Verbal Reasoning: *too* easy?

[Scewby Doo 1973]

Advertisement - Members don't see this ad

i promise i'm not bragging, but i'm genuinely worried about how easy that section appeared. were there tricks or traps or that sort of thing? i'm really bugging out about that section, because it just seemed way too straightforward; more than verbal normally seems to me.

 

[hippocampus]

!@#$

 

[CanadianPre-Med]

I found it slightly easy as well. I usually make 9s or 10s on AAMC VRs.

 

[hippocampus]

i usually make 9s and 10s on aamc verbal, and i did not think it was easy. i think its cuz you thought it was going to be really really really hard, like a passage on music or something, thats why you thought it was "easy." i thought it was kinda of like aamc.. and i dont think aamc easy. similar passage, plus stress = bad for mcat score

i took aamc in april 05 also, and i thought the passages were "easy" cuz i was expecting worse. in the end, i got an 8...

 

[Scewby Doo 1973]

i usually make 9s and 10s on aamc verbal, and i did not think it was easy. i think its cuz you thought it was going to be really really really hard, like a passage on music or something, thats why you thought it was "easy." i thought it was kinda of like aamc.. and i dont think aamc easy. similar passage, plus stress = bad for mcat score

i took aamc in april 05 also, and i thought the passages were "easy" cuz i was expecting worse. in the end, i got an 8...

yea, i'm thinking this will be the ultimate result. after all, a lot of those answer choices are designed to make people like me say "wow! this is the answer!" and then get it wrong.

 

[Mutt]

One of the rules of doing well in verbal is that it will never feel good.

If it felt like it was too easy, you're screwed.

 

[sweetstuff25]

One of the rules of doing well in verbal is that it will never feel good.

If it felt like it was too easy, you're screwed.

lol that's what usually ends up happening to me.

 

[frany584]

Compared to the april exam i didnt think the august exams verbal was as difficult, and im not good at verbal. i think it all depends on the form u get and the topics as well. i felt the topics in my test were pretty reasonable compared to some of the topics i would read in my Kaplan section tests and FLs. But I do agree with the previous poster about thinking it was easier and receiving an 8, because that happened to my friend in April. I think the overall test is a gamble because it depends on what ur strong points/weaknesses are and if they are on the test or not.

 

[USArmyDoc]

I am worried about the verbal section aslo. I felt it was straight forward. However, I wouldn't characterize it as easy. There were some questions I thought were difficutl for sure. It just didn't seem as hard as April's.

 

[hippocampus]

it depends on luck. if you're lucky, you will do well 😛

 

[Scewby Doo 1973]

thanks for your advice everyone. now i know i'm screwed. i think i'll shave all my hair off and join the hari krishna cult now :\

 

[hippocampus]

hahah..... ur not screwed... u dont even know yet 😛 maybe you did well? you probably got the same as ur aamc, or one point lower

 

[USArmyDoc]

Scewby,
There is no reason to feel you are screwed. Maybe you just understood the material better. I do not feel screwed and I found it rather straightforward. Don't worry not everything on this forum is law.

 

[JohnnyOU]

i promise i'm not bragging, but i'm genuinely worried about how easy that section appeared. were there tricks or traps or that sort of thing? i'm really bugging out about that section, because it just seemed way too straightforward; more than verbal normally seems to me.

Well...in about 50 days...if you got a 15 then I guess it was too easy 🙂

 

[Scrub MD]

It seems to me and everyone I know that has taken the MCAT, that easy=bad score and hard=good score.

 

[frany584]

I think the reason ppl seem to get a lower score when the test seemed easier is because the curve is probably more strict. If ppl who suk at verbal (ie ME!) thought it wasnt that bad, imagine what ppl thought who typically get 12s or something on that section? They probably didnt miss anything compared to what i would miss on the test lol. As of right now i just hope to get a 9 in that dumb section...bleh 😳

 

[NapeSpikes]

My most common score on aamc practices is 11, and I didn't think the August VR was easy.

