How to review verbal

[bigballer27]

After i take a test, i go back and do a post-game analysis as i should, to see what went wrong.

This is pretty simple for the sciences, and i write down all the topics i missed and go back and review them

But what about the verbal? i look over the ones i missed, but 90% of the time, its just because i didnt understand the authors argument, or what was going on. Is there some other way i should approach the post-game analysis of verbal questions, or should i not look at them at all?

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[BerkReviewTeach]

After i take a test, i go back and do a post-game analysis as i should, to see what went wrong.

This is pretty simple for the sciences, and i write down all the topics i missed and go back and review them

But what about the verbal? i look over the ones i missed, but 90% of the time, its just because i didnt understand the authors argument, or what was going on. Is there some other way i should approach the post-game analysis of verbal questions, or should i not look at them at all?

See how often you have multiple missed questions that all stem from the same concept or idea from the passage. If you notice that three misses all come back to an idea given in the fourth paragraph for instance, then reread the passage and see what clues it gave that the first three paragraphs were filler and that the fourth paragraph was the critical one, where the author said what they truly wanted to say. Verbal passages can be distilled down to a few key points once you remove the filler. See if the question you miss are the result of getting caught up in the filler.

 

[G1SG2]

After i take a test, i go back and do a post-game analysis as i should, to see what went wrong.

This is pretty simple for the sciences, and i write down all the topics i missed and go back and review them

But what about the verbal? i look over the ones i missed, but 90% of the time, its just because i didnt understand the authors argument, or what was going on. Is there some other way i should approach the post-game analysis of verbal questions, or should i not look at them at all?

I go back and write down the main idea of each paragraph as well as the entire passage. Then I go to the questions and write my own explanation/find out for myself why EACH wrong answer is incorrect and why the right answer is correct. Then I look at the actual explanations. This could take a while, but maybe it'll help. Good luck.

 

[SN2ed]

General Guidelines for Reviewing:

- Go over EVERY question. Both the ones you got right and the ones you got wrong.
- Reviewing should take 2-3 times longer than taking the timed practice problems.
- If your tests are fluctuating, it is due to the different topics on the various tests. In other words, you have some glaring weaknesses that when targeted, nail you, badly. You have to find out what those weaknesses are because they are evident by your scores. Do NOT dismiss any wrong answer as a "stupid mistake." You made that error for a reason. Go over your tests again.
- You might want to consider making a log for all of your post test results where you work through the questions below. Doing so, you'll be able to easily notice trends.

Some things to go over when reviewing:

1. Why did you get the question wrong? Why did you get the question right?
2. What question types get you?
3. How is your mindset when facing a particular passage?
4. Are you stressed for time?
5. Where are your mistakes happening the most? Are they front loaded? Are they at the end? All over?
6. What was your thought process for both the questions you got right and the ones you got wrong?
7. For verbal, what was the author's mindset and main idea?
8. Did you eliminate all of the answer choices you could from first glance?
ex. You know an answer should be a positive number so you cross out all of the negative number answer choices.
9. What content areas are you weak in?
10. How can you improve so you don't make the same mistake again?

 

[fullset]

The thing that I've been trying lately is that I do the VR section, check my answers and see how many I get wrong. I don't put down the correct answer besides it. The next day I read the passage again, and see if by knowing that a particular answer is wrong, can I figure out the right answer. If I do, than I try to figure out why I got it right. If I still don't, then I look at explanations for the right and the wrong answer.