCAT, did you score high the first time you took the practice tests of the book?

No. No way.

Scored a 7 on the 1st EK reading section (MCAT scored differently, I think a 7 is ~50% correct). They will improve with practice and review.

I scored an 87 on my RC for PCAT.

Do EK only for a bit. For 2 weeks, do only EK.

Take a test every other to every third day. Review the test the next day. Take as much time to review as it took you to take it. Understand why you got them wrong, how to avoid getting it wrong in the future. Etc. Then at the end of 2 weeks, when you go back to PCAT the passages, they will seem 1000x easier to understand, comprehend and answer questions about. Then, once you do well on these sections, you'll actually look forward to taking them and your confidence will go through the roof.

 

[futurpharmacis]

No. No way.

Scored a 7 on the 1st EK reading section (MCAT scored differently, I think a 7 is ~50% correct). They will improve with practice and review.

I scored an 87 on my RC for PCAT.

Do EK only for a bit. For 2 weeks, do only EK.

Take a test every other to every third day. Review the test the next day. Take as much time to review as it took you to take it. Understand why you got them wrong, how to avoid getting it wrong in the future. Etc. Then at the end of 2 weeks, when you go back to PCAT the passages, they will seem 1000x easier to understand, comprehend and answer questions about. Then, once you do well on these sections, you'll actually look forward to taking them and your confidence will go through the roof.

That makes me feel better. I was getting low scores on the practice test of EK. I thought I would bomb the RC of the PCAT given the low scores of the EK tests.

I noticed that there were many nonscience passages (history, parenting, business, law, etc) and some science packages in the EK. Did you focus on only the science passages and skipped the nonscience?

 

[mitchlucker]

That makes me feel better. I was getting low scores on the practice test of EK. I thought I would bomb the RC of the PCAT given the low scores of the EK tests.

I noticed that there were many nonscience passages (history, parenting, business, law, etc) and some science packages in the EK. Did you focus on only the science passages and skipped the nonscience?

Nope, did them all. PCAT has non-science ones too, if I remember correctly.

Some of the non-science ones are really interesting, too.

Should also take a PCAT practice or two before you take the real thing after practicing with EK. Just get used to the PCAT format.

 

[futurpharmacis]

Has anyone also tried the Examkracker MCAT verbal reasoning and math techniques. This book tells you the techniques and gives some passages to practice, but not as many as in Examkracker 101. Would it be helpful to get both books to prepare for the RC in the PCAT or using only the EK101 would do?