How to stay focus on verbal passage

[Atny]

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Any strategy?

 

[TexasSurgeon]

Read actively.

 

[listener23]

Read actively.

Explain....

 

[Heplayer92]

I pretend that Morgan Freeman is reading the passage to me.

 

[jebelali]

I pretend that Morgan Freeman is reading the passage to me.

MUST. USE.

 

[TexasSurgeon]

Explain....

Oh yeah..lol I answered when I woke up

Attack the paragraphs. Read it like you're trying to devour a monster. Like your thanksgiving meal is in the paper and you haven't eaten in 2 months. Try to find the main idea of each paragraph, underlie the author's positions/views and skim the questions before you start, in case you happen to see a word in the passage that relates to the question. But don't rely on this as the real test is on the computer and it's not wise to underline on computer monitors.

Try to find the main idea and don't get caught up in the details of the paragraph.

 

[Uafl112]

.

 

[dutchie000]

Whatever you do try not to have a song stuck in your head like I did during my mcat lol

 

[Alucard6]

On average you have at least 8 minutes to complete a passage. In my eyes, I spend A LOT of time on reading - upwards to 5/6 minutes. It seems like a lot but I take my time and really try to analyze each paragraph to get the main idea and why the paragraph is significant.

If all goes well, I have 2-3 minutes to answer questions but this time flies by because I was so meticulous during the reading process. At that point, you should know the answer to questions before reading the answer choices and just go through them quickly without second guessing yourself. I can't stress the amount of times I changed my answer because I overthought something that was simple.

 

[Leah4sci]

Think of reading like doing a long and tedious chore. I'll use running as an example because I hate running.
When I first joined the United States Navy Reserves, I was required to complete a 1.5 mile timed run to qualify on the physical fitness test. I was also required to run to pass my boot camp physical, and required to repeat this run every six months as part of my biannual physical fitness test. That is until I learned I could qualify with a timed swim instead.

When I found out about the run test, I set out to run, and managed a quarter mile before I had to stop, huffing and puffing and cramping all over. But I couldn’t give up because I dreamed of becoming a military doctor. And so I trained. Over the next few weeks I ran, rested, ran, and rested some more.

I was slow at first, walking two miles, then adding in a minute of running and increasing this time each running day. Slowly but surely, I increased my ability to run from a quarter mile to a half mile to a mile and finally two miles without stopping, cursing all the way (did I mention I hate running?). But by the time I had to run my 1.5 mile test, I was able to do it. By learning to run two miles with ease, a 1.5 mile test was not only just another run, but it was easier to complete.

That being said, verbal isn't any different. It may be difficult to concentrate at first because you dislike it. But if you get used to reading longer passages, articles, journals... you'll find yourself concentrating more and more.
My advice, start every day with 30-45 minutes of reading something like a journal or newspaper, perhaps on a topic that doesn't interest you. This will help you build reading endurance and help you pay attention on the practice verbals and of course real verbal section

 

[Uafl112]

give newyorker.com a try for endurance

 

[Atny]

Wow, this is some cool ideas I will use. Thank you!

 

[Theseus]

Whatever you do try not to have a song stuck in your head like I did during my mcat lol

I had a really badass tune stuck in my head during MCAT week. It helped me not crap brix after the PS section.

 

[listener23]

Think of reading like doing a long and tedious chore. I'll use running as an example because I hate running.
When I first joined the United States Navy Reserves, I was required to complete a 1.5 mile timed run to qualify on the physical fitness test. I was also required to run to pass my boot camp physical, and required to repeat this run every six months as part of my biannual physical fitness test. That is until I learned I could qualify with a timed swim instead.

When I found out about the run test, I set out to run, and managed a quarter mile before I had to stop, huffing and puffing and cramping all over. But I couldn’t give up because I dreamed of becoming a military doctor. And so I trained. Over the next few weeks I ran, rested, ran, and rested some more.

I was slow at first, walking two miles, then adding in a minute of running and increasing this time each running day. Slowly but surely, I increased my ability to run from a quarter mile to a half mile to a mile and finally two miles without stopping, cursing all the way (did I mention I hate running?). But by the time I had to run my 1.5 mile test, I was able to do it. By learning to run two miles with ease, a 1.5 mile test was not only just another run, but it was easier to complete.

That being said, verbal isn't any different. It may be difficult to concentrate at first because you dislike it. But if you get used to reading longer passages, articles, journals... you'll find yourself concentrating more and more.
My advice, start every day with 30-45 minutes of reading something like a journal or newspaper, perhaps on a topic that doesn't interest you. This will help you build reading endurance and help you pay attention on the practice verbals and of course real
verbal section

How many weeks does it take to build reading endurance

 

[UoCfin]

How many weeks does it take to build reading endurance

?+1

 

[TexasSurgeon]

?+1

+2

 

[Alucard6]

How many weeks does it take to build reading endurance

I'd imagine it varies per person, but if you get used to reading 60 minutes a day it will become less painful to go through the passages. I personally think it helps to do a verbal passage one day, review it the next and repeat. So every other day you are taking a practice verbal section, with the days in-between as review of the passage. When you are reviewing take at least 60 minutes as review to analyze why each question is right and how you are able to get to that answer from whats given in the passage.

And since you will be reading various topics, both interesting and boring, you will not get as phased once you read those 'boring' passages.

 

[Leah4sci]

Endurance comes over time, if you have just 1 week to go then use the 1 week that you have.
One of my tutoring clients (testing this Friday) said she felt the difference after 2 weeks of daily reading. She'd been scoring 9/10 on the AAMC practice and finally broke an 11 two weeks ago and a 12 last week.
Your goal overall is to do this every day to get better and better at it with time.

I love reading but I tend to speed-read and miss things. I slowed myself down and forced myself to read every word by using the mouse icon along each word. I may have either mouthed the words to make sure I didn't miss anything. (You can't talk though so don't even whisper.)

haha on mouthing along, your practice should be to slow down your reading, maybe even ask yourself 'what did I read' in your daily reading exercise. Remember, just because something worked for someone else doesn't mean it'll work for you. Figure out where YOU stand, what YOU need to improve, and work on that

 

[dutchie000]

I had a really badass tune stuck in my head during MCAT week. It helped me not crap brix after the PS section.

I had the song rude by magic stuck in my head all throughout the verbal section.... So rude..:.

 

[chizledfrmstone]

It's different for each person but what I found worked well was the EK method. Pretend you're a critic and your job is the find flaws in the works of others. Read the passage as if you're trying to find flaws or having a conversation with someone and you know more than them. Just that mind score helped me out a bit.


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