How to do verbal passage mapping?

[Ash366]

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I am practicing MCAT verbal and I don't know how to map. When I read each paragraph I try to ask myself "why the author would write this" and I can't really write one word or two word to sum it up. It takes a couple of words or even a sentence at times.

Can you put up a sample passage and do atleast one or two paragraphs on what you would write? Or maybe just post a paragraph and give a one or two word map.
Thank you.

 

[DoctorInASaree]

You are unable to sum up a passage in one or two words? Good. You're not supposed to. One sentence is plenty good.

Don't read each paragraph's contents asking "why the author would write this". You should be digesting relevant information (i.e. - what information do I require to answer passage questions, and rank the information from high to low priority). You should figure out the author's position/crux of the passage AFTER you have read the passage. Not before, and not during. You're going to make countless mistakes if you do that. Why jump to conclusions when you haven't taken the time to properly evaluate the author's premises?

I'll be posting a Verbal tome on either Thursday/Friday, and I will solve a few passages directly from EK/TPR. If you can wait until then I'm sure it will aid you, or stay tuned for others to chime in 🙂

 

[Ash366]

After reading many posts from sdn as well as Kaplan etc. They say to map it paragraph by paragraph by writing a few words on why the author is writing this so it helps you when you try to answer questions.

I also found this list of keywords and am planning on memorizing these to help me. The link is : http://quizlet.com/24374814/mcat-verbal-keywords-flash-cards/

This is what I am trying to do.
1: read each paragraph and map it by writing a few words
2: try to be alert for keywords
At the end of passage I try to figure out the main idea or why the author would even spend time writing this.

Any other tips? And thank you I'll be waiting for your post 🙂

 

[DoctorInASaree]

After reading many posts from sdn as well as Kaplan etc. They say to map it paragraph by paragraph by writing a few words on why the author is writing this so it helps you when you try to answer questions.

I also found this list of keywords and am planning on memorizing these to help me. The link is : http://quizlet.com/24374814/mcat-verbal-keywords-flash-cards/

This is what I am trying to do.
1: read each paragraph and map it by writing a few words
2: try to be alert for keywords
At the end of passage I try to figure out the main idea or why the author would even spend time writing this.

Any other tips? And thank you I'll be waiting for your post 🙂

Tips? Don't follow Kaplan's verbal strategy. I would be a grandmother by the time I finished one verbal passage 😀. Their method simply consumes too much time - never mind whether it is efficacious or not. I suppose key/trigger words are important, but treat the passage like you would a human being: all human beings are to be valued and respected, so treat every word in the passage with respect. [In your pursuit of trigger words you may turn a blind eye towards detail(s) in the passage].

Allow me to plagiarize myself for a moment:

You need to be proficient at spotting arguments...the anatomy of a deductive argument is 1) premise(s) 2) inference 3) conclusion.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }
A premise is a core assumption upon which the argument is built. Words such as Assume, Since, Obviously and Because introduce the premises of an argument.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }
Inference steps are often identified by phrases like "therefore..." or "... implies that...”

Yes, I pay attention to trigger words, but only to spot an argument and to test its validity.