How long did you read The Economist (or a magazine) each day to preparefor MCAT?

[Gauss44]

I am a slow reader, yet when I read The Economist instead of working through prep books, I FEEL LIKE I am wasting time. So I am wondering how long most people spend reading The Economist or similar magazines each day to prepare? How long did you spend reading magazines? When did you notice improvement if you were a slow reader or having comprehension problems?

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[Back 5]

The Economist and similar magazines are really only helpful if you aren't a reader. Did you grow up reading books? Are you comfortable reading, intently, for long periods of time? If yes, then you don't necessarily have to focus on reading these magazines.

With that said, last year I purchased a subscription to The Economist and to The New Yorker in preparation. Most of the time, with work, classes, studying, the last thing I wanted to do for my free time was read these magazines for an hour. Besides, how do you gauge your level of comprehension, which the verbal section tests?

My advice is to pick up a series of books you really enjoy and read them for joy. Read each word and get your brain and eyes used to focusing for a solid hour. Don't skip ahead and just have fun reading. That has been the best help for verbal, for me.

 

[Trayshawn]

Whatever you would gain from reading articles, you would gain from reading lots of passages.
Pick up one of the shI*tier MCAT verbal sources. Even some LSAT, SAT, GMAT etc... The problem with these sources is very rarely the passage quality. Rather its the question/answer choice quality. You can do the questions if you want to gauge your comprehension, but keep in mind that they wont really at all be helpful in terms of answering MCAT questions. The main goal would be to understand how to read about various topics, except this is a much more high yield method than reading random articles of NY times or the economist with no real way to gauge your comprehension.

My verbal has already improved to the 10 range (from 6) since my main problem was reading - never did much of that growing up.

 

[ur2l8]

I read the economist long before I heard about it for mcat because my father reads it and I enjoy current events. Just read what you love. I probably read it for 2-3 hrs/ week (for pleasure)

 

[NuttyEngDude]

I read the economist long before I heard about it for mcat because my father reads it and I enjoy current events. Just read what you love. I probably read it for 2-3 hrs/ week (for pleasure)

 

[Renaissance Man]

Don't randomly read the Economist to prepare for the MCAT...please. Waste of time, just do more VR passages.