Verbal Reasoning/Writing Sample Questions Thread

[lorelei]

All users may post questions about MCAT verbal and writing sample here. We will answer the questions as soon as we reasonably can. If you would like to know what VR and WS topics appear on the MCAT, you should check the MCAT Student Manual (http://www.aamc.org/students/mcat/studentmanual/start.htm)

Acceptable topics:
-general, MCAT-level critical reading or writing questions
-particular MCAT-level verbal or writing sample questions, whether your own or from study material
-what you need to know about verbal or writing for the MCAT
-how best to approach MCAT verbal passages
-how best to prepare for MCAT verbal reasoning and writing sample
-how best to tackle the MCAT VR and WS sections

Unacceptable topics:
-actual MCAT questions or passages, or close paraphrasings thereof
-anything you know to be beyond the scope of the MCAT

***********

If you really know your verbal or (especially) writing sample, I can use your help. If you are willing to help answer questions on this thread, please let me know. Here are the current members of the Verbal Reasoning/Writing Sample Team:

-lorelei (thread moderator): I am a Kaplan MCAT teacher. On the MCAT, I scored 15 on VR and 43 overall.

This thread will probably work a little differently from the science threads, since there are no formulas to study or reactions to learn. Bear with us as we figure things out.

-MoosePilot: MoosePilot has completed TPR teacher training. He scored 13 on the VR section of the MCAT, and 36 overall.

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[QofQuimica]

I was wondering if anyone had any tips on how to attack the verbal section now that the mcat is going to be computerized? I took the TPR last year, and the strategy I learned was to annotate the passages and circle key words. So far I'm around a 9 in accuracy with this strategy. I'm planning on taking the January mcat, and I'm worried that since it's on the computer, I won't be able to use the TPR strategy anymore. Anyone have any tips they could share? Thanx.

You can still use many of the strategies that you've learned. I don't know whether the highlighting feature will be available in January or later in 2007, but apparently it may (eventually) even be possible to mark up passages on the computer. If it is not possible when you take the test, then you should use your scratch paper to take notes as needed. You should visit the AAMC CBT Webpage for more information and FAQs about the CBT.

 

[ADeadLois]

Hey

I did kaplan verbal test #4 today, and got a dismal 43/60. Its really annoying because this what I started with about a month ago. Howeve, I was more confident about it, the only thing is for the passages I found challenging, I got murdered. As in, for three passages I got 4 questions wrong, and the rest I either got 1 question or none wrong. I am wondering how to better tackle passages I get uncomfortable with. It wasn't the actual information in the passage, it was the way it was presented. I had trouble getting an idea of the passage, how it was structured, what the authors ideas were and where evidence was presented. I think the main distractor was the vocabulary because I was trying to spend a lot of mental energy trying to fill in logical meanings of words I didn't understand based on what was around, but when you have 2 or 3 words in the same sentence like that, it becomes tough. Anyway to really avoid this or improve? Also, I am doing better in EK, but still having a little trouble with Kaplan. Advice?

EK exams are more representative of the actual MCAT, so if you feel more comfortable with them you're fine. I would take the verbal sections for AAMC 7-9 as well.

 

[googlinggoogler]

I'm feeling bummed out by verbal. I seem to always misunderstand what the question is asking. I just did a Kaplan passage which asks what a particular study mentioned in the passage "demonstrates." The study showed that fraternities housed more drinkers than the regular student population. And that was choice "b." But choice "a" and "c" are mentioned elsewhere in the passage (not exactly proven by the study, but along the lines of needing more strict policies, etc about drinking). And the answer was choice "d" all of the above. I understand that from the study, we can infer choices "a" and "c", but I don't agree that "a" and "c" are actually the research result. I guess the question was asking more about the structure of the passage, the purpose of citing a study about alcohol. But I don't know how to differentiate a question asking about specific detail (which would make me rule out a and c, and therefore choose b), and a question asking more general structure (which would make choice d correct). Can anyone help?

 

[lorelei]

I'm feeling bummed out by verbal. I seem to always misunderstand what the question is asking. I just did a Kaplan passage which asks what a particular study mentioned in the passage "demonstrates." The study showed that fraternities housed more drinkers than the regular student population. And that was choice "b." But choice "a" and "c" are mentioned elsewhere in the passage (not exactly proven by the study, but along the lines of needing more strict policies, etc about drinking). And the answer was choice "d" all of the above. I understand that from the study, we can infer choices "a" and "c", but I don't agree that "a" and "c" are actually the research result. I guess the question was asking more about the structure of the passage, the purpose of citing a study about alcohol. But I don't know how to differentiate a question asking about specific detail (which would make me rule out a and c, and therefore choose b), and a question asking more general structure (which would make choice d correct). Can anyone help?

