Starting to get worried

[AA|FCB|DOC]

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I am a little over a month away from my test date. I am normally getting nothing lower than a 12 on my practice for either of the science sections, but verbal is just killing me. I hover around the score of 8. Anyone been in the same position and what did you do to get the most score increase in the time of a month or so. I really need to start landing at least a 10 or 11 on verbal. I have read several threads on verbal strategies. I just find it hard to do verbal under the timed conditions. Without a time limit I get about 4 to 8 questions wrong. However, under timed conditions I usually leave 2 passages and the ones I do answer I think I get nervous on or something. I feel like when I am timed I glaze more, am not as concentrated, and just can't go through a single passage without getting a question wrong. It is really hard to not refer back to a passage when you are answering some of the questions. As for Kaplan test I feel like I have to refer for almost every question. Bad part is when you refer back you end up using so much time.

Any input is appreciated. Thanks

 

[Ronson]

everybody refers back at some point or another. i think that your problem with the timing isn't because you're looking back at the passage. i think it's more likely that you get so anxious about looking back at the passage that you wind up spending time worrying rather than reading. just try to relax and convince yourself that you have plenty of time.

 

[AA|FCB|DOC]

everybody refers back at some point or another. i think that your problem with the timing isn't because you're looking back at the passage. i think it's more likely that you get so anxious about looking back at the passage that you wind up spending time worrying rather than reading. just try to relax and convince yourself that you have plenty of time.

Yea I have huge suspicion that you might be correct. Slightly the same thing even in the physical sciences where I know I have a pretty good grasp of concepts

 

[bananaz]

everybody refers back at some point or another. i think that your problem with the timing isn't because you're looking back at the passage. i think it's more likely that you get so anxious about looking back at the passage that you wind up spending time worrying rather than reading. just try to relax and convince yourself that you have plenty of time.

I agree with this. I consistently got verbal scores in the 12-13 range on my AAMC practice tests and I very frequently referred back to the passage. Many of the questions are just too specific not to!

Have you tried doing a verbal section without time constraints? It could be helpful to see how you perform and what your "natural" pace is, and then figure out a strategy from there. You might find that you don't really need as much time as you think you do if the stress is taken out of the equation. Just an idea...

 

[ridethecliche]

I tried this the other day on an AAMC and it seemed to work pretty well.

I read through the questions and wrote down a couple of key words from each. I highlighted that part of the passage when I hit it. If I had to refer back to the passage for a specific, I had it marked and I wasn't skimming the entire thing again.

I had a much easier time managing time when looking back.

 

[Ronson]

I tried this the other day on an AAMC and it seemed to work pretty well.

I read through the questions and wrote down a couple of key words from each. I highlighted that part of the passage when I hit it. If I had to refer back to the passage for a specific, I had it marked and I wasn't skimming the entire thing again.

I had a much easier time managing time when looking back.

This sounds like a pretty good technique. I'm actually going to try this myself; thanks!

 

[AA|FCB|DOC]

everybody refers back at some point or another. i think that your problem with the timing isn't because you're looking back at the passage. i think it's more likely that you get so anxious about looking back at the passage that you wind up spending time worrying rather than reading. just try to relax and convince yourself that you have plenty of time.

So I just tried doing this with EK 101 test # 5. I actually did decently well without the time constraint (only missed 5). Seems that the questions that I tend to miss are the ones Kaplan identifies as Evaluation and Application. The Evaluation questions are the ones that ask you why the author put something in the passage. For example, the author refers to the quote, "blah blah blah" in order to..... I seem to be getting these wrong and I am not sure why. The Application questions are the ones where you are given a new scenario and asked how the author would respond. I hope to figure out exactly why I am getting these types of questions wrong. It does not seem to have to do with my sense of "main idea of the passage", but I am not sure. As for timing I timed how long it took me to do each passage and its questions. It went something like the following:

#1) 11 min
#2) 11 min
#3) 10.5 min
#4) 10 min
#5) 7 min
#6) 7 min
#7) 7 min

So obviously if I was taking an actual 60 min times test then I would not be able to do the last passage and its questions. I did notice that the initial passages were about a paragraph longer and sometimes had 1 or 2 more questions. However, I still do not know if this explains why I would answer these ones in 11 min and the ones with just a paragraph and 1 questions less in 7 min.