However, I did find the passages easy to understand. Where a lot of people bombed aamc 8's VR, I did alright because I understood the relatively complicated passages and thought the questions not too bad. But give me the EK pimp and Ho passage, which was very easy to understand, and I totally screw up on the questions.

That's how the August test felt. Sure, a Russian leader who tried to imitate Napoleon is a simple enough idea, but those questions that followed really threw me for a loop.

 

[stoleyerscrubz]

I think the reason ppl seem to get a lower score when the test seemed easier is because the curve is probably more strict. If ppl who suk at verbal (ie ME!) thought it wasnt that bad, imagine what ppl thought who typically get 12s or something on that section?

this is what I'm thinking and i felt verbal and bio were easy where I got 10s and 10/11 respectively on practice AAMCs. I guess we'll soon see. 😀

I think it was AAMC 4R that had a VERY stingy curve on verbal.

I was actually more relieved that there were no full page passages, some topics were interesting, no completely insane confucious type passages. Of course the difficulty of the questions were the same but what more could you ask for.

 

[Jon Davis]

I feel alright about it. I wont say I'm worried. But hey, that might be the kiss of death, who knows. I just hope I get a 10.

 

[gotgame83]

Ill admit it with pride. I thought form CG verbal was difficult and I am hoping for a good score. I guessed on a lot and if i scored greater then an 8 it would be like hitting the lottery.

 

[Will Ferrell]

I guess you could think it was easy if you're going to compare it with AAMC 8 because of the passage content. There was much less humanities on my form (A). That artsy, english crap is what tripped me up on the practice exams. But, from what I can remember, there were quite a few gray/hazy questions from all the passages. I didn't have that confidence that I had when I was performing at my best. I feel worse about last week's verbal than from any of the AAMCs or EKs I have taken. I'll actually be THRILLED to get a 9, but I'm expecting an 8.

Then again, I have little idea what happened during those 85 minutes. The only question I really remember was the last one I answered. I can only remember feeling queezy while answering the rest.

 

[Willow]

VR has always been my strongest section (12-13 on AAMC tests) and I found the real thing (form BJ) quite challenging. It also took me waaaay more time than usual; on practise tests I usually had ~20 minutes leftover, and on the real thing I was down to the wire with a couple questions. The Russian Napolean, Henry James and lifespan/race car passages were toughest for me.

 

[Powers]

i promise i'm not bragging, but i'm genuinely worried about how easy that section appeared. were there tricks or traps or that sort of thing? i'm really bugging out about that section, because it just seemed way too straightforward; more than verbal normally seems to me.

Yeah, I had the exact same reaction. I don't normally finish the verbal section but I did this time (form AG) and even had time to think in-depth on a couple of the trickier questions. I'm not sure if I fell into traps or what, but I pretty much flew through verbal and felt good about it. I went to lunch wondering why that section was suddenly so easy. Fingers crossed that I didn't just make the mistakes they wanted me to...

 

[Scewby Doo 1973]

VR has always been my strongest section (12-13 on AAMC tests) and I found the real thing (form BJ) quite challenging. It also took me waaaay more time than usual; on practise tests I usually had ~20 minutes leftover, and on the real thing I was down to the wire with a couple questions. The Russian Napolean, Henry James and lifespan/race car passages were toughest for me.

i agree with you on the race car/life span analogy passage. that was one bad analogy (EDIT: metaphor? Ha ha...whatever). darned convoluted, really. heh, in a perverse way it makes me feel better that i remember a difficult passage, because that will mean the curve won't be crazy. that henry james thing was okay. napolean versus napolean the third versus some lady who was a fan of kerensky was slightly confusing too.

 

[Iceageheatwave]

I took the april 05 test and i came out of the test thinking it was easy and i got a 7. I came out of this test thinking that the verbal was really decent but i have much more hope this time because the passages seemed much more understandable and the questions straightforward.

(i had form dk)

 

[USArmyDoc]

I took the april 05 test and i came out of the test thinking it was easy and i got a 7. I came out of this test thinking that the verbal was really decent but i have much more hope this time because the passages seemed much more understandable and the questions straightforward.