Which passage is it? I don't want to commit to any explanation without seeing the actual passage, but I'd be happy to look it up.

 

[akinf]

Hey...I'm stil getting murdered on a few passage. Namely the first one, and two others. Its sorta frustrating becase I feel like I have hit a cieling. I think I am mis-reading questions, because I not picking up on what is actually being asked. Also, when is a good time to start AAMC full lengths? I was going to start at the beginning of august after my kaplan full lengths are done, but is that too late? Is it too late right now?

 

[googlinggoogler]

THanks Lorelei, that'd be great if you could offer me any advice. The passage I was having that particular problem on is in the Kaplan Comprehensive Review, in the Verbal REasoning section, Test 2, passage 9, "Fraternities." If you can't find it in there, it's also in the booklet that the Kaplan classroom uses, Kaplan Verbal REasoning and Writing Sample Review Notes. It's also test 2, passage 9.

 

[metastasis]

Would reading one article from the Atlantic everday help? I don't have much trouble understanding most passages (except the philosophy and the arts), but the other ones I am okay. However, often I find myself having a hard time concentrating because the passages are so damn convoluted. So by reading an article from Atlantic, Harper Magazine, along with others help, since the writing style are the same... I looked up the previous MCAT (3-9) and also found that they had used 2 articles from Atlantic, and one from Harper. What do people who have read these magazines suggest?

Thanks.

 

[QofQuimica]

Hey...I'm stil getting murdered on a few passage. Namely the first one, and two others. Its sorta frustrating becase I feel like I have hit a cieling. I think I am mis-reading questions, because I not picking up on what is actually being asked. Also, when is a good time to start AAMC full lengths? I was going to start at the beginning of august after my kaplan full lengths are done, but is that too late? Is it too late right now?

Are you noticing any pattern in the kinds of questions that you're missing? Really go back and look for this, because you can't figure out how to get past the sticking point until you figure out what it is.

You can take the AAMC full lengths any time after the midterm. There isn't any right or wrong time to take them. If you have the time at the beginning of August, take them then. Just don't take too many (no more than one or two per week, tops) so that you have time to go over them thoroughly and you don't burn yourself out. And don't take any full lengths in the last several days before you take the real test. I'd say to take your last one on the 12th for the test on the 19th.

 

[QofQuimica]

Would reading one article from the Atlantic everday help? I don't have much trouble understanding most passages (except the philosophy and the arts), but the other ones I am okay. However, often I find myself having a hard time concentrating because the passages are so damn convoluted. So by reading an article from Atlantic, Harper Magazine, along with others help, since the writing style are the same... I looked up the previous MCAT (3-9) and also found that they had used 2 articles from Atlantic, and one from Harper. What do people who have read these magazines suggest?

Thanks.

If those are good, dense prose, sure, go for it. Lorelei wrote an excellent post in the VR explanations thread with suggestions about things to read that you might find helpful if you haven't read it yet.

 

[metastasis]

Did anyone else read the Atlantic to get use to the style of MCAT? Thanks.

 

[googlinggoogler]

You can still use many of the strategies that you've learned. I don't know whether the highlighting feature will be available in January or later in 2007, but apparently it may (eventually) even be possible to mark up passages on the computer. If it is not possible when you take the test, then you should use your scratch paper to take notes as needed. You should visit the AAMC CBT Webpage for more information and FAQs about the CBT.

Thanks!

 

[deleted106503]

Well, I just finished the EK Verbal book tonight. I did the 3 Lecture Exams in the back, 21 questions each. Scored 13 out of 21 EACH freakin' time! Scaled score of 8. I'm not really sure what my problem with it was. It wasn't the main idea, had that down. I just narrowed it down to 2 question choices a lot of time and just picked the other...At least this was my first time trying and I'm glad I didn't get below an 8

At least I have 10 full length MCAT verbal sections to give me "practice." I'm not sure "practice" would even help. I mean, I'm narrowing it down between 2 answers and these are opinionated answers. Btw, how have most of you done that scored 8s on the EK Verbal book and then taken AAMC practice and/or the real MCAT? Thanks in advance.

