How do you practice Verbal effectively??

[Dyingduck]

I was just wondering how you guys study/review effectively for VR.


Right now, I am doing 2-3 VR passages a day in strict time condition (~8.5 mins). Then, I would wait until the next day to review the previous day passages. In my review, I re-read the whole passage and redo all the problems I got wrong.

Then, I examine all the solutions (even the ones I got right) and document in an excel (ie what I did right/wrong).


Now, this process is painfully slow. So, I was curious how you would prepare for the VR effectively esp. to those who have prior success in the actual MCAT VR.

(e.g. Do you guys re-read the passages the next day? Redo the problems? Etc.)


Thanks.

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[NinjaMed]

I usually skip a full day before doing so.
(i.e. >48 hours)

 

[NickNaylor]

I think you're probably over thinking it. Do a lot of practice tests, use the EK 101 book, and go over the answers to see if you can figure out what you missed.

Unfortunately the key to VR lies in the subtleties IMO. That's not something that's really all that easy to teach or learn.

 

[Dyingduck]

I think you're probably over thinking it. Do a lot of practice tests, use the EK 101 book, and go over the answers to see if you can figure out what you missed.

Unfortunately the key to VR lies in the subtleties IMO. That's not something that's really all that easy to teach or learn.

Interesting. What do you mean by "subtleties?" I am curious.

Also, if I shorten my time to review each passage to allow for more time (and brain cells) to do more passages, how should I modify my review plan?

 

[NickNaylor]

Interesting. What do you mean by "subtleties?" I am curious.

Also, if I shorten my time to review each passage to allow for more time (and brain cells) to do more passages, how should I modify my review plan?

All the things between the lines in the passage are the subtleties. You have to pick up on tone, inferences, what's being said in the passage versus what you know from your background knowledge... all kinds of little things. You have to be able to read a passage, synthesize all the information from it, and spit out some common themes/ideas. It's easy to teach someone how to read a passage and highlight topic sentences. It's hard to teach them what is important in a passage and what isn't and to use that information to get to the core of what the author is saying. It just comes with experience or innately.

Well, the first thing I would do is ditch the 8.5 minutes per passage plan. I would try and get some tests that are ~40 questions in length, 6 or 7 passages (like the real test) and time yourself for 60 minutes. On the real test there will be a passage or two that is/are very easy, and there will be one or two that is/are very hard. The hard time limits aren't a good strategy for practice or for the real test IMO.

It's important to spend time going over the test and trying to understand why certain answers are correct, but I think documenting everything in an Excel sheet is a bit much, unless you find that it actually helps you. Read the explanation in the solutions (if one is given), reread the necessary passages, and try and get to the same solution. Practice, practice, practice.

 

[kehlsh]

Doing 2 passages is much less stressful than trying to do whole verbal FLs (7 psgs)

Therefore, you will def do better with fragmented pieces. But that won't be as effective practice as doing the entire verbal FLs. IMO

 

[stevohornick]

I'd get some study tips before rushing into increasing real passages practice time.
I bought two study guides, 25 dollars each, which included lots of practice and guide lines for solving. I got Kaplan's and testprep-online's. They both have important insights on analysing texts. I'm trying to merge their tips into my own stand...

I'm pretty sure that our "reading miles" of literature could have done a great change in our verbal performance. Too bad I prefer computer games over reading....

 

[NinjaMed]

-snip-
Too bad I prefer computer games over reading....

What, like chess?

 

[stevohornick]

That too, yeah!!
windows' chess titans is pretty nice.

 

[recycledpaper]

i got a 10 on verbal on the 6/17 mcat that just passed and i even had to guess the entire last passage.

what i did was do a complete verbal section every other day (7 passages total) and in-between covering materials for BS and PS sections, i would just pick up something to read. anything i could get my hands on, i read and practiced my discipline and focus.

started reading the paper every morning thurs-sunday. read 3-4 self-help books (lol) and even started reading some research articles. it helped a lot.