I'm entering first year Uni. How's studying for Verbal right now?

[R35]

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Hello. I am entering my first year of University this September. I am an average student with great marks, but nothing extraordinary. Would it be beneficial if I were to start studying* for the MCAT Verbal portion with Examkrackers?

*I would go through it with great care, since I have a lot of time. I wouldn't rush it.

Yay or nay?

 

[Drrrrrr. Celty]

If you want to study the verbal portion I'd recommend reading the wall street journal or reading good books. Keep the actual prep material away till your 3rd year.

 

[I'm No Superman]

 

[QuizzicalApe]

Just read books, dude. Verbal is a section that needs cursory practice, rather than studying, if you've been a reader. I had been a voracious reader back when I had time to read, and had taken some lit/philosophy classes to round out my science major. Verbal ended up being my best section at 14 with minimal work on it.

The point isn't to say "don't work on verbal", the point is to say that Verbal is a much different kind of work that occurs over a much longer period of time. Training your brain to recognize and interpret patterns in language, tease out implication and intent, doesn't respond well to the kinds of brute force cramming/repetition tactics that offer reasonable success with a lot of the other MCAT topics.

Read books. Read magazines. Take a lit/philosophy class or two.

Also, don't study for the MCAT as a freshman. The first MCAT studying you'll do is for the relevant classes that you'll be taking as prereqs, with some refreshing in the months before the test.

 

[deleted393595]

Hello. I am entering my first year of University this September. I am an average student with great marks, but nothing extraordinary. Would it be beneficial if I were to start studying* for the MCAT Verbal portion with Examkrackers?

*I would go through it with great care, since I have a lot of time. I wouldn't rush it.

Yay or nay?

1) Read a lot
2) Take English classes in uni
3) Take classes in the social sciences

 

[kthon9]

I would say don't worry yourself with any MCAT stuff until your junior year. For your first two years you should use your time and energy to get good grades. I found that I had plenty of verbal reasoning-type reading for other classes. I just practiced a couple passages the week before my MCAT and got an 11 (not that I recommend doing that, but you get my point...)

 

[davidbm95]

I would say don't worry yourself with any MCAT stuff until your junior year.

I disagree. It does no harm to study a small amount of MCAT from a review book every so often. if you read books in your free time just take a little part of that and put it towards reading some sort of review book preferably kaplan.