AAMC FL verbal scores: 9, 12, 11, 11, 10, 11, 11, 8 (1st = the "getting used to the computer format" verbal exam; last = the "panic attack omg the real MCAT is days away" verbal exam)
real thing: 11
VERBAL ADVICE (taken from an email to my sister and a DM here on SDN):
this is just general advice i wrote for my sister, this is her 3rd time taking the exam bcs of verbal, and she had never scored double digits in verbal before, but just got a 10 on an AAMC, so hopefully they work for you.
this is why i do, and they're very general ideas to try.
1. sit up super straight, 2 feet on the floor, silently moving your lips as if you're reading the passage aloud. this has to do with your alertness - you will vividly recall getting attacked while you're more likely to forget something while falling asleep because of your alertness due to the sympathetic nervous system. don't try to get comfortable and fidget - being relaxed will hinder your attention. minimally mouthing the words is like making them more than thoughts, which are quickly forgot, and more like things you've said aloud, which are obviously more distinct.
2. read slowly and fully comprehend the passage. if you need to reread a line that is the first or last in a paragraph because right after you read it you didn't fully understand it, do that. the most important lines are the first and last - they summarize the idea. the whole time you're reading a passage you should be trying to build an idea about what the author is trying to say. if you didn't understand a paragraph by the end, then you should only reread the first and last lines. you don't have enough time to completely reread sections of the passage, while reading or during the question process.
3. after reading the question, read the answers before trying to locate a part of the passage the answer might be. you'd be surprised how many times the answer is obvious, and you save the time that you might have spent rereading something you didn't have to. focus on words like NOT or WEAKEN as they change what you'd choose. cross out obviously wrong answers as you read them, but don't cross out all the possible answers except your choice - if you have to go back and review marked questions, you want to know what 2 or 3 options you trying to decide between.
4. minimally highlight. you should know the ideas based on reading, but highlight only specific names or examples throughout, never long passages. the point of highlighting is that if they ask what say Dr. Callum might think of XXXXX, you need to be able to find where in the passage he is discussed if you can't come up with the answer via recall.
5. build a stereotype of the author in your as you read. imagine it's man or woman, then fill in all the details based on stereotypes. the point of this isn't to answer questions you might find in the passage, but if you are asked an opinion question, and can't decide between 2 choices, go with what you imagine they'd choose. answering all the questions from their mindstate instead of trying to be analytical is much faster, while only sacrificing some accuracy.
6. don't sit on a question forever. if after a minute you just don't know the answer and aren't any closer to knowing, guess one, mark the question, and move on. you don't have time to go back and find every answer in the passage, rereading it every time. mark these questions, and when you're at the end, if you have extra time, you can go back and see if you might be able to second guess yourself. again, even at the end, unless you've only marked 1 or 2, you don't have time to reread an entire passage. some questions you'll answer immediately, some you'll have to go back to a part of the passage you can easily locate to determine, and a few you'll just have to guess. admit you're going to get some wrong regardless and focus on getting as many right as possible. 2 easy questions are worth more than 1 hard question.
7. only check the time once during the entire exam. after 4 passages, you should have roughly 27 minutes left. if you have 25 minutes or less, realize you have to minimize going back to the passage. don't rush, just be steady throughout. right answers on 2 passages that you get 80% correct and rushing on the last where you get 50% is better than getting 2/3 correct on 3 passages.
hopefully that helps. with this, i've gotten everything from a 9 on my first exam to a 12 on the second. this tends to be the section most people do badly on, and thus, from what i read, a good score in this is worth more than a good score in the sections more people tend to do well in. remember, it doesn't require any previous knowledge or studying, and the answer is always on the screen. you literally just have to read a page and answer questions about it. confidence and efficiency is key to doing well, not knowing anything in particular - minimize outside thoughts, especially about how stressful the exam is or passages triggering memories. as you go along believe you're getting 90% right and you'll at worst get 80% right, which is a 10+. you can miss 10 questions and still get a 10. if you miss 1 per passage, that's an 11. admit you're going to miss some and focus on the ones you can get right.
hmm, i will say, i once (just 1 time!!!) got a 7 on a EK 101 section because i missed an entire passage worth of questions (7 in a row...) - i didn't realize the entire passage was being facetious. if you find you don't understand the passage at all while reading it, focus on the beginning and ending of each paragraph / idea, and try to conceptualize it as an ideation instead of focusing on the body of the paragraph which is usually just support / examples. people tend not to miss questions on specifics that can be quickly found in the passage if they highlighted that example - the ones they're going to miss are interpreting the author's argument as to why he is even writing this in the first place. the specifics just support the idea. focus on the idea, and the single most important thing to do is to focus on the author's argument, from his perspective. if you aren't getting the idea as you read (again, the most important thing and why you're reading in the first place), then read slower, fill in the [imaginary] details more yourself (ie stereotyping the author), and reread the beginning and end of paragraphs / ideas / sections immediately after you've finished them. i was more talented at writing (which takes talent) than the sciences (which takes effort), and spoke english all my life, so if you're an english 2nd language or somewhat dyslexic, i can't make any promises, but if you can read and understand the simplified / stereotyped argument you've created based on the passage, i can't imagine getting below a 10 on the actual thing. the 1st score i got was a 9 because i found reading passages on the screen totally different after 2+ months of doing them in the book, but since then, i've been at my average in the books with minimal effort put in. realistically, this is the easiest section of the test (people who work with reading opinionated articles could walk in and get a 12+ no practice) - the only reason people do badly on it is because they approach it with the same mindstate as the science sections using their science brain (right / wrong; black / white) instead of their arts brains (which they might have underdeveloped). confidence (remember you can miss 10 and get a 10, which is only 75% correct); consistency (read slow & steady; minimize going back if you 90% confident); and conceptualizing (you don't need to memorize the passage, you just need to understand a majority (remember 75%) of it). do that and you should be getting consistent double digit averages.
they are rarely correct though.
