Preparing with another type of critical reading

[Turkeyman]

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Yeah soooo...I have this old book which I used about four years ago for the SATs --> It's called 10 Real SATs and has 10 practice tests in it(omg who would have deduced that).

I went through this book and marked every single page that contains a verbal passage so that I can pretty much go through the book and do all the passage problems slowly, day by day...maybe 2-4 passages a day.

I was wondering if reviewing stuff like SAT critical reading would help me ease into the critical reading of the MCAT?

I know that the MCAT's verbal reasoning is on a different level than the SAT...but my theory is that you gotta learn to walk before you can run...so if I practice for maybe a couple of weeks with SATs and then ease into the practicing of verbal passages....think I'll get anything out of it?

Btw I suck at reading and I can't even read what I just wrote

edit: and yes I'll do general reading to supplement, but that won't help as much as getting into the mindset of taking apart a critical reading passage. EK says general reading only works if you had maybe a couple of years before the MCAT 😀

 

[Turkeyman]

fine then! 😀

 

[Turkeyman]

🙁

 

[LukeWhite]

It's not likely that the SAT stuff will help much...SAT reading comprehension is mainly detail-based, while that makes up a very tiny number of MCAT questions.

 

[MeowMix]

It's not walking vs running, it's bicycling vs skiing. Completely different beasts.

Don't waste your time with SAT prep materials. Go to the MCAT stuff right away. If you are doing the SAT stuff to build confidence by doing something familiar, then take the plunge and start the MCAT stuff instead. Otherwise you will just psych yourself out thinking how much harder it is going to get. It's really not that dreadful. It's just a different sport.

 

[Reimat]

Yea, like others have said- unless you don't have the money, buy a verbal practice book with MCAT practice passages. Most are relatively inexpensive- on the order of $40.

 

[LukeWhite]

If you're really running low on material, pick up a copy of The Economist, Scientific American, or The Atlantic Monthly at Borders for $5...the writing is very MCAT-like, and between the three you cover most every major style you'll encounter.

Of course, I'm partial to the Kaplan stuff myself. I think that they offer verbal webprep options now.

 

[Mr PluM]

turkeyman, just focus a lot of energy in trying to understand the questions, ask yourself what does this question want from me? most of the time all the clues are in the question.....and eat some plums...ges, ges, like the terminal guy... again, understand what the question is asking, this is the critical part of the verbal portion, oh what the heck of the whole mcat....