please!! VERBAL HELP!!!!

[bertz413]

Hi
another fellow soon to be MCAT test taker here panicking over the verbal section. I CANNOT get higher than a 7. On an AAMC FL test. PLEASE! i am freaking out now....can someone offer any ways that you are getting a 10 or higher? please, friendly advice. I am not an idiot and yes, english is my fist language. I highlight the passage, try and get the main idea, and today was the first time ever that I finished with almost 10 minutes to spare! (*jaw drop*).

I went over the questions that I marked, and only made a few changes (which actually helped that I did change them).

the passages about politics hurt the most because i feel like i am reading greek.

so if there is anyone who could puhleeze help I would greatly appreciate it.
there has to be something you people are doing that I am not if you are getting 10's or higher...

THANKS!!!!

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[FinchHead]

There is no magical trick that will suddenly let you get 10. You just have to be clever enough to understand the passage. Read more difficult articles in your spare time.

 

[kitsune maison]

ive been having TONS of love-hate relationship with verbal. (sometimes i feel like i did okay, when in actuality it turns out to be a 6 or 7...)

my highest score ive gotten was 10 on EK, but other than that, ive been scoring mostly 7 on my princeton review diags.

i panic too, but dont let that get to u. start fixing ur techniques (it is painful but u must do it). i got an advice to map out ideas from fellow sdn-ers in a thread i created a couple of days ago.

when i started switching my techniques to jotting down words/notes/themes while i was reading, it did help my understanding of the passage and most importantly i started to finish all the psgs on time! i was never able to do that. (one task down!) however, i havent been used to the technique yet to see a positive reflection on my score...hehe

im not as experienced but seeing we are on the same boat of getting mutilated by verbal, my advice is to calm down and start fixing what may be contributing to the low score. gluuuukkk

 

[bertz413]

thanks for replying!!! i appreciate you your info and advice! keep 'em coming!

 

[craniotomy30]

when are you taking the MCAT?

 

[JAL05]

If you are finishing with 10 minutes left you are working too fast. Just try and spend 10 more seconds on each question and read the passages more critically not passively like you are reading for pleasure. Ask why did he write this? What is the purpose of writing this/ authors intent?

I went from an 8 on AAMC3 to an 11 on AAMC4 just by doing what I just said. Nothing else. Two weeks apart I did those btw.

Good luck

 

[olemissbabydoc]

keep practicing... if you're running out of material go to the EK verbal 101. Its the best resource for verbal practice outside of the aamc tests.

 

[spoudaios]

I asked anyone to contribute to certain things of what to do if things prepared don't work as well... for example, after reading 1st paragraph, you kinda don't get what you just read, then what do you do? What do you do when you have only less than 5 mins left on the last paragraph? What do you do after reading the passage, you don't seem to get anything out of it?
Unfortunately, no one seems to know what to do...

I think it's important to try what kind of method you like... i personally like to write things down and mark on the paper but it's not possible since it's CBT now. I find that with CBT writing things down takes away a lot of time. I kinda struggled in the beginning with even as low as 5 but now i can get up to 8 or sometimes 9... 10 is too tough for me yet. It looks like we have to get 70% right to get to that number...

 

[Brubaker]

I recommend retaking high-school. Then you should be ready. Good luck.

 

[BloodySurgeon]

I recommend retaking high-school. Then you should be ready. Good luck.

I dun get it? Well I never actually finished high school so I guess I wouldnt know what I was missing.

 

[priam18]

Well, for me, if I read a passage and dont understand it, I just go straight to the questions. Usually, thinking about the questions and going back to the passage helps me develop a much better understanding of it. For me, the questions better shape the theme/subject of the passage. Now, keep in mind I dont recommend this for everyone. THe only reason I do it is because I generally finish the passages with a significant amount of time left over, and try not to spend too much time on the questions if I can. This averags about a 9 for me, so I'm sure there are other techniques out there that may be a little better.