Verbal Time & Question help

[RSum]

Hey everyone,

First of all, hope studying is going well for all of you! I had a few questions as I'm studying for verbal. I know that the Verbal on the real MCAT is much longer than most available practice passages. So I am wondering, how should we prepare for longer passages? Currently, I am practicing finishing between 7 30 and 8 min but what do I do on the real thing, when there is a real long one and I notice that I already used say, 8 or 9 minutes!? How do I adjust with my pace or timing of the next few passages? I would assume just calmly and confidently move on but do you all have any other advice?

Also, I notice that I have trouble eliminating unsupported answers or selecting answer choices that distort main points or author's ideas. Do you have any specific advice for that?

Please help and thanks in advance! : )

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[RSum]

Bump please

 

[EZR]

I'm taking like 8-9 minutes per passage on the EK Verbal 101. I think the SN2 plan said work towards 6 minutes per passage.

I feel doomed.

 

[RSum]

Bump

 

[Temperature101]

I'm taking like 8-9 minutes per passage on the EK Verbal 101. I think the SN2 plan said work towards 6 minutes per passage.

I feel doomed.

8 minutes is OK per passage. MCAT has 7 passages....7x8 is 56 minutes and you still have 4 minutes to spare..However, try to see if you can do the passages in 7 minutes.

 

[RSum]

8 minutes is OK per passage. MCAT has 7 passages....7x8 is 56 minutes and you still have 4 minutes to spare..However, try to see if you can do the passages in 7 minutes.

Thanks but I'm wondering, on a practice exam, what if a passage goes longer than you want it to, say 8-9 minutes, how do you react and adapt to the upcoming passages? I don't want to rush myself because I feel like I took too much time on the previous passage and ejd up possibly missing some questions because of this. What do you all think?

 

[RSum]

Bump

 

[Melomare17]

its ok if you get a passage that takes 8-9 minutes, either you can speed up a little bit on the next one, or just keep following your method because you will get a shorter one soon

 

[Chrome19]

After 27 minutes, you should be on the fourth passage. A passage might take 9 mins, another 6 mins, etc. It's better to aggregate your timing in 2's and 3's, i.e. 2 passages at 17 minutes and 3 passages at 26-27 mins.

Actively creating a movie of the passage as you read, concretizing abstract concepts and bringing them to life really improves your understanding. You also know where to locate information in the passage if needed. It also improves concentration and focus, leading to a higher score. I got a 9 on the real deal after scoring 10's on the only two AAMC's I took.

 

[RSum]

After 27 minutes, you should be on the fourth passage. A passage might take 9 mins, another 6 mins, etc. It's better to aggregate your timing in 2's and 3's, i.e. 2 passages at 17 minutes and 3 passages at 26-27 mins.

Actively creating a movie of the passage as you read, concretizing abstract concepts and bringing them to life really improves your understanding. You also know where to locate information in the passage if needed. It also improves concentration and focus, leading to a higher score. I got a 9 on the real deal after scoring 10's on the only two AAMC's I took.

Thanks! Have you taken the current mcat by the way? I know that they are much longer but will I be able to expect some passages to be much shorter than some of the linger ones?

 

[EnginrTheFuture]

I've been practiving with the 0 2 4 6 8 rule I made up in my head and it seems to give me a quick check for where I should be after a set BLOCK of passages.

after 1st passage: 52 minutes on countdown clock
after 2nd passage: 44 minutes on countdown clock
3rd : 36
4th : 28
5th : 20
6th : 12
7th : 4

If I get a long passage I try to recoupe back to the normal 2468 by 2 passages from then. At all times I do keep the last 4 minutes as a confident (don't panic) reserve. BUT I always try to get back to the 2468.

Maybe this will work for someone else, so I thought I would post it.

 

[Medical Muse]

One of the mistakes people make is to spend the same amount of time on each passage. Your average should be about 8 minutes per passage, but you may do one passage in 6 minutes and another in 10. Timing, however, isn't so important if you can't find the main idea. Try looking for key words (conclusions, transitions, etc.) as the ideas are usually near them. Also, keep in mind that when you read the passage, the details aren't important, only the ideas.