Need Desperate Help in Verbal

[l7anxtl7lvln2n]

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So I just finished my second AAMC exam and my verbal still blows. My scores for AAMC 3 is 13/4/12 and for AAMC 14/6/11. I've done almost nothing but pure verbal these days but still have found it to help. My test is in 2 weeks on the 10th of next month and I'm freaking out!!!!! I'm aiming for at least an 8 in verbal since I'm confident I can get solid scores in BS and PS. what to do... what to do...

 

[LittleRocker]

yikes. postpone asap. As for how much to postpone I really don't know... I'm sure someone else can help you with that. But whatever you do, don't take it the 10th. You're likely to get a very similar score.

 

[dangit]

yikes. postpone asap. As for how much to postpone I really don't know... I'm sure someone else can help you with that. But whatever you do, don't take it the 10th. You're likely to get a very similar score.

yea...you're in a tough spot. verbal you just have to practice practice practice. there's no way around it. and by practice i don't mean just for a few weeks, but maybe two months or so. for me, i'm starting to get the hang of it, but it took me a while. stay positive and dont' give up. like the previous poster said, postpone, unless you're applying this summer...then give it all you got. good luck

 

[a817]

if you have the money, you can use a tutor like Princeton review private tutoring or something. I had the same problem as you. It helped me improve my verbal by 3 points in 2 weeks but i lost out 800 dollars for like 4 hrs... i would practice alot first, and use that as a desperation last resort kind of thing.

 

[drwannab]

what the ****!?

how can you get 12+ on the sciences but only a 5 on the VR? i mean seriously, your verbal skills have to be legitimate to get 12+ on the other ones. that. makes. no. sense. wow. what's your problem? are you not finishing the VR in time? what kinds of questions are you missing?

keep in mind you don't have to read for every detail. just get the gist out of each paragraph and use simple deductive skills to eliminate answers and you'll be doing better in no time.

you and i should team-up. i started off getting 10s from the get go on the verbal. the sciences though i only get 10-11, tho...pretty sorry i know.

hate to say it, but i guess you just postpone. i have a friend sort of like you, except they weren't scoring THAT high on the sciences. they were just getting DECENT science scores but then a super low 5 on verbal! their problem is they couldn't finish reading it in time and had to reread things over and over to understand the passages. they are real hardworking but honestly aren't the smartest kids around. a lil slow at times...takes them a lil longer to understand things sometimes but has 10X the work ethic of anyone i know.

they weren't getting 12+s tho! dude, you have to be really intelligent to get scores like that. is english your 2nd language??

 

[sawoobley]

First question: What strategy are you using to read and answer the passages? Why are you scoring so low? Are you running out of time or do you need to work on reading comprehension?
I tried using he strategies from Princeton Review and it did not work for me. They had us looking for key words and underlining and going back and forth between the passages and the questions. I also noticed that I had a tendency to analyze and think too much about the passages which slowed me down quite a bit. So I took a "mega speed reading" course. It helped me to read faster but more importantly it trained me to keep my eyes moving through the passages and to not stop and think too much about the passage too much. The next time I took the test I was able to carefully read each word in the passages and answer the questions in an efficient manner. Then I was able to go back if necessary and find the answer in the passage.
I also bought ever book possible with passages I could practice on. I went from a 5 to a 10 in verbal. Hopefully you can do the same, but you will need more than two weeks to practice.

Good Luck

 

[l7anxtl7lvln2n]

Whenever I read any verbal passages I just can't seem to connect any of the words and at times forget what I've just read. So I have a tendency of referring back to the passages, especially on questions, where I reread them at least two or three times before I remotely understand them. On my TPR verbals and EK I've been getting roughly 65% correct, but these AAMC are kicking my butt. Maybe I'm not use to reading extensively on the computer as all my verbal practices were on paper. Then again, my sciences are up to par. Oh and I think I've exhausted all my verbal material, TPR, Kaplan, EK, and now on AAMC. Blah....