Edit: I almost forgot. The practice verbal section before the real ones was REALLY hard imo. The one about some guy angry with science or something. Talking about art for whatever reason. I think I only got 1 out of 9 on that! For those that have done that passage, would you say it's representative of the MCAT? Even after I got 8s on the following 3 lecture exams, I can't figure out what the heck that passage was babbling about...

 

[akinf]

For the questions that ask "if you were to add on another paragraph at the end, what would it be about", how do I tackle those? I seem to be consistently getting those wrong. Also, I am wondering how well it works to actually say something to myself about what each paragraph is like as I go on? I haven't been doing this, but I tried it on my full length yesterday and did well on the passage; however, I am not sure if the passage was just an easy one.

 

[shantster]

For the questions that ask "if you were to add on another paragraph at the end, what would it be about", how do I tackle those? I seem to be consistently getting those wrong. Also, I am wondering how well it works to actually say something to myself about what each paragraph is like as I go on? I haven't been doing this, but I tried it on my full length yesterday and did well on the passage; however, I am not sure if the passage was just an easy one.

The answer would support the author's point of view on the main idea of the passage. Usually there's subtlties in those answer choices. The wrong ones subtly disagree with the passage, and the right one would support it.

Maybe look over the questions/answers to those type of questions to see what the correct answers and the wrong answers "look like".

 

[akinf]

I did EK verbal test #6 today and got a 43/60. This is a solid 9, two questions away from 10. I started out at around 30/60 (6) so I guess its an improvement. I now need to know how to get into the 50/ 60 range, which will get me into 11/12 range. I went through today's test and noticed the questions I got wrong typically started with "The passage suggests...." or "According to the passage....". I don't know why I am getting these type of questions wrong. I usually eliminate 2 right off the bat, and then I quickly glance back at the passage to where I should find the answer, but it appears that I am interpreting them wrong.

Before I was having problems getting smoked on usually 3 passages, but this time, I got 3 wrong on one passage, 0 wrong on 1 passage, and two wrong on the rest. So, I could have easily gotten smoked on any other passage, or could have done much better than I had in the past? Any help to tackle these type of questions would be appreciated.

As an aside, I've been trying to study pretty consistently for the MCAT, but it can tiring coming back from a day in the lab and finding the energy to study, but I do what I can. I recently got 11-10-11 on Kaplan Full Length #3, is it possible to still get at least a 36 on the MCAT? I haven't been studying the sciences that much because some Canadian medical schools that have strict MCAT cut-offs (namely Queen's minimum 10 in verbal and 32 on the MCAT) so it wouldn't matter what I got in the sciences if I didn't get at least a 10 in verbal. So, I'm sure you can now understand how much I would appreciate any and all advice especially with verbal.

 

[RAD11]

***Sorry for double posting. I also posted this on the "Official VR Help Thread" but I figured I should have posted on the Study Thread instead.***

I'm still having a hard time with regards to using the question stems. Not really sure which clues I should look for except words such as always, never, only, etc. At times, I still don't finish the entire verbal section (usually 1 passage left) and would really like to use the question stems to make an educated guess rather than just choosing C's.

For those who've succeeded choosing the correct answers based on the question stems, does this method work for all or most questions or are there specific questions in which this method works best (i.e. inference vs. details)?

Also, for those who have anymore helpful ideas with this method, please do share. Thanks!

 

[deleted106503]

I just went over the EK 1g exam answers. The verbal section answers came directly from the passage 70% of the time. I mean almost verbatim responses. I messed up a lot on the beginning passages because I kept trying to not look back at the passage and just use stems. For me, using stems AND going back (which EK says is okay if you know where to look) worked best for me on the later passages where I knew where to look.

Timing isn't an issue for me, I had 5 minutes left and that included going back. I don't know what your timing issue might be. I know on some passages I got distracted because my brother loud in the other room so I had to reread some parts. How much time do you spend on a question?

1/2 the questions I missed where verbatim in the passage and I didn't know where to look. If I looked over everything again, my score would almost 100% be lower.

 

[RAD11]

I've been very inconsistent with Verbal for some reason. Now when I take a full-length verbal or a whole full-length practice exam, I've been trying not to go back so I can finish the darn thing. At times I finish the whole thing, but at times I miss one passage and just choose Cs (I usually try to miss the ones with the least questions).

I just took EK FL Verbal #9 and thought that all the passages were easy but completely bombed it. It seems that when I think the passages are an easy read, I do worse on them. I don't know why. I'm currently reviewing the question stems on the VR section of AAMC 6R.

