****Official Verbal Reasoning Help Thread****

[Re3iRtH]

I was scoring consistent 9s from the EK 101 passages book.
I heard that EK verbal was "just as hard and maybe a little
harder" than the actual MCAT.

Well I ended up with 3 points lower on the MCAT.. which killed
my chances of applying with this test.

I have noticed that the passages are very easy to read and understand
with EK, the questions do require you to think. Do you guys suggest
practicing with kaplan verbal... I've been trying to find kaplan verbal
material but havent had any success.

Any help is appretiated!

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[ADeadLois]

I was scoring consistent 9s from the EK 101 passages book.
I heard that EK verbal was "just as hard and maybe a little
harder" than the actual MCAT.

Well I ended up with 3 points lower on the MCAT.. which killed
my chances of applying with this test.

I have noticed that the passages are very easy to read and understand
with EK, the questions do require you to think. Do you guys suggest
practicing with kaplan verbal... I've been trying to find kaplan verbal
material but havent had any success.

Any help is appretiated!

I would not recommend Kaplan verbal, even if you are dissatisfied with EK. I would instead look for AAMC verbal passages and practice with those.


There is a difference between EK and AAMC in the number of questions per passage. AAMC tests generally have two 10 question passages, whereas all EK passages have between 6-7 question. This can really throw off your timing . I'm not sure if this was your problem on the test, but I thought I'd point it out. EK passages are typically more interestingm, which may make them easier. That being said, EK is the closest to the real MCAT tests other than published AAMC material.

 

[LifetimeDoc]

Each person is different, especially with regards to the verbal part of the exam. I used the EK passages to great success, and scored my top score on the real exam. There is no right way to prepare or to attack verbal. You just have to find what works for you.

Unfortunately, there is an element of chance on the MCAT: do you get the right passages that you easily understand, are you at your peak of mental clarity on the day of the test, etc.

 

[DoctorSaab]

To the OP:

I am EXACTLY in your situation. I consistently scored 9's and 10's in EK. I got 3 points lower on the VR last April. It does bash my hopes of getting in medical school. I was very dissapointed, and dont know what happened. I dont know why doing Kaplan will not help you. For most of the people on SDN, EK seemed to work and Kaplan did nothing for them. Maybe we are different? I dont know. I too am looking for their material.

Will you retake this August? Do you think ~7 weeks is enough to up your VR?

 

[go lakers]

I'm in the same position as you guys but I know what went wrong. My 10 question passage showed up on passage 7 and threw off my timing in a serious way. EK kinda hurt me in that respect but now I'm practicing with verbal sections that have a passage with 10 questions and am locating it/completing it earlier in the sequence of passages.

 

[as1024]

Hi in the VR there are these really really hard passages, and I know it's important to read for the structures and arguements of the passages, but I don't think it's even possible for me if I don't even understand what the passages are about. By reading for structure I mean knowing where the keywords are, and when the author support or contrast the ideas...etc. is it even possible to read the structure if you don't know what the passage is about?? or m I confused about the notion of structure..and how do you take on these extremely hard ones? any good strategies as oppose to the easier ones? Thanks!!

 

[ADeadLois]

Hi in the VR there are these really really hard passages, and I know it's important to read for the structures and arguements of the passages, but I don't think it's even possible for me if I don't even understand what the passages are about. By reading for structure I mean knowing where the keywords are, and when the author support or contrast the ideas...etc. is it even possible to read the structure if you don't know what the passage is about?? or m I confused about the notion of structure..and how do you take on these extremely hard ones? any good strategies as oppose to the easier ones? Thanks!!

It's more important to read for the main idea. The best way to do this is find the first line where the author's voice is present. At what point is it clear that the author has an opinion on the topic? This is generally leading up to the main idea.

The whole "reading for structure" thing that Kaplan preaches is very vague and confusing. I think it's more important to understand the main idea, and then know how the offer develops this idea through the passage.

 

[lorelei]

I think reading for structure is a good tactic for figuring out what the author's talking about.

For example, when I took a German conversation class in college, the first thing we concentrated on was becoming familiar with phrases like also, on the other hand, back to what I was saying before, in contrast, I think, obviously, and that sort of thing. This helps a LOT in understanding what a person's telling you.

