Using Kaplan Verbal Efficiently

[Richter915]

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For the most part, people agree that Kaplan doesn't give the best verbal preparation but from my recent experiences, I will disagree and here is why. I was originally taking one practice a week and alternating between kaplan and aamc but I found no real difference in my verbal scores (around a nine for both types). Then because of my kaplan schedule, I took three or four practice kaplan mcats in a row and this past week I took an aamc where my verbal jumped to an 11. I found myself not pressed for time and with a good amount of time left over. It may just be an "easier" aamc but I think Kaplan might be working. I never do the mapping (I guess I do, but in my head) but what I think did it is practicing verbal as part of a full length. Since the verbal comes right after the physical, my brain is usually drained for kaplan. Not the case for the aamc practice at all. I think that inadvertently kaplan makes their verbal harder not by content or question, but by timing and location...what's around it makes it tougher and more stressful.

So bottom line is, their strategies are eh but when taken along with a full length, you really benefit from it. Thoughts and opinions?

 

[GreenShirt]

I thought the Kaplan verbal materials were good. I didn't agree with their method, but the questions and passages looked exactly like those you see on the MCAT. I ended up with a 13 on the real deal, so I've been continuously surprised by the hostility to Kaplan VR on SDN.

 

[Vanguard23]

What exactly have you been doing on the verbal to get a 13?

 

[AnEyeLikeMars]

What exactly have you been doing on the verbal to get a 13?

A got a 13 as well, and I'd have to say that verbal is the hardest to prepare for. Beyond improving general critical reading skills (I don't even know how this can be done), my advice is to really look at why you're missing questions. The thing that help me the most was reminding myself that everything that I needed to answer the question was in the passage. I found myself making too many inferences or trying to bring in outside knowledge. You might find that there's a particular type of question that you miss, and correcting that issue will help.

Also, I think that the verbal section benefits most from repeated practice and analysis of incorrect answers (just an aside - you should briefly review correct answers to make sure you got them right for the right reason)

Good luck

EDIT: I also didn't notice a disparity between kaplan VR and the real thing.

 

[Vanguard23]

That's what I usually do. Though I haven't been doing review for incorrect answers *lately*. Need to pick up on that hardcore again.

 

[wishuponastar]

i think kaplan is harder. plus the question type and what they are emphasizing in their questions are both different than the aamc stuff. some answers that they have do not make sense as the best answer, without a doubt. IMO at least but i still think it is decent practice if you have used up the aamc material, how can it not be though if you are practicing reading the passages which really dont change that much from one verbal copyright to another.

 

[sesil]

i think kaplan is harder. plus the question type and what they are emphasizing in their questions are both different than the aamc stuff. some answers that they have do not make sense as the best answer, without a doubt. IMO at least but i still think it is decent practice if you have used up the aamc material, how can it not be though if you are practicing reading the passages which really dont change that much from one verbal copyright to another.

I completely agree. For me, Kaplan was more difficult for some reason. The passages were similar to AAMC stuff but the questions seemed to be asking different types of questions than the real thing. EK on the other hand had questions that were similar to the AAMC. Both practice test companies are good in their own right I guess. I ended up doing all of EK and some Kaplan verbal but by crunch time I had completely given up on the Kap stuff and focused on AAMC.

 

[Richter915]

thanks for your responses. I too have found Kaplan to be somewhat challenging but I was amazed to see my ease in doing AAMC's verbal. I do believe that the rigor of the physical science section plays a role in verbal performance and as a result kaplan adds an extra edge. Thanks again for all the input.