Notes while reading Verbal?

[Status Sciaticus]

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Has anyone tried taking notes on scratch paper when doing the verbal passages to get the gist of the passage in a few words or 1-2 sentences?

I tried just reading the verbal on the TPRH #2 and got an 8 versus small note taking (3-4 points per passages) on TPRH #3 and got a 10 but i only had 45 seconds left so I couldn't double back.

I just wanted to know if anyone else tried this with good results? If it does work I can start improving this technique, if not then what worked for you to remember the content of the passage?

 

[Chem4Days]

As soon as i stopped passage mapping I went from scoring 6-7 to 10-12 consistently on verbal.

I've said this in quite a few threads recently, but I would be happy to elaborate once again. Passage mapping is a waste of time. Period. This is due to two main reasons:

1. It will take you more time to get through the passage and break your concentration while reading, forcing you to spend less time on what really matters: THE QUESTIONS

2. Passage mapping is very dangerous for one main reason. It forces you to take what the author was trying to convey and put it in your own words. This is very very bad. The AAMC does not give a @#!$ what you think the author meant/was saying in his writing, they only care about what he actually meant. This could cause you to miss some of the questions depending on how you specifically mapped the passage. For example, the author may write "Most all kinds of potato chips are high in sodium and are bad for you". If I were to map this paragraph, I (and most everyone else) would write chips = bad. Then when you encounter the question that asks "What is the author's opinion on snack foods?" you would look at your passage map and pick A. Snack foods are unhealthy. This answer would be INCORRECT. The correct answer in this case would be (hypothetically) D. Certain types of snacks can be detrimental to your health. This is just a very basic example of how passage mapping can really mess you up.

Hope you find this helpful, and good luck on your MCAT! If you have any other questions regarding verbal technique, feel free to ask me. Also, Spinach Dip has a FANTASTIC thread chock full of verbal strategy.

tl;dr
Sit down, read the passage, answer the questions, move on. Passage mapping has the potential to do more harm than good.

 

[Status Sciaticus]

As soon as i stopped passage mapping I went from scoring 6-7 to 10-12 consistently on verbal.

I've said this in quite a few threads recently, but I would be happy to elaborate once again. Passage mapping is a waste of time. Period. This is due to two main reasons:

1. It will take you more time to get through the passage and break your concentration while reading, forcing you to spend less time on what really matters: THE QUESTIONS

2. Passage mapping is very dangerous for one main reason. It forces you to take what the author was trying to convey and put it in your own words. This is very very bad. The AAMC does not give a @#!$ what you think the author meant/was saying in his writing, they only care about what he actually meant. This could cause you to miss some of the questions depending on how you specifically mapped the passage. For example, the author may write "Most all kinds of potato chips are high in sodium and are bad for you". If I were to map this paragraph, I (and most everyone else) would write chips = bad. Then when you encounter the question that asks "What is the author's opinion on snack foods?" you would look at your passage map and pick A. Snack foods are unhealthy. This answer would be INCORRECT. The correct answer in this case would be (hypothetically) D. Certain types of snacks can be detrimental to your health. This is just a very basic example of how passage mapping can really mess you up.

Hope you find this helpful, and good luck on your MCAT! If you have any other questions regarding verbal technique, feel free to ask me. Also, Spinach Dip has a FANTASTIC thread chock full of verbal strategy.

tl;dr
Sit down, read the passage, answer the questions, move on. Passage mapping has the potential to do more harm than good.

Then how do you remember the minute details and things like that? If i just read the passage and go to the questions, I find myself going back to the passage.

 

[marcdagr8]

Then how do you remember the minute details and things like that?

In my humble opinion, you don't. You get a feel for the passage. You don't skim it, but you also don't study it like a text book. with just a familiarity of the passage, you should be able to answer most of the questions. If there are detail questions, don't be afraid to do back to the passage. You should be able to know the general area or context of where the detail is in order to find it quickly.

You are wasting a TON of time if you are trying to remember all of the details. You will only be tested on a very small handful and you will have the option of going back to the passage if you need to.

 

[mcloaf]

Then how do you remember the minute details and things like that? If i just read the passage and go to the questions, I find myself going back to the passage.

You will always have go back to the passage for many questions, taking notes is just wasting time that could be better spent on the questions.

 

[Status Sciaticus]

You will always have go back to the passage for many questions, taking notes is just wasting time that could be better spent on the questions.

I guess the verbal TPRH FL #3 mustve been easier vs the TPRH #2 FL

 

[marcdagr8]

I guess the verbal TPRH FL #3 mustve been easier vs the TPRH #2 FL

Unless you are just skimming if you aren't taking notes. Many people confuse active reading (WARNING: OVERUSED BUZZ WORD) with note taking as they do not actively read if their pencil is not moving and they are not trying to memorize everything.

 

[dudewheresmymd]

I have tried this. I actually posted a similar thread asking for advice. So so far what I've found is for kaplan passages (which are not realistic to the real MCAT at all) passage mapping works quite well in fact a little bit too well...however, this is most likely due to the fact that kaplan passages require you to directly go back to the passage and match answer choices to some part of the passage more than 60% of the time (similar to the SAT). EK materials and TPRH Verbal Workbook require you to understand the main idea more so than the Kaplan practice materials. I have tried mapping (when I say mapping I mean very minimalistic mapping like 2-3 words per paragraph) on kaplan, EK, and TPRH and I have found that my results vary. Honestly, I am going to try it a few times on AAMC ones closer to my exam date and see if it works...b/c if it doesn't you can always ditch it on the real exam day...and just as such you can use it for those dense passages if you want to on the real exam day as well. Just see what works for you...mileage may vary.

 

[Gauss44]

In my humble opinion, you don't. You get a feel for the passage. You don't skim it, but you also don't study it like a text book. with just a familiarity of the passage, you should be able to answer most of the questions. If there are detail questions, don't be afraid to do back to the passage. You should be able to know the general area or context of where the detail is in order to find it quickly.

You are wasting a TON of time if you are trying to remember all of the details. You will only be tested on a very small handful and you will have the option of going back to the passage if you need to.

Yeah, it also helps to recognize structure.

What I suspect a major difference is: I don't know this, but my sense is that at some point most people have common MCAT question stems memorized, and sort of recognize likely answers as they read. It seems to come with way too much practice.