Originally posted by ScoobyDoo:
•My suggestion..
DON'T do any Verbal practice and TAKE A timer. The first time I used my watch. BIG BIG mistake! I also underlined passages! HUGE MISTAKE! Never do that...HUGE waste of time...•
While everyone has their own methods that work, I disagree with Scooby's suggestions.
I got an 11 on VR with the following method, but like I said, it may not work well for you.
First, you have to remember that understanding the passages and being able to recount them later is of absolutely no value. The only thing that matters is getting the questions right. I could only vaguely remember about half of the passages from my test, and now I can't remember one.
I start by scanning the questions to find those that ask for "facts" that HAVE to be explicitly answered in the passage (dates, names, etc.). Try to note what these are, and go to the passage.
I take a pencil and go very fast down the passage underlining dates, and facts, and forceful words (every, never, always, etc.). If you find a fact that you noticed was in a question, make a large arrow to it so you don't waste time finding it when you get to the questions.
You should get a very good feel as to the tone of the passage, and every fact will be easy to find.
Go to the questions, and if they are fact-based, you already have the answer underlined. Just find it and insert the correct answer. For the other questions, you should find that you have an answer for most of them as soon as you read the question. Don't forget to read all the possible answers, no matter how obvious choice B seems.
Note: If you are in doubt, don't waste five minutes trying to decide which is correct. Just go with your gut instinct, and NEVER change your answers. I checked this, and my gut feeling was right about 70% and the answers I changed were changed from right to wrong about 70% of the time.
As far as timers go, I think they're useless, as long as you have access to a watch or clock (I prefer hands over digital). Just note when the stop time will be, and you can easily tell how much time you have used and how much you have left.
Like I said, it may not work for everyone, but my 11 was enough to satisfy me. Also, this method doesn't waste much time. I had about 30 minutes left on every practice, and almost 20 minutes left on verbal during the real thing.
