to read or to not read the mcat science passages

[Brundlefly]

in both the biological sciences and physical sciences section, i find it a total waste of time to involve yourself in full reading and comprehension of the passages. i've been studying for the august mcat for a few weeks now, and i see the same pattern of long useless info in the passages that in some cases have nothing to do with the following qiestions. i think the best stradegy is to look at the experiments or article as a whole and hopefully recognize the type of experiment thats being discussed, underline some weird new stuff that they talk about and then move onto the questions occassionally reffering back when necessary. this has been giving me better scores on passages as a whole. verbal, on the other hand, i find it best to read the passage throughly and with as much attention to detail, sometimes even jotting notes on the side helps me. those questions are killer. what are your guys' thoughts?

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[IndyZX]

read them. you dont have to go into hardcore reading more, but just read them.

many times the passages will give you information that you will have absolutely no reason to believe is true other than the fact that is given there. in other words, it may contradict your understand of a subject.

 

[N-toxicologist]

I like to skim the passages, get the main idea, pay attention to equations, and head to the questions. I spend more time on the questions, since many have nothing to do with passage info. Then I have time to look it up if I need to. Do what works for you; I'm a concept girl, so this suffices for me.

This approach is totally opposite of verbal, as you know.

 

[willthatsall]

Unless you aren't finishing on time, I would read them.

 

[javandane]

actually, i don't recommend reading the verbal passages. talk about a bunch of useless garbage. instead, see what you can do just by looking at the questions. makes the whole MCAT experience more "interesting", no?

 

[RayhanS1282]

I say read the passages...just so you retain a little idea about what the hell they are takling about. Sometimes, the answers are in the passages...esp. for the biology part.

 

[blz]

in both the biological sciences and physical sciences section, i find it a total waste of time to involve yourself in full reading and comprehension of the passages. i've been studying for the august mcat for a few weeks now, and i see the same pattern of long useless info in the passages that in some cases have nothing to do with the following qiestions. i think the best stradegy is to look at the experiments or article as a whole and hopefully recognize the type of experiment thats being discussed, underline some weird new stuff that they talk about and then move onto the questions occassionally reffering back when necessary. this has been giving me better scores on passages as a whole. verbal, on the other hand, i find it best to read the passage throughly and with as much attention to detail, sometimes even jotting notes on the side helps me. those questions are killer. what are your guys' thoughts?

Read the passage. This skimming/not reading crap only works on those crappy TPR and Kaplan exams where their passages are just all about spitting out knowledge from the books.

 

[superdevil]

read them.

the MCAT is all about using the info that *they* give you. what if you see a question that you think you know the answer to immediately, but the CORRECT answer is actually slightly different and hidden somewhere in the passage? give the answer that THEY want; don't answer it based on what you heard somewhere else.

 

[skiz knot]

I guess I would say don't listen to what people are saying regarding reading the passages.

What you should do is find what works best for you. Do a ton of practice passages in a test like condition (about 1 minute per q). Try both stratagies. Whichever you feel more comfortable with, stick with it and practice it. Other people may find that one way generally works better, but you are not them. Now, reread the first sentance in this paragraph.

 

[superdevil]

What you should do is find what works best for you. Do a ton of practice passages in a test like condition (about 1 minute per q). Try both stratagies. Whichever you feel more comfortable with, stick with it and practice it. Other people may find that one way generally works better, but you are not them.

well, i agree with this for the verbal section, but respectfully disagree with this on the science sections. it still doesn't address the problem i mentioned wherein you may attempt to answer a question based on your personal intuition (or "knowledge," if you will), and be incorrect because the correct answer may have been a somewhat nuanced point inferred from the passage/figures.

just do lots of practice, you don't have to compromise being right to feel "comfortable."

 

[Shrike]

The following applies to physics; its application to other sciences might be tricky, I don't know:

To respectfully disagree with your respectful disgreement, you're wrong. If you work at this enough, you will know immediately when they are asking you something that requires reference to the passage, because it's not amazingly, incredibly simple. For those not so simple questions, the answer is there; just look in the passage. Those questions where you think you know the answer from your own knowledge base, but you really don't, don't exist if you're careful, because you never trust your knowledge base except where it's so burned in that it's clear.

About one question per passage is like that, so you might think it would make sense to read it. Wrong again, mostly. For most students, reading the passage is a time sink. If you had the discipline to limit yourself to a quick skimming it would be fine, but under testing conditions most people hate to miss anything, so skimming becaomes reading, and reading becomes time expiring before you're done or you spending less than the optimal amount of time on questions to compensate.

