I have received several PMs asking me advice on how I used the mapping strategy to raise my verbal score. From my own experience, i understand how difficult it is for a lot of students to raise their score on VB section. So, i thought i would make a thread with my tips in hopes of helping those who may be struggling.
Some Background: I took the mcat twice. On my first take (4/29/2011), i received a 7 on VB and on my retake (1/28/2012) i got an 11. While i was studying for my first attempt, i had read so many negative opinion's about kaplan's mapping strategy that i never even bothered to find out what exactly "mapping" is and how it works. I just stuck with using EK's strategy of reading the passage, looking for the main idea and then diving straight into answering the questions.Using the EK method, I was getting around 8-9 on EK 101 passages, but unfortunately my score on the AAMC VB section stuck around 6-7. For my retake, i knew i had to find another verbal strategy that would work for me. Since i was signed up for kaplan's online course, i thought i would give mapping a try...and boy, am i glad i did!
Below is an overview of how i used the mapping strategy:-
basically you read each paragraph proactively without worrying about minor details. After each paragraph, take few seconds to note down the following on a scratch paper: author's point for adding this specific paragraph to the whole passage which is also the same as the purpose of the paragraph (ex: is the author trying to advocate a certain point of view ,is he just introducing his main topics, is this paragraph just providing supporting evidence for the main point, is this para. talking about views that he doesn't agree, etc) author's opinions (ex: does the author have negative/positive viewpoint of the topic being discussed) , what views does the author not agree with and why, main topic mentioned and how its being supported. <------NOTE: You don't have to follow this list rigidly but it gives you a good guideline about the type of things you should be looking for while reading.
The list above sounds like a lot of writing but when i did it, i only wrote down few words ( never full sentences) and then moved onto the next paragraph and repeated the strategy. An example of how i may have mapped a paragraph would look something like this:
+ view
Constitution
---supported by the nation
doesn't agree with communist view
--no equal rights
I have an entire notebook filled with key words like the ones mentioned above which i used every time i practiced verbal.
Another tip: You don't have to move your eyes completely away from the paragraph when you are noting down keywords while mapping. Instead while you are writing on the scratch paper, keep your eyes on the paragraph so that you are continuously skimming the paragraph. This will benefit in two ways: you will easily figure out what other key words you need to write down, and by reading proactively the first time around and then skimming while mapping, you will greatly improve your comprehension of author's main ideas.
Tip: While you are reading, pay special attention when you come across key words such as however, unless, consequently, therefore, even though, etc.
If you think you might not be able to finish on time using the mapping strategy, then i would recommend practicing mapping untimed on a daily basis. if you utilize the strategy correctly and practice daily, you will eventually be able to increase your speed and start learning how to map quickly. After enough practice, you will realize that you are able to map mentally, which saves even more time. <--- On the real mcat I had to map at a faster rate than during my practices due to longer passages. By the time i got to last 2 passages, i found myself writing less and mapping mentally more to save time.
Another important point:i never had to go back to the map when answering questions because writing main concepts down for each paragraph helped me to remember them much more.This is because when you do mapping for each paragraph, by the time you finish the passage, you have a clear understanding of the author's opinions/ main argument and which specific paragraph in the passage has what supporting detail . Another benefit of mapping is that by noting main concepts down, you take off a mental load.
Another thing i did A LOT was when a question asked about something specific from the passage ( this is different from questions that asked about main idea, author's overall opinions) , then i would quickly glance back to the paragraph in the passage that discuss the specifics being asked by the question and read those few lines quickly and then answer the question. If you didn't use mapping then you would have to waste precious seconds looking for where in the passage the author mentioned specific details. But with mapping, i always found myself to know exactly which paragraph discussed the specifics i would need to answer the question.
Although EK 101 is great and the best book for finding mcat-type questions, i would recommend finding more practice material because in my opinion EK's passages are not dry/boring like those on aamc/real mcat. i personally used both EK and TPR verbal workbook.
For those who have just started to practice with mapping, i would say to them to use any practice material you can get your hands on. This is because even if the questions of the practice material you may be using are not a good representative of mcat-style verbal questions, you will still benefit from being able to practice mapping using the passages. For this reason, i even practiced with passages from kaplan's verbal section tests and TBR verbal book early on in my preparation, and i believe this practice was a crucial step in me being able to map quickly.
I did 2-3 practice passages everyday for about 2 months and for the 3rd month, I practiced using the VB section in each FL test.
Hope this helps.
