Success on VR Section

[postbacpremed87]

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For those who have done well on the VR section, what do you think is the reason for success...or the biggest predictor of success on the section?

Do you think individuals who read a lot and have done so since childhood tend to do better than those students who do not/did not do those things?

 

[JFK90787]

IMO the 2 biggest predictors for success in verbal are (in order):

1. How much overall reading you do for school, enjoyment, etc.
2. How much you do practice verbal sections.

I brought my verbal score up 3 points on my MCAT retake just through A LOT of very boring practice.

 

[Geebeejay]

For those who have done well on the VR section, what do you think is the reason for success...or the biggest predictor of success on the section?

Do you think individuals who read a lot and have done so since childhood tend to do better than those students who do not/did not do those things?

Yes. I did okay on VR, but I found I could NOT improve much while I was studying. Someone recommended to me to read scientific journals, or the newspaper, every day - and to read it critically. I only got this advice after taking the MCAT, so I don't know if it works or not, but it's worth a try.

 

[fabriciusj89]

I read a ton as a kid and still do now and I think that helped with VR, however my very first diagnostic was not naturally high- it was a 6 IIRC. I definitely needed the practice passages and using EK to learn the style of the questions before I could score well on the VR, but doubt that I could have scored as highly if I didn't have the background reading comprehension. It also was the first subject that I stopped studying for- once my scores were consistently above 10 I pretty much forgot about it unless I was taking a practice test.

 

[sinombre]

I think familiarizing yourself with the format of the passages/questions, as well as the types of questions, is hugely important. I can't really speak to other aforementioned study techniques as I didn't spend any time studying verbal reasoning outside of the practice tests I took. The AAMC practice tests were pretty much spot on for me.

 

[Owlie]

IMO the 2 biggest predictors for success in verbal are (in order):

1. How much overall reading you do for school, enjoyment, etc.
2. How much you do practice verbal sections.

I brought my verbal score up 3 points on my MCAT retake just through A LOT of very boring practice.

I'd say this. I've done some practice test for VR, and did fairly well. I read often, and I read complex material often as well, and not just Harry Potter 😛

 

[Cuongoff]

This is what worked for me. On my diagnostic I got a 6 and slowly, as I did practice exams, my verbal (and overall score) went up with each test. Granted, I took them pretty much successively the week before my test (I highly advised against this). I learned how to read the passaged, what to grasp from the passage, and what the questions were looking for.

I think familiarizing yourself with the format of the passages/questions, as well as the types of questions, is hugely important. I can't really speak to other aforementioned study techniques as I didn't spend any time studying verbal reasoning outside of the practice tests I took. The AAMC practice tests were pretty much spot on for me.

 

[dudeliness]

I ended up getting a 12 on VR. First of all, I think a lot of it has to do with a lifelong voracious appetite for reading, but my practice scores weren't more than a 9 really. I used EK verbal and it taught how to recognize the format of the questions and have pointers on how to approach the passages and the subsequent questions. I think that instruction really gave me an edge on the exam.
Good luck!

 

[ShenanigansMD]

NyTimes/Wall Street Journal whenever I stopped studying for physical/biological sciences.

But timed practice is important too.

 

[VSU2008]

I scored 11's in VR on both of my mcats and used the kaplan method both times. One thing I always tried to do when answering questions was make sure that my answer choice always went along with the main idea of the passage.

 

[TheSchnugg]

I got a 13 on VR when I took my MCAT 2 years ago. I'm a non-native English speaker so for all you people out there for who English is a second language, don't make that you're excuse why you're not doing well on the VR section (like I did for a while haha). What really made the difference for me was the Exam Crackers on verbal reasoning. Seriously, that book laid out exactly how the questions would be asked and what to look for in the passages. It taught me how to get into the exam writers head. I used go get 8 and 9s on my diagnostic tests and then a week before the actual MCAT I got the EC book. Read it and practiced on a couple of section and suddenly everything made sense. For anyone trying to improve your score, do try out the Exam Crackers. Worked for me!

