Verbal Killer Passage

[stiffany]

Hi guys. So on the last few practice tests I've taken (AAMC 8 and 7, TPR stuff), there's been one passage where I've missed 2/3 of my "wrong" answers. For instance, today, out of the 8 questions I missed, 5 of them came from a particular passage (10 questions). Does anyone have any suggestions for how to avoid such a "catastrophic" loss of points just from one text? I always end verbal with 5-15 minutes remaining so timing isn't really an issue.

Thanks!

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[BigRedPremed]

TPR has always recommended leaving the killer passage till last (or not to do it at all). If timing isn't an issue and you are having a lot of trouble on a passage, just skip it and come back later. If you seriously have 5-10 min remaining, you can almost read the entire passage again and then go through the questions a 2nd time.

 

[Mr. Tee]

TPR has always recommended leaving the killer passage till last (or not to do it at all). If timing isn't an issue and you are having a lot of trouble on a passage, just skip it and come back later. If you seriously have 5-10 min remaining, you can almost read the entire passage again and then go through the questions a 2nd time.

For me I usually couldn't tell if a passage was going to be the killer one until I got to all of the questions for that passage, so YMMV with this strategy.

If you have so much time remaining at the end, I agree that you could come back and re-read the killer passage to double check your answers.

 

[bananaboat]

I always end verbal with 5-15 minutes remaining

 

[TheHunter]

I have the same problem, most of my wrong answers come from the same passage. It comes from having a faulty interpretation of the passage, or missing the main point entirely. I eventually got over this hurdle by figuring out when I'm completely off, i.e. questions being asked that you didn't expect, or all four answers being wrong, etc. I then save that passage for last and reread/reinterpret it.

And definitely don't skip it altogether! TPR sucks. Losing out on 10 points is the difference between a 10 and a 15 on VR!

 

[osjx-82]

For AAMC 7, which passage do you guys think was the killer passage?
I thought one about some poet describing about nature, Schoenberg's atonality, and high-skilled and low-skillled workers were all tough... Oh well, I guess I just suck at verbal...

I agree with those passages. the high-skilled/low-skilled one completely killed me. I got like 7 out of the 10 questions wrong.

but generally, I find that those that are easier to read have harder questions while those that are hard to read have easy questions.

 

[osjx-82]

Hey, you have pretty much similar scores as me... I guess Freaking verbal is holding us back from scoring 35+. Hopefully, on the real deal, we get some easier passages...

yup. and the toughest part is there is no consistency in my verbal scores whatsoever. I've been getting anywhere between 7 to 11