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Hey guyys, there are plenty of us still struggling in verbal, For the people doing well, how often do you refer back to the passage for answers to the questions?
Cooolguy said:Hey guyys, there are plenty of us still struggling in verbal, For the people doing well, how often do you refer back to the passage for answers to the questions?
DF38 said:I've gotten a 12 and a 13 on my last two practice tests (both Kaplan, haven't done an AAMC yet), and I almost always refer back to the passage. Sometimes it's just a quick check to verify an answer I'm pretty sure is right, sometimes it's a more intensive re-reading of a section.
My strategy is to read the passage thorougly once. Then I'll do the questions, and check back in the passage for the answers. I never do any sort of outlining, underlining, summarizing, etc.
witt105 said:I think that reading the passage all the way through and trying to completely understand it while you are reading (paraphrasing) is the best way to attack verbal. Then, you can answer some of the questions without looking back and if you do have to go back, you have a pretty good idea of where stuff is.
ADeadLois said:I can't stress enough how superior the EK strategy is, which entails not referring back to the passage unless you absolutely have to. I started using Kaplan's strategy and would get 7-8s on EK. I switched to the EK strategy of reading the passage through without mapping. My scores when up to the point where I am consistently getting 10s.
Going back to the passage is, on the whole, a waste of time. If you read through it thoroughly the first time, you'll only need to check back once or twice for more detail oriented questions.
The most important advice I can give, and one that is often overlooked, is MAKE SURE THE ANSWER CHOICE YOU CHOOSE ANSWERS THE QUESTION. This was the result of nearly all my mistakes early on. In nearly every choice there will be an answer choice that is verbatim from the passage, yet does not answer the question. Going back to the passage could, in fact, cause you to choose the answer choice.
I don't think it's the EK strategy, I think the EK strategy is to not refer back to the passage. I don't know how long it takes me to read the passage, not that long at all though since I'm a really fast reader. I tend to finish the verbal section with about 20 minutes to spare.Cooolguy said:That is the EK strategy correct? How long does it take you to read a passage on average? It seems to take me near 4 minutes when i read it very thorougly. After I am through reading, I do the questions without referring back to the passage almost 90% of the time. This is the only way I can finish on time. Any ideas to improve from a 7? lol
musiclink213 said:I hardly ever go back, unless the question is osmething like "the authors use of the word antidisestablishmenterism in line 542 most likely means". Find it to be too tiresome and often misleading towards teh wrong answer.
Cooolguy said:Hey guyys, there are plenty of us still struggling in verbal, For the people doing well, how often do you refer back to the passage for answers to the questions?
alex_shimp said:I think there are "clues" like if they say that... from the passage we can induce that "blah blah"
then most likly a direct answer is not in there.
If they said that passage states "blah lbha"
then maybe you should look back?
I am having trouble myself with constantly looking back / and figureing out exactly when. I never annotate the passage either (i've been getting 9-10s so far) but I really want 11-12
Myabe I should try annotating... who knows...