 

[Praefectus]

Go through the EK 101 Verbal Passages book a few weeks before the exam. It definitely helps. I wouldn't recommend reading newspapers unless you enjoy the subject matter and you are genuinely interested in what's going on in the world.

 

[hookgrip]

IMO the 2 biggest predictors for success in verbal are (in order):

1. How much overall reading you do for school, enjoyment, etc.
2. How much you do practice verbal sections.

I brought my verbal score up 3 points on my MCAT retake just through A LOT of very boring practice.

I ended up getting a 12 on VR. First of all, I think a lot of it has to do with a lifelong voracious appetite for reading, but my practice scores weren't more than a 9 really. I used EK verbal and it taught how to recognize the format of the questions and have pointers on how to approach the passages and the subsequent questions. I think that instruction really gave me an edge on the exam.*
Good luck!

I'd have to disagree with these points.

I consider myself a relatively good reader/writer, but beyond basic newspaper/magazine reading and reading for classwork/research, reading is not a hobby for me. I rarely read novels just for fun. Despite this, I managed to score 12-14 on the VR sections of most of the AAMC exams and scored right in the middle of that range on the actual MCAT.

In my opinion, your reasoning skills and the amount of practice that you put into the VR section makes a bigger difference than being an avid reader to start with. I went through a good bit of the the TPRH Verbal book as well as the entire EK101 verbal book, and my VR skills definitely improved afterwards (I was getting about 10s when I first started the EK101 VR book). I do not think that the MCAT VR section is necessarily a test of one's reading prowess in general. Rather, I think it's a test of how well someone prepared for the specific format and question types that are found on the MCAT VR section.

 

[Cambino]

I'd have to disagree with these points.

I consider myself a relatively good reader/writer, but beyond basic newspaper/magazine reading and reading for classwork/research, reading is not a hobby for me. I rarely read novels just for fun. Despite this, I managed to score 12-14 on the VR sections of most of the AAMC exams and scored right in the middle of that range on the actual MCAT.

In my opinion, your reasoning skills and the amount of practice that you put into the VR section makes a bigger difference than being an avid reader to start with. I went through a good bit of the the TPRH Verbal book as well as the entire EK101 verbal book, and my VR skills definitely improved afterwards (I was getting about 10s when I first started the EK101 VR book). I do not think that the MCAT VR section is necessarily a test of one's reading prowess in general. Rather, I think it's a test of how well someone prepared for the specific format and question types that are found on the MCAT VR section.

I agree and relate with this more than what the previous posters have been saying. I don't read for fun (but do read a lot for coursework, etc.) and have always considered myself a good reader and especially a good writer. On the diagnostic I scored a 9, and after a 2 1/2 months of studying I've been getting consistent 12s and 13s, with a few 14s.
Might have try out the exam crackers idea!

 

[OCDOCDOCD]

I did all of TPRH VW and EK 101 (as well as the EK verbal book in the "complete study package"), the official guide passages, and the verbal self-assessment. I think that helped, even though I didn't really see much consistent improvement throughout all of it.

I think what helped me the most is that I've always had very good reading abilities, and as an avid NPR listener I can be entertained by just about anything. I was actually moderately entertained by every passage I read while prepping and on the actual exam, which made recalling details a lot easier. Since this topic has come up, I also read a ton as a kid, but all but stopped reading for pleasure starting in late high school.

I think what would really help the most on VR is minoring in English, philosophy, or art history in college. If you can understand those cryptic humanities passages as easily as the science and social ones then much of the challenge of VR is removed.

And FWIW, I got 13 on VR just in case anyone wanted to know.

 

[NickNaylor]

I minored in great books - I think that was my biggest contribution to doing well on VR. I think the effectiveness of the "reading hard magazines" thing is WAY overblown on SDN, but it seems to work for some.

Definitely recommend EK 101 VR. Other than that, do as many AAMC tests as you can. With few exceptions unfortunately the skills utilized in VR aren't quickly learned. You can't really "study" how to interpret a piece of writing and make inferences about it. I will say to make sure that all of your responses are based SOLELY on the text provided. It's very easy to bring your own knowledge and opinions into it - and I think the test writers specifically take advantage of that to lead you down wrong paths.

