How important is Verbal?

[GatorWell]

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Did anyone you know got into a medical school with 6 or less on verbal?

 

[Deuce 007 MD]

I think it is the most important section. The first time around I scored 30M (7v,11p,12b) w/3.5 gpa and didn't get into any schools. Most of the schools told me it was my low verbal, even though I explained in my personal statement that english is not my primary language. Second time around got my verbal up to a 9 and got in. It's possible w/a 6 in verbal, but I think IMHO not likely.

 

[loyen]

I can't remember where I read this, but there were stats once that showed while the MCAT was a good predictor of performance in medical school, the verbal section was the BEST indicator of performance. Weird, huh.

It was probably from some very reputable source. Like Cosmo or something.

 

[GatorWell]

I am trying to explore my options right now. My first MCAT score was 5 on verbal, 10's on sciences. (with 3.9 GPA) I have been in US for 10 years. Currently, I am a Florida resident. Is it possible for me to at least an interview??? Any one you know got in with similiar situations? if so, what schools? Thanks. I appreciate it.

 

[anxiousone]

i know of one person that got into all virginia medical schools along with others with a 7v, 12p, 11b and a 3.9 average...another person had a 8v, 13p, 13b. i've talked to the associate dean of admissions at a med school, and he said that the verbal is the most important section because it does correlate with the best academic performance while in med school.

 

[DD214_DOC]

Probably because anyone can memorize anatomy or biochemical processes, but not everyone is proficient in the skills required for the verbal section.

 

[mute360_CO]

Originally posted by GatorWell
Did anyone you know got into a medical school with 6 or less on verbal?

I did and am really lucky, too. 🙂 First time : 5V, 9P, 11B, M; Second time: 6V, 8P, 10B, Q. I studied mostly verbal between the Apr. and Aug. tests and so the others dropped. I was still disappointed to see a low V, though. 🙁

With your numbers, you should at least get some interviews. If you have good ECs and LORs, those interviews should definitely be coming your way. It wouldn't hurt to retake the test 🙁 to improve that V score if everything else is in order.

Good luck!

 

[Radiohead]

I think verbal is BS. I scored a 7 on verbal, 13 p, 10 b, M....was accepted to med school anyway...and made a 4.0 my first year..and still made fun of all the gunners who got 13's in verbal and C's in gross anatomy 🙂 So, don't stress. IMHO, verbal means nothing. It is one section of a test that you spend a whole 1 1/2 hours on.

 

[gramcracker]

I've heard that verbal is the *most* important section. You've got to be able to read critically in medicine--not just textbooks, but journals, and think critically about the text, and analyze it.

Especially for the "well-rounded" category, med schools want people who can write and read well, not just uber-science people.

 

[Rudy1223]

radiohead is right.

 

[Radiohead]

I would beg to differ. The only way to be successful on the VR section is to study, study, study. People who get 13-15 on the verbal study their a**es off and get lucky. Even the most gifted literary in the world would do miserably on the verbal section w/o practice. I did not study at all for VR. I did a few passages here and there and that landed me a 7...and on the acceptance borderline.

 

[ironey]

Originally posted by Radiohead
I would beg to differ. The only way to be successful on the VR section is to study, study, study. People who get 13-15 on the verbal study their a**es off and get lucky. Even the most gifted literary in the world would do miserably on the verbal section w/o practice. I did not study at all for VR. I did a few passages here and there and that landed me a 7...and on the acceptance borderline.

Completely untrue. I think that the people who do well on verbal are the people who read a lot in "real" life. Myself, I didn't formally study verbal at all. However, I am the type of person with an ecclectic love of reading. So I guess you could say that I'd been "studying" verbal for years . . . .

 

[Entei]

Verbal is a very important section, otherwise it wouldn't be on the MCAT. Don't discount it because it's not a science. The writing section isn't too important, but that's only because it's so subjective and there are other things (like the personal statement) that are used to judge writing ability.

That said, it's not really a section with a lot of tricks up its sleeve. If you're comfortable with reading a lot of different material on varying subjects, verbal's not too tricky. I can only speak from my own experience, but I studied much more for the bio and phys sections and did much better on the verbal than the other two sections.

