How to for the Verbal section

[JulianCrane]

It seems like everyone here is going 4 hour long marathons of Verbal each day, and I don't understand this. How do you guys do it? I've prepped for Verbal during break by just doing 2-3 pracitce passages a day. I'ev been averaging 1-3 questions wrong per passage, and I think's that's pretty good since the MCAT is 3 months away. What do you rest of you think? What is needed to get a 10 in this section?

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[osar92]

where are you guys getting all of these verbal passages to practice with?
Im afraid if i do 3 or 4 passages per day, i will run out of passages to do well before april test day

 

[JulianCrane]

I am using my friend's TPR workbook, and the verbal passages in the Flowers and Silver book. I'm afraid if I do like I've been doing, I'll run out of passages too.

 

[Bostonienses]

Well, I guess it's just a matter of how comfortable people are with the VR section. I do one VR test a week, but I time it just like the MCAT. If people feel as though 2-4 hour are necessary, then that's how it has to be. If doing one section is enough for you, then all power to ya.
Hmm, to get a 10 on the VR... Honestly, just practice. A 10 is not that hard to get on that section if you learn how to read the passage and grasp the main points quickly. Many review books will give you all these pointers, but really, that is the one section where time and concentration are key. Just practice tons of tests and TIME yourself.
The one hint I though was worth keeping was to look at who wrote the passage and where it was published (it's usually given at the end of the passage). By seeing where it was published you can get an idea about what it's really about.
Good Luck!

 

[efex101]

I am doing maybe one hour of verbal every other day, sometimes every two days. I am not going to do any full lenght anything until I have reviewed everything which will be by the end of January when I start TPR. Once I start doing full length MCAT, then I can hone in on what I really need to spend time with. I am just hesitant to do full length until I have read all the review EK books. I am getting anywhere from 0-3 or even four wrong per passage depending on where the passage came from. I was doing great with the Kaplan verbal passages and then I started doing the AAMC practice passages and I suck! I can read fast and whatnot but damm some of the questions throw me off. So I am just practicing, hopefully eventually I will get it to click. We have plenty of time and should be fine by the time April rolls around.

 

[Ramoray]

I am never sure, i did quite a bit of practice and was happy with my practice scores yet during the real mcat i could never achieve the same score.. that scares me i hate it!

 

[Naphtali]

I dunno... I only spent an hour every other day. And I only started just before spring break. (I got 11 VR.)

Timing is key. Learn to work within the time you have. An ocasional 2 or 4 hour session may be OK, but would advise against too many such marathons. At the real test you won't have a section that long. Too much practice under non-testing conditions isn't as good as testing condtions.

What I found to help was to take full, proctored tests, in public places. Wear the exact same clothes you will forthe MCAT, same pencils, same everything. I did this three times. Even a little stress can help. One of the tests a friend proctored for me in a McDonald's. You learn to work in all kinds of conditions.

-Naphtali

 

[efex101]

That is a great idea for we know that the testing conditions are not always perfect he he. I am also shooting to do some timed exams with a friend and will for sure follow your advice. Thanks.

 

[BushBaby]

Originally posted by Naphtali
I dunno... I only spent an hour every other day. And I only started just before spring break. (I got 11 VR.)

Timing is key. Learn to work within the time you have. An ocasional 2 or 4 hour session may be OK, but would advise against too many such marathons. At the real test you won't have a section that long. Too much practice under non-testing conditions isn't as good as testing condtions.

What I found to help was to take full, proctored tests, in public places. Wear the exact same clothes you will forthe MCAT, same pencils, same everything. I did this three times. Even a little stress can help. One of the tests a friend proctored for me in a McDonald's. You learn to work in all kinds of conditions.

-Naphtali

I like this method...and but I will probably do it every Tuesday and thursday in January...until i start my EK class...then I will have to find a new verbal day (probably wednesday night).

 

[JulianCrane]

How do you study in a McDonalds???

 

[Naphtali]

I don't. What I did was practice taking a full length, proctored ("put your pencils down... now.") test. I found it helped me... gets you used to working under stress conditions. Mostly I worked at a desk in my bedroom. But the real MCAT doesn't happen in your bedroom. Get used to taking the test in the actual testing condtions.

-Naphtali

 

[JulianCrane]

I just bought the AAMC's practice workbook of Verbal, and I think it's pretty good. I did 3 passages, and I got a total of 6 wrong. How is that for right now? Anyone know what's usually needed to get a 10 in this section? Can you get a good score even if you don't finish the section? Right now, I'm averaging about 10-11 minutes per passage, but that's because I always doubt myself. Any advice?

 

[maoeris]

If you are going to be doing the princeton review course do no do the AAMC's test V or VI, because they are the diagnostic tests you have to take. However TPR does offer a verbal accelerator and they do have a reading list to choose books from. The better critical reader you are the better you will do. I have already started tpr and the verbal reminds me a little of AP english in high school, I was thinking about checking out some AP books at the bookstore just to see if the passages are comparable and using them to study from also.

 

[Bostonienses]

Hey, if you guys want a great practice on critical reading (and it helps for the passages in Bio, too) go to PubMed on www.nih.gov and read the journal articles that are published there. It's a bore sometimes, so it might help if you pick a topic that interests you. I have to do that for school, and when I read the bio passages and te verbal reasoning thingy, it helped a lot. It doens't help much with the vocab, though, so I agree with the previous posters when they suggested a list of books, etc.

 

[samenewme]

Julian,

What if, just as an experiment, you do a few passages REFUSING to second-guess yourself, and see how you do? Read the passage carefully, sure. Read the question thoroughly and look for trick words, sure. But once you get a good idea of the answer, grab it and go on with life. If you don't do any worse, then try it on a timed test and see if this allows you to score better and manage your time better. There's no penalty for blowing a practice test and maybe it will show you that you don't need to second-guess yourself.

It's easy to get in the habit of thinking you have to get the practice questions right. But really, using them to test different test-taking strategies is a great use, also.