No chance with a VR 6 ? High PS & BS

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CINDIEE

aja aja :)
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Hi
I need your advice on my decision making ...!

First of all I am registered for the 5/8/14 MCAT. I have done several full length tests and am consistently getting 5 OR 6 on the Verbal Reasoning section. I am getting 12/13 on PS and BS consistently though.
(~31 total on each test but very unbalanced)
I know most schools want 7/8+ on each individual section. I have been practicing with different materials but since English is my second language I am just struggling and sometimes I have no idea what the passage is about after reading it for 7 minutes.

SO,
1) Any advice on strategies that I should try ? (please help anyone non native English speaker?)

2) *** I am considering postponing the exam date to end or May(5/31/14) People around me who have applied to medical school/(and got accepted) keep telling me to turn my application in on the first day or at least within the first week after they start accepting applications (they say turning it in early and following up with secondaries asap helped them alot getting the acceptances). Would it be better to turn my application in a month late with a score of 8 VR since I might/will be auto screened with a score of 6 on VR?


I feel like the answer is pretty obvious but I think I just need to hear it from you guys until I make a decision to change my test date. Any advice will be greatly appreciated. Thanks!!
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common SDN myth, especially for DO schools. the vast majority will take your composite score.

The user Anicetus applied with ~3.7/31 (6 vr) this year and received 7 DO and 1 MD acceptances.
 
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I think a 6 in the VR is acceptable for ESL students. If you decide to turn your app in later and are able to bring the VR up to an 8. I would just apply MD if you get 12-13 on the PS and BS. Turning your app in before August would be ideal. However, my app was verified in mid November, and I did fine.
 
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Although English is my second language I went to high school in the US. Came here when I was 14. So even though I say English is my second language I am afraid that the admission committee would not even care (since I live in the US for ~10 yrs now)
and
Unfortunately I have a very low GPA ~3.35c and 3.3s so I decided to focus on DO..
and my excuse is that I did not try to get the best grade I could get back in undergrad years because I was not sure I wanted to go to medical school..
(but I will be happy as long as I can become a doctor!:) )

So I should just try to get it up to 8 then apply a little late? Do you think I will still be okay with that low GPA?
 
Experiment with some strategies and work with people who scored high. Basically practicing a lot of passages isn't great if when it comes to taking an hour long set of them you end up spending all your time on the first 3 which may or may not be the ones with the easiest points.
 
Something you might consider to help on the VR section is the ExamKrackers VR book. They use a method/approach to that section that is more focused on beating the test than just reading a bunch of boring passages and it doesn't demand a lot of time to study it.
 
CINDIEE said:
Although English is my second language I went to high school in the US. Came here when I was 14. So even though I say English is my second language I am afraid that the admission committee would not even care (since I live in the US for ~10 yrs now)
and
Unfortunately I have a very low GPA ~3.35c and 3.3s so I decided to focus on DO..
and my excuse is that I did not try to get the best grade I could get back in undergrad years because I was not sure I wanted to go to medical school..
(but I will be happy as long as I can become a doctor!:) )

So I should just try to get it up to 8 then apply a little late? Do you think I will still be okay with that low GPA?
Click to expand...
I'd say take the MCAT later if you think the extra time (though 2-3 weeks isn't a lot of time) will get your VR up. Turn in your app at your best. Also, I'd say as long as your applying before August, you'll be fine.

As far as help with VR, I'd say talk to someone about the section if you can. I think the hardest part can be understanding the explanations of the correct answers because it's usually such a fundamentally correct choice, which isn't as conducive to clear explanation on paper as BS and PS. Just my opinion, but worry less about timing and more about your MCAT.

Also, on a side note, try to take a wide range of practice tests cause none of them are all that accurate. Staying on your toes will prepare you more than running through a lot of the same stuff.
 
user3 said:
common SDN myth, especially for DO schools. the vast majority will take your composite score.

The user Anicetus applied with ~3.7/31 (6 vr) this year and received 7 DO and 1 MD acceptances.
Click to expand...

Yeah, he also got accepted to EVERY DO school he interviewed at. The guy was an interviewing machine.
 
Thank you for your advice everyone. I will try the EK strategy and see if it works for me. I am leaning towards postponing my exam until the 31st of May.
I will get back after trying out the EK strategy !:D
 
I thought ek101 was worthless. Tprh passages were better.