I've heard of people getting in with 6s and 7s in verbal, though it is difficult to do so. Good luck!

 

[TexasRose]

Radiohead, you're wrong. While some people may have to study their butts off to do well in Verbal, some of us are just naturally better at reading, absorbing, and utilizing volumes of written material. Last I heard, there's a lot of that in med school. Maybe, just maybe, these scores are meant to be predictors and not hard and fast rules about who can succeed.

BTW, Anecdotes don't make truth.


Gatorwell:
That being said, everyone has their strengths and hopefully you will have the opportunity to show the adcoms that you have what it takes.

T

 

[VienneseWaltz]

The verbal is like the other sections: People who have done a lot of bio or chem don't need to study as much for those sections as people who haven't had as many science classes. Similarly, people who do a lot of reading and writing don't need to study as hard to get a good verbal score.

loyen is right: VR has the highest correlation with the preclinical grades in med school, but of course your success isn't preordained by your verbal score. As with the MCAT, people have the option of studying to make up for a lack of specific experience or talent for a subject.

 

[Radiohead]

Reading alot is like studying for the verbal section. So, people who do well on that section ARE actually studying hard for it whether they realize it or not. I can't say that I have met anyone who scored well on the VR and did not either read alot or do 1,000 practice passages. Me, i hate to read and did not practice much and made a 7. And as I stated earlier, the 7 had no correlation with my grades. I also know a guy who got a 6 in verbal, currently in my class, and did very well this past year.

 

[GatorWell]

is 5 acceptable? along with 10z on sciences and 3.9 gpa?

 

[spumoni620]

Originally posted by Entei
Verbal is a very important section, otherwise it wouldn't be on the MCAT. Don't discount it because it's not a science.

I agree verbal shouldn't be discounted just b/c it's not a science. that said...keep in mind that the other scientific sections test verbal reasoning ability as well, esp. the ability to integrate/understand/apply new material.

I don't know anything about the OPs chance of getting interviews etc. b/c I'm new to the process...but it seems to me if your grades are good, if you've taken some humanities courses, and your PS is decent/creative, I don't see why a lower verbal score should hold you back...

The writing section isn't too important, but that's only because it's so subjective and there are other things (like the personal statement) that are used to judge writing ability.

This is tangential, but I had to disagree with this point that the writing section isn't important b/c it's subjective and other things are used to judge writing ability etc. in MANY cases, the VR section is also quite subjective (in some cases, it is truly a matter of opinion what the author's intended message/symbolism is in literary criticism...).

Besides, the writing section is not a test of "writing ability" as a personal statement is (i.e. when writing your PS, you have unlimited amounts of time to compose it)...i know the scoring for the WS is wack, but in a sense, the WS is a test of skills important for clinical practice--i.e. how quickly you can think on your feet, and how effectively and clearly you can organize and communicate ideas (as to a patient) under pressure. in fact, just as the VR section is highly correlated with grades in med school, the writing section apparently correlates highly with the degree of success/competency during residency. (This is from a very interesting research article off the AAMC website...provided by Paws...🙂)


So anyway, just my $.02. good luck to the OP!

 

[thackl]

Some are naturals at VR, but most are not. I don't think leisure reading will help much. For me, it took lots of practice. I started out in PR with a 6 and ended up with a 12. The PR method is to throw you in the "sandbox" by having you attempt only 5,6 or at most, 7 passages (after ranking of course). The caveat is you must be completely anal and try to get everything right on the selected passages. This method didn't help my score much (peaked at 8), however, it did force me to focus on why I got questions wrong.

About 2.5wks before the MCAT I ditched the method and started doing all the passages (imediately scored a 10). This is not hard. Another misconception is that you must be an extraordinarily quick reader. Not true! I am very slow and subvocalize horibly and if I try to speed up nearly all concepts and main points are lost. In the end, I didn't waste time ranking, browsing questions, marking up the passage with stuff related to the questions, etc. I spent most of my time reading and understanding. I only highlighted main ideas and author opinions. Very little time was spent on the questions. By doing the PR method and practicing (probably 150+ passages total over 3 months- not that hard) my insticts became much better. I learned methods on how to eliminate answer choices ("teasers, moldy, extreme, partially correct", etc) and get to the correct one over 80% of the time. Critical post analysis is an important part of this as well. Why did you pick the wrong ans? Why is it wrong? Why is the right ans right?