(i had form dk)

I feel the same way. I did not think the verbal was easy but yet it was not as twisted as it usually is.

 

[Nutmeg]

Verbal is the easiest section, but that just works against you. The test is curved, so ultimately that just means that the easier it is, the fewer you are allowed to get wrong to get a high score.

 

[Scewby Doo 1973]

yea, the curve on verbal is crazy. someone wrote about doing great except guessing on five questions in the russia passage. i mean, good luck...5 questions is huge. the worst thing is, i'm counting on verbal to counter physics (i felt somewhere between the two on the bio sciences).

i spent almost the whole week before the test reviewing bio and orgo, and vastly ignored physics. if i knew the p.s. section was going to be about crazy machines that monitor sound vibrations in dunes, i *MIGHT* have spent more time on p.s. ha ha. i laugh because this test makes me feel like a young child who has lost his parents in a crowded fair.

 

[stoleyerscrubz]

whenever I took verbal practice exams be it EK, kaplan, or AAMC I would usually have 2-3 questions I could not understand what they were asking and 2-3 that I could only narrow down to 2-3 choices. My goal was to have no more than 5 I was unsure of and this yielded me 10's mostly. So guessing on 5 and provided you got ALL of them wrong and getting 10 additional wrong still keeps you in the 10 range.

this exam I understood all of the questions but was unsure on 3. One of those three I changed the answer in the last 2 minutes. something I said I would never do. 🙄

yea, the curve on verbal is crazy. someone wrote about doing great except guessing on five questions in the russia passage. i mean, good luck...5 questions is huge. the worst thing is, i'm counting on verbal to counter physics (i felt somewhere between the two on the bio sciences).

 

[Iceageheatwave]

yea, the curve on verbal is crazy. someone wrote about doing great except guessing on five questions in the russia passage. i mean, good luck...5 questions is huge. the worst thing is, i'm counting on verbal to counter physics (i felt somewhere between the two on the bio sciences).

I usually end up running out of time and guessing on about 1 passage. As long as your accuracy is fine, guessing on about 5 questions isnt that bad.

 

[MoosePilot]

Verbal is the easiest section, but that just works against you. The test is curved, so ultimately that just means that the easier it is, the fewer you are allowed to get wrong to get a high score.

I'd say verbal is the easiest section to score above 10, but the hardest to improve. The gradations between the best answer and the second best answer is sometimes miserably thin. I personally think that's bull****, because on something so subjective, that fine a difference is no difference at all, but I got my score and I'm done.

 

[CanadianPre-Med]

VR has always been my strongest section (12-13 on AAMC tests) and I found the real thing (form BJ) quite challenging. It also took me waaaay more time than usual; on practise tests I usually had ~20 minutes leftover, and on the real thing I was down to the wire with a couple questions. The Russian Napolean, Henry James and lifespan/race car passages were toughest for me.

That one was def. tough.

 

[Scewby Doo 1973]

to be honest, the passage that involved t-rex feces, i found a bit tricky. (i had form BG)

 

[Jon Davis]

to be honest, the passage that involved t-rex feces, i found a bit tricky. (i had form BG)

To continue with the feces theme:
The whole test felt like MCAT feces was dropped all over me. haha

 

[mustangsally65]

to be honest, the passage that involved t-rex feces, i found a bit tricky. (i had form BG)

That was the same form I had, and the t-rex passage was the first one I had. I almost laughed out loud when I read about Tyrannasaurus Rexes being able to sprint at speeds of 47 Km/hr, and they could curl 80 Kg with their short little arms.

I hope that's not too specific and violates copyright laws. It was just so funny to me, I had this mental picture of these ferocious predators lifting weights and running sprints.

I had the feeling that the verbal was a bit too easy for my tastes. but the Henry James/James Joyce passage was kind of confusing because of the two Jameses, and the race car/life span one was weird too.

I guess we'll see in October!

 

[Mister Pie]

I've always thought that the verbal curve was ridiculous. Get one wrong and you are down to a 14. Get two wrong and it's like a 13 already. Who the heck is getting all these perfect scores??

