Reading all the detail in Verbal Passages

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listenupnow

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I'm having difficulty with verbal, I've been practicing for a while and I can't seem to get it above the 8-9 mark. I find that when I read a passage I sometimes get bored with what I'm reading and miss maybe a sentence of detail that turns out to be questioned. For example, I just did a TPRH passage about cacti, and one sentence reads:

"In some cases [the fruit] dries up and the seeds are allowed to scatter, but in many species the ripe berry becomes fleshy and at the same time loses its spines or rises out of its wool covering."

I think while I was reading this passage, I thought to myself, "okay dried fruit can scatter the seeds, or it can stay fleshy" and then I just neglect the part that tells us that it loses its spines if the fruit stays fleshy. I see that I neglect this kind of information frequently which causes me to often get the infer based on details in the passage questions wrong.

Any tips? A lot of the passages really don't interest me, and when the author's tone is more informative as opposed to strongly argumentative, I tend to do poorly as well. If the author doesn't seem to care, I don't really care!

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I'm having difficulty with verbal, I've been practicing for a while and I can't seem to get it above the 8-9 mark. I find that when I read a passage I sometimes get bored with what I'm reading and miss maybe a sentence of detail that turns out to be questioned. For example, I just did a TPRH passage about cacti, and one sentence reads:

"In some cases [the fruit] dries up and the seeds are allowed to scatter, but in many species the ripe berry becomes fleshy and at the same time loses its spines or rises out of its wool covering."

I think while I was reading this passage, I thought to myself, "okay dried fruit can scatter the seeds, or it can stay fleshy" and then I just neglect the part that tells us that it loses its spines if the fruit stays fleshy. I see that I neglect this kind of information frequently which causes me to often get the infer based on details in the passage questions wrong.

Any tips? A lot of the passages really don't interest me, and when the author's tone is more informative as opposed to strongly argumentative, I tend to do poorly as well. If the author doesn't seem to care, I don't really care!

Don't read the entire passage trying to memorize every single factoid in every single sentence.

Read to get main ideas of each paragraph and have a general idea as to WHERE the details you're being asked about are. If I read that passage, I don't know the answer to the question about ripe berries but I know exactly where the passage spoke about it and look back quickly.

There's just too much information in a passage and not enough questions on each passage that are detail-based to merit such a close reading necessary, IMO.

As to the passages not being interesting, motivate yourself. This is the MCAT, you don't need to read something interesting to be motivated.
 
Don't read the entire passage trying to memorize every single factoid in every single sentence.

Read to get main ideas of each paragraph and have a general idea as to WHERE the details you're being asked about are. If I read that passage, I don't know the answer to the question about ripe berries but I know exactly where the passage spoke about it and look back quickly.

There's just too much information in a passage and not enough questions on each passage that are detail-based to merit such a close reading necessary, IMO.

As to the passages not being interesting, motivate yourself. This is the MCAT, you don't need to read something interesting to be motivated.

Definitely don't have to know where specific details are. You could try using paper to jot a few words down summarizing each paragraph quickly as you read in order to have an idea where to find a detail should you need it.
 
Definitely don't have to know where specific details are. You could try using paper to jot a few words down summarizing each paragraph quickly as you read in order to have an idea where to find a detail should you need it.

By "knowing where" I mean exactly that, not the exact line #. A few words by each paragraph that would clue you in on where you should be looking. So if the question asked you about a detail involving the fruit seeds, I'd probably have a paragraph labeled "effect of __ on seeds" or something of the sort.
 
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I'm having difficulty with verbal, I've been practicing for a while and I can't seem to get it above the 8-9 mark. I find that when I read a passage I sometimes get bored with what I'm reading and miss maybe a sentence of detail that turns out to be questioned. For example, I just did a TPRH passage about cacti, and one sentence reads:

"In some cases [the fruit] dries up and the seeds are allowed to scatter, but in many species the ripe berry becomes fleshy and at the same time loses its spines or rises out of its wool covering."

I think while I was reading this passage, I thought to myself, "okay dried fruit can scatter the seeds, or it can stay fleshy" and then I just neglect the part that tells us that it loses its spines if the fruit stays fleshy. I see that I neglect this kind of information frequently which causes me to often get the infer based on details in the passage questions wrong.

