What the hell happened to my verbal?

[Doodl3s]

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So, i'm not doing bad on practice exams... i get like 14-15 on all the AAMC science sections of the practice tests...

but on verbal ive gotten like 10/11/12/13/11,, and then i took aamc 9 today and got a NINE!! wtf happened to my verbal. Bear in mind, I was taking an exam like once every two days, then i recently took like 5 to 6 days off and just took aamc 9... could i have lost some verbal skill in the meantime?

what do i do! my exam is on tuesday. IM averaging high 30s, but with a 9 verbal, thats gonna look terrible... AAAH

 

[Captain Jack]

Chill out. That score is very good and a lot, I mean a lot, of people are happy with 9's. Your sciences are obviously outstanding, and your verbal is right on a good line to do well with. If I remember correctly, AAMC 9 VR was an outlier for me, so just chill out and relax; you're going to do better than at least 75% of the people on here, and the people on here are incredibly smart

 

[DJDakoo]

i get 6-8s on verbal...want to share your strategies?

 

[schrizto]

high 30s is still pretty excellent. don't let that most recent score faze you, be confident.

 

[Doodl3s]

I'm just worried that anything below 10 is a sort of unwritten cut-off for top med schools...

@DJDakoo: my strats for verbal is a mix of what worked best...

i USED to map, now i map in my head. By the end of each passage i make sure i could always at least answer (this passage is mainly about) because it helps with ALOT of the other questions. I ALWAYS look for when the author says he agrees/disgrees/likes/etc... another idea. SO i look for the main passage idea, and the main author idea.

THen, two things i took from EK: 1. the question stems HELP ALOT. For example, say you read something and you couldnt get the jist of anything. THe question stems hint at what the overall passage was about usually because they'll ask about the main idea. the whole question stem thing is a little iffy.
2. I literally take a 5-second breather between passages! and purposely forget old passages. THat 5-second breather if you do a FULL breath, is like you just started the verbal section again (as in, you gain some stamina back, seriously try it)

Mainly though, I just read each one as if I'm reading the newspaper, I want to know WHY the hell this passage is here and walk away with the important concept of the passage and why the author wrote it/felt about it...

 

[burningheat]

my first 3 verbals i got 12, then i scored 11 on aamc10, and now aamc 9 im on a 10 minute break right now lol so we will see if i lower as well. I never used to feel rushed but on aaamc10 and aamc9 i feel rushed for time on verbal, so maybe they are just harder and its throwing us off?

I stay the same on PS and BS as well, but for BS i vary 13-14, PS 14-15.

all in all, i think verbal is just random as hell -.- that stupid cloud one was annoying.

 

[snipermonkey]

i agree
cloud one hahaha
but aamc 9 verbal was little bit hard to me 😀
so good luck
im about to BS for AAMC5 haha
last practice before the rel one!

 

[burningheat]

well 14/11/14 on aamc9

at this rate my verbal will be 9 by the time i hit real test as well 😛

maybe you were just out of practice?

kind of scares me because I wont have taken a test for 1.5 weeks b4 my mcat because I have to be busy, maybe ill just save 1 test and fit it in somehow.

 

[brianmed]

hey,

take a deep breath your doing great! haha sounds like im coaching you to give birth but :

One bad score(according to you I love nines! 🙂 ) isnt the end of the world. 5 days before my MCAT I got an 8 on AAMC 9 bio! I almost passed out -it was really a blow to my confidence I chilled out and told myself I am confident I know my bio and definitly my orgo pretty well. I reviewed the exam and it turns out a lot of the mistakes were silly oversights that probably resulted from my brain getting tired of too many practice tests. I ende dup with an 11 ont he real thing which I felt was an ideal reflection of my abilit yint hat section.

Review the section youll realize you too made some mistakes that you usually dont make. Even if you dont youre clearly competent in verbal trust that instinct and I see no reason why you cant pull an 11 or higher on verbal. good luck on tuesday- tell me your verbal score when i end up being right!!!

 

[planktonelement]

You should be fine. Everyone has a bad VR here and there. How's your pacing?

 

[Doodl3s]

Updating... I dont know what to think... i took AAMC 10... my verbal went back up to an 11 (ones i got wrong were stupid, should have been higher)

BUT, my phys went down to 13, and my bio down to 12... making it 13/11/12...

This, although i know good, is the LOWEST I've gotten on all my practices... 🙁

Did i Burn out. my test is in three days (Tuesdays) my average is around 39-40, and i've hit 42 twice... What do i do guys? WHAT DO I DO?!

 

[brandnew1]

Updating... I dont know what to think... i took AAMC 10... my verbal went back up to an 11 (ones i got wrong were stupid, should have been higher)

BUT, my phys went down to 13, and my bio down to 12... making it 13/11/12...

This, although i know good, is the LOWEST I've gotten on all my practices... 🙁

Did i Burn out. my test is in three days (Tuesdays) my average is around 39-40, and i've hit 42 twice... What do i do guys? WHAT DO I DO?!

No offense but you're not going to find much sympathy when a 36 is your lowest score.

 

[Doodl3s]

I know, I'm not trying to be a troll... its just If i get a 36, Its good, but annoying. Because you're right, I did so well I'd be stupid to retake it. However, its still like 6 points below what i could get, and that makes a big difference.

So its high enough not to retake, but lower than what I'm capable of... just a crappy situation all around... Just wanna know what i can do

 

[MD2Be88]

I'd say all you need to do is relax. I think it's getting so close to the test that you are getting nervous and it's throwing you off. You are obviously still doing amazing even when you are not on top of your game, so just convince yourself that you will do well and I think you will be back to your average on the real deal. I know it's a huge exam, but stessing out only makes it worse. Good luck!

 

[brandnew1]

I know, I'm not trying to be a troll... its just If i get a 36, Its good, but annoying. Because you're right, I did so well I'd be stupid to retake it. However, its still like 6 points below what i could get, and that makes a big difference.

So its high enough not to retake, but lower than what I'm capable of... just a crappy situation all around... Just wanna know what i can do

Well it's obvious that you're capable of doing extremely well so the only thing you can change now is your mindset. I was averaging low to mid 30's for a while and I took a couple of days off and I managed to break into the upper 30's, so maybe take a day or two off (don't do anything MCAT-related) and then you'll start to feel that sense of urgency again and you'll be that much more focused on your next exam.

Good luck.