 

[metastasis]

Did anyone else read the Atlantic to get use to the style of MCAT? Thanks.

Anyone? Or has someone read their articles and can comment on how intereting they are, and if they think they will help on the MCAT.

 

[metastasis]

I've been very inconsistent with Verbal for some reason. Now when I take a full-length verbal or a whole full-length practice exam, I've been trying not to go back so I can finish the darn thing. At times I finish the whole thing, but at times I miss one passage and just choose Cs (I usually try to miss the ones with the least questions).

I just took EK FL Verbal #9 and thought that all the passages were easy but completely bombed it. It seems that when I think the passages are an easy read, I do worse on them. I don't know why. I'm currently reviewing the question stems on the VR section of AAMC 6R.

That also happens to me. Whenever I think I do very well, I end up doing very bad, and when I think I did bad I end up doing alright. I think that verbal is meant to be in such a way that you can't feel confident about your answers, and if you are confident, than you have fallen into their trap. I remember for Audio Osmosis that verbal isn't a feel good test, and you will feel you flunked it after you do it. Also a lot of people have told me that after doing a lot of verbal, they just got the feel for it (like EK says you will). Sometimes they just feel the answer is wrong and they don't know why, and don't choose that to be the answer. So practice, practice, and pracitce. Hopefully everything will be alright.

 

[akinf]

Hey, I was hoping someone could help me out here. I've been practicing with EK for sometime now, and I am just finishing up Kaplan (2 more full lengths left). I haven't done any AAMC Full Lengths but I decided to do the verbal section of 3R. I didn't finish the test because I didn't realize the last 20 questions didn't print, so I only did the first 40. I got 28/40, but the interesting thing is, AAMC verbal feels different and pretty uncomfortable, but its weird. Now, 28 out of 40 is clearly terrible, but, I got 5 questions wrong on one of the 8-question passage. I believe it was a philosophy passage (I think the fact that I am not sure gives an indication as to just how much I understood the passage). I guess I just totally did not get a thrust for the passage at all. I was trying to incorporate everything I had learned about reading for structure, trying to find comparisons, and making connections, but it was kind of hard. For the humanities passages, is there a better way to approach them and not get bogged down with all the abstract thought. I find it hard to navigate through the meaning and still get an idea for the passage; simplifying on this particular passage felt impossible.

 

[TheHunter]

Hey, I was hoping someone could help me out here. I've been practicing with EK for sometime now, and I am just finishing up Kaplan (2 more full lengths left). I haven't done any AAMC Full Lengths but I decided to do the verbal section of 3R. I didn't finish the test because I didn't realize the last 20 questions didn't print, so I only did the first 40. I got 28/40, but the interesting thing is, AAMC verbal feels different and pretty uncomfortable, but its weird. Now, 28 out of 40 is clearly terrible, but, I got 5 questions wrong on one of the 8-question passage. I believe it was a philosophy passage (I think the fact that I am not sure gives an indication as to just how much I understood the passage). I guess I just totally did not get a thrust for the passage at all. I was trying to incorporate everything I had learned about reading for structure, trying to find comparisons, and making connections, but it was kind of hard. For the humanities passages, is there a better way to approach them and not get bogged down with all the abstract thought. I find it hard to navigate through the meaning and still get an idea for the passage; simplifying on this particular passage felt impossible.

Do more AAMC practice tests. Everyone has a different "best" strategy and you'll just have to find your own, and this usually comes with practice. Suggestions might include reading the questions first to get a gist of the passage, searching for key definitions, or even reading the passage twice (last resort). The passage strategies you learned don't always apply (some abstracts do tend to lack coherent structure).

And remember that all the practice and strategy in the world won't help you in some particularly difficult passages. Just try not to get any (pray to the MCAT gods).

 

[akinf]

Ok, I've done two AAMC tests now (4R and 5R) and I have hit solid 10s on both. Thanks for the help in improving, but now, I'd like to start hitting solid 11s and 12s. I'm finding for AAMC passages, I can anticipate which ones I am going to get smoked on because I either lose focus, or I actually didn't get it. This occurs for the humanities passages (some of your may remember a passage about Picasso in 5R...I got 6 questions wrong on that passage...and I knew I was going to do bad before and after I did the questions). I don't know if it is the material or I am losing focus. If you have any advice for dealing with both of these problems, that'd be great.