Again, this is for physics only: do not read the passages. Check the first couple lines to find out what's going on, look at every equation, figure, and table and make sure you know what they are (this will require reading a couple or a few lines each), and hit the questions. When you get to one that isn't absolutely automatic, that means you need to refer to the passage. If it's in one of the equations, figures, or tables, great. If not, you'll probably know which paragraph of text to check.

This method, relying on going back to get text-based answers, is not inefficient because you'd be doing it anyway: you can never trust what you have "learned" while reading a passage. Given that, why do it?

By the way, to those who feel more comfortable when you read the passage, ask yourself whether the discomfiture is actually costing you points, and whether the time lost is worth it.

 

[stinkycheese]

I just think that it wastes more time trying to go back and get answers out of passages that you haven't read, then reading the passages quickly, understanding the context, and being able to fish for answers in a more focused way when you are required to go back. Sometimes the questions are complicated references to the passage and if you have no idea what the hell the passage is talking about, you will lose valuable time trying to find the answer, put it in a context that makes sense, and select your choice.

 

[Medikit]

Often the answers can be found within the passage.

 

[MrTee]

It would be to your advantage to read the passage, because like others have said, sometimes the answer will be contained in the passage (or at least implied). No, it's not necessary to dissect the writing like it was a verbal passage, but you should definitely have an idea of what they're trying to say in it. I don't see the advantage in not reading, unless you are pressed for time to finish. If you want maximum points, you should read the passages.

 

[OSUdoc08]

ha....answers to questions are in the reading....that would be dumb to not read......

 

[KNightInBlue]

Often the answers can be found within the passage.

I agree.
I would read it. Not neccessarily with a magnifying glass, but I'd do a once over. Mostly because, amidst all the bullcrap, there will be a sentence here or there that could allow you to eliminate b and c and narrow your choices to a and d........once in a while, the answer will even be right IN the passage.

 

[CH3CH2OH]

actually, i don't recommend reading the verbal passages. talk about a bunch of useless garbage. instead, see what you can do just by looking at the questions. makes the whole MCAT experience more "interesting", no?

all jokes aside, EK actually claim it's possible.
for those of you who have their books, chapter 2 in verbal is all about that, and it's pretty damn convincing 😱
they basically chose a few passages from some of the AAMC tests but only give you the questions, then they demonstrate that you can answer most questions correctly w/o reading the passage (heck, they can answer most of them correctly w/o reading the answer choices!)
when i did the exercises for that chapter i actually DID get most questions right.
of course, they chose the "right" passages to demonstrate that it can be done, but those are still AAMC passages.

they don't advocate this strategy (and why would anyone use it when you usually DO have the time to read the passages) they're just showing you that the questions themselves contain plenty of information about the right answer choice.

i was pretty impressed. EK verbal rocks 👍

 

[Shrike]

OK, I give; you're all right. The physics passages contain some answers, so you should read the passages, and the passages are listed first, so you should do that first -- I mean, AAMC is our friend, and they wouldn't ever include extraneous stuff to confuse us or waste our time, right?

The question is not whether you the passages contain information you need, but whether the most efficient way to retrieve that information is by reading the entire passage. My experience, working with many, many students (hundreds, but not thousands; I don't know how many) is that it is not. Zipping back to the passage when you know what you're looking for, and only then, is faster and just as effective.

Now, a lot of my students never get the hang of this; they have to read the passages. But they suffer as a result. A good many, and most of the high-scoring ones, report that not reading, or skimming at most, is best. I believe them, in the agreggate, more than I believe any one person who makes an argument that seems to make sense in support of reading. (Incidentally, what I really believe is that most of the ones who say they don't read, are still spending ten or fifteen seconds skimming, which amounts to roughly teh same thing.)

Assuming you have no faith in my proposition, then do try for yourself, but conduct a real experiment rather than just seeing what feels best. (The best test-taking techniques feel lousy; incidentally, this is more true of VR than anything else.) Put aside an even number of passages whose subject matters and difficulties should be similar. Do half while reading, half while not, timed, with reasonable time limits. (Say you have 50 practice passages; divide a middle chunk for this experiment, say 11, 13, 15, 17, and 19 while reading; 12, 14, 16, 18, and 20 without.) Look at accuracy and speed, with emphasis on speed -- be sure to record how much time you have at the end of each passage. This will help determine what's best for you, without letting you get hung up on this "comfort" thing.

Or just go ahead and read them, because it makes sense to do it and it nerve-wracking not to. Maybe you'll manage to finish anyway.