When you know a little of a language, you can figure out quite a lot as long as you have a general idea of what the person is trying to say. For example, my two semesters of Spanish classes let me read the warning label on the paint thinner I was using yesterday, because I know it's likely to say stuff about danger, even though I couldn't read the newspaper unless there was a picture hinting at the topic of the story.

Similarly, once you know the basic topic of a passage (automobile design? French impressionism? some philosopher?) and you know when the author is providing an opinion, when s/he is giving support to an idea, etc., you can guess what is most likely being said, and use that knowledge to help you push through all the words.

I could do probably fairly well at a verbal passage auf Deutsch, because though I wouldn't know a lot of the words, I'd be able to use my knowledge of transition and structural words to figure out where I should spend my energy figuring things out. Theoretically, the same thing is possible in English.

 

[TauPathology]

I think you may be looking at it the wrong way. Some of the passages have serious flow problems, and are designed that way to through you off. Just try and read for a very general understanding and for the authors tone, then take it question by question.

 

[shantster]

If you are really really stuck on the main idea of the passage, you might want to read the all the question stems before reading the answer choices. Usually, you can get a pretty good sense of the main idea from the question stems alone (though I wouldn't advise people to just read the question stems for each passage and forget about the passage itself). That might help you understand what you just read since you have the added insight.

 

[as1024]

Thanks, that was really helpful.
I have one more question, when do you know the author is giving an opinion/main idea as oppose to other details? Thanks agian!

 

[quadmanturbo]

when the author says ".....as opposed to other details" lol..........just kidding....like they said above..........look for the key words......on the other hand.....but....however.......etc

 

[mcatmania]

hey guys

i seem to have the hardest time finishing the verbal passages. i take wayy too long for 1 passage. i know im going back to the passage too much for like every question, but i cant help it! i dont seem to get the answer right if i dont go back and reread the paragraphs meticulously over again.

anyone got any suggestions for me?

 

[scpod]

I know it's important to read for the structures and arguements of the passages, but I don't think it's even possible for me if I don't even understand what the passages are about.

By trying to "understand" the material you begin confusing your own logic with that of the authors. Read it for information only and try to follow the author's logic no matter how wrong you might think it is. That way you have no problems determining what is implied vs. what is stated. Plus, you don't get confused when the question asks you what the author might think about something. Remember, the questions never ask what you might think about it, only what the author would think. You can then base your answer solely on the "information," the black and white statements written on the page, not on your interpretation of the passage.

 

[suicidal cell]

I think I'm getting better at getting the main idea, but I'm still having problems with passages that deal with religion and mythology. Those funky names really throw my concentration off.

 

[sandman12]

I just got the 101 verbal passages and it doesnt have the actual method, I know its posted somewhere, can n e one lead me to it??

 

[mtmunie]

If you're talking about EK's verbal strategy, you have to get the Verbal/math reasoning book (included in the complete study package). The 101 book only has the full length tests.

I just got the 101 verbal passages and it doesnt have the actual method, I know its posted somewhere, can n e one lead me to it??

 

[sandman12]

can someone tell me the basics of the EK strategy, is it very differt from kaplans?

 

[estairella]

can someone tell me the basics of the EK strategy, is it very differt from kaplans?

Yes it is very different... there are probably threads on it, but basically, focus on the author's main idea, not the specific details. Don't circle/underline/summarize/etc. Don't skip around passages. Don't try to speed read. And go back to the passage as little as possible.

 

[jv00927]

I'm getting frustrated with verbal. I'm not improving at all and have been getting 8's for the last four exams (2 Kaplan VR and 2 EK). How do I assess what my weaknesses are in VR? I finish just on time on all of the tests that I took. So, I'm pretty sure it's not because I don't get all the passages read and questions answered. I know practice is what will improve my score but I'm having a hard time figuring out how to make reviewing the test that I just took help in getting better scores in VR. Any advise?

 

[doc G]

I'm getting frustrated with verbal. I'm not improving at all and have been getting 8's for the last four exams (2 Kaplan VR and 2 EK). How do I assess what my weaknesses are in VR? I finish just on time on all of the tests that I took. So, I'm pretty sure it's not because I don't get all the passages read and questions answered. I know practice is what will improve my score but I'm having a hard time figuring out how to make reviewing the test that I just took help in getting better scores in VR. Any advise?

