Slow on Verbal

[bonoz]

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I've found that I am really slow in Verbal section.

My test is in a few days. I do fine in all the other sections and finish it right when the clock says 0. But for Verbal it's taking me 10 minutes per passage and in the end I end up speeding through the last passage - I barely even get to read the last passage.

I've heard tips that key to Verbal is careful reading. In that careful reading I lose lots of time. In the science sections I just sort of read/skim through the passages quickly and head on over to the questions.

Any advice? something that I can do to help me on Tuesday?

 

[ecoli]

You should do a careful reading, but that doesn't mean you should be taking 10 minutes for a first read through.

What I find helps, is a quick read of the entire passage, taking no more than 5 minutes (depending on how long the passage is). From this, you should be familiar enough with the passage to know what section each question is referring to. From the AAMC practice tests, I've found that many of the questions require information from only a few sentences from the passage. Analyzing these in greater detail later will help you get those questions right. Some of the sections aren't asked about at all, so there's no point in reading those in great detail from the beginning.

In summary, read quickly first to get the main idea, then start answering questions, going back to specific parts as needed to answer the questions about the details.

I've been getting 11's on the practice tests, and finishing with 5+ minutes to review marked questions. So, it seems to work for me. (though everyone is different)

 

[requeim]

you should try reading for the main idea instead of trying to absorb every single bit of information that is in the passage. or, you can try doing passages under stricter time constraints.

 

[BlueElmo]

but what about the questions that ask the details? I have to go back to the passages to find the relevant information and this takes a ton of the time. What do I do?

 

[bonoz]

Also, there were 7 passages in the AAMC. Is that true for the real MCAT as well?

 

[Brick Walls]

Bonoz....There are two ways to read the verbal passages. First is as some already mentioned: read through the entire passage carefully..but it seems this might not be working for you.
So, the second method, which I have found useful, since I was slow at verbal myself, is to scan the passage. It is similar to what you have been doing for the science passages.

The technique is to gather only the main idea of each paragraph while reading. Your goal is NOT to understand every little detail. The main idea of each paragraph lies usually within the first and last 2 sentences.
When you are done scanning the passage, you should have an idea of what the passage is talking about, and what does it reveal about how the author feels about the topic discussed in the passage.

You will see that a lot of questions revolve around main ideas and opinions of the author. You should be able to answer these questions after scanning. For detail questions, refer back to the passage. The main ideas you gathered from your scanning should help you find the paragraph in which the detail question is relating to.

By scanning, you won't waste time trying to read and understand every word.

 

[premed85]

You should do a careful reading, but that doesn't mean you should be taking 10 minutes for a first read through.

What I find helps, is a quick read of the entire passage, taking no more than 5 minutes (depending on how long the passage is). From this, you should be familiar enough with the passage to know what section each question is referring to. From the AAMC practice tests, I've found that many of the questions require information from only a few sentences from the passage. Analyzing these in greater detail later will help you get those questions right. Some of the sections aren't asked about at all, so there's no point in reading those in great detail from the beginning.

In summary, read quickly first to get the main idea, then start answering questions, going back to specific parts as needed to answer the questions about the details.

I've been getting 11's on the practice tests, and finishing with 5+ minutes to review marked questions. So, it seems to work for me. (though everyone is different)

so if you take 5 min to read the passage, does that mean you only take about 3 minutes to answer the questions? Is that enough time for analysis and stuff?

 

[deleted74029]

so if you take 5 min to read the passage, does that mean you only take about 3 minutes to answer the questions? Is that enough time for analysis and stuff?

I guess it depends, on the verbal section there are always 2 really bad answers and 2 really good answers. If you have a really good understanding of the passage you should be able to find the right answer fairly quickly.