 

[evandavidson]

Whenever I read any verbal passages I just can't seem to connect any of the words and at times forget what I've just read. So I have a tendency of referring back to the passages, especially on questions, where I reread them at least two or three times before I remotely understand them. On my TPR verbals and EK I've been getting roughly 65% correct, but these AAMC are kicking my butt. Maybe I'm not use to reading extensively on the computer as all my verbal practices were on paper. Then again, my sciences are up to par. Oh and I think I've exhausted all my verbal material, TPR, Kaplan, EK, and now on AAMC. Blah....

On the CBT verbal, a few things worked for me:

1. Slow down. Even though the passages may seem long, you can get through them in 2 min or so reading really slow.
2. Try tracking with your cursor so you don't lose your place in the passage.
3. Read every word. Make a mental summary of each paragraph.
4. Read actively. Mentally note elements of the passage (author's attitude, tone, etc.)
5. Rephrase the questions/answers so that they make more sense

 

[quiksilver87]

wow, i thought I was the only one in that boat...Last summer I fell into the same damn predicament...I remember scoring a 13BS 12PS and 4VR on my last practice CBT test (I scored on average 11.8 on the sciences)...I was so scared before the real thing...Do not bank on scoring that high on the real thing...look at my mdapplicants profile... unfortunately I took the MCAT on august and I couldn't postpone because it was getting too late to submit my application.
I didnt get into med school and here I am again retaking my damn MCAT AGAIN... moral of the story...leave some time for a retake no matter what. And be prepared for the worst

 

[BloodySurgeon]

don't take note of what drwannabe said, a lot of people fall into the same predicament as you. When I started I had double digit science scores and a very low verbal score. It's not that I couldn't speak/read English, it's just that I was never use to the readings they had on the mcat and I had difficulty concentration for so long on reading boring articles. I can sit down and read a science book/ article/magazine for 12 hours straight, but it was torture for me to read more than a single verbal passage.

Eventually I got over it after practicing for a very long time. I have also made a guide for those of us who have started with such low verbal scores like myself. This is no miracle drug and it will never replace practicing, but I would recommend that you take the time and read through it. I hope you will find it useful.

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=509702

 

[Maxwell Edison]

I think when people are struggling with the verbal, the problem is twofold:

1) they don't read/retain material
2) they take too long trying to do a good job with #1, and consequently do poorly on the questions.

Any review course will tell you not to read the whole passage, but rather to skim. The problem I had with skimming was that I would miss details, so I started doing this:

1) Read the first paragraph. Don't skim, read. This is usually going to help you get a grasp on where the passage is going.
2) Only read the first clause of complex sentences. If the sentence contains only one clause, read the first half and forget the rest. If you try to read more, you're taking up time on something that may confuse you. Check this out:

"For years, it was thought that if a cell were removed from tissue, it would continue to divide endlessly, in an essentially immortal fashion. However, closer scrutiny of the experiment which originally promoted this fallacy indicated that it was a preparation technique that perpetuated the cell's life. It was a pair of inquisitive graduate students (Dr. Hayflick being one of them) who discovered that their own cells had actually had a limited number of divisions, around fifty."

Cutting it down:
"For years, it was thought that if a cell were removed from tissue, it would continue to divide endlessly... However, closer scrutiny of the experiment which originally promoted this fallacy... It was a pair of inquisitive graduate students..."

You have isolated the three essential bits of info here, and cut the paragraph in half. Sure, you don't have all the information, but these small bits are easier to remember and importantly, lets you GET ON WITH IT.

I'm taking the test on 10 May too. Hope to see you there.

 

[jamesrick80]

Verbal is really a hit or miss section. If you're having a bad day, you won't do good on verbal. If you have a headache, you might not do too well on verbal. If you love reading, verbal might be your hobbie. I read alot and used examkrackers verbal 101 which increased my verbal 4 points and I consistently score 11's and 12's in verbal now.

 

[marbou3]

Great score in the sciences, but I am so confused how someone can score very low in verbal and very high in biology/organic section. There is so much reading involved. I guess its just a different type of reading.

 

[DiverDoc]

Even the passage is about literature, or freakin paintings in France, pretend to be deeply interested and youll get more out of the passage. If your having the thoughts of " man this VR sucks so bad" while your reading the passage, your obviously not going to get anything out of it.