This may sound crazy....but try it...skim read your passages...then read the questions and answer them as you usually do. You might see that your reading is not a problem...your approach to the question is. How do you answer the questions?? Do you narrow to 2 and then go?? Try that...read EK verbal approach. I was going through the same thing 8-9 but after a couple weeks practicing like this I finally figured out that the passages wont give you any points the questions is where all of your points are FOCUS MORE ON HOW YOU ANSWER THE QUESTIONS good luck

 

[ADeadLois]

This may sound crazy....but try it...skim read your passages...then read the questions and answer them as you usually do. You might see that your reading is not a problem...your approach to the question is. How do you answer the questions?? Do you narrow to 2 and then go?? Try that...read EK verbal approach. I was going through the same thing 8-9 but after a couple weeks practicing like this I finally figured out that the passages wont give you any points the questions is where all of your points are FOCUS MORE ON HOW YOU ANSWER THE QUESTIONS good luck

Great advice.

The key to doing well on verbal is understanding the questions...NOT understanding the passages. This is the most overlooked aspect of the section.

Use the EK strategies to see what information can be gleaned from the question stems and answer choices on tests you've completed. Re-reading the passages won't really do much.

 

[Golfing_Doc]

i had some problems with pacing too and got an 8 and a 7 on early exams. for practice make sure you can get 75% correct if you do 1 passage in 15 mins (study the strategies and answers). After you do a few like this, do 3 passages at a time in 27 mins. This will groom you to the pace you need to go when you have to do 8-9 passages for the real thing

For good practice get the exam krackers 101 verbal passages book. it's 11 full tests. Remember, you don't have to even do all 9 passages on the real thing. There were a couple practice tests I took when I only answered 8 passages (guessed on the last one) and got 10s and 11s. Just be sure you don't skip one of the 10 question passages!

Keep doing times verbal passages!
I managed a 10 on the real thing and as an engineer, I was very happy with it.

 

[ADeadLois]

hey guys

i seem to have the hardest time finishing the verbal passages. i take wayy too long for 1 passage. i know im going back to the passage too much for like every question, but i cant help it! i dont seem to get the answer right if i dont go back and reread the paragraphs meticulously over again.

anyone got any suggestions for me?

This has been covered a lot on this forum, recently. Do a search for "verbal", or look at my post history for my advice for other posters with the same question.

 

[odependent]

I would suggest buying it. I read the posts and I didn't think they did justice to their strategy. Be sure to check it out, and its only $20.

 

[ADeadLois]

If you look on Amazon, you could probably get a used copy for about $5.

 

[UofT_475]

Hey Guys,

I've read the EK Verbal strategy and bought the 101 passages thing, done two tests and all 3 in the verbal book, and I wanted to put a few questions to the experienced folks:

1. WHen ppl on the forum mention "following EK strategy", does that entail the following:

a. grasp the main idea
b. read normal pace/ignore some details
c. don't pre-read the questions/dont underline or cicle

Thats pretty much what I got from the EK book. I feel as if I'm missing something??? I don't seem to have the time to use the question stem or even analyze the author much, so I do not do that. Should I be doing anything else?

2. I find that to answer a questions properly, I continually need to go back tot he passage to get the relevant tid bit of information and that burns up time...is there any way to avoid this? I do risk some questions based on pure memory, and I was wondering if this is ok?


Overall EK main idea thing has helped my verbal hit around 9 or 10 (if at all), but I need to push it higher than that, get several passages that are perfect
!! Thought I might just ask you guys

thx.

 

[ADeadLois]

Hey Guys,

I've read the EK Verbal strategy and bought the 101 passages thing, done two tests and all 3 in the verbal book, and I wanted to put a few questions to the experienced folks:

1. WHen ppl on the forum mention "following EK strategy", does that entail the following:

a. grasp the main idea
b. read normal pace/ignore some details
c. don't pre-read the questions/dont underline or cicle

Thats pretty much what I got from the EK book. I feel as if I'm missing something??? I don't seem to have the time to use the question stem or even analyze the author much, so I do not do that. Should I be doing anything else?