(As an aside re VR passages -- I've actually had students do them without reading them, as an excercise; it's revealing, but not really a great technique for the test. It is possible, though, to get all or nearly all of the answers in about the same amount of time this way.)

 

[Shrike]

all jokes aside, EK actually claim it's possible.
for those of you who have their books, chapter 2 in verbal is all about that, and it's pretty damn convincing 😱
they basically chose a few passages from some of the AAMC tests but only give you the questions, then they demonstrate that you can answer most questions correctly w/o reading the passage (heck, they can answer most of them correctly w/o reading the answer choices!)
when i did the exercises for that chapter i actually DID get most questions right.
of course, they chose the "right" passages to demonstrate that it can be done, but those are still AAMC passages.

they don't advocate this strategy (and why would anyone use it when you usually DO have the time to read the passages) they're just showing you that the questions themselves contain plenty of information about the right answer choice.

I actually do advise some of my LSAT students to take this approach, but it works less well on the MCAT. I use it as a drill for people who are having time trouble, and also when people are having trouble with retrieval-type questions (of which LSAT has more than MCAT). Usually, they don't get any better when they skip the passage (biut not much worse either), but then they go BACK to reading it, faster this time, and improve.

I have tried using it on entire sections of LSATs and MCATs, with about the results you'd expect -- it's frustrating on the LSAT, but I still get everything right and finish fast; on the MACT, it reduces my accuracy slightly.

Incidentally, it's not a very fair test but on physics passages I really do eschew reading them. It works.

 

[txguy]

Hey guys,

If you have the TPR books, there is a secret section in the Verbal Reasoning book on p. 97 (in my version) that instructs you on how to read science passages.

If you have the EK Verbal/Math book, there is a section on p. 3 that instructs you on how to approach science passages.

I really liked Ek's advice, but read both just to be sure!

-tx

 

[blz]

I have a secret book with a secret strategy on how to ace the MCAT. I wish I could tell but it's a secret 😀

 

[skiz knot]

well, i agree with this for the verbal section, but respectfully disagree with this on the science sections. it still doesn't address the problem i mentioned wherein you may attempt to answer a question based on your personal intuition (or "knowledge," if you will), and be incorrect because the correct answer may have been a somewhat nuanced point inferred from the passage/figures.

just do lots of practice, you don't have to compromise being right to feel "comfortable."

I agree with what you are saying. I think that if the OP tries the two methods, he will ultimately choose to read, but you never know what he will find works best.

 

[EvoDevo]

all jokes aside, EK actually claim it's possible.
for those of you who have their books, chapter 2 in verbal is all about that, and it's pretty damn convincing 😱
they basically chose a few passages from some of the AAMC tests but only give you the questions, then they demonstrate that you can answer most questions correctly w/o reading the passage (heck, they can answer most of them correctly w/o reading the answer choices!)
when i did the exercises for that chapter i actually DID get most questions right.
of course, they chose the "right" passages to demonstrate that it can be done, but those are still AAMC passages.

they don't advocate this strategy (and why would anyone use it when you usually DO have the time to read the passages) they're just showing you that the questions themselves contain plenty of information about the right answer choice.

i was pretty impressed. EK verbal rocks 👍

My 12V was due to following EK's advice to the letter. 👍

 

[N-toxicologist]

OP: Hope the custody battle over reading / not reading hasn't totally frustrated you. There's lots of advice here; I repeat, do what works for you, but try several methods. I tried reading, found that there was a lot of extraneous background (esp. in bio), and I still had to go back and hunt for answers anyway, and went to skimming. This works (for me) in chem :if you skim and get the idea it's about solubility, that's all you need, as far as text is concerned. This allows me more time to pour over data tables, experiments, and questions. Same goes for physics, only less so for me (sometimes I need a little background), and especially bio (at this point I've taken how many hours of bio? There are very few concepts I'm not familiar with). I spend an average of 3-4 min. in the passage; some questions can be answered w/o the passage entirely, and I'm not getting scored on whether I fully comprehend the material, just right answers. But then again, I'm more of a conceptual thinker. Some people have to face the questions totally prepared, and that's fine, as long as you finish and get the right answer. Good luck 👍

(I still stand by my method, but y'all are afraid of something different, so do whatever makes you feel cuddly)

 

[VFrank]

I read all my passages just because it helped me not freak out. It sucks to read a question and have NO idea where to even begin. By reading the passage (quickly -- don't try to understand) at least you have a little information about where the question is coming from. Reading is a good way to adopt an "it's ok, I can answer this question" attitude.

