Importance of each section

[Thundrstorm]

Based on my practice tests, I seem to have the opposite problem of most premeds: I have an excellent verbal score (13-15), but my physical science score (8) and bio score (7 or 8) suck in comparison. I'm studying over 20 hrs/wk, so I'm hoping I'll see more improvement (especially since I'm still teaching myself lots of the organ system stuff and I have to review my orgo notes). Anyway, assuming my science scores don't improve much, does it look bad that I'm so much better at English? I think my writing section will be good as well, since I'm a writing tutor and am pretty good at essay writing. I'm a biochem major w/a decent gpa (3.6 so far); do you think the individual sections are more important than the overall score?

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[Childe]

I believe schools like to see verbal and biological scores more than physical, but thats just a generalization. The writing doesnt matter for most schools.

 

[Mistress S]

Thundrstorm, I am in the exact same situation, only reverse the PS and BS scores (I'v been getting 7-8 in PS, 8-9 in BS, and 13-15 in VR, consistently). I have only recently begun to put any serious effort into studying, so I'm hoping that I can bring those science scores up at least a couple of points each in the next 3 weeks . But even if I do, it's looking highly unlikely that they will be in the range of my VR scores by test day. I am an English major, so it is a little bit more expected for my scores to be the way they are, but my overall feeling is that you and I are lucky in that VR seems to be the most difficult section for people to improve. This makes sense if you think about it; the sciences involve a lot of straight memorization (especially BS, but also of formulas for PS), so if you put some time into studying that information it is relatively easy to retain enough of that info to bring your scores up. Of course that's not all there is to it, but for those sections even minimal review of the info should lead to at least a slight (1-2 point) improvement. Reading comprehension, and the ability to abstract information and draw conclusions from a written passage, involves a skill set that is much more innate and difficult to develop in a short period of time; that's not to say that people can't improve it, since they can and do, just that it generally involves more time and effort for people who find this part of the test difficult.

So, buck up! Obviously, you and I both need to work on raising those 7's, but I think as long as we can pull at least 8's and hopefully 9's or 10's on the sciences our VR scores won't look too out of place and hopefully will only bring positive attention.

 

[WatchingWaiting]

Although schools look at the composite MCAT, they tend to look at the three sections individually as well. It's better to have 10s on all three sections, then, say, a 13, 8, 9 (regardless of which section the 13 is in). If you're getting a high score on the VR, you probably have good test-taking skills and just need to work more on science knowledge. Three weeks of full-time focused studying should be enough time to get up your scores a couple points each on the science sections, especially if you're not complacent due to your good verbal performance.

 

[prepre]

I agree with the advice above.
Can you guys tell me how you acheive 13-15 on verbal? Have u guys taken a lot of english courses.....or just naturally good at it? do you guys have any helpful tricks?
Thaks

 

[Dr.Linus]

You guys are in a better position compared to people who don't do well on verbal. Verbal is supposed to be the hardest to improve on. It is supposed to represent your level of comprehension of reading material that you have developed through your life. But this ability can be transferred to sciences with understanding the science concepts first. Biological science section is supposed to be easiest to improve and then physical sciences. All this is relative to one another.

But as we all know, we can do anything, that we set our mind on, right?

Good Luck on your MCATs.

Study hard and ace this important test.

 

[Thundrstorm]

Originally posted by prepre
I agree with the advice above.
Can you guys tell me how you acheive 13-15 on verbal? Have u guys taken a lot of english courses.....or just naturally good at it? do you guys have any helpful tricks?
Thaks

actually, now that I've done more practice tests, I should clarify... my average is more of a 12. (some of my books seem to be easier than others).

But to answer your question, I've only taken freshman english... besides that and AP in high school, I think my english abilities are natural... I've always been pretty good at writing, grammar, etc. I tutor in writing and I read ALOT, so I think it's a combo of all those things. I haven't "studied" or used any tricks for the verbal section... I just took lots of practice tests (my initial score was a 10) and I'm getting between 11 and 13 on most tests recently. I have a tendency to rush and just pick an answer, but I keep finishing with lots of time left, so I've been focusing on thinking through each answer really carefully (and always crossing off the obviously wrong choices first) and it seems to help. Anyway, good luck.

 

[Mistress S]

prepre,

Sorry, like Thundrstorm I don't have any special tricks to offer--however, I am an English major, which probably hasn't hurt. Of course, I made the choice to major in English because it is where my (non-medical) skills and interests lie; I have always been good at writing, reading comprehension, etc. I read frequently for pleasure as well as for my classes. I feel like a dork admitting this, but I actually enjoy some of the VR passages--they cover some interesting topics, many are culled from publications that I have read on my own, and I feel like I've actually learned new things from the practice passages! But I can see how people would dislike it if you had difficulty with the questions, some of which are vaguely worded or have ambigous answers (i.e., more than one that could be considered "correct" and you have to choose the best answer).

My technique, such as it is, is to read each passage completely, in order, and answer the questions that follow by referring back to relevant sections as necessary; on the more difficult questions, you can generally narrow it down by crossing off the obviously wrong answers, then picking the best one. This is sometimes sort of a coin flip, but for me the key is to try to understand what the question is really asking--there may be more than one "true" answer, but the question is looking for something specific, so trying to understand what exactly that is becomes necessary to answer correctly. For example, there are often questions referring to the overall meaning of a passage, which usually will offer one or two obviously wrong answers along with a couple that could be correct. Usually, however, one of these will be the actual point the author was trying to make in the passage, while the other, while corresponding to a point made in the passage, was not the "main message" of it.

I guess I would just advise reading each passage completely--I've heard that some review books say to skip around in a passage to save time, that may work for some people but it doesn't sound right to me as you might miss important info by doing that. I would also say to eliminate the obviously wrong answers and read each question carefully to determine what it is really asking, to help decide which of the remaining answers is correct. Also, read a lot in your spare time, not fluff (John Grisham and the like), but books or articles about social science, history, or other topics that interest you, to improve your reading comprehension and speed. While you read an essay or practice passage, ask yourself the following questions as you go: 1.) What is the central point of this passage? 2.) What arguments and/or examples does the author present to support the main argument? 3.) What is the tone of the author (disapproving, objective, etc.)? Asking yourself these types of things while you read will help you to think critically about it as you go, and if you have established answers to them on passages before you read the questions you will probably be able to answer a few of the questions outright and to evauate most of the other questions the MCAT will ask about a passage, as most VR questions seem to relate back to those features of a written article. I think a lot of this section is innate ability (I got a 13 in VR on the first practice test I took, and have remained in the 13-15 range on the four subsequent tests I have taken so far, which I have not studied VR for at all since I don't know what I could do other than practice sets to improve this section). That doesn't mean, however, that with practice anyone couldn't score well on it--I am sure that once you get used to the style of questions and work on reading quickly and critically you will do just fine. Good luck!