Verbal MCAT

[Gamma Ray]

I am a Gr. 12 high school student that is planning to attend pre-med and has a high interest in medicine. However, I hear that it?s extremely hard to get into med school. I love the science courses, but I hate ENGLISH; and am afraid that in 4 years I might do bad and the verbal MCAT, and I?ll get nowhere.

So my question is, can I do anything over the 4 years to really prepare me for the verbal MCAT and to really improve my overall English reading skills, and also, how hard is it to get a 10+ on the verbal MCAT section?

Thanks Guys (AND Girls)
This is a excellent forum

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[Iron Horse]

Easy there G Ray. You can certainly work to improve your reading comprehension skills by taking some literature classes and by reading on your own more. I would encourage you to read more serious newspapers/mags (NY Times, Economist, Harpers, New Yorker, etc.) and literature when it comes to books/novels. Classes are best because you not only read quality writing (usually), but you discuss and critique the material, both verbally and in writing. This will help you think critically about what you've read, increase your comfort level with subjects you might not normally read/think about, and hopefully increase your confidence level.

Again, take a deep breath -- you've got time and apparently the interest/desire to do something. Good luck and enjoy the process.

 

[Gamma Ray]

ok, thanks Iron Horse

 

[Diogenes]

It is great that you know what you want to do and are willing to work hard for it. But slo be sure to have some fun in college. It's no lie that it can be the best time of your life.

As for doing well on the verbal, I think Iron Horse hit it on the head. In the words of William Faulkner, "Read. Read. Read. Read everything." But also you must be able to think about what you have read. Literature classes are good. But so are other classes, like history or biology. I hated English classes in high school too. But I liked to read. So I read -- just about everything and anything I could get my hands on. Eventually I learned a little appreciation for English classes too.

 

[Gamma Ray]

I agree that a person should have a lot of fun in college in order to really get the most out of life and really "experience" it while you still have the opportunity. IMO future doctors should do many things in collage to be better understanding individuals when they get their MD/DO degree.
I'll try to read more and I?ll also try a literature class to help me. I hope it works!

 

[dtreese]

Hey, who knows what might happen? I took AP English in high school so I wouldn't have to ever take it again. But when I graduated from college, I got a BS in biology and English. In the immortal words of Dr. Seuss' Sam I Am, "try them and you may, I say."

 

[Gamma Ray]

What course is AP English?

 

[none]

Your high school didn't offer AP English? Wow. That could be part of the problem...

http://www.collegeboard.com/ap/students/english/index.html

 

[CoffeeCat]

Originally posted by none
Your high school didn't offer AP English? Wow. That could be part of the problem...

http://www.collegeboard.com/ap/students/english/index.html

Grade 12? Are you a canadian?

 

[8744]

And remember: Unlike biology and chemistry, english is your native language, you've been speaking it your whole life, and the verbal section of the MCAT can be the place where you "pad" your combined score.

 

[Gamma Ray]

Actually, yes, I am Canadian. I think this forum is a great resource even for Canadians. The "other" Canadian forum doesn?t even have half as much people in it.
BTW my native language is polish, my parents immigrated to Canada, but I was born here. I learned English in kindergarten. Right now, I speak it very well, have no accent at all, and read and write good enough to get 80+ in English, but don?t read as good as I think I should. I guess reading a lot more will get my skills up.

 

[wgu]

Originally posted by Gamma Ray
Actually, yes, I am Canadian. I think this forum is a great resource even for Canadians. The "other" Canadian forum doesn?t even have half as much people in it.
BTW my native language is polish, my parents immigrated to Canada, but I was born here. I learned English in kindergarten. Right now, I speak it very well, have no accent at all, and read and write good enough to get 80+ in English, but don?t read as good as I think I should. I guess reading a lot more will get my skills up.

Hey same here except it was first grade for me. Don't worry about the verbal for now. Go take a diag now. Next summer start studying all your weak points such as verbal. Space it out so you will avoid stress and bad scores later. The summer after take the MCAT so you'll have time to do a lot of practice tests. At least that's my current plan. Verbal is really something you can pick up with a lot of practice. G luck

 

[Toejam]

Something else I want to add: When it comes time, take an MCAT prep course. I say this only because I'm a native English speaker, I've "read, read, read" for most of my life, I scored in the 95th percentile twice on the MCAT essay section, yet still got a lowly 6 in verbal on my April test. This tells me that there must be a fairly large skill component to the verbal section. I remember reading the passages and pretty much breezing through them. I finished with at least 30 minutes to spare. I was in shock for about a month after I got my scores.

 

[leorl]

I am moving this to the MCAT forum. You might get helpful responses there as well.

 

[nero]

Originally posted by Toejam
Something else I want to add: When it comes time, take an MCAT prep course. I say this only because I'm a native English speaker, I've "read, read, read" for most of my life, I scored in the 95th percentile twice on the MCAT essay section, yet still got a lowly 6 in verbal on my April test. This tells me that there must be a fairly large skill component to the verbal section. I remember reading the passages and pretty much breezing through them. I finished with at least 30 minutes to spare. I was in shock for about a month after I got my scores.

are you kidding?......you had 30 minutes left.......you average 6 minutes per passage?????........what did you think you got when you left?.....i had five minutes left and i thought that was fast..

nero

 

[Rapid Decomposition]

Originally posted by Toejam
I scored in the 95th percentile twice on the MCAT essay section, yet still got a lowly 6 in verbal on my April test. This tells me that there must be a fairly large skill component to the verbal section. I remember reading the passages and pretty much breezing through them. I finished with at least 30 minutes to spare. I was in shock for about a month after I got my scores.

You know, this is really bizarre but it seems to happen kind of a lot. It seems like most people who do extremely well on the writing get lower scores on the verbal, and vice versa (I got an 11 on verbal and an N on the writing). Why the hell is that?