 

[N-toxicologist]

I read all my passages just because it helped me not freak out. It sucks to read a question and have NO idea where to even begin. By reading the passage (quickly -- don't try to understand) at least you have a little information about where the question is coming from. Reading is a good way to adopt an "it's ok, I can answer this question" attitude.

And do you not find, when you get to the questions, you could have answered several w/o passage information?

If you hit a question and you "don't know where to begin," then go back to the passage. The secret is, do the ones you know first. Read through the ones you don't know, look them up. Half the passage is background info that's just explaining some concept that you already know. Waste of time. 👎

 

[premed1001]

does anyone else agree here?
mainly on PS

 

[Sean Lee]

does anyone else agree here?
mainly on PS

I got a 12 on PS.

For PS passages, DO NOT read them! Skim them super fast and only go back to the relevant bits if necessary.

For some of the obscure PS passages, there are so much extraneous information that reading the entire thing will only screw you over.

In fact, as long as you have a solid grasp of all the relevant PS topics, you don't even have to understand the passages in order to score well.

 

[Czarcasm]

You should definitely read them, just not to the same degree you'd read the verbal passage. Read it to get a general idea of what's going on, but don't stress it if you don't. Pay attention to important numbers or equations. When you get to the question, if they ask you to make some inference based on an experimental observation or result, glance at the relevant data. If it's a variable they are asking you about, use what you know, or refer to the relevant equation. You should never ignore it entirely since a considerable amount of PS and BS rely on incoporating info given with what you know. They want to see if you can take new information and reason through it. To ignore it entirely would be a huge mistake. Skim it if you have to, but definitely don't avoid it.

 

[premed1001]

thanks! i will follow advice.

 

[brood910]

Most of the questions can be answered by referring back to the passages.
That's why many ppl say you dont have to know much for MCAT.

I also used to spend a lot of time on reading passages for PS and BS as I did for VR, but I realized it's a waste of time.
Instead, try to read the whole thing while highlighting important parts in 2 minutes.

 

[Sean Lee]

Most of the questions can be answered by referring back to the passages.
That's why many ppl say you dont have to know much for MCAT.

I also used to spend a lot of time on reading passages for PS and BS as I did for VR, but I realized it's a waste of time.
Instead, try to read the whole thing while highlighting important parts in 2 minutes.

Brood is legit.

He got a double 12 on the sciences.

 

[RC4L]

Absolutely read them. Respectfully, it would be such a reckless strategy to jump straight to the questions. If you are LUCKY you may get a passage/question set containing only two questions that require knowledge of the passage. If you do get lucky enough to get one of these, would you risk giving away those potential points just to avoid reading a passage? You're going to have to consult the passages in PS/BS throughout the exam so why skip them when you will have to spend time going back to read them anyway? I can understand why you may feel that way after doing some practice tests because a lot of them tend to focus on content but the real MCAT emphasizes reading comprehension far more than any practice tests. I have sat for 3 real exams and every one of them contained lengthy, critical passages throughout PS and BS. In fact, I almost felt like aamc was trying to incorporate verbal into the entire test and my classmates taking it with me around the same time all had similar experiences. In reference to what Sean Lee^ said regarding content efficiency alone to do well in PS, I firmly disagree. Many, many, many people know their PS exceptionally well and still have trouble getting into the double digits. That is just not a universal truth. Most of the PS and BS consist of experimental procedures that require you to understand the purpose of a test or an exception to content rules. I too made a 12 on PS and BS and there is no way that would have happened had I skipped the passages. Some people may be able to make it work by jumping straight to the questions but at the very least, reading the passages is the safest method. AAMC is/has been changing the MCAT to more effectively test thinking ability rather than how well an applicant learns or relearns undergrad content and it is quite apparent in the current design of the MCAT. The popular practice exams are a little bit outdated in terms of giving you a realistic experience-just look at all the people who come back to sdn after their exam saying "holy crap that was so much harder than I expected." (Granted, nerves can give a false sense of difficulty at times)
Also to the person above who referred to EK about being able to find the answer in the question, that technique is great and I used it for every question really. But..it wont substitute for understanding the passage unless you just don't get the passage and you have to run with what you can find in the question/answer. That technique is a lifesaver when a passage blows your mind.

It just doesn't pay to cut corners with the MCAT.

 

[RC4L]

OK, I give; you're all right. The physics passages contain some answers, so you should read the passages, and the passages are listed first, so you should do that first -- I mean, AAMC is our friend, and they wouldn't ever include extraneous stuff to confuse us or waste our time, right?