2. I find that to answer a questions properly, I continually need to go back tot he passage to get the relevant tid bit of information and that burns up time...is there any way to avoid this? I do risk some questions based on pure memory, and I was wondering if this is ok?


Overall EK main idea thing has helped my verbal hit around 9 or 10 (if at all), but I need to push it higher than that, get several passages that are perfect
!! Thought I might just ask you guys

thx.

First, if you're already at 9 or 10, you're in terrific shape.

Now let me address your questions:

1.) a and b are the meat of the EK strategy. c really is just refuting other methods (namely Kaplan). The five-second break before each passage is also a good thing to do. Another major aspect, though, is analyzing questions stems and answer choices, which leads to...

2.) The best way to avoid going back to the passage is to analyze the questions. Read it twice. Then, look at the answer choices...are there any you can easily eliminate based purely on the language of the question (example: does the question ask for the author's stance or opinion, which would eliminate any answer choice that is an irrefutable fact). Don't think about the passage at first. Think logically about the questions and answers. Then use the knowledge from the passage to see if you can answer the question. Let the main idea be your guide.

Rule of thumb about "going-back": only go back if you know where to look down to 2-3 lines. If you're going back to read entire paragraphs, then you're doing something wrong or missing something in the question stem. MCAT loves to make questions seem more detail-specific than the actually are. It's difficult to explain without referencing specifics. Go over some tests you've already done and see how much info you could have gathered from the questions themselves.

 

[Compass]

I'll give you a rundown. Read the book. Get it. It explains a lot more in depth.

1. Take a 5 second break.
2. Read EVERY word.
3. Construct a main idae.
4. Use going back, main idea, stems, and answers to figure out the correct choice.

This should give you a jump start until you buy the book.

 

[italian831]

I just got my verbal score back and I got a 6...AGAIN!!!

I've been doing verbal EVERYDAY since the last PR diagnostic test...and i have moved up to a full test a day....85 mins, finishing all the passages...the works! I even bought the EK book...and have been using their strategy in combination with the PR. While practicing i was getting strong 7s, mostly 8s...but on this PR test i thought i did really WELL on...i got a 6!! I go over the test after i take them, and try to think...why did i pick this answer? what was i thinking to make me choose this particular choice? Then I move on. Recently I've been not writing the answers on the questions I've missed and answering them AGAIN to see if I read it again, if i would get it right. So that way I can also learn what I'm doing wrong.....i dont get it?!?! I thought i did GREAT on this test, and I only got a 6?



Help please! I've been stuyding my ass off EVERYDAY from 9-6, i have class in between but i make sure to get 8 if not 9 hours a day---productively with breaks so I don't daydream. It's very discouraging to know that you are putting so much time and effort into something and it's not going anywhere.

any advice would help...thanks!

 

[dovebar]

I just got my verbal score back and I got a 6...AGAIN!!!

I've been doing verbal EVERYDAY since the last PR diagnostic test...and i have moved up to a full test a day....85 mins, finishing all the passages...the works! I even bought the EK book...and have been using their strategy in combination with the PR. While practicing i was getting strong 7s, mostly 8s...but on this PR test i thought i did really WELL on...i got a 6!! I go over the test after i take them, and try to think...why did i pick this answer? what was i thinking to make me choose this particular choice? Then I move on. Recently I've been not writing the answers on the questions I've missed and answering them AGAIN to see if I read it again, if i would get it right. So that way I can also learn what I'm doing wrong.....i dont get it?!?! I thought i did GREAT on this test, and I only got a 6?



Help please! I've been stuyding my ass off EVERYDAY from 9-6, i have class in between but i make sure to get 8 if not 9 hours a day---productively with breaks so I don't daydream. It's very discouraging to know that you are putting so much time and effort into something and it's not going anywhere.

any advice would help...thanks!

I feel your pain...I thought I did great of the actual thing in April...got an 8.
. I'm a real fast reader...I read for the main idea. I'm overconfident too when I do verbal. Sucky. So, I just went back as much as I could to the passage. That should get you at least a 8 on the real thing. Hope someone else gives us advice.

 

[shantster]

I followed a and b, but not c. I always underline/highlight when I'm reading stuff that I want to remember, and even if what I actually underlined isn't helping me, it helps me stay focused.

I also followed their method of reviewing the test after taking it (lecture 4), and I feel that's what really helped my score.