Regardless, nothing helped me bringing my score from 3 to 7 except practicing aamc passages. Between the aamc cbt's, self-assessment package, aamc R versions, and aamc guide book, there are over 100 vr passages. They are more than enough to train and get accustomed to aamc vr passages.
 
6 in VR will not in any way hinder you. It would be damaging if it was the biology section, but definitely not vr for a non-native speaker.

Edit: why does my phone auto correct to the wrong thing?
 
Last edited:
Ibn Alnafis MD said:
I thought ek101 was worthless. Tprh passages were better.

Regardless, nothing helped me bringing my score from 3 to 7 except practicing aamc passages. Between the aamc cbt's, self-assessment package, aamc R versions, and aamc guide book, there are over 100 vr passages. They are more than enough to train and get accustomed to aamc vr passages.
Click to expand...

How did you practice/study the verbal passages? :) Did you time yourself when you were doing the passages and went over them afterwards? How long did you spend going over them?.. Someone told me to spend more time on going over each passage (twice as long) than the time you spend actually doing the passage.. I tried this but I am not really sure if I am doing this right and if this is going to help me raise my score. I have been doing 7 passages/day for a week now but I don't see any improvement... so far..

btw congratuations on your acceptance to Western U! its my dream school !!!
 
CINDIEE said:
How did you practice/study the verbal passages? :) Did you time yourself when you were doing the passages and went over them afterwards? How long did you spend going over them?.. Someone told me to spend more time on going over each passage (twice as long) than the time you spend actually doing the passage.. I tried this but I am not really sure if I am doing this right and if this is going to help me raise my score. I have been doing 7 passages/day for a week now but I don't see any improvement... so far..

btw congratuations on your acceptance to Western U! its my dream school !!!
Click to expand...
To clarify, I didn't use the 101 passages book, just the VR and math analysis technique book (or something like that) from EK. It's method may not be for everyone, but I only studied for like an hour the night before the exam for VR and scored in the double digits. This is the current version of the one I'm referencing: http://www.amazon.com/Verbal-Reason...397373055&sr=8-2&keywords=examkrackers+verbal

Good luck!
 
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Get both EK 101 and TPRH verbal and do them both. Use the EK method though.
 
user3 said:
common SDN myth, especially for DO schools. the vast majority will take your composite score.

The user Anicetus applied with ~3.7/31 (6 vr) this year and received 7 DO and 1 MD acceptances.
Click to expand...

User3, do you know which schools in particular will take your composite MCAT score from 2 exams?
 
serenade said:
What's the EK method exactly? I skipped reading that apparently when I was doing 101.
Click to expand...

The EK method is in the EK bundle of books. It's never mentioned in the EK 101 book.

Basically just read the text as if you're a very strict critic and summarize in your head quickly as you read.
 
user3 said:
OU-HCOM and the PCOM's, I believe
Click to expand...
Need clarification here: are you saying these two schools look at the total score than scores from individual section? I am getting confused because justbananas said composite score from 2 exams. :>
 
CINDIEE said:
Need clarification here: are you saying these two schools look at the total score than scores from individual section? I am getting confused because justbananas said composite score from 2 exams. :>
Click to expand...
I think they take the highest subsection scores from multiple sittings. Most schools look at the highest score from a single sitting.
 
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user3 said:
I think they take the highest subsection scores from multiple sittings. Most schools look at the highest score from a single sitting.
Click to expand...
This is how I've been told it works.
 
CINDIEE said:
How did you practice/study the verbal passages? :) Did you time yourself when you were doing the passages and went over them afterwards? How long did you spend going over them?.. Someone told me to spend more time on going over each passage (twice as long) than the time you spend actually doing the passage.. I tried this but I am not really sure if I am doing this right and if this is going to help me raise my score. I have been doing 7 passages/day for a week now but I don't see any improvement... so far..

btw congratuations on your acceptance to Western U! its my dream school !!!
Click to expand...