If not a natural, bust your ass. This is the most important test you will ever take. Don't short yourself......... and yes, I too have been told by many, including the director of admissions at my brothers school, that the VR is considered very highly, followed by BIO, which is just VR2 (that's for another rant).

 

[ironey]

Originally posted by iamhere
to the person who said people that do well are readers...i never read in my life...besides assignments and a book here or there as a kid. and i scored a 14...i practiced my a$$ off and that is what i suggest. i don't know how important it is, but i sure as hell hope that it is!

Umm, I was responding to the post I quoted from. . . .

quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Originally posted by Radiohead
I would beg to differ. The only way to be successful on the VR section is to study, study, study. People who get 13-15 on the verbal study their a**es off and get lucky. Even the most gifted literary in the world would do miserably on the verbal section w/o practice. I did not study at all for VR. I did a few passages here and there and that landed me a 7...and on the acceptance borderline.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


So, Radiohead said that the ONLY people who do good on the Verbal are those who study their asses off. I pointed out that some of us read a lot and didn't have to do practice passages to get good scores. I am glad that your hard work paid off, but I am very sorry to hear that you don't read for enjoyment.

 

[Entei]

I don't want to highjack the thread, but, yeah, I have read the study that Paws linked to. From my experience, however, the writing section really doesn't play a big factor in admissions, which was the point I was trying to make. Despite the fact that I'm not sure about the conclusions from the AAMC study (the majority of communication during residency will be verbal, I think, not written), the writing section isn't carefully scrutinized by admissions committees, at least, not at the schools at which I interviewed. Perhaps it should be more highly regarded, given the results of the study, but from my experience not much importance is placed on the writing section. And if the verbal section is subjective, it is not even near the level of the writing, where even bad handwriting has been known to lose people points.

And no, a good writing score does not make up for a poor verbal score, or vice versa.

Originally posted by spumoni620
Besides, the writing section is not a test of "writing ability" as a personal statement is (i.e. when writing your PS, you have unlimited amounts of time to compose it)...i know the scoring for the WS is wack, but in a sense, the WS is a test of skills important for clinical practice--i.e. how quickly you can think on your feet, and how effectively and clearly you can organize and communicate ideas (as to a patient) under pressure. in fact, just as the VR section is highly correlated with grades in med school, the writing section apparently correlates highly with the degree of success/competency during residency. (This is from a very interesting research article off the AAMC website...provided by Paws...🙂)

 

[JM.]

It isnit how good you are at Verbal - it's how good you are at oral that really makes the Adcoms stand at attention.

 

[dcpark74]

What's interesting to note in the verbal section is that the passages are not the same; social science, humanities, and natural science.

I got a 9 in verbal, but if you ask me...motivation and discipline is the biggest key to success in medical school...not a score in verbal.

For example, if you are genuinely interested in learning a subject then I guarantee that you will do better than if you weren't. I consistently scored very high in natural science passages (reason obvious...chem major). My performance in social sciences and humanities varied from poor to excellent...the reason: if I was interested in the subject then I did well. No exceptions.

But a 6 in verbal is marginal at best..good luck to you!🙂

 

[Lab-Rat21]

What if English is not your first language?

I have taken the MCAT twice and never made it above a V7.

My last was V7 P10 B9...I'm waitlisted at six schools still, but when I answered English was not my first language and that I was bilingual (English & Spanish) it SEEMED like it was OK, but still no calls/emails...🙁

Were they patronizing me?

 

[dcpark74]

Originally posted by Lab-Rat21
What if English is not your first language?

I have taken the MCAT twice and never made it above a V7.

My last was V7 P10 B9...I'm waitlisted at six schools still, but when I answered English was not my first language and that I was bilingual (English & Spanish) it SEEMED like it was OK, but still no calls/emails...🙁

Were they patronizing me?

Sorry to hear your situation.🙁 I don't know what it would be like to have english as my second language. I know someone who received only a 3 in VR (ESL also...didn't get in obviously). But a 7 is not horrible.

Good luck and hope you are taken off the waitlists soon.