Oh verbal!!!

[Descarteo]

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Okay, this is driving me crazy! i tried all tactics and methods and stuff about asking "what the author's trying to say" while reading and getting the "main idea" and all that. It worked for easy and medium passages...

But with a tough philosophical passage, or some international political history of some sort how does one ever get the main idea, much less understand the question stem, considering you have about 3 minutes or less to read the passage and about 1.5 mins to answer each question!

Also, consider that once you get the wrong "main idea" most of your answers will be wrong based on the wrong idea...

Please, how do i ever get main ideas and understand such hard passages within the time constraints?

Thanks a lot in advance.

 

[physics junkie]

It is hopeless to approach this as a strategy issue. Just keep doing a few hours of verbal passages every day and your scores will improve...perhaps slowly, but they will improve.

* If you are absolutely hell bent on exploring strategy pick up an LSAT verbal reasoning book. Their approaches are fairly solid in classifying different kinds of words as transition words, etc.

 

[Descarteo]

It is hopeless to approach this as a strategy issue. Just keep doing a few hours of verbal passages every day and your scores will improve...perhaps slowly, but they will improve.

* If you are absolutely hell bent on exploring strategy pick up an LSAT verbal reasoning book. Their approaches are fairly solid in classifying different kinds of words as transition words, etc.

Thanks PhysicsJunkie. Ive actually been practicing for almost 6 months now. I started improving at one time, but I seemed to have reached my peak or something cos i just couldnt score higher than 8 in VR section(FL), even though i score higher in untimed tests. I guess i'll just keep trying till something happens.

 

[JazzOne]

One thing I would recommend is going back and redoing passages that you struggled with. The 2nd time around, you might even make some of the exact same mistakes you made the first time. That will really help to solidify what problems you're having.

Also, the 2nd time you attempt a passage, try to be proactive. Think back and ask yourself what you could have done differently the first time to avoid the difficulties you had. For instance, did you focus too much on the details of the passage? Did you misunderstand the main point? Were you confused about the different view points discussed by the author?

VR requires very intense analysis of your mistakes in addition to a ton of practice. You should always be reviewing the questions you got wrong. Make sure you know why the answer you picked is a trap, and make sure you understand why the credited response is better. Some of these are frustrating, but taking the time to figure it out is the only way to avoid making a similar mistake on the real test.

One last thing, I think premeds fundamentally misunderstand what VR is testing. This is not a memorization drill. They can look at your PS score for that. They are testing your ability to wade through dense text for very specific information. If you are employing strategies that aren't helping you get right answers, then those strategies are worthless. Your goal from the beginning is to answer the questions. Your entire purpose in reading the passage should NOT be to memorize it, but rather to learn where each point is discussed so you can find it quickly to answer the questions.

 

[Descarteo]

Thanks Jazzone, that was really helpful!

 

[millepora]

I am in the exact same boat you are. I have been studying for about 8 months, and done over 70 verbal tests, and tried to read for fun too.

I have been stuck at a 6 (with occasional 7's and 8's) too. Back 8 months ago, I had the occasional 5's, but that is only real improvement I had seen.

The weird thing is, when I do a test again (like 2-3 months later) after I have forgotten most of the material. I score 70-80 percent right. Once I understood the content in the passage the first time, if I do the passage again it makes things so much more clear. If only we had enough time on the test to read the verbal passages twice...

 

[Descarteo]

I am in the exact same boat you are. I have been studying for about 8 months, and done over 70 verbal tests, and tried to read for fun too.

I have been stuck at a 6 (with occasional 7's and 8's) too. Back 8 months ago, I had the occasional 5's, but that is only real improvement I had seen.

The weird thing is, when I do a test again (like 2-3 months later) after I have forgotten most of the material. I score 70-80 percent right. Once I understood the content in the passage the first time, if I do the passage again it makes things so much more clear. If only we had enough time on the test to read the verbal passages twice...

Yeah..time has always been my problem in verbal...consider this: you are trying to "understand" so much in a little time, plus, the fear of running out of time makes you a little unsettled, and then, u see a really complex question stem...oh my!

Someone please coach me on crisis management!

 

[pathophys17]

Yeah..time has always been my problem in verbal...consider this: you are trying to "understand" so much in a little time, plus, the fear of running out of time makes you a little unsettled, and then, u see a really complex question stem...oh my!

Someone please coach me on crisis management!

Well from what I understand, you're really not trying to "understand" the passage at all. You're not reading to learn the information. Maybe try reading for the structure, how the author is putting together the argument, look for words that hint at the author's thoughts on the topic..is (s)he presenting two contrasting ideas and agreeing with one? Simply discussing both? Presenting an old idea and then discussing a new approach? Also try reading for the purpose of everything in the passage...is it support? background information? Often you will not have a full understanding anyway, because unlike other standardized tests, the test makers have not written these passages. They're taken from already published/written works. And the test makers often leave out the beginning or very intro to the topic. Where the passage begins often has us jumping right into the topic. Lucky us, no?....

As for the time, I think that comes with practice. Maybe you're trying to read for details and to understand everything? Details and specific supports can be found again in the passage if needed for the questions. If you skimmed the details a little more, maybe you could have more time to pay attention to important parts of the passage..when the author changes tune, when opinion shifts between author and people the author is discussing, when comparisons/contrasts come up?

Also what helps me is to paraphrase as I go along..put what I am reading into my own words to get the gist of it, skimming over most details. But I'm in teh same boat as you, trying to up my verbal. It's not bad but I just can't seem to get past a 10. So this is all just advice I've been given and am trying to follow...take it as you want....🙂