Thank you. WesternU was my dream school too. Take a look at this thread that I created nearly 3 years ago http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/what-does-it-take-to-get-into-western-com.855080/

I struggled a lot with verbal. A LOT. I felt helpless. I almost was going to let go of my dream of becoming a doctor because of it. Then, I decided that I wasn't going to let a 60-min test prevent me from pursuing my dream. I also realized that by practicing more non-AAMC material I was getting better, but only at doing non-AAMC passages. I decided to only use AAMC passage to study and assess myself. I, however, continued using tprh and ek101 to increase my reading speed and enhance my stamina.

With regard to AAMC passages, I squeezed every little drop of juice out of them. I practiced each passage at least 3 times. I was trying to train my brain on getting familiarized with the structure of the passages and the way questions are formulated. If you do them over and over, you'll realize that there are only 4-5 different types of questions in the entire exam. Therefore, by practicing the passages over and over you develop some anticipation to what you are going to be asked while you are reading the passage. Also, I always timed myself. I would give myself 1.5x mins for every passage (x being the number of questions presented in the passage). With regards to reading the explanation for each solution, I didn't do that. I only checked what I missed and went back to and tried to answer the question again and see if I got it right. Then, I would use my own reasoning as to why the correct answer is the correct one.

Please remember, that I scored only 7 so I am no expert on the subject. However, 7 was good enough to get me in the school I wanted.

Sorry for the late response and best wishes.
 
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Ibn Alnafis MD said:
Thank you. WesternU was my dream school too. Take a look at this thread that I created nearly 3 years ago http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/what-does-it-take-to-get-into-western-com.855080/

I struggled a lot with verbal. A LOT. I felt helpless. I almost was going to let go of my dream of becoming a doctor because of it. Then, I decided that I wasn't going to let a 60-min test prevent me from pursuing my dream. I also realized that by practicing more non-AAMC material I was getting better, but only at doing non-AAMC passages. I decided to only use AAMC passage to study and assess myself. I, however, continued using tprh and ek101 to increase my reading speed and enhance my stamina.

With regard to AAMC passages, I squeezed every little drop of juice out of them. I practiced each passage at least 3 times. I was trying to train my brain on getting familiarized with the structure of the passages and the way questions are formulated. If you do them over and over, you'll realize that there are only 4-5 different types of questions in the entire exam. Therefore, by practicing the passages over and over you develop some anticipation to what you are going to be asked while you are reading the passage. Also, I always timed myself. I would give myself 1.5x mins for every passage (x being the number of questions presented in the passage). With regards to reading the explanation for each solution, I didn't do that. I only checked what I missed and went back to and tried to answer the question again and see if I got it right. Then, I would use my own reasoning as to why the correct answer is the correct one.

Please remember, that I scored only 7 so I am no expert on the subject. However, 7 was good enough to get me in the school I wanted.

Sorry for the late response and best wishes.
Click to expand...
Thank you for your reply!
You and I have very similar backgrounds in terms of how long weve lived in the US, GPA, location of residence, and trouble with VR ! LOL
I also was feeling helpless because my VR score is not improving and I was afraid I would do even worse on the real test (worse than 7..) but I realized the least I could do is practice and just keep the score above 7..

I was not sure which practice material to use and how to use them (I was going back and forth between EK and tpr) because my problem was not from answering the questions right but more of reading the passages fast and understand it correctly. I will take your advice and start practicing speed reading with non AAMC material and understanding the question types with the AAMC material. :D
I have one question though. When you said 1.5x min for every passage, did you actually look at the number of questions before start reading the passage then start reading or just read the passage and quickly look at the number of questions to manage the timing? and did you actually do this when you were taking the real exam?

I should figure this out on my own while I am practicing but I was curious how you managed to do it because it seems like you gained confidence from the practice (which I am definitely lacking now..)

And thanks for the link to the other tread! it's a gewwd one, very helpful :) Thanks a bunch!
 
CINDIEE said:
Thank you for your reply!
You and I have very similar backgrounds in terms of how long weve lived in the US, GPA, location of residence, and trouble with VR ! LOL
I also was feeling helpless because my VR score is not improving and I was afraid I would do even worse on the real test (worse than 7..) but I realized the least I could do is practice and just keep the score above 7..

I was not sure which practice material to use and how to use them (I was going back and forth between EK and tpr) because my problem was not from answering the questions right but more of reading the passages fast and understand it correctly. I will take your advice and start practicing speed reading with non AAMC material and understanding the question types with the AAMC material. :D
I have one question though. When you said 1.5x min for every passage, did you actually look at the number of questions before start reading the passage then start reading or just read the passage and quickly look at the number of questions to manage the timing? and did you actually do this when you were taking the real exam?

