Verbal Help?

[nabilesmail]

Hey guys, I know there are tons of strategies and such posted but I feel they focus on review of questions etc... I don't know HOW to review my passages because I pretty much don't remember details and sometimes don't comprehend whole paragraphs of a passage. Therefore when answering a question, it isn't so much that I had false reasoning, its that I just didn't understand the passage/paragraph in question and therefore all the answer choices just seem random. I also don't remember details at all, example: In the beginning of a passage on Portuegese Economics/revolution/whatever they mention a guy name Marques who tried to change things and was met with opposition. Then they never mention him again and go on to other matters.

There is then a question- Which of the following can be inferred from the author's discussion of inquisition, with the answer being- The beliefs and Goals that drove the Inquisition were incosistent with the ideas of the Marques.

I didnt even remember who Marques was! :/

I really feel my lacking of retaining detail/ comprehension of a passage owns me.

My practice test thus fluctuate soo much!

AAMC3-9
TBR1-12
AAMC4 -12
AAMC5- 8
I just did the last 10 passages in the TPRH Verbal WB (before the practice test) and got like 50%- Large Passage + Large Question Stem/Answers pwn me.

I have 1 month left, what do I do! Pretty much, reviewing my answers after each passage is useless because I can't understand if I had a flaw in logic/reasoning because I pretty much don't understand the passage on an intimate enough level. I think my vocabulary also sucks lol.

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[supportivehubby]

Too bad there is no "Derek Zoolander Center For Kids Who Can't Read Good And Wanna Learn To Do Other Stuff Good Too" . . . I would certainly have attended if there was!

Was in your shoes and sympathize completely. I recommend identifing as many weaknesses and massage them into a "workout" routing. . . think sport, not study. My weaknesses were speed, memory, trying to find the right answer first, skipping important words in the answer choices and the questions, etc. I really sucked at verbal.

Here are some questions to help you diagnose some possible weaknesses:
1. Are you looking for the BEST answer or the LEAST BAD answer? I suggest the latter.
2. Are you using process of elimination consistently to then select the least bad answer? If so good, if not, I recommend POE.
3. Are you looking for certainty in your answer choices? because it is hard to find this and looking for certainty in answer selection can slow you down. If not, try to shift from scientific analysis of passages and drift a little into the gray areas of the Verbal section where uncertainty is a permanent state. . . . start using your right brain a little to strengthen your left brain skills.(see, this suggestion is abstract because it needs to be)
4. Do you have a friend to study with? For me it was good to read the passage as fast as we could then discuss what we remembered. Like you, my brain did not keep track of passage information very well. Discussion helped my brain learn to remember more effectively. I probably would have made up some thing about Marques being some oppressive leader vs someone who was initiating change. sigh.
5. Are you reading fast enough? eg 3-4 min max to read the actual passage? I found racing, with a stopwatch, was very effective to TRAIN my eyes and brain to get used to reading faster. . . though, this was complemented with #4 to develop comprehension as well
6. When you begin adopting a new approach in your verbal studies, do you find yourself going back to your old ways? I find this happened a lot, and I saw SAT students do it ALL THE TIME. Changing how you read is a behavioral change so you need to consciously remind yourself of what to do and what not to do.

So, gotta diagnose your particular weakness/es. Start one passage at a time, move to two at a time, then three, then maybe to a full length section. . . always reminding yourself to do the good things or to stop doing the bad things.

I don't think your scores look that bad. I only started seeing consistency in my last 8-10 FL of the horrendous 17 or so I took. Make your adjustments, STICK to them and kick that test in the medial inguinal region.

 

[RSum]

I am also interested to hear what other people do for reviewing. Also, do you prefer reading the passage again before reviewing the questions? Or the other way around? Or some entirely different way?

 

[nabilesmail]

I'm going to start reading reading the passage again when I review. Thank you so much for your help, its awesome that you got such a good mcat score! Its actually kind of weird, I felt I understood the passages way more on AAMC3 and AAMC5. But scored terrible on those two and score very well on AAMC 4 and TBR1 in which I thought I would be getting my 8's. Unfortunately, I have done tons of verbal by now, 190 passages to be exact between my FL's, EK101, TBR, and TPRH. Here are my scores


TBR VERBAL EK 101 VERBAL TPRH VERBAL

60% 3 75% 2 73% 3
81% 3 83% 3 71% 3
80% 3 50% 4 67% 3
76% 3 89% 3 79% 3
76% 3 50% 3 81% 3
71% 3 74% 3 67% 3
81% 3 63% 3 50% 3
86% 2 81% 3 68% 3
43% 3 93% 3 80% 3
100% 3 60% 3 58% 8
47% 3 65% 3 35
83% 3 71% 3
60% 3 58% 3
74% 3 88% 3
56% 3 53% 3
82% 3
92% 3
\ 80% 7 ( Test 8-10)
75% 7 Test-9-10
68% 7 (Test-10-8) :/
60% 7 (Test-11-7) :/!!!!!!

I would be soooo happy with a 10 or 11 on the real thing. I feel like vervbal will be the section that prevents me from a great score :/

 

[Shalashaska]

Verbal reasoning cannot be improved significantly in 3-4 months. It's a lifetime, long-term skill that takes time to acquire and develop. The only thing that can be improved in 3-4 months is your approach to the passages and your tactics in how to tackle questions under time constraints.

I'm not saying that you can't go from a 5 to a 12, 13, 14, or even 15 in 3-4 months. All I'm saying is that you can't bat in the majors without having played a long time.

The strategy that I use (which I have posted before) is to tackle each answer choice and prove it wrong using evidence from the passage. On many occasions, you will get 4 answer choices that look terrible. This is where my personal strategy pays off. If you can't prove it wrong, the answer choice is innocent until proven guilty. In other words, it's the right answer.

 

[Perimeter]

Verbal reasoning cannot be improved significantly in 3-4 months. It's a lifetime, long-term skill that takes time to acquire and develop. The only thing that can be improved in 3-4 months is your approach to the passages and your tactics in how to tackle questions under time constraints.

I'm not saying that you can't go from a 5 to a 12, 13, 14, or even 15 in 3-4 months. All I'm saying is that you can't bat in the majors without having played a long time.

The strategy that I use (which I have posted before) is to tackle each answer choice and prove it wrong using evidence from the passage. On many occasions, you will get 4 answer choices that look terrible. This is where my personal strategy pays off. If you can't prove it wrong, the answer choice is innocent until proven guilty. In other words, it's the right answer.

Lol, if you say so buddy. I went from completely failing at verbal to missing only a couple questions per full length. Realize that you should never let dopey humanities majors beat you in anything, it's that simple. It is perfectly possible to learn everything they did in their undergrad and more within a few months.

 

[Shalashaska]

I'm not disagreeing with you, but once again, everyone's different. As I implied, people can go from a 5 to a near perfect score. I'm the first one to say nothing is impossible and impossible is nothing, but there's a reason why verbal reasoning is the most challenging section for most people, including myself.

 

[kryptonian]

Lol, if you say so buddy. I went from completely failing at verbal to missing only a couple questions per full length. Realize that you should never let dopey humanities majors beat you in anything, it's that simple. It is perfectly possible to learn everything they did in their undergrad and more within a few months.

Can you elaborate on how to improve that significantly and what to learn about the humanities majors ?