 

[odependent]

I realized that whenever I feel great after a VR tests, I end up bombing it. Thats also what it says in EKs verbal book. Try EKs method. Do one test per day, and just score yourself. Next day, go over only the question stem, and try to predict what the answer should be. The following day, go over the passage and write down what the main idea is. Also the thing I don't like abour TPR books is there constant reference to lines, for answer choices, rather than telling us why it is generally wrong. However, in EK instead of referring to specific lines, they go over why the answer is wrong, instead of line this and this states.... Just Practice, Practice, Practice. Its important not to burn yourself, and to do about 2 VR tests per week, while learning from your mistakes, information in question stems...and balance it out with other sections, and keeping it real.

Hope that helps.

 

[Summer Sweet]

I just got my verbal score back and I got a 6...AGAIN!!!

I've been doing verbal EVERYDAY since the last PR diagnostic test...and i have moved up to a full test a day....85 mins, finishing all the passages...the works! I even bought the EK book...and have been using their strategy in combination with the PR. While practicing i was getting strong 7s, mostly 8s...but on this PR test i thought i did really WELL on...i got a 6!! I go over the test after i take them, and try to think...why did i pick this answer? what was i thinking to make me choose this particular choice? Then I move on. Recently I've been not writing the answers on the questions I've missed and answering them AGAIN to see if I read it again, if i would get it right. So that way I can also learn what I'm doing wrong.....i dont get it?!?! I thought i did GREAT on this test, and I only got a 6?



Help please! I've been stuyding my ass off EVERYDAY from 9-6, i have class in between but i make sure to get 8 if not 9 hours a day---productively with breaks so I don't daydream. It's very discouraging to know that you are putting so much time and effort into something and it's not going anywhere.

any advice would help...thanks!

I'm in a similar situation =(
Except, I spent a whole lot less time studying...right now I'm trying to fix my schedule so I have some time to catch up on my Princeton course too. Lately I studied at most 2 hours a day, but a lot of days I had zero time to put to it. Now, I completely completely completely regret it, but life happens and there's no point complaining.

Anyhow, I personally don't think you should put so much weight on the Princeton verbal. I don't really like their workbook...I mean, I don't think so many questions where the answer is somewhere in the passage. I mean, it's verbal REASONING and not verbal retrieve-your-answer-from-paragraph-4.

I did the first 2 EK passages last night, and I didn't score high at all (like 60% correct, unfortunately), but their explanations are good. The EK explanations make me think about what was wrong in my line of reasoning, whereas the PR one makes me think "darn, I should have looked in line 32".

By the way, did you take a diagnostic TODAY? I did too, and I don't know if I want to check scores yet. Lol it's just out of fear. Either a) scores aren't up and it makes me all the more antsy, or b) scores are up and I lose morale over the weekend because I screwed up horribly (I did lots of guessing and mental cussing...).

But if you're studying this much, I'm sure you'll imrove =)

 

[Summer Sweet]

I constantly underline/circle/box/comment/arrows all over the passage. I don't really use the points, but I find that it helps keep me focused if I'm writing anything.

 

[italian831]

I'm in a similar situation =(
Except, I spent a whole lot less time studying...right now I'm trying to fix my schedule so I have some time to catch up on my Princeton course too. Lately I studied at most 2 hours a day, but a lot of days I had zero time to put to it. Now, I completely completely completely regret it, but life happens and there's no point complaining.

Anyhow, I personally don't think you should put so much weight on the Princeton verbal. I don't really like their workbook...I mean, I don't think so many questions where the answer is somewhere in the passage. I mean, it's verbal REASONING and not verbal retrieve-your-answer-from-paragraph-4.

I did the first 2 EK passages last night, and I didn't score high at all (like 60% correct, unfortunately), but their explanations are good. The EK explanations make me think about what was wrong in my line of reasoning, whereas the PR one makes me think "darn, I should have looked in line 32".

By the way, did you take a diagnostic TODAY? I did too, and I don't know if I want to check scores yet. Lol it's just out of fear. Either a) scores aren't up and it makes me all the more antsy, or b) scores are up and I lose morale over the weekend because I screwed up horribly (I did lots of guessing and mental cussing...).