The question is not whether you the passages contain information you need, but whether the most efficient way to retrieve that information is by reading the entire passage. My experience, working with many, many students (hundreds, but not thousands; I don't know how many) is that it is not. Zipping back to the passage when you know what you're looking for, and only then, is faster and just as effective.

Now, a lot of my students never get the hang of this; they have to read the passages. But they suffer as a result. A good many, and most of the high-scoring ones, report that not reading, or skimming at most, is best. I believe them, in the agreggate, more than I believe any one person who makes an argument that seems to make sense in support of reading. (Incidentally, what I really believe is that most of the ones who say they don't read, are still spending ten or fifteen seconds skimming, which amounts to roughly teh same thing.)

Assuming you have no faith in my proposition, then do try for yourself, but conduct a real experiment rather than just seeing what feels best. (The best test-taking techniques feel lousy; incidentally, this is more true of VR than anything else.) Put aside an even number of passages whose subject matters and difficulties should be similar. Do half while reading, half while not, timed, with reasonable time limits. (Say you have 50 practice passages; divide a middle chunk for this experiment, say 11, 13, 15, 17, and 19 while reading; 12, 14, 16, 18, and 20 without.) Look at accuracy and speed, with emphasis on speed -- be sure to record how much time you have at the end of each passage. This will help determine what's best for you, without letting you get hung up on this "comfort" thing.

Or just go ahead and read them, because it makes sense to do it and it nerve-wracking not to. Maybe you'll manage to finish anyway.

(As an aside re VR passages -- I've actually had students do them without reading them, as an excercise; it's revealing, but not really a great technique for the test. It is possible, though, to get all or nearly all of the answers in about the same amount of time this way.)

I understand your logic with this and obviously you have a very credible opinion considering your experience but here's my issue. You feel that an effective approach is most important and that reading the passage is not the most effective method. I agree that everyone needs to do what is most effective but if the majority cant get the hang of jumping to the questions, doesn't it imply that skipping the passage may not be most effective? Or..if the top scorers do jump straight to the questions couldn't it be possible that those individuals have special skills or could score higher if they learn to read the passage effectively?

When I first started to hammer out a technique I attempted both strategies. Initially I read the passage and then answered but felt I could do better another way, assuming I was reading exactly how I needed to. Next, I tried jumping to the questions and I was able to answer a few immediately but when I did have to go back, which was all the time, I found myself spending lots of time trying to find what I was looking for. Even when I did find what I was looking for it often required me to go back and read more because the passages tended to build upon concepts. All in all, I was scoring about the same between the two techniques so I went back to the drawing board. Because passages contained critical info so frequently I figured reading them was the best option but I needed to change the way I read. In this particular case, I was scanning for details like a typical bio major and ignoring the point of the story if you want to put it that way. Once I changed the way I read, my scores jumped considerably and I felt far more comfortable because I was able to answer more confidently.

What I am trying to get at is having critical information is always going to be better than not having it. If an individual tends to score better by skipping some of that info I don't believe it is correct to assume that is the more effective technique but rather an indication that reading is not being utilized in an effective manner. Of course this is my personal opinion based on my personal experience but as someone who initially struggled a lot with reading the passages, changing the way I read instead of giving it up altogether was a much more effective method and in the end, was much easier.

 

[listener23]

thanks! i will follow advice.

Follow which one two people are saying opposite

 

[premed1001]

Most of the questions can be answered by referring back to the passages.
That's why many ppl say you dont have to know much for MCAT.

I also used to spend a lot of time on reading passages for PS and BS as I did for VR, but I realized it's a waste of time.
Instead, try to read the whole thing while highlighting important parts in 2 minutes.

The hilight function is available on the real test?

 

[Gauss44]

No, no, no! "To be or not to be," that is the question.

-Hamlet (facing grief after his father's death - "to be" is to face the grief)

Onto another serious matter:

If I had trouble finishing on time, I might attempt the questions of a couple passages without reading the passage. Then I would remember which passages those were and go back to read if time permitted. I would also choose wisely and probably pick an experiment passage that just outlines data and an experiment that I'm already familiar with.

 

[premed1001]

The hilight function is available on the real test?

anyone?

 

[brood910]

The hilight function is available on the real test?

Of course it is.
But search + note taking functions are not available.

 

[premed1001]

Of course it is.
But search + note taking functions are not available.

thank you very much!

 

[premed1001]

one more question:

apparently some people have been able to use paper and pen/pencil instead of whiteboard and marker at the test centers?

does anybody know the truth behind this?