Reading Humanities/Classical Journal Articles

[basketball]

Advertisement - Members don't see this ad

I've reading english journal articles to prepare for the VR section of the MCAT... Is this a good idea? I try to read Review articles which is comparable to the length of a VR passage

The level of difficulty in these journals are very comparable to the VR section. Here is an excerpt from an english journal:

Verdoolaege’s text is an interesting addition to the vast literature on South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC). While other scholars have focused on the Commission’s structure, function, psychotherapeutic qualities, and impact, Verdoolaege innovatively takes a linguistic approach to the TRC. Adopting a Foucauldian understanding of discourse and archives, Verdoolaege argues that a multifaceted and multilayered “reconciliation discourse” was constructed through the interactive process of the Commission. As such, the TRC was an inclusive, national process, which extended its institutional power through discourse creation. While not everyone will agree with Verdoolaege’s conclusion, as criticism of the Commission’s work and outcomes are substantial, her approach opens the door to another dimension of truth commission inquiry.

Verdoolaege’s analysis centers on the testimony of victims at the Commission’s Human Rights Violation (HRV) committee hearings. These hearings, the crux of the TRC, included over 1,800 victim testimonies about the violations they or their family members experienced under the apartheid system. A nontraditional autobiography, the testimonies formed a new authoritative, collective narrative in South Africa, where the torture, crimes, disappearances, and murders had been denied for generations. Verdoolaege analyzes a descriptive sample of thirty testimonies in her work, representing key factors such as ethnic background, political affiliation, gender, and attitude towards reconciliation, among others. The testimonies are examined in print and audio-visual form, which allows the author to include important physical data including body language, gestures, and facial expressions.

Has anyone done this before? I usually read an hour of these articles a day and do 3-4 verbal passages a day. Thanks

 

[kia ora]

I've reading english journal articles to prepare for the VR section of the MCAT... Is this a good idea? I try to read Review articles which is comparable to the length of a VR passage

The level of difficulty in these journals are very comparable to the VR section. Here is an excerpt from an english journal:

Has anyone done this before? I usually read an hour of these articles a day and do 3-4 verbal passages a day. Thanks

first of all, don't excerpt anything without providing a citation! bad form, generally

second, subject-verb agreement is not optional! in your post above, "are" should be "is" because it is the "level of difficulty" that is the subject of the sentence, and that is singular (I generally hate it when someone nitpicks another's grammar or spelling in an internet post, but since we're talking about verbal reasoning being picky is kind of necessary

third (and more to the point), I am tutoring someone in VR and what I tell her is to find as many sources as she can of practice VR passages/questions and do those. reading journal articles is a fine thing to do, just for your own edification. however, for purposes of scoring well on VR, I am of the opinion that it's too little, too late, if that's what you think you need to do at this point. unless the journal article is followed by four or five MCAT-style questions, it seems a pointless exercise if your goal is improvement in MCAT VR.

no doubt someone will disagree with my advice, but I say just do as many practice passages and questions (AAMC, TPR, Kaplan, etc.) as you can

 

[NickNaylor]

I think most would agree that simply reading isn't helpful. The verbal section isn't difficult because the reading passages are difficult to comprehend. It's difficult because the questions are ambiguous and require serious thinking skills. Neither of these will be helped by reading scholarly articles.

The best method is to practice, practice, practice. I can tell you that my performance has improved tremendously in a short amount of time, and I haven't been reading anything.