 

[nu2004]

Whenever I read any verbal passages I just can't seem to connect any of the words and at times forget what I've just read. So I have a tendency of referring back to the passages, especially on questions, where I reread them at least two or three times before I remotely understand them. On my TPR verbals and EK I've been getting roughly 65% correct, but these AAMC are kicking my butt. Maybe I'm not use to reading extensively on the computer as all my verbal practices were on paper. Then again, my sciences are up to par. Oh and I think I've exhausted all my verbal material, TPR, Kaplan, EK, and now on AAMC. Blah....

verbal is really hard to "learn." the best suggestion i can give is to create a narrative in your head as you read. some of the verbal sections are purposefully poorly written so that they are more difficult to follow, but if you can identify key pieces of information and string them together in a logical fashion, you might do better.

here's another tip that i think is really useful: don't spend too much time reading the passage. read it through once (actually read, don't scan), but don't go back to re-read things you didn't totally get. just get an idea of where the major concepts lie in the passage. then, go on to the questions. many of the passages are written to be deceptive. so for example, if the question is "what is the author's favorite color? a) green b) blue c) red d) purple" go back to the passage. you'll frequently notice that the answer is obvious but not necessarily the first place you look. for example, the author might have written:

"My dog's name is Toby. Toby is a colorful dog. He loves all kinds of colors like yellow blue red and green. I really love the color green. Green, green, green, all day long. It's all I ever wear! I go to the park and play with my dog Toby. Toby wears red. That's his favorite color and mine too."

So, if you just scanned the first part of the paragraph you would choose a) green and move on. However, the favorite color is obviously red, you just have to read all of the information around the paragraph.

That's an oversimplification, but what I'm trying to do is illustrate the point that the correct answer can often be found by reading all of the supporting information around the particular "key" piece of information that is being tested by the question.

 

[gman33]

Postpone the test. Taking it in June will not hurt your application. Just get everything submitted in advance.

Is English your primary language? Verbal can be tricky if it is not. A lot of the questions are based on subtle language differences that can be hard to translate.

Get the Examkrackers 101 book or something similar.
Start by doing a few passages under non-timed conditions. Read actively and try to eliminate bad answers first. After completing a passage, go through and analyze all the questions. Make sure you understand what makes each choice right or wrong. By doing a lot of questions, you will begin to see patterns in the types of questions that get asked and what the normal "traps" are.

There is really no substitute for practice. If you put in a significant amount of time each day for a month, you will improve. I'd set a goal of trying to do the whole Examkrackers book. I don't see how you couldn't improve if you do this and really analyze the questions. A lot of people don't spend enough time going over the exam when they are done. This is where the real learning and improvement takes place.

 

[RSAgator]

I was doing decently the whole way through on verbal (well after my first 2 EK practices) but I got a few lower scores on my last few AAMCs that scared me. Something I started doing towards the end was highlighting. I know it's something people here rarely recommend, but it's not as clumsy as people make it out to be. On the real exam you can highlight single words simply by double clicking them. I'd do this for a few reasons.

It helped me focus on what I was reading
It gave me a clear idea of when the passage changed subjects (talking about different people, different methods, etc).
It gave me a frame of reference for where everything was in the passage should I need to go back.

It ultimately took me a bit longer to read the passages, but I felt like I understood much more and did much more consistently. It may help ya =)

 

[bozz]

Postpone the test. From what I hear, a Verbal score under 9 can hurt a lot, no matter what your sciences are.

The great news is that your science scores are amazing, and I bet they will continue to be amazing. You have that down.

Now, you can focus your efforts on verbal. I know others have been asking you to slow down. I had the same problem as you though. When I tried to read slowly, since my memory power sucked, I'd forget what I was even reading about!

To solve this, I tried reading the passages faster than my usual pace. Strangely, I was able to understand better because I didn't spend too much time reading and, therefore, forgetting. I know it sounds weird: but try it once and let us know how it goes. Another side benefit is that, once you get to the questions, you actually have time to dig up the details.. instead of randomly guessing. Try it once.