- Joined
- Apr 7, 2008
- Messages
- 178
- Reaction score
- 0
- Points
- 0
- Pre-Medical
Verbal- time -isn't it always the problem
- Thread starter premedrose
- Start date
- Joined
- Mar 4, 2007
- Messages
- 83
- Reaction score
- 0
- Points
- 0
- Pre-Medical
You must read word for word and NOT skim on the verbal if you are to get a 10+ because all the answers are from the passage.
You have 1 hour to do 7 passages which is approximately 8.5 minutes/passage. I average around 3-3.5 minutes reading the passage and 5-5.5 minutes answering the 5-7 questions per passage.
You have 1 hour to do 7 passages which is approximately 8.5 minutes/passage. I average around 3-3.5 minutes reading the passage and 5-5.5 minutes answering the 5-7 questions per passage.
- Joined
- Nov 20, 2006
- Messages
- 539
- Reaction score
- 3
- Points
- 4,551
I always read the entire passage comfortably. I always restarted the paragraph if I found myself just looking at the words. Usually I would finish with 4-7 minutes to spare but on the real thing I didn't have any time to spare. You can't avoid reading the passages. I couldn't imagine trying to answer the questions with skimming.
On the few times I found myself "behind schedule" on the AAMC practice tests I would hurdle through the questions at ~20seconds each and still score the same...so I don't know how much emphasis to put on the questions themselves. I think this might be an overlooked strategy.
I scored the exact same on every single AAMC practice that I took--a raw 36/40 with a 13 every time.
On the few times I found myself "behind schedule" on the AAMC practice tests I would hurdle through the questions at ~20seconds each and still score the same...so I don't know how much emphasis to put on the questions themselves. I think this might be an overlooked strategy.
I scored the exact same on every single AAMC practice that I took--a raw 36/40 with a 13 every time.
- Joined
- Jun 27, 2007
- Messages
- 7,545
- Reaction score
- 197
- Points
- 5,166
- Resident [Any Field]
Read the passage once and slowly. Skimming won't do any good.
Well, timing is the most obvious problem on VR, but many times the timing issues are a result of poor reading comprehension or misunderstanding the questions themselves (thus having to read and reread questions and answer choices).
For some, timing is actually the root problem, and they need to work on pacing issues. For others, timing is only a symptom, but not the root problem. My motto is "go slow to go fast." When you're doing the homework and practicing, it doesn't make any sense to fly through it when you're missing a lot of questions. You're not really learning how to attack those questions or why the credited response is correct while the other answers are not. I think you have to start off working very slowly, build your accuracy, and then the speed will come naturally from practice and comfort.
For some, timing is actually the root problem, and they need to work on pacing issues. For others, timing is only a symptom, but not the root problem. My motto is "go slow to go fast." When you're doing the homework and practicing, it doesn't make any sense to fly through it when you're missing a lot of questions. You're not really learning how to attack those questions or why the credited response is correct while the other answers are not. I think you have to start off working very slowly, build your accuracy, and then the speed will come naturally from practice and comfort.
Similar threads
