How often to practice Verbal?

[FauxBlue]

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I notice a few schedules say to do 3-4VPs a day. If I am using EK Verbal 101 and each verbal exam has 7 passages and its supposed to be an hour altogether, should I just do like 3-4 of those passages and use only 6 minutes for each passage for a total of say 18 minutes for 3 and 24 minutes for 4?

 

[allantois]

The format of verbal section, which is now called CARS, has been changed. It will have 9 passages and more time per passage (~10 mins). You may use the book to do 3-4 passages daily.

 

[FauxBlue]

The format of verbal section, which is now called CARS, has been changed. It will have 9 passages and more time per passage (~10 mins). You may use the book to do 3-4 passages daily.

Thank you for the update! Do you happen to know where I can find that information? I'd like to read up on what else has changed as well! Thanks!

 

[mikil100]

I would make sure to take time at least once a week to do a full 1.5 hr CARS session. Honestly the biggest thing with CARS is timing and not getting worn down. Doing three timed passages is great for getting your critical thinking/VR skills down, but when you're on the last two passages after an hour and ten minutes reading about subjective opinions on post-modernist art impressions, you're gonna be tired.

 

[justadream]

IMO, the only point of doing VR is for getting used to the timing and pace.

Actually trying to improve your score is extremely difficult and the definition of low yield. Even if you, by some herculean effort, manage to improve your score by 2-3 points, it still was likely an non-ideal choice to make. If you put that same amount of time into the other sections (much easier to raise your score), you'd probably end up with a higher overall score.

As such, I'd devote <10% on verbal (and maybe even less on the new test).

 

[El-Rami]

IMO, the only point of doing VR is for getting used to the timing and pace.

Actually trying to improve your score is extremely difficult and the definition of low yield. Even if you, by some herculean effort, manage to improve your score by 2-3 points, it still was likely an non-ideal choice to make. If you put that same amount of time into the other sections (much easier to raise your score), you'd probably end up with a higher overall score.

As such, I'd devote <10% on verbal (and maybe even less on the new test).

I agree with you for the most part. I have always score real high on verbal sections on various standardized tests (90+ percentile), so I feel that there is simply not much room to improve myself other than being comfortable with the pacing of an exam. Simply put, skills that you acquire for verbal are obtained over years of reading where you learn to understand various nuances in the English language as well as acquire a large vocabulary.

Those who can realistically improve their scores, in my opinion, are those who have a very hard time with verbal reasoning to begin with. They can learn techniques for identifying supporting information for a particular argument, learn words that convey tone, learn how to read at a faster rate that still allows them to understand what they just read, etc.

 

[ElectricNoogie]

I notice a few schedules say to do 3-4VPs a day. If I am using EK Verbal 101 and each verbal exam has 7 passages and its supposed to be an hour altogether, should I just do like 3-4 of those passages and use only 6 minutes for each passage for a total of say 18 minutes for 3 and 24 minutes for 4?

If you are still using EK 101 you should skip all the Natural Science passages. Find as much CARS material as you can that's designed with the new MCAT in mind.

Little has changed from VR to CARS in terms of passage tone and questions. The test format is new (1 Q at a time) and there are no more natural science passages. You will now have 90 minutes to do 53 Qs spread out across 9 passages, so it's very similar to the section as it was in the early to late 2000s. You now have more time (10 mins) per passage but remember, you can only see 1 Q at a time so there will be some delay in going from Q to Q.

When should you do CARS practice? Listen to Drake and make your CARS motto "everyday." Start with 1-2 and you can increase as you progress so that by the final 2-4 weeks of studying, you're comfortable doing 9 passages in a row. In the beginning, make sure you focus on reading and recognizing opinions, arguments and conclusions made by the author. These are what most of the Qs will focus on. Speed will come with practice so learn to do it right first. Highlighting, note-taking, all are valid methods so try them out until you find what works best for you.

Good luck!