 

[akinf]

bump.....someone....

 

[osjx-82]

This might be a stupid question, but after the essays are scored on a scale of 1 to 6, how are they converted to J-T?

 

[akinf]

They are added together to obtain a score out of 12 then converted from J-T.

 

[QofQuimica]

This might be a stupid question, but after the essays are scored on a scale of 1 to 6, how are they converted to J-T?

There's a top secret algorithm that the AAMC uses. They could tell us, but then they'd have to kill us. Seriously, they don't publish the algorithm, so we don't know how the conversion is done exactly.

 

[osjx-82]

thanks. Since I learned in Kaplan that as long as you do the 3 tasks in an essay format you can get no less than a 4, what could a score of 4 on both essays be approximated to in letters?

an O?

 

[RAD11]

I really want to concentrate more on the verbal section. I was thinking of doing 3 passages/day and a FL VR/week, but I'm afraid I'll run out of materials. Suggestions please!!!

 

[QofQuimica]

thanks. Since I learned in Kaplan that as long as you do the 3 tasks in an essay format you can get no less than a 4, what could a score of 4 on both essays be approximated to in letters?

an O?

Not 100% sure, but I'd guess it would be P based on there being 11 number scores (2-12) and 11 letter scores (J-T).

 

[QofQuimica]

I really want to concentrate more on the verbal section. I was thinking of doing 3 passages/day and a FL VR/week, but I'm afraid I'll run out of materials. Suggestions please!!!

When are you taking the test? I hope not next week!!!

If you want to practice VR that much (not a bad idea, IMHO), you should do some outside reading too. Lorelei wrote a great post about reading to prepare for the MCAT in the VR explanations thread. Check it out.

 

[RAD11]

When are you taking the test? I hope not next week!!!

If you want to practice VR that much (not a bad idea, IMHO), you should do some outside reading too. Lorelei wrote a great post about reading to prepare for the MCAT in the VR explanations thread. Check it out.

Hey Q,

Thanks for the reply. Well, I was going to take the test next week 'til verbal got the best of me. I'll start checking out those magazines.

 

[QofQuimica]

Hey Q,

Thanks for the reply. Well, I was going to take the test next week 'til verbal got the best of me. I'll start checking out those magazines.

If you're taking it next week, it's definitely not a good idea to suddenly decide to ramp up your studying....but if you're definitely going to postpone, then yeah, more reading and practicing looking at author's arguments will help you.

 

[RAD11]

If you're taking it next week, it's definitely not a good idea to suddenly decide to ramp up your studying....but if you're definitely going to postpone, then yeah, more reading and practicing looking at author's arguments will help you.

Oh no I'm postponing 'til January. I already mailed my admission ticket back to AAMC this past Monday with REFUND written in big black ink right across it.

 

[QofQuimica]

bump

 

[QofQuimica]

bump

 

[QofQuimica]

bump

 

[QofQuimica]

bump

 

[southpawcannon]

I've always been very strong in math and not so strong verbally. So I've got a lot of ground to make up over the next couple of years to prepare well for the VR section of the MCAT. Aside from reviewing questions for VR, what are some things that helped you guys out to be stronger with vocabulary and reading comprehension?

 

[akinf]

I'm not strong...but all the people I know who are strong at verbal debated a lot and read like madmen.

 

[Tarnia]

Sorry, I can't seem to delete it and I answered my own question :S

 

[as1024]

Hii..I know that people stress about using the main idea to tackle questions. When I construct my main idea after reading the passage, I try to make it short(like a sentence with less than 10 words). I try to use it to answer the questions, but I find it very difficult to apply, because I feel alot of the questions deal with the "logic of certain details" presented in the passag, and not necessarily the "gist" of the whole passage. I feel the main idea I constructed might be too general? or I simply constructed the wrong main idea? or maybe I just don't know how to use it? any suggestions?
thanks......

 

[vbseller]

Yeah, are there any pratice passages with main ideas along with answer explanations? I know there a few ways to write the main idea, but EK doesn't give any main ideas with the practice materials (even though they emphasize using this technique). suggestions?

 

[dochoov]

I have scored a 9 on the VR of two AAMC tests in a row. Both times I missed 10 questions in the humanities section. Both times I saved the most abstract passage for last and ran out of time, ending my tests by completely guessing on 1.5-2 whole passages.

QofQuimica: I read a post from you saying that we should start reading abstract passages. Do you have any suggestions of where I can find any?

