Paranoid About Verbal

[steak]

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When you read, does your tongue move? Do you read aloud in your head; Is there a voice in your head or do you visualize what you're reading? How long does it take you on average to read a complete verbal passage? How do you prevent your thoughts from drifting away? How many questions are you able to answer correctly on practice passages? Do you use a guide like your pen or finger to trace the sentences as you read?

 

[efex101]

I am using the EK strategy meaning that I do not mark anything on the passage and I act like I am a Harvard professor reading a student written passage. Means that you read with "arrogance", I only read the passage once and then I try to answer most of the questions from my recall of the main idea of the passage. I usually (just started VR) get anywhere from 0-2 wrong, with some really difficult passages I can get 3 wrong. When I read I hear it in my head, I do not move my lips, and I am really focused with the reading like a good friend is also reading me the story. I can read a passage in anywhere from 3-4 minutes depending on the complexity of the passage. That gives me about 4 more minutes to answer all the questions. I am aiming at finishing each passage to include questions in 8 minutes. I know that there is approximately 9 minutes per passage but due to stress on exam day I am sure that I will be reading slower and that will put me right on the mark. I have found that just doing passage after passage, I usually do at least five per day, gets you going and into the VR mode. I first started doing like two passages, then I increased it and now up to five and probably could do more. The problem is running out of passages before MCAT day...😉

 

[Bevo]

i use the EK method as well. but use some of the TPR method in practice passages. Once do I the passage I'll mark the questions as to why I thought a question was right or wrong.

I always miss 1 problem from each passage. Test day I did a lot worse. Gotta figure out why

 

[steak]

ok, so I think I need to adjust the EK strategy a little bit. I've been trying to finish the passages in around 2.5 mins and I think that's the reason I'm not able to do well on the questions. I need to slow down a bit and work on the main idea. Are you only doing passages or reading other material as well? Thanks for the responses!

 

[uffda]

if you are concerned that your mind is wandering during your reading - you can work on that outside of practice passages by reading more dense, uninteresting (to you) articles - try the editorials in NY Times, Wash Post, Literary Journals, etc. Once you get used to the style of the MCAT passages, you should be able to find more journals/articles written in that style to just read on your own.

I too used the EK strategy. Read the passages as if you had to verbally summarize them for a friend immediately afterwards - or as if it was a friend telling you the story - what is the Point?

Slow down enough so that you only have to read the passage once, rather than read it fast and keep refering back to it. efex101's estimate of about 3-4 mins/passage sounds about right.

 

[Lebesgue]

Originally posted by steak
When you read, does your tongue move?

Sometimes

Do you read aloud in your head;

YES

Is there a voice in your head or do you visualize what you're reading?

Both, which really helped on test day.

How long does it take you on average to read a complete verbal passage?

I don't remember, but I usually finished right on time, it was the happy medium between reading too fast and not getting anything, and reading too slow and not finishing. Maybe ~9.

How do you prevent your thoughts from drifting away?

FOCUS! Acquire some tools to do this if you don't have them already.

How many questions are you able to answer correctly on practice passages?

I don't know, but I had an 11 on verbal section.

Do you use a guide like your pen or finger to trace the sentences as you read?

No

The only thing that will work is to practice a lot and find out what works for you. You may have a method that other people haven't mentioned yet. Try some different methods; you certainly have the time. Also, I think that efex101 has some good advice, but you don' t want to run out of material much before test day. You can read the Wall Street Journal or get some difficult journals from the library.

Read it once, get it all, and then answer the questions. I could usually narrow it between two, and then say, ?that?s the one.? Don't waste a bunch of time marking special ways, or reading the questions first. It just wastes time you could have spent reading the passage more thoroughly.

Best of luck!!! 🙂 🙂 🙂

 

[efex101]

I am just doing practice passages because I already read a lot, stuff like Time, Wall Street Journal, NY Times, etc. I am a fast reader meaning I can read a book in one day if I like the material *but* this can be bad for VR because I haul arse. I have to actually slow down with VR and really focus so I act like I like the stuff (sometimes it is so freaking boring). If you are not used to reading difficult/boring/long passages I would practice with Wall Street Journal, Scientific American, maybe NY Times. Read some every day! that is the key, not for hours but just try to read for 30 minutes every day. You will eventually get faster and able to grasp the gist of the passages you read regardless of were they come from. Remember this is about endurance not sprinting, so take little steps at a time and you will reach your goal before you know it! Good luck.

 

[wgu]

What I currently do:
1) EK strategy
2) mark up questions/answers
3) read at a constant pace
4) attempt to outline the passage in my head
5) sometimes I pretend like I'm in the opposite opinion and look for any weak spots in the article

What is your opinion of:
1) reading slowly and getting all points but ruining the flow
2) anyone else on reading outloud or not? I'm curious as well- I do both
3) Amount of passages to do for a decent increase in score

I am guessing that a good deal of my wrong answers are due to previous bias. Any advice?

 

[efex101]

I think but hey this is just my opinion, that if you read it too fast you cannot savor the moment (he he) and really get the feel of the passage. I think that reading the passage in 3-4 minutes is good and that gives you about 4-5 minutes to answer all the questions. I am not reading out loud because on D Day we will not be able to read out loud, and I am a creature of habit..I have no clue how many passages is good enough but I will do passages until I get sick of them. Yeah, some days I take a break from passage land, but I try to stay on track and do them almost daily yuck!

 

[solid snake]

efex101, sent you a PM

 

[efex101]

Solid, I sent you a PM

 

[siempre595]

whoever wrote that they were doing passages in 2.5 minutes?? you are my verbal GOD. How are you possibly getting anything useful out of that? I aimed at 8 minutes and still didn't finish my verbal on the real thing. I'd give yourself more time......where's the fire??😛 😛

 

[efex101]

You have to read it quickly so you have enough time to answer the questions, I do not think that they finish everything in 2.5 minutes they would be my VR God too!

 

[wgu]

The person must of meant 2.5 min for just reading. Doing a whole passage would mean reading ~1min and answer/bubble in ~1 min

 

[woolie]

Here's my $0.02 on the VR. I took Princeton over the summer and thought their Verbal instructor pretty pathetic; people stopped coming to class so I guess I wasn't alone ...

I got an 8 in Aug. and couldn't finish the last 10 question passage whereas I had been finishing the timed 9 sections I did pretty consistently.

This time I am trying to incorporate everyone's thinking (EK, Kaplan, TPR, SDN) and to think of these passages as weird pathology dissections, and I am very clinical, devoid of emotion, interest or curiosity. What is the state of this tissue? Topic, Scope (Kaplan), no marking the page (EK) except sometimes for good details (TPR). Somehow I got a 10 on Kaplan's diagnostic but I don't know how really representative that might be tho I hope I am improving ... I am just trying to first change HOW I read the passage.

I guess that I really have to treat the passages as diagnostic excisions, and what is their pathology in plain mechanical facts.

Kaplan has a great library so I plan to make full use of it ...