But if you're studying this much, I'm sure you'll imrove =)

thanks for the support!!! I totally feel the same way, doing the PR verbal passages is basically like finding what lines you missed...which is totally the opposite of EK......should I buy the EK verbal strategy book also? because I just have the 101 passages.

also, what should I do about verbal class? its like two TOTALLY opposite strategies filling my brain so I don't kno if I should stop going to verbal class all together or just sit in class eventhough I know that I'm going to be trying to use EK strategy which makes a lot more sense in the first place...if the answer was in the passage...EVERYONE would do well!

thanks for the comments guys! Man, i need a BREAK!

 

[Summer Sweet]

thanks for the support!!! I totally feel the same way, doing the PR verbal passages is basically like finding what lines you missed...which is totally the opposite of EK......should I buy the EK verbal strategy book also? because I just have the 101 passages.

also, what should I do about verbal class? its like two TOTALLY opposite strategies filling my brain so I don't kno if I should stop going to verbal class all together or just sit in class eventhough I know that I'm going to be trying to use EK strategy which makes a lot more sense in the first place...if the answer was in the passage...EVERYONE would do well!

thanks for the comments guys! Man, i need a BREAK!

I only got the Verbal 101 passages. If the rest is good, then I might go get the workbooks on bio, physics, and chem too. I just got the EK Study Package books today, and I looked through one of them. Now I wish I didn't have to spend $1600 freaking bucks on the Princeton course, because the EK books make it so much "funner" to learn. Bright colors, pictures instead of long paragraphs, and everything is concise. No wonder they're so popular!

I think if you're going to take it in August, the Princeton material should be keeping you busy. If you ahve extra time, then the workbooks will probably help. I don't think my scores will improve enough for me to want to take August, so I'm going to try my best to keep up with the PR coursework, and then study the EK stuff after summer quarter is over. I have to take science classes this summer so I can graduate eventually, and I didn't realize how much time this MCAT course would take! I think my sciences are weak because there's a lot of stuff I never learned (or didn't pay attention to) before, so I'm going to study more and take the test later.

And I can't say how cool it is to find another person noticing the same things I was. I thought it was just me, but I guess there really ARE little kinks with the PR stuff. And I don't like talking about how classes/tests are going because my friends in the MCAT course keep scoring a lot better than I do, so discussing it with them just makes me feel bad lol.

Good luck to both of us =)

 

[4s4]

I've been having the same problem with verbal--doing at least 3 verbal tests/week (well sometimes 2) and hardly improving at all. I'm not donig Princeton, but I don't get why this is happening. I mean, with sciences, all you have to do is study and your score improves. No matter what I do for verbal, i..e think of strategies, review the test after, learn new strategies, practice practice practice, my score is stubbornly the same, argh.

 

[odependent]

I saw princetons verbal book and you guys are write their strategy is Bull ****. I know a few ppl that teach princeton and they tell me like they are told to just teach their strategy, even though some of them disagree with the strategy. Also the pep talk, and skipping passages and now, later, never doesn't really work. Like at the end you have to do like 8 passages to get 10 or above, so why waste time to trying to figure out whats hard and whats easy. I wish I hadn't paid for TPR either.

I got the verbals strategy book, and it actually explain the reasoning part of the MCAT. Whereas TPRs verbal strategy shoudl be called Verbal Retrieval. I would recommend if you have $20 to buy their strategy book. It talks about how to get information from question stems, tells you how to actually monitor your progress, not just keep a score of what questions you are getting wrong...

 

[Summer Sweet]

I would recommend if you have $20 to buy their strategy book. It talks about how to get information from question stems, tells you how to actually monitor your progress, not just keep a score of what questions you are getting wrong...

Is this EK's verbal strategy? Is it the same one that comes in the study package? (I don't know what all their products are yet) I listened to their stuff on my AO discs and it was really really short. I listened to it twice so far. I normally use AO as my "review" as I drive to PR (it's kind of far).

 

[tik-tik-clock]

Is this EK's verbal strategy? Is it the same one that comes in the study package? (I don't know what all their products are yet) I listened to their stuff on my AO discs and it was really really short. I listened to it twice so far. I normally use AO as my "review" as I drive to PR (it's kind of far).

