verbal problems

[Dr.Su]

hi everyone,
i have a problem w/verbal. everyone says to read more, but i read more than anyone i know. i also read incredibly fast. i read the New York Times, New Yorker, etc. i am not bragging, this is really the only thing that i am good at. ( physics and chem are like foreign languages). anyway, consistently i have been getting 7's on my practice tests. i don't really know what to do. i always finish the section early, but obviouisly get thins wrong. what can i do? su

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[Mr. H]

Hmm, so you finish the test early, and you get questions wrong?
Well, it seems logical then to slow down, take more time on the reading. Don'y you think?

 

[Dr.Su]

no, i don't think it's as simple as that. i don't do well in hard passages even when i don't time myself. verbal was always my strength. i think what i have to concentrate on are the implicit meaning questions. i think that maybe because i read so fast that i don't take as much time thinking about what i read, and while i fully remmeber the explicit statements, i am slow in the implicit ones. will try EK's book this week.

 

[Mr.D]

Dr. Su it seems like you're reading too fast and not really understanding what the passage is saying and then getting some of the answers wrong. Reading fast is not the crux of the verbal section, but reading effeciently and critically. Since you have sufficient time after you're done with the section, why not go back and check your work, or as the previous poster suggested, slow down a bit and try to comprehend the passage better (ie. underlining, summarizing in the margins, taking notes, clustering main ideas, etc.)? This section takes time to improve on, but of all of the suggestions I can make, I think taking AS MANY VERBAL PRACTICE TESTS is the best way to improve. And after you're done scoring them, go back and understand where and why you made your mistakes. Good luck.