Some passage-based questions

[basophilic]

How do you fix the following error pattern: you read the passage carefully, feel fairly confident about it, then get a tricky question where you're 95% sure of the answer based on your content and passage knowledge, then get it wrong because you forgot a minute detail (like one word from the passage) that you hadn't bothered checking (because you were fairly confident about the answer).
Have you experienced this? This is hard to fix because you don't really get time to look back into passage for every single little detail for every single question. And no kind of written or mental mapping will enable you to remember the nuances/details.

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[desertrat12]

Are you referring to a science passage, or a CAR passage? Also, could you provide us with a specific example?

 

[basophilic]

Science passage.
An example would be say you have a very long science passage about a disease. In one paragraph, it mentions in a word that it's congenital that you don't remember from reading the passage. And then you've a epidemiology question about the disease that you feel you could answer without checking back (again b/c you don't want to look back for every single question due to time), and get it wrong subsequently.

 

[desertrat12]

There is a lot of strategy out there to help out, and others might have something that will help you more than what I am about to say, but on top of everything I think the best thing would be to practice passage after passage to help increase your reading speed while maintaining comprehension. Another helpful thing would be to pay close attention to the types of questions that are being asked, and their answers. Don't just focus on the ones you get wrong, but get a big picture paying attention to the ones you got right as well. Brush up on the science behind the questions if you need to, but also pay attention to what the questions are trying to test you on. You have already noticed one trend, the trend of testing for a specific fact form the passage that probably required no background knowledge. Having lots of practice under your belt will help you being to almost anticipate what questions might be asked. You then will read the passage differently and instead of reading some long passage about a strange science topic, you will attack the passage looking for things that the mcat authors might try and test you on. Trying to anticipate questions and attacking the passage with purpose has really helped me.

 

[chemist16]

You should always make sure your answer is supported by the passage. From reading the passage once, you should get an idea of where the information is, so you don't have to waste time digging through the passage - instead, go straight to that section. It gets better with practice.