In a rough spot (much needed advice)

[stuw]

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Hey, so I've taken the MCAT twice now. I didn't prepare for it nearly as much as I should have the first time (score def reflected that), and I ended up studying my butt off for the second one (content with sciences, though they could have been higher, but verbal literally did not budge from the first test). I've used princeton review material (for all subjects including verbal) for both run throughs, and I've actually found it to be extremely helpfup for the biological section for sure. Have also used EK1000 (not as helpful) and EK verbal. What worries me is that I've exhausted all my AAMC practice tests and practically all of my study material. I plan to take the mcat for a third time in january (will be my absolute last shot aiming for a competitive score for MD) and I have absolutely no idea what resources to use for practice and how to even get my verbal score up.

I'm sure most can relate that this is an extremely frustrating and exhausting process; my practice test score had an upward trend hitting low to mid 30's (which is what I would have been happy with getting), but my second mcat score ended up being my first practice test score.

Any help and advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks a bunch guys <3

 

[stuw]

bump

 

[TexasSurgeon]

what were your scores? it's hard to say right now without them
you can always redo practice exams again to make sure you know the PS and BS content. For verbal, maybe read some journal articles? maybe kaplan as verbal exams you can use?

 

[j9260]

A tip that I got from a lot of my Kaplan teachers is, have you looked back at your verbal practice test question types to see if there's a trend that you're weak on? Maybe it's Incorporation questions, or maybe it's just Humanities passages. Figuring out what's specifically going wrong is more helpful than blinding grabbing for the next Verbal workbook and chugging through passages especially since it seems like practice isn't your problem.

 

[stuw]

what were your scores? it's hard to say right now without them
you can always redo practice exams again to make sure you know the PS and BS content. For verbal, maybe read some journal articles? maybe kaplan as verbal exams you can use?

what journal articles would you recommend? I feel that simply reading articles won't get me anywhere...how should I be reading them and what should I be thinking? My recent score was a 10/6/11 (ps/v/bs)

 

[TexasSurgeon]

Read the anthology: "Best American Science and Nature Writing". It's gold.

Also read fiction. Like Ernest Hemingway. That stuff will really make you think.