Here is some advice I posted on a thread a long time ago in response to someone asking for verbal tips. It's nothing ground-breaking, but I have always done well in VR (I got a 15 on it this past Aug 👍 ) and this is how I approach the section. Good luck!
[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 evaluate 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; 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!]
and here is something I wrote on a different thread after referencing the above link:
[It's funny because last week after posting that I read the EK verbal stuff, and a lot of it is pretty much what I do anyway. So I would say their method seems good, I think the most important thing is to think about the thesis of the passage as you read it and the tone/intent of the author, as the vast majority of VR questions relate back to those things. Also being confident as you read--this is the one part of the test I approach with confidence, and I think that has always made a big difference! I thought it was funny the way VR advice was phrased in the EK book--the attitude was basically "you can figure out those wacky academics and their ambigous essays if you just realize they don't think linearly like us science folk", which is the opposite of me--probably why I have so much trouble on the PS section! It's apparently a lot easier for me to accept equivocal meaning in a text than to choose the one correct answer about a chem experiment. I guess there's something for everyone on the MCAT. ]