Any tips? A lot of the passages really don't interest me, and when the author's tone is more informative as opposed to strongly argumentative, I tend to do poorly as well. If the author doesn't seem to care, I don't really care!


OP, This is a very excellent question! I am having the same problem. I am serious when I say I was about to ask this very same question and I couldn't have phrased it better myself. Sorry I don't have much advice but my recommendation is practice (be patient) and also, don't be scared to REFER back to passage. Make it a habit unless its a general passage question. I know you're limited on time but this is what I think should be done.

Read question CAREFULLY (very important): 10-20 seconds
Read through answers word by word and strike unreasonables out: 10-15 seconds
Evaluate your remaining choices. Judge them. Is one extreme? Hmmm this choice looks good, now is there something in the passage that negates it?

(seconds are just a relative guide; not an absolute)

This is what you refer to the passage for (a double check to make sure there's no small detail ur missing)

I know this sounds time consuming...I'm currently going over by 2 mins and am in the 8-9 range like you. I think prolonged practice may be our saving grace. Let's hope so!
 
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Don't read the entire passage trying to memorize every single factoid in every single sentence.

Read to get main ideas of each paragraph and have a general idea as to WHERE the details you're being asked about are. If I read that passage, I don't know the answer to the question about ripe berries but I know exactly where the passage spoke about it and look back quickly.

There's just too much information in a passage and not enough questions on each passage that are detail-based to merit such a close reading necessary, IMO.

As to the passages not being interesting, motivate yourself. This is the MCAT, you don't need to read something interesting to be motivated.



That is what I do basically except I still try to read the passage. I take 3 mins to read the passage but even if I think I know I still check, unless ive eliminated all others or having a really good feeling developed thru practice (but sometimes i still get those wrong)

I think at this stage work on accuracy. You can't do anything about the speed. It'll come with time. There are others that are time conservatives though and say otherwise but so far this is what got me the 8-9 level from the 6-7 level in the first place.
 
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Definitely don't have to know where specific details are. You could try using paper to jot a few words down summarizing each paragraph quickly as you read in order to have an idea where to find a detail should you need it.

Meh, maybe that works for you but I've tried that for the majority of my first MCAT study period and it never worked for me. What I found helpful was to spend a good 3 mins reading carefully with high concentration and mentally keeping track of things back so I could refer to them. When I took notes, they were messy and were often misleading because they were done so quickly; sometimes i would miss the point or overemphasize a point because i hadn't read the passage yet. Not saying your way is wrong though. My TPR verbal teacher recommended that because he did it.
 
If you try to get those details on the first readthrough you'll run out of time. Read it quickly and then go back for eac question that references a specific detail. That will be much more time efficient.
 
If you try to get those details on the first readthrough you'll run out of time. Read it quickly and then go back for eac question that references a specific detail. That will be much more time efficient.

Ideally this is what I'd like to do but during my going back everything's like a blur and I miss things. What makes it harder is that sometimes you think you know where the answer should be but chances are it's restated somewhere else so it's just luck if my eyes happen to feast on the right sentence early on. I guess that luck can be converted into consistency with practice but I've been at this for a while now..
 
You know I don't know why people say not too focus heavily on the details. A lot of times the questions do ask for specifics. Now, I'm not saying to spend 10 minutes understanding every single sentence, but I definitely think it's a good idea to keep track of where details are and if possible know what details they are referring to.
 
You know I don't know why people say not too focus heavily on the details. A lot of times the questions do ask for specifics. Now, I'm not saying to spend 10 minutes understanding every single sentence, but I definitely think it's a good idea to keep track of where details are and if possible know what details they are referring to.

Keeping track of where details are takes significantly less time. Also, when asked about such specific details, knowing exactly where to look back for direct evidence will lead you to more correct answers.

Don't read aimlessly.
Don't read for too much details.
Read (and take notes) so you:
1) Don't need to re-read the passage when you can't find an answer
2) Don't spend ten minutes reading
3) Can quickly and effectively support each and every answer with direct evidence from the text
 
I'd say that you're doing well if you can think of the main point and what was discussed generally in each paragraph after reading the piece. You don't need to know every detail from the piece. In fact, I'd say that unless a question is specifically asking about a particular sentence or passage, details may skew your understanding of the passage and make it more difficult to get the correct answer. This is why EK doesn't recommend going back to the passage when answering "general" questions about a passage, for example.
 
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