Ayudame (por favor )

 

[Anastasis]

I have scored a 9 on the VR of two AAMC tests in a row. Both times I missed 10 questions in the humanities section. Both times I saved the most abstract passage for last and ran out of time, ending my tests by completely guessing on 1.5-2 whole passages.

QofQuimica: I read a post from you saying that we should start reading abstract passages. Do you have any suggestions of where I can find any?

Ayudame (por favor )

Does your school give you access to online journals via Jstor (http://www.jstor.org/) or some other database? If so, try a humanities journal.

Also I found my philosophy of religion reader to be helpful as well. Your school library should have some kind of philosophy reader, intro or otherwise though intro might be more accessible.

 

[estairella]

Hii..I know that people stress about using the main idea to tackle questions. When I construct my main idea after reading the passage, I try to make it short(like a sentence with less than 10 words). I try to use it to answer the questions, but I find it very difficult to apply, because I feel alot of the questions deal with the "logic of certain details" presented in the passag, and not necessarily the "gist" of the whole passage. I feel the main idea I constructed might be too general? or I simply constructed the wrong main idea? or maybe I just don't know how to use it? any suggestions?
thanks......

The main idea is just that, an idea. Pulling it down into words is going to hinder you. It's like - conservatism is an idea. It's very hard to fully explain conservatism in 10 words or even 100. However, we can use the idea to answer questions like "What would the author say about government interference?"

 

[minsoox1983]

Probably,, this is one of the hardest things to answer.. but,,

How do I speed up the reading ?

When I read, I try to rush through to get the big picture. And I stop at every paragraph to resort myself and mark some key ideas(2sec).
Most of time, I spend 4-5minuntes in reading the passage. and another 5 mintutes to do the questions. This is total of 11 minutes ! too much !
so i end up with guessing one passage in every test.

I don't know how come others have so much spare time to write things down.. Do they already know these topics from the practices ?

I think it's about my reading taking too long.
My strategy is to reduce reading time to 3min -> just to get the big picture and understand the flow of the structure.
It means I glance through key words and first/end sentences of each paragraph and skip the details/evidences.

All i want is the magic 10 score. and I really don't want to skip any passage, cause there is at least one easy question for each passage that can be answered in few seconds. I rather skip hard inference or detail oriented questions to save time.

any suggestion with timing?
so far i tried
1. reading just first/last paragraph and first/last senteces in body paragraphs - this gives me hard time with organizing the argument.
2. reading 2 to 3 words together. - this sometimes works but i quickly forget what i read. lol
3. reading normaly , reading aloud in my head - this is like reading off every word one by one,, seems inefficient with 5 min of the reading time.

help!

-minsoo

 

[HippocratesX]

I think its important to definitely read each and every word in the passage. When you start reading, don't read it with the mindset, that every detail is important, but rather read it as if a friend is telling you a story and you are listening (to the main point of the story), without trying to specifically remember all the details. If you skip around in paragraphs or sentences, you will likely miss the entire BIG PICTURE, since one little word can make the difference.

Try and see if you are starting a sentence and then re-starting to read it, or re-reading sections (which takes up time) - the first time around that you read it (this is nto referring to going back to the passage, but in your first read-through). When I started, I tended to do this, because I felt as if I had to know exactly each and every thing that was written because I was taking this important test. Let me tell you, that doesn't work. Just read it to get an overall major impression/idea of the passage, WITHOUT skipping any word. It doesn't take that long to read it through if you are not actively trying to remember details (which you shouldn't be). Also, more importantly, when you read, try and shut off that little voice in your head that reads along with you as if you are reading it out loud. This also slows down reading because your eyes/brain should be able to read faster than if you were actually reading each word out loud. There are different ways that we read. For example, if you have ever just read a magazine of interest for fun, knowing you are not being tested on anything, you tend to read much quicker (without skimming but actually reading the whole article). But when we read something of importance, maybe a textbook or mcat passage, we tend to turn on that inner voice that is meant to emphasize importance and paying attention. But, in turn, it ends up slowing us down. If you can just read the passage in a relaxed way, and then go to the questions, you will find that you actually DO recall the details and if you don't, your brain will remember exactly where to look in the passage where the answer will be.

This has worked for me in verbal so far, and I hope it can be of some help to you.

 

[minsoox1983]

Thanks for your advice.

I will keep practicing to find my method.
Thanks!

 

[QofQuimica]

bumping