For people who English is 2nd language, do you notice difficulty in Verbal?

[Jonari]

Just curious if people are having trouble with the Verbal portion, if English isn't your first language. I'm not trying to make a debate or make excuses, but just wondering to see if there is any correlation between the two.

I just feel as if that my Verbal score is absolutely horrible and need to bring it up as soon as possible.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Aenyse]

absolutely, my highest on the aamc is an 8....it is depressing, but i think exam cracker might be helpful...

 

[HristosKaran]

Don't feel bad, English is my first language and I still suck at verbal .

 

[jochi1543]

Not really, it's my 2nd language, too, and I had a consistent 10 on my practice tests, and got a 10 on the real thing, as well.

 

[Virgil]

Heeeere comes Corpus!

 

[pathongko]

Definitely, i got 8 on both of my real MCAT. It's the only score that I couldn't improve. I also think it's the hardest section to improve, because it requires more skills than practices. However, my overall went from 28 to 34 though

 

[Jonari]

Well I have until January 31st to improve as much as I want to. I'm just going to start reading harder journal entries and try to write a synopsis of each and atleast that way it can improve my reading skills.

 

[BrokenGlass]

Just curious if people are having trouble with the Verbal portion, if English isn't your first language. I'm not trying to make a debate or make excuses, but just wondering to see if there is any correlation between the two.

I just feel as if that my Verbal score is absolutely horrible and need to bring it up as soon as possible.

Some people start learning English at 8 years old and say that English isn't their first language. Others start learning it at 30 and say the same thing.

When someone makes this claim, please elaborate when you began learning it, otherwise these statements aren't worth the paper they are written on.

 

[MundaneMD]

Let me just say that the Verbal section does cause difficulty for people that are not native English speakers. That's a fact.

BUT, do not use it as an excuse to dismiss a weakness. The fact is that the verbal section is just like any other section on the MCAT. You must practice it to get better. It is obviously the hardest section to improve, but it can be done.

Check out this thread:
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/archive/index.php/t-39366.html

 

[doytch]

english wasn't my first language and i had trouble w/verbal. i took the mcat multiple times just to improve verbal. i would think there maybe is a correlation b/c it's not really fair that some ppl were born speaking english.

Just curious if people are having trouble with the Verbal portion, if English isn't your first language. I'm not trying to make a debate or make excuses, but just wondering to see if there is any correlation between the two.

I just feel as if that my Verbal score is absolutely horrible and need to bring it up as soon as possible.

 

[CSnowFoxD]

Yeah it depends on when people learned English as their second language...But I do think not having English as my first language and also not speaking it at home or with friends have a detrimental effect on my VR score. I have the analytical part down, but I mostly miss questions because I miss nuances of words/phrases and so misunderstand the questions/answer choices. Watching American TV helps me on this, lol.

 

[UCDavisdude]

Heeeere comes Corpus!

haha

 

[xrevision]

I started learning english around the age of 7... And I guess it was early enough, because I don't have a real big problem with the verbal section.

 

[medicalCPA]

In my case, I grew up speaking a variant of English called "Pidgin English," which was basically English with all the rules thrown out the window and accented in the wrong places. But all my school instruction was in English, and I'm a self-styled bookworm. My native language is not English, but English is one of the official languages of my home country.
I think that the difficulty one has with English varies from person to person for those whose native language is not English, just like it does for those whose native language is English. For example, I got a perfect verbal SAT score, but I know of several people back home who had problems with SAT verbal. Same with MCAT verbal. I did okay on my practice MCAT verbal, but I would bet that there are people from my home country who would struggle with it.