Trouble with passages

imagination07 · Jul 31, 2010

Hey everyone, so I have been studying roughly for over 2 months now, and I feel like I know the content fairly well in PS and BS (BS stronger by far), but once I get to passage type questions of practice exams, I can never get them. I do much better on discrete questions, but I've noticed now that alot more of the PS and BS passage questions are based more on comprehension than knowledge and I'm having trouble with this.

Same thing is reflective in my VR, as I have trouble to actually know what the passage is talking about. I used the EK verbal strategy, and found it worked for their passages (I found them easier to read), but have been doing aamc and Kaplan since and just cannot seem to get the main idea often (scores lower than EK), I do attack the passages and don't read passively, yet what used to have worked (while i did EK) doesn't work anymore and it's getting frustrating as my exam is in about 3 weeks.

What's more interesting is sometimes when I feel like I have gotten the main idea from a VR passage, and answer the questions... it doesn't raise my score much! It still sits around the same (slightly higher) than when I didn't really understand the passage at all!

So I've concluded that the problem is not the lack of knowledge on the PS/BS parts (as when I see the solution... I know the concept behind it and how to do it), but more on the passage comprehension part. I seem to be having trouble extracting the information I need (cause half the time, I read through the passage and have honestly no idea what concepts I need to match the passage).

So any suggestions on how to solve this problem (BS, VR, and PS)? I am trying to do more passage type problems but feel like I'm always approaching them in the same way and just blindly doing more isn't helping. Sorry for the long post, any help is appreciated!

g8orlife · Jul 31, 2010

imagination07 said:
I'm always approaching them in the same way and just blindly doing more isn't helping. Sorry for the long post, any help is appreciated!

coco shanel · Aug 2, 2010

I got two options for you, from my short experience, take either testprep-online's online guide for the verbal section, which lists the twelve common types of questions on verbal and then gives examples for them and practice, or try the MCAT verbal mastery book which I actually got from a friend who bought it a couple of years ago.
Since English ain't my strong side, I'm putting a lot of effort into the verbal reasoning section. It's funny but I find it hardest right now.

coyfish · Aug 2, 2010

imagination07 said:
Hey everyone, so I have been studying roughly for over 2 months now, and I feel like I know the content fairly well in PS and BS (BS stronger by far), but once I get to passage type questions of practice exams, I can never get them. I do much better on discrete questions, but I've noticed now that alot more of the PS and BS passage questions are based more on comprehension than knowledge and I'm having trouble with this.

Same thing is reflective in my VR, as I have trouble to actually know what the passage is talking about. I used the EK verbal strategy, and found it worked for their passages (I found them easier to read), but have been doing aamc and Kaplan since and just cannot seem to get the main idea often (scores lower than EK), I do attack the passages and don't read passively, yet what used to have worked (while i did EK) doesn't work anymore and it's getting frustrating as my exam is in about 3 weeks.

What's more interesting is sometimes when I feel like I have gotten the main idea from a VR passage, and answer the questions... it doesn't raise my score much! It still sits around the same (slightly higher) than when I didn't really understand the passage at all!

So I've concluded that the problem is not the lack of knowledge on the PS/BS parts (as when I see the solution... I know the concept behind it and how to do it), but more on the passage comprehension part. I seem to be having trouble extracting the information I need (cause half the time, I read through the passage and have honestly no idea what concepts I need to match the passage).

So any suggestions on how to solve this problem (BS, VR, and PS)? I am trying to do more passage type problems but feel like I'm always approaching them in the same way and just blindly doing more isn't helping. Sorry for the long post, any help is appreciated!

Keep in mind identifying and knowing are two different things. It is easy to answer a direct question but difficult to apply / recall the mechanism of something you know to an unknown situation. Thus when you see the answer it is easy to dismiss it and say, "oh I knew that I am just dumb . . . silly mistake." To improve your score you need to go over the answers! That is more important (when learning) than grinding questions. Ask why you missed it. If you knew the content than figure out what was in the passage that allowed the correct answer to be extrapolated.

If you just grind questions and briefly look at the answers without thinking about it . . . you won't improve much.

Doing questions blindly doesn't work. So stop lol. Think about what you are doing and ask yourself questions. First narrow the topic of the science passages. Are they talking about digestion? respiration? etc etc.

hiyaman · Aug 2, 2010

coyfish said:
Keep in mind identifying and knowing are two different things. It is easy to answer a direct question but difficult to apply / recall the mechanism of something you know to an unknown situation. Thus when you see the answer it is easy to dismiss it and say, "oh I knew that I am just dumb . . . silly mistake." To improve your score you need to go over the answers! That is more important (when learning) than grinding questions. Ask why you missed it. If you knew the content than figure out what was in the passage that allowed the correct answer to be extrapolated.

If you just grind questions and briefly look at the answers without thinking about it . . . you won't improve much.

Doing questions blindly doesn't work. So stop lol. Think about what you are doing and ask yourself questions. First narrow the topic of the science passages. Are they talking about digestion? respiration? etc etc.

This is exactly how you should be studying, and is the only way to see significant gains. The MCAT is all about how to utilize the knowledge that you've learned. The easiest questions for PS and BS are the freestanding because they're straight up recall and memorization that's why they're the easiest points to grab. You have to just keep doing passages and rigorously breakdown your reasoning to why you chose a incorrect answer and why it should be the chosen answer.

imagination07 · Aug 2, 2010

Thanks guys for the advice, I've actually been learning more from my mistakes by going over them slower and understand why I got them wrong. I think I have been doing better on the verbal practices now since I've been doing them more consistently and that's important (I noticed I did EK verbal..and stopped for like...2 weeks trying to review physical sciences and organic chem, and then had trouble with verbal without the practice). So I guess one of the keys is to continuously practice verbal.

I have noticed a pattern on a specific type of VR section however, I always get stuck on the implicit in the statement etc. type of questions, and even when I understand the passage quite well, I seem to have trouble both when choosing the answer, and when reviewing the solution (sometimes I get it, sometimes I don't). Often times, all the answers sound correct which is the problem. Any suggestions on how to tackle this particular type of question?

g8orlife · Aug 2, 2010

imagination07 said:
I always get stuck on the implicit in the statement etc. type of questions,

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showpost.php?p=2902529&postcount=4

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showpost.php?p=2902541&postcount=15

Trouble with passages

imagination07

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g8orlife

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coco shanel

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hiyaman

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imagination07

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g8orlife

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