 

[blueshockey]

As someone that isn't an avid reader I feel like it didn't really hurt me. The only practice I did were those passages that were on practice aamc's, and even then my scores at the beginning were identical to those that I got towards the latter half of the tests that I took. I ended up with an 11 (I would consistently get 10 or 11), so you can still do well on verbal even if you haven't been a voracious reader your entire life. I should also note I consider myself a terrible writer and reading comprehension is easily my worst skill

 

[punkedoutriffs]

English major here who got a 12. Reading since childhood, practicing passages, it all helps. Just do what you can from this time forward. If you've got the test coming up in 3 months, doing passages and learning the format of the test, rather than tackling Shakespeare or the WSJ, will probably give you the best bang for your buck.

 

[impermanence]

I learned English during my freshman year of high school, Spanish is my native language. I got a 14 on my last MCAT (first time I scored a 10). I am a fan of reading the classics (Dickens, Dumas, Tolstoy, etc) and although I think that helped me tremendously I think that there were 2 other things that were very important:

1) Use the EK technique, practice with their passages under timed conditions giving yourself less time that what you'll have in the real test. I think someone recommended 6 or 7 min. per passage.
2) Put the author on a box
The MCAT does not care about our opinions; it is assessing how well we understand the author's opinion. I would literally read the passage and ask myself "Is this guy a conservative? An anarchist?" I would think about politicians that hold different views or folks that I've met in random places (I once had a whole plane ride sitting next to a libertarian). I would then ask myself, how would that guy answer this question? I would always be tempted to answer what I thought was right but ended up picking the answer that I thought the anarchist would like...

I think that you can definitely improve on VR based on timing and trying to "judge" the author even if you don't read for fun.

 

[sinombre]

...and I think the test writers specifically take advantage of that to lead you down wrong paths.

Yep, I think this more or less describes the entire test.

 

[dudeliness]

I'd have to disagree with these points.

I consider myself a relatively good reader/writer, but beyond basic newspaper/magazine reading and reading for classwork/research, reading is not a hobby for me. I rarely read novels just for fun. Despite this, I managed to score 12-14 on the VR sections of most of the AAMC exams and scored right in the middle of that range on the actual MCAT.

In my opinion, your reasoning skills and the amount of practice that you put into the VR section makes a bigger difference than being an avid reader to start with. I went through a good bit of the the TPRH Verbal book as well as the entire EK101 verbal book, and my VR skills definitely improved afterwards (I was getting about 10s when I first started the EK101 VR book). I do not think that the MCAT VR section is necessarily a test of one's reading prowess in general. Rather, I think it's a test of how well someone prepared for the specific format and question types that are found on the MCAT VR section.

Well, I certainly wasn't saying its impossible for someone to score high without enjoying reading things, just that enjoying my reading helped me.
Really though, one should take every advantage they can. Read things, study well with good materials like EK or TPRH, practice, and somewhere in that mix you should find success.

 

[dudeliness]

I learned English during my freshman year of high school, Spanish is my native language. I got a 14 on my last MCAT (first time I scored a 10). I am a fan of reading the classics (Dickens, Dumas, Tolstoy, etc) and although I think that helped me tremendously I think that there were 2 other things that were very important:

1) Use the EK technique, practice with their passages under timed conditions giving yourself less time that what you'll have in the real test. I think someone recommended 6 or 7 min. per passage.
2) Put the author on a box
The MCAT does not care about our opinions; it is assessing how well we understand the author's opinion. I would literally read the passage and ask myself "Is this guy a conservative? An anarchist?" I would think about politicians that hold different views or folks that I've met in random places (I once had a whole plane ride sitting next to a libertarian). I would then ask myself, how would that guy answer this question? I would always be tempted to answer what I thought was right but ended up picking the answer that I thought the anarchist would like...

I think that you can definitely improve on VR based on timing and trying to "judge" the author even if you don't read for fun.

This

 

[NickNaylor]

Yep, I think this more or less describes the entire test.

Hah, fair enough, but unlike sections that test more objective things and you can clearly know what is correct or incorrect, it's much easier to influence your opinion on more subjective questions as you see in VR.