I should figure this out on my own while I am practicing but I was curious how you managed to do it because it seems like you gained confidence from the practice (which I am definitely lacking now..)

And thanks for the link to the other tread! it's a gewwd one, very helpful :) Thanks a bunch!
Click to expand...

The 1.5x mins thing was only to gauge my reading speed during practice. Although I was planning on using it on the real test, I ended up not to. I didn't want to stress myself further.

Confidence is very important to overcome the VR section. Try to eliminate unlikely answers and then go with your gut feeling. Don't over complicate things and try to reason out the answers. By practicing AAMC passages over and over you'll develop a fake confidence because you'll get used to seeing yourself scoring 10+ on passages that you have already practiced. This phantom confidence helped me during my real test. I felt in control.

Also during my test, I did the passages in order until I found out that I had only 13mins left and two long passages. I skipped the harder one (after answering all the questions with the same letter) and worked on the what seemed to be the easy one. Then I jumped back to the one I skipped with only 4mins. I read the intro and the conclusion, and then, I quickly went through the questions. I made sure to spare at least one minute to ensure that I had answered all the 40 questions. In a retrospect, I wouldn't have skipped a passage. It created more anxious and I lost my focus. While I was working on the last passage, I kept thinking about the one that I had just skipped, so I don't recommend you doing that.

You still have nearly a month to prepare for the test. This is enough time to crack the verbal section and score 7+ in my opinion. Also, scoring high on the science sections will help your case and make schools turn a blind eye on the VR score. If you truly score 12+ on the sciences and score 6+ on VR, I think you will have a competitive mcat score for most DO schools, including WesternU. Like @chizledfrmstone mentioned, an SDN member has received an acceptance from every DO school he interviewed at (including WesternU) and one MD school with only 6 on VR. However, his composite score was 31.

Best wishes!
 
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CINDIEE said:
Hi
I need your advice on my decision making ...!

First of all I am registered for the 5/8/14 MCAT. I have done several full length tests and am consistently getting 5 OR 6 on the Verbal Reasoning section. I am getting 12/13 on PS and BS consistently though.
(~31 total on each test but very unbalanced)
I know most schools want 7/8+ on each individual section. I have been practicing with different materials but since English is my second language I am just struggling and sometimes I have no idea what the passage is about after reading it for 7 minutes.

SO,
1) Any advice on strategies that I should try ? (please help anyone non native English speaker?)

2) *** I am considering postponing the exam date to end or May(5/31/14) People around me who have applied to medical school/(and got accepted) keep telling me to turn my application in on the first day or at least within the first week after they start accepting applications (they say turning it in early and following up with secondaries asap helped them alot getting the acceptances). Would it be better to turn my application in a month late with a score of 8 VR since I might/will be auto screened with a score of 6 on VR?


I feel like the answer is pretty obvious but I think I just need to hear it from you guys until I make a decision to change my test date. Any advice will be greatly appreciated. Thanks!!
Click to expand...

I have a friend whose been scoring 13-14/6/13-14 and she's taking it next month. I recommended her to pick up examkrakers verbal (improved my intiial 6-7 verbal to 8-9). Also Princeton Hyperlearning verbal is also great. A lot of it is just consistent practice. Maybe 3-4 passages each day? I do about 4 passages a week.

I currently score around a 11 only a 9-10 in BS and about a 8-9 in VR. Taking it in September. But yeah I would recommend just working really hard to try to get a 8+ verbal.
 
Dreamstoo said:
I have a friend whose been scoring 13-14/6/13-14 and she's taking it next month. I recommended her to pick up examkrakers verbal (improved my intiial 6-7 verbal to 8-9). Also Princeton Hyperlearning verbal is also great. A lot of it is just consistent practice. Maybe 3-4 passages each day? I do about 4 passages a week.

I currently score around a 11 only a 9-10 in BS and about a 8-9 in VR. Taking it in September. But yeah I would recommend just working really hard to try to get a 8+ verbal.
Click to expand...
Yeah I guess work hard to get a consistent 8+ is my goal here ... but thanks for the advice!
Are you applying next cycle? :)
 
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