To all those who have taken the MCAT, what were some of your strategies on the verbal reasoning section? A-60 minutes does NOT feel long enough and B-there are some incredibly random ideas to sift through. I've heard that just reading lots of articles with similar wordage and ideas just to get in the hang of things but did any of you do anything different? Discuss...
Verbal Reasoning MCAT
- Thread starter footfan34
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Do as many practice passages as you can. The Exam Krackers book for VR was the most realistic and most helpful in my experience. Good luck!
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dyk343
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Read fast. But seriously, that's what you need to do.
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Reading fast was the key for me.
I was scoring on average 7~9 on practice sections reading slowly and constantly going back to the passages for details. I was plateaued and my score wasn't moving. I decided to try reading the passages fast and answering the questions off of first instinct. I practiced using that method with more practice exams and exam krackers and ended up getting a 12 on the real thing.
I think the "secret" is finding the method that works for you.
I was scoring on average 7~9 on practice sections reading slowly and constantly going back to the passages for details. I was plateaued and my score wasn't moving. I decided to try reading the passages fast and answering the questions off of first instinct. I practiced using that method with more practice exams and exam krackers and ended up getting a 12 on the real thing.
I think the "secret" is finding the method that works for you.
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Yeah I didn't bother with looking for anything specifics, either.
If you need to, you'll have a vague idea of where the answer to the question is found in the passage after you've read it.
I got an 11 and there was a passage I had no idea what it even said. Just read fast, and go off instinct - it works a lot better than trying to figure out all the nuances of each paragraph.
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The right answer must be 100% right. There's a lot of tempting answers that taste so sweet, but have one little comment you know is wrong. The whole thing is wrong then.
I will have to go with the Kaplan approach in regards to getting the main idea of the passage/paragraph/author. It's easy getting lost in the details, and hard resurfacing back to the main idea of things. Before I followed this method I used to always get the deduction questions wrong, because of the sole reason that I would get stuck on one detail in the passage, it would scream out to me as the right answer, while I ignored the main idea and the bigger picture. Hell, I still do that, but I got better at it. Some details don't have to support the main idea and those are usually the tempting wrong answers. The temptations have 1 sentence to support them while the correct answers usually have a paragraph+ to support them.
Also, from personal experience, it's easy to side whole-heartedly with the author on the topic and carry over that attitude to the questions. That is wrong, and unless the answer is supported 100% by the written words in the passage, its wrong. Be careful not to over-assume the author's stand on the topic, most authors don't take the extreme path in writing about a topic; they don't love or hate the issue, and if they do, you will know by their extreme language.
That's all that came to mind. Got my MCAT grade today and this logic got me to where I wanted to be.
Also, from personal experience, it's easy to side whole-heartedly with the author on the topic and carry over that attitude to the questions. That is wrong, and unless the answer is supported 100% by the written words in the passage, its wrong. Be careful not to over-assume the author's stand on the topic, most authors don't take the extreme path in writing about a topic; they don't love or hate the issue, and if they do, you will know by their extreme language.
That's all that came to mind. Got my MCAT grade today and this logic got me to where I wanted to be.
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Definetely go with the EK book, it really helped. And plus you can never gauge your actual performance. On the practice ones I am averaging a 7 or 8 for verbal, got a 9 on the real thing. Read fast, but make side comments when you are reading. Like, "so pretty much this is what he/she is trying to say..." or "what a heck is this, i guess it's nonsense." Then you will get a big picture of the passage which really helps when you answer the questions. You can imagine everything being right if you know too much, but you will have a clearer idea when you only have a big picture.
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I got a 10 on Verbal, not great not bad. I can't give great study tips, because I sort of took the mcat cold, with very limited prep.
My strategy was to read the passage once, retain the information, and answer the questions without second guessing. There are certain things in the passage when you read it, you want to stop for a brief second and say "why would they place this statement." As you are reading you also want to make sure you understand exactly what is being said, and why. It is very easy when your brain is fatigued to read on auto-piolet, check your self as you read it, even if you need to go back a sentence every so often.
If you re-read to much, or go back to the passage for a lot of question you are going to lose a ton of time, and odds are if you really critically read it, your first choice might be best choice.
My strategy was to read the passage once, retain the information, and answer the questions without second guessing. There are certain things in the passage when you read it, you want to stop for a brief second and say "why would they place this statement." As you are reading you also want to make sure you understand exactly what is being said, and why. It is very easy when your brain is fatigued to read on auto-piolet, check your self as you read it, even if you need to go back a sentence every so often.
If you re-read to much, or go back to the passage for a lot of question you are going to lose a ton of time, and odds are if you really critically read it, your first choice might be best choice.