 

[LauraJo08]

I scored 99 percentile for VR, which I think is attributed to these key factors:

1. I speak 4 languages and have spent a lot of college reading literature in these different languages.
2. I grew up reading magazines like National Geographic, the New Yorker, and the Economist. I also read very quickly.
3. I used to spend my hour-long bus ride to and from school the semester before the MCAT doing verbal passages. I learned how to focus very quickly and how to shut out other people on the bus/traffic etc.
4. With my Princeton Review prep course, we learned about the different types of questions and how to approach them.

FYI my strategy for verbal was to skim the questions looking for key words, and then read the passage quickly once, summarizing in my head the main point and highlighting areas with those key subjects. Then I would go back to each highlighted area/question and reason them out.

 

[Tipp]

I scored 99 percentile for VR, which I think is attributed to these key factors:

1. I speak 4 languages and have spent a lot of college reading literature in these different languages.
2. I grew up reading magazines like National Geographic, the New Yorker, and the Economist. I also read very quickly.
3. I used to spend my hour-long bus ride to and from school the semester before the MCAT doing verbal passages. I learned how to focus very quickly and how to shut out other people on the bus/traffic etc.
4. With my Princeton Review prep course, we learned about the different types of questions and how to approach them.

FYI my strategy for verbal was to skim the questions looking for key words, and then read the passage quickly once, summarizing in my head the main point and highlighting areas with those key subjects. Then I would go back to each highlighted area/question and reason them out.

Do you have any tricks for reading quickly?

 

[red doctober]

More important than speed is comprehension. You can read the passages at a moderate pace and have plenty of time if while answering the questions, you aren't constantly looking back in the passage.

 

[tarheel1408]

I didn't practice for VR at all and I got an 11.

Only thing I can think of, like other posters have said, is that I did a lot of reading when I was younger

 

[smallone]

I think I did well on VR because I know how to read quickly, I read a lot, and I did a bunch of practice VRs over a long-ish period of time.

I think it also helps to go to CNN.com (or a similar site) and practice reading lots of different sections with various topics.

Finally, something I noticed on the actual MCAT.... I felt like the actual passages were significantly longer than those in my practice books, which threw off my time budgeting a bit. Just a heads up.

 

[heyitsben]

I'm an engineering major that managed a 15 on VR after scoring a 10 on my first take. Like a good percentage of people that scored well on the section I read a ton as a kid and could read fairly quickly. The biggest difference for me between the two tests was the definitely the EK VR 101 practice passages. As science majors most of us never really get the opportunity to read articles in the social sciences and my main problem was approaching the passages as I would a science passage. I definitely think understanding the author's opinion is a huge part of that. And finally, there is a good bit of luck involved. The passages on my last test were much easier to follow than my first test, which made applying the information to the questions a lot easier.

 

[sliceofbread136]

I got a 5 on my first practice test and brought it up to a 12 avg (11 on real thing)

It's all about finding a strategy that works for you

 

[wizedw]

I bought the exam kracker book. I did one passage every single day for 3 months as well as a full verbal section once per week (sometimes this was just a part of a full length practice test I was taking). Doing one passage a day only takes like 10 minutes but it keeps you in the verbal frame of mind. I was able to pull a 13 with the approach

 

[karkatvantas]

For those who have done well on the VR section, what do you think is the reason for success...or the biggest predictor of success on the section?

Do you think individuals who read a lot and have done so since childhood tend to do better than those students who do not/did not do those things?

I don't think reading habits have anything to do with it. I was never a big fan of reading (I've read probably about 20 books my whole life that weren't assigned), and I was able to score very well on the VR by simply practicing a lot.

Get the ExamKrackers verbal study guide, and follow their advice to the letter. It might take you a while, but it will work. Also get the Princeton Review verbal workbook and the ExamKrackers 101 verbal passages, and do those. Do a lot of practice, but don't burn yourself out. I think I did one day on, one day off for verbal (or whatever it was the EK book suggested). I went from consistent 8s on my first few practice verbal sections to a 13 on the real MCAT, but obviously ymmv.