Using the LSAT to help with verbal

[missdoctor]

Would it help to do LSAT practice problems to increase verbal scores? Has anyone done this before and had it make a difference?

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[SN2ed]

The general consensus is that it's not helpful. The two tests are too different and target different aspects of analysis.

 

[brado]

The general consensus is that it's not helpful. The two tests are too different and target different aspects of analysis.

Really? My friend is an LSAT teacher for TPR and he teaches an MCAT verbal class...
The writes of the LSAT and MCAT verbal are both the same, or so I hear.

 

[tomtom123]

Some of the stuff is the same, and it could help with timing, but the lsat questions are more just different enough. For example, on the lsat you get a lot of questions that deal with main purpose and the authors attitude, etc (one of every 3 or 4), while on the mcat it seems to be more information specfic. Additionally, mcat is 2/3 sceince passages while they are rare on the lsat...maybe one of every 5.

It would help a little, but they test different things. Also, I doubt the writers of the two tests are the same. LSAT is written very smoothly, with simple, clear writing. MCAT verbal writing is crap, convoluted, does not flow and is often all over the place.

Really? My friend is an LSAT teacher for TPR and he teaches an MCAT verbal class...
The writes of the LSAT and MCAT verbal are both the same, or so I hear.

 

[JSU]

Some of the stuff is the same, and it could help with timing, but the lsat questions are more just different enough. For example, on the lsat you get a lot of questions that deal with main purpose and the authors attitude, etc (one of every 3 or 4), while on the mcat it seems to be more information specfic. Additionally, mcat is 2/3 sceince passages while they are rare on the lsat...maybe one of every 5.

It would help a little, but they test different things. Also, I doubt the writers of the two tests are the same. LSAT is written very smoothly, with simple, clear writing. MCAT verbal writing is crap, convoluted, does not flow and is often all over the place.

Where are you getting these numbers from? I wish the MCAT was 2/3 science passages. Normally (at least on AAMC exams) its 1/7 or 2/7. Also, you will get authors attitude or main idea at least every 3 or 4 questions on the MCAT. Again, I am basing my experiences off of the 20+ Verbal exams I have taken. You may have more expertise in the field.

 

[SN2ed]

Here are some fairly recent threads where people that have taken both say it's not too helpful.

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=497814
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=689548
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=667715
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=705644

The first thread gets kind of derailed, but has some good posts in the beginning.

 

[Silverfalcon]

Basically, it's simple as this: two different tests, two different verbals. One user here mentioned an analogy of preparing for marathon with short sprints - it just doesn't work. Same goes for using LSAT for MCAT.

You may improve in your reading comprehension because you are reading. But I guarantee you that LSAT RC is much different from MCAT VR in terms of what defines the correct answers. I don't really buy what your friend says - no offense - but what is really true is that these two tests are different and what may be correct in LSAT is not necessarily correct in MCAT.

I taught SAT for a summer, and I've done researches in reading section for SAT, ACT, GRE, MCAT, and LSAT. All standardized tests are unique in their own ways, and you can't substitute one test for another for materials.

 

[UofT9919]

I started practicing verbal 4 months before my mcat (aug 24th) and i did 3 LSAT sections (ihave 36 tests from my sister) a day before i started doing verbal. I think it helped because after doing my first ek exam, my problem was not the questions but understanding the passage because my reading comprehension was bad. If you have tons of time do LSAT and Kaplan at first and then do TPR and EK before your AAMC tests. I got something like a 4 or 5 on my first ek test and i tried the second one and got a 9 after i did the lsat and kaplan section tests. If you have 90 days and your verbal is bad my advice is to do the passages twice (some may disagree)

My schedule is do the whole test of whatever (lets say ek 1) on one day. Get someone to mark it (b/c i really want to know how i did right away) but don't look at what the right answers are. Then the next day do the test all over again but do a detailed review of where you went wrong and your thinking behind each answer, and the type of questions you got wrong.

My personal take on verbal is:
-improving your vocabulary by buying a gre type of vocab book is more useful then spending an hour reading the Economist b/c your comprehension will go up when you understand the words that the author is saying and it will help with the writing section
-Retaking the tests like I outlined is beneficial b/c you are getting more practice reading mcat like passages
-you will probably only get 1 or 2 points better the next day b/c you will read it faster and have a greater comprehension of the passage but you will still get full practice doing the questions b/c you don't know if your previous days answers were correct so you are forced to rethink through the questions


A lot of people will disagree but this is my opinion if it works great; if it doesn't do something else. But seriously i really think reading the economist strictly for verbal is a waste of time

 

[Dreamstoo]

I started practicing verbal 4 months before my mcat (aug 24th) and i did 3 LSAT sections (ihave 36 tests from my sister) a day before i started doing verbal. I think it helped because after doing my first ek exam, my problem was not the questions but understanding the passage because my reading comprehension was bad. If you have tons of time do LSAT and Kaplan at first and then do TPR and EK before your AAMC tests. I got something like a 4 or 5 on my first ek test and i tried the second one and got a 9 after i did the lsat and kaplan section tests. If you have 90 days and your verbal is bad my advice is to do the passages twice (some may disagree)

My schedule is do the whole test of whatever (lets say ek 1) on one day. Get someone to mark it (b/c i really want to know how i did right away) but don't look at what the right answers are. Then the next day do the test all over again but do a detailed review of where you went wrong and your thinking behind each answer, and the type of questions you got wrong.

My personal take on verbal is:
-improving your vocabulary by buying a gre type of vocab book is more useful then spending an hour reading the Economist b/c your comprehension will go up when you understand the words that the author is saying and it will help with the writing section
-Retaking the tests like I outlined is beneficial b/c you are getting more practice reading mcat like passages
-you will probably only get 1 or 2 points better the next day b/c you will read it faster and have a greater comprehension of the passage but you will still get full practice doing the questions b/c you don't know if your previous days answers were correct so you are forced to rethink through the questions


A lot of people will disagree but this is my opinion if it works great; if it doesn't do something else. But seriously i really think reading the economist strictly for verbal is a waste of time

I do agree to an extent. Before I used EK 101, I was getting 7s. After using EK 101, I was constantly in the 8-10 range. With LSAT passages, I did some EK 101 passages and were getting 85%+ right which correlates to about a 11-12. Hopefully it stays consistent.

 

[orangetea]

I actually completely disagree with some points and agree with others.

Here's my situation: When I take full length tests my score is ALL over the place and by that I mean that sometimes I get 11s and sometimes 7s. The reason for that is that I do REALLY well on some passages and HORRIBLE on others. So I decided it wasn't my technique that was flawed but the fact that I was not understanding those passages for whatever reason(they were from various categories). So I decided to due some LSAT verbal passages to improve my reading comprehension not necessarily study for the MCAT verbal(if that made sense). It did just that improve my reading comprehension. Because now I recognize main points that will be tested on more frequently. I can almost predict what the author will test on.

So short answer yes they are helpful if you are trying to improve reading comprehension skills. If you're looking for more mcat verbal tests don't rely on these. Simple