 

[Scewby Doo 1973]

I've always thought that the verbal curve was ridiculous. Get one wrong and you are down to a 14. Get two wrong and it's like a 13 already. Who the heck is getting all these perfect scores??

Someone named Newton Higgins, I think. No one like the poor guy. Always getting perfect scores on standardized tests.

 

[dave613]

Generally, I was averaging 9-12s on my practice verbals, which includes EK,Kaplan, and aamc, and i thought the verbal section was pretty difficult. I had form CS, and although the passages were not as dense, nonetheless, the questions were still difficult. I thought they were just as tricky as any practice full length i took, thus, i don't know where people are coming up with the idea that verbal was too easy. I don't think so, unless i seriously screwed up.

 

[Mister Pie]

Someone named Newton Higgins, I think. No one like the poor guy. Always getting perfect scores on standardized tests.

Damn you, Newton Higgins!

 

[NapeSpikes]

Generally, I was averaging 9-12s on my practice verbals, which includes EK,Kaplan, and aamc, and i thought the verbal section was pretty difficult. I had form CS, and although the passages were not as dense, nonetheless, the questions were still difficult. I thought they were just as tricky as any practice full length i took, thus, i don't know where people are coming up with the idea that verbal was too easy. I don't think so, unless i seriously screwed up.

Exactly, that's what I've been saying!!! Verbal is usually my best section, and August 2005 was nothing to laugh at, not for the passages themselves, but rather the questions.

This thread is fcked up.😀

 

[Nutmeg]

I'd say verbal is the easiest section to score above 10, but the hardest to improve. The gradations between the best answer and the second best answer is sometimes miserably thin. I personally think that's bull****, because on something so subjective, that fine a difference is no difference at all, but I got my score and I'm done.

Yeah, which is why they used to make the top score "13-15" instead of having separate grades of 13, 14, and 15. I took the test the first year of the change, and hence is my score 13 rather than 13-15, which would have made my score the top possible. C'est la vie.

 

[Scewby Doo 1973]

Yeah, which is why they used to make the top score "13-15" instead of having separate grades of 13, 14, and 15. I took the test the first year of the change, and hence is my score 13 rather than 13-15, which would have made my score the top possible. C'est la vie.

fortunately, i had a fantastic verbal reasoning instructor, so with any luck that will work in my favor. in the end, though, it's all us and what we manage to shove into the analytical regions of our brains. that, and the HIGHLY subjective opinions of those who design the exams.

 

[USArmyDoc]

I don't know what to think anymore. All I can say is I know for sure I was looking back at the passages ALOT. That leads me to believe that it was harder than I can recollect. I remember on each passage I spent a good amount of time "looking back." I can remember reading some questions where I was like where the HELL did they get that out of the passage. But as a whole, I felt I worked through them and did alright (8-10).

 

[Scewby Doo 1973]

I don't know what to think anymore. All I can say is I know for sure I was looking back at the passages ALOT. That leads me to believe that it was harder than I can recollect. I remember on each passage I spent a good amount of time "looking back." I can remember reading some questions where I was like where the HELL did they get that out of the passage. But as a whole, I felt I worked through them and did alright (8-10).

the fact that you had time to look back at passages so much is probably in your favor. (maybe a 10?)

 

[USArmyDoc]

the fact that you had time to look back at passages so much is probably in your favor. (maybe a 10?)

Scewby, I looked back in EVERY passage and did not choose anything until I was confidents I understood what they were looking for. I hope you are right.

 

[stoleyerscrubz]

On August 2005 MCAT I looked back a lot as well, but this is something I did during practice to get me scoring 48/60 on average. Maybe its just me but I think you can get a 10 without looking back to the passage but to get 10+ you really need to look back to nail those 5 questions or so you get down to 50/50.

I would not worry about it too much because many strategies on verbal do work even the old "concentrate on the first 8 passages" idea.

Scewby, I looked back in EVERY passage and did not choose anything until I was confidents I understood what they were looking for. I hope you are right.