VERBAL: how many passages to finish

[popcorn11]

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Hey guys,

Just wondering, should I am to finish all 7 passages?
Do most people finish all 7?
so that would be around 8min/passage?

Can you post up your strategies for verbal and avg passages finished and advice?

Thanks!

 

[nkhan]

Yes finish them all 🙂

 

[SN2ed]

If you want a good score, you MUST finish every passage. Check out the "Where to Start" sticky thread for verbal help.

 

[Raryn]

Yeah, 8 min/passage is a very good goal to keep. Gives you 4 minutes to spare if you go a little over for a few of the passages.

You *must* answer every single question if you want a good score.

 

[J ROD]

I am going to go out on a limb and say you want to finish all the questions on the exam.

 

[RealDream]

i hatee eeee verbal--
i hateee verbal

i was trying the princeton technique where i do 6 passages and skip one"(the hardest one), that method is not working..i m getting 5 and 6 on aamc exams.that sucks...😱😴😱

i will try a different technique now, the 8 min per passage , and try to do all of them..hopefully that works out for me.. im really scared of the verbal section. But i know sooner or later im going to give this so called "verbal" section an *ss whoppin... i dont know when but im hoping some time before my august exam.

 

[DrMattOglesby]

when i took my MCAT (the second time...also the time I did much better); I spent no more than 8 min/passage and used my remaining time to go over confusing questions.
as far as strategies go; i was a highlighting freak. But I also want to mention that I walked into the section with the psychology that the VR was going to be like "story time." With that mindset, I did my best to become super-interested in each topic discussed.
And you probably know that when you are interested in something, you tend to do well in learning more about it.

 

[greg1184]

Why would you aim to not finish all passages? You are not penalized for guessing. In fact the verbal section is arguably partly a "guessing" exam.

 

[dingyibvs]

Yes, finish all passages. Like someone said, try to be interested in the topic, read with the central theme in mind(they always ask something about it or similar to it). If you don't understand a sentence, read it again immediately, going back takes too much time. Don't get stuck on a question that requires you to do a lot of reading, go back to reread immediately only when the question is about a certain detail. If you have time in the end, go back to answer the confusing questions, otherwise just guess.

 

[beancounter21]

i was trying the princeton technique where i do 6 passages and skip one"(the hardest one), that method is not working..i m getting 5 and 6 on aamc exams.that sucks...

they suggest skipping one? imo you just never know how hard a passage is going to be until you have read the thing and get into the questions. sometimes i didn't understand a passage until i was halfway through the questions, and then it suddenly became easy.

to the OP, one strategy that worked for me was doing the older, longer verbal exams and building up that stamina. after doing 3-4 of those, i was breezing through 7 passages with about 10 minutes to spare.

 

[RealDream]

they suggest skipping one? imo you just never know how hard a passage is going to be until you have read the thing and get into the questions. sometimes i didn't understand a passage until i was halfway through the questions, and then it suddenly became easy.

to the OP, one strategy that worked for me was doing the older, longer verbal exams and building up that stamina. after doing 3-4 of those, i was breezing through 7 passages with about 10 minutes to spare.

I like ur advise--thanks.

 

[greg1184]

i hatee eeee verbal--
i hateee verbal

i was trying the princeton technique where i do 6 passages and skip one"(the hardest one), that method is not working..i m getting 5 and 6 on aamc exams.that sucks...😱😴😱

i will try a different technique now, the 8 min per passage , and try to do all of them..hopefully that works out for me.. im really scared of the verbal section. But i know sooner or later im going to give this so called "verbal" section an *ss whoppin... i dont know when but im hoping some time before my august exam.

That technique is garbage. Do every passage in order. EK uses the metaphor of a bunch of dominos you knock down. You waste your time finding what passage is the hardest and you DON'T have that kind of time in the verbal.