In AO , they dont go over what to do AFTER you're done taking the test. They have practice passages complimenting the strategies they teach you in the book. And a practice passage for how to use the question stems and answer choices to get the main idea of the passage.

 

[italian831]

Anyone know why people who do use the PR strategy actually do WELL on the verbal part of the test if it's just retrieval? It is just because it might be easier for some people to obtain the main idea while its harder for others? Some people in my TPR class are doing great in verbal...but its not working for me...

 

[QofQuimica]

Anyone know why people who do use the PR strategy actually do WELL on the verbal part of the test if it's just retrieval? It is just because it might be easier for some people to obtain the main idea while its harder for others? Some people in my TPR class are doing great in verbal...but its not working for me...

Hi italian,

Different people definitely have different learning styles. What works for me may not work for you, and vice versa. Some of your classmates are doing well with TPR's strategy, but it's not working for you. So what you need to do now is a little experimenting. You're doing the right thing by practicing a little bit every day and being willing to experiment with other techniques. There is no one "right" way to do VR. If you haven't already, you may want to check out the tips in the VR explanations thread in the subforum. There are several posts in there by people who did very well on VR that may be helpful to you and give you some more ideas. The other thing that I'd suggest is that if you're studying eight hours per day, you need to be careful about burning yourself out. Are you scheduling some rest time? If you haven't had a day off in weeks, you might want to try taking a weekend off from studying completely to give yourself some time to recover.

Hope these ideas help, and best of to you.

 

[superwillis]

One bit of advice I got from a friend that actually helped is to read the passage like its the most interesting thing in the world.

Like, if the passage is about basketweaving, read the passage as if you're a basketweaving freak. Just trying to get into that kind of mindset usually makes you much more of an active reader, and you'll grasp the main idea as a by-product. For some passages its really hard to do that, but for most, its a good strategy.

I know that alot of people (including EK) have said that reading high-level articles like The Economist or New Yorker wont help much, and they're probably right as far as your reading ability goes, but the articles are great practice for learning how to read "interested".

If you haven't been doing this, give it a try...I was surprised at how many more subtlties I picked up from the passages.

 

[odependent]

Ya your right ^. You have to read critically, arrogantly, and like your reading a magazine, or a friends telling a story. Also just because you don't understand a sentence or a few, don't blame yourself. Blame the author of the passage, and know that if you don't understand it, chances are other people don't understand it as well, so just move on. But reading it with full concentration helps a lot.

 

[mcatmania]

thanks for the help guys

much appreciated

 

[as1024]

Read it for information only and try to follow the author's logic no matter how wrong you might think it is. That way you have no problems determining what is implied vs. what is stated.........You can then base your answer solely on the "information," the black and white statements written on the page, not on your interpretation of the passage.

I don't understand wut exactly you mean. I do try to treat the passages as information but it is up to me to determine what the author is trying to inform us. By using "author's logic", according to you would have certain advantages, but how do you do that?? or maybe I m simply confused. Thanks!

 

[UofT_475]

Thx, Shanster, I noticed a lot of ppl were suggesting lec 4, I will go review that immediately.


I was wondering if anyone knew how hard the difficulty of the EK Verbal is comapred to the real MCAT?

I've noticed EK passages are easier than PrinceTon Review, but the questions can be very main idea-based and conceptual...should I expect a higher score on the real AAMC tests as opposed to EK?

 

[ADeadLois]

Thx, Shanster, I noticed a lot of ppl were suggesting lec 4, I will go review that immediately.


I was wondering if anyone knew how hard the difficulty of the EK Verbal is comapred to the real MCAT?

I've noticed EK passages are easier than PrinceTon Review, but the questions can be very main idea-based and conceptual...should I expect a higher score on the real AAMC tests as opposed to EK?

I found the EK passages to be slightly easier than AAMC, if only because they are on more interesting topics. However, my actual MCAT score was two points higher than my highest EK score. I attribute the difference to a different scale, or a stroke of good luck. Either way, make sure you do AAMC 7-9 verbal sections as preperation for the beastly 10 question passages.

 

[UofT_475]

Yea, I'm doing aamc 3-9, should be enough lol. But VR does worry me, I want to score at least 11 if not more on EK, to have some buffer left. Getting 15 wrong, really annoys !!!!