Thanks! I think I'll use this...
In terms of VR, just took aamc 4 VR...the score is even lower than my aamc 3,
..I did guess on the last one BC of time, but I missed at least half on each...idk what to do besides doing passages on MCAT 101... looks like prayer is the only thing that will help me now.
For the AAMC tests I found scanning the questions before reading the passage to be very useful. The scan should take about 20-30 seconds and only do it to question stems that are no longer than 2 lines in length otherwise you wont be able to remember it all.
By scanning the questions I am able to
1. See what the passage is about in general before reading, allowing me to prepare for the passage.
2. It allows me to be on the lookout for certain things that were in the question stems.
3. Allows me to ignore anything I didn't understand if it wasn't related to any questions
Before reading the question stems I would often read through a whole passage trying to remember everything and anything (because it might end up in the questions) and by the end of the passage ask myself wtf did I just read. I would often have to go back to the passage to answer the questions, which caused me to become even more confused in some cases.
After reading question stems, my reading style changes without me even realizing it. I pick up on important details and ideas and by the end of the passage, I have a general understanding of what is going on and can answer most if not all the questions without referring back to the passage.
I am not a verbal master, but I found this strategy helpful for anyone who is in the 6-8 ranges trying to score in the 9-10 range.
As for increasing the score try doing this:
Take 120-150 minutes a day to do 3-4 passages and review them.
Example: put 24-32 minutes on a timer and do 3-4 passages (I.E split a verbal test into 2 separate tests of 3 passages and 4 passages respectively). After completion of the 3 passages do not go to the answer sheet instead go back to the first passage and read it out loud, then go to the questions and answer them again seeing if you had a change in heart form your previous answer choice, if so document why you had the change of heart and what makes the new answer better and what makes your old answer incomplete/flawed. If you stick with your answer try and justify why it is the correct answer and for each of the wrong answer choices give a reason to why they are wrong. Do this for the other 2 passages this should take up roughly 90 minutes (24 minutes for the exam, 20-25 minutes to go over each passage). Once you have done this then go to the answer sheet and see how your logic held up taking up the last 3o minutes.
It is important in my opinion to do this right when you wake up, because it allows you to make no excuses later in the day to why you cant go over verbal. Many people hate verbal review because they feel like they are getting nothing out of it and as a result put a lot of time and effort into PS/BS and are exhausted when it comes to reviewing verbal for that day. This leads to poor results and procrastination in studying verbal.
use this same strategy for reviewing FL verbal AAMC's, after you get your score, go back to the verbal test (untimed) and do it again before looking at the answers. This allows you to not tell yourself "you just made stupid mistakes and you will score better next time"
EK101 is free on the internet if you type in EK101 verbal PDF (first one that pops up) so you don't have to pay for it and its great practice and very representative of both length and difficulty of the actual test.
