Verbal Section: Methods of Attack

[The South Face]

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I am retaking the MCAT because of a low verbal score. While trying to focus some extra energy in this area, I am trying to figure out what ways different test prep companies recommend attacking this section, which one works for me, and how to practice for it. I know Kaplan advocates "mapping". What is The Princeton Reviews approach? Does Exam Krackers have a special strategy? Any others that?

Personal success stories and advice of improving verbal score with described practice methods would be appreciated too!

Thanks...

 

[RSAgator]

Well the cardinal rule with verbal is that what works for one person may not work for others. People read at different paces and absorb different amounts of material. A lot of success in verbal comes with experience with the types of questions you're missing. I use absolutely no gimmicks when I do verbal practices. I read the passage and try to concentrate as much as I possibly can my first read through. I then answer the questions and go back to the passage for answers i'm not 100% certain of. I am able to skim a passage very quickly which helps with this, and I also tend to remember where things are located which probably makes it more efficient. I am of the opinion that "strategies" can only get you so far. The people who do really well are the people who are just good at verbal. Hopefully you'll get better advice than this though hehe. Pick up verbal 101 if you haven't already.

 

[skijumpbump]

I "studied" for the verbal section by reading The New Yorker. Things like their reviews of books, films, and plays. I choose these because they are pieces of opinion and the reviewer does not come right out and state something like "Hostal 3 is a bad movie". This is also an enjoyable way of studying.

 

[Pacman51]

I am in the same predicament. However, I think I found a method that works for me. Before, I used to get very confused and lose focus during verbal. I would have to go back to the passage and I found myself always running out of time. Now what I like to do is this:

After each paragraph I read I make a one to two sentence summary of that paragraph.

I pay especially close attention to the first paragraph to try and get an idea of what the Topic and subject are about. The following paragraphs I try to see how they relate to the first. Are the following paragraphs supporting examples, references to similar instances, refutations, etc.

I find this helps when I refer back to the passage because I now have an idea of where specific details are and if not I can refer back to my notes.

Finally try to do each passage in 8 minutes. I found this method has improved my verbal a great deal. Remember just jot down a sentence in your own words, it may sound time consuming, but efficiency is the key and for me this process helps me digest the info a little better.

Sorry for rambling on...

 

[HopefulDoc1984]

i found it helpful to do the passages that i thought were interesting first and progress to the more boring ones. i hate poetry so i saved the poetry passage for last. also, dont try to memorize while reading. you should paraphrase each paragraph and get the overall idea of the passage and each of its paragraphs.

 

[DrKendrickLamar]

Originally, I had planned to take the MCAT in September 2007, but I psyched myself out because of my deficiency in VR by averaging a 6 (~50%). This resulted to a break from reviewing MCAT material from Sept to early Dec. Since Dec, I have been studying for the May 27th exam.
The EK method has brought me some positive results (~8 or 60%), but I tweaked it with my own style of passage mapping from Kaplan with short hand of only 2-3 words per paragraph to maintain focus when i read. But, I am not satisfied.
Improving to a 10 or higher is my focus. My general trend when I practice is that I tend to miss only 1 or 2 questions on the first couple passages and the last couple passages. For some reason, the middle passages tend to be the areas where I miss approximately 3 questions.
I need help. What do you think is screwing me over? Does it sound like I am losing focus? getting bored? Would you suggest that I continue to take a full length exam once a week to practice VR? Or should I just do VR by itself and practice the sciences throughout the week?

 

[hypnix]

I tend to get an 8-10 in VR. I can't get any better. Do you guys review what you got wrong only or do you go through every question?

 

[hypnix]

Wow, I just took a practice test and got a 6 in verbal. When I took this thing two years ago, verbal and BS were my strongest and so I focused a lot on PS this time around, and now my VR dropped and my PS went up. My PS and VR scores simply just switched.

I guess the only strat I tried using was reading the questions first and then going into the passage. I find that strategy to work better on paper than on the CBT. AHHH

Sorry, just venting. Just really wanting to score a 30 o na practice for once.

 

[Vihsadas]

Hey guys, thought you might get some use out of my verbal prep strategy. Here ya go:
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showpost.php?p=6022602&postcount=96

 

[wannabedocta]

I tend to get an 8-10 in VR. I can't get any better. Do you guys review what you got wrong only or do you go through every question?

same here, it's really frustrating. I only go through the one's I missed but it isn't helpful because I realize that I'm wrong after the fact I missed a sentence in the passage or I misinterpreted a word. I have to be more efficient in going back to passages or...try to recollect all the minutia from one read through.

 

[tf2medic]

i like the finish each passage in 7.5-8 min advice. i took one practice test and still had 1 passage leftover. i used that advice and had no problem the next test and maintained my accuracy as well. so i guess the methods of attack are all common sense. just try out what works for you

 

[CultureDoc]

I tend to get an 8-10 in VR. I can't get any better. Do you guys review what you got wrong only or do you go through every question?

Go through every single question!!! If you're really looking to improve, you need to know why you get things right as well as why you get things wrong. Was it a lucky guess? Or did you eliminate a couple of wrong answers and then guess? Or was it obvious? If it was obvious, why? What made it so? I would keep a log of sorts of the question types that you're getting right and the types you're getting wrong AND THE REASONS. It's time-consuming to analyze your results like that, but definitely worth it for the improvement. (Plus, then you can actually SEE your improvement -- e.g., guessing less.)

FYI - my big problem was that I always ran out of time, and when I went fast enough, I would get stuff wrong (usu. b/c i didn't read the question or answer properly). Timing yourself and trying to do the passages faster than you need to is a good strategy. After analyzing and timing myself, I began to pick out the sorts of questions that I should spend extra time on and the ones I could breeze through. It worked - I got a 13 on VR my second time around.

 

[SysBio]

The mcat verbal is listed as having 40 Q's in 60 mins...

just how many passages does that normally equal?

 

[nepatslvr]

The mcat verbal is listed as having 40 Q's in 60 mins...

just how many passages does that normally equal?

To my knowledge it's typically 7 passages.

For verbal I found it very important to read the article "right" the first time through. What I mean by that is when I would just try to read the article quickly and get the main ideas, I found myself having to go back and reread pieces of the article multiple times. This made it nearly impossible to finish the thing on time. However, when I started reading the article out loud in my head (literally speaking each word in my head as if I was actually reading it out loud) I found that I didn't have to go back over things half as much. It made me more engaged in the article and forced me to pay more attention to what I was doing. Anyway, hope that's helpful!