What to do if you do not understand a verbal passage?

[brood910]

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When I understand the passage, I usually get only 1-2 Qs wrong.
But history and law passages kill me. I dont understand what the heck they are talking about.
What do you do if you do not understand the passage at all?

 

[NuttyEngDude]

this is the one instance where i will passage map. no other time though

 

[brood910]

this is the one instance where i will passage map. no other time though

What if vocab is the problem?
Sometimes some passages have big words that I am not even familiar with..

 

[NuttyEngDude]

hmmm..... not sure, do you have some examples?

 

[UniBoy4]

If you can't even a bit understand any law or history passage then you should seriously reconsider your decision to become a doctor.

 

[brood910]

hmmm..... not sure, do you have some examples?

Maybe this is because I am an ESL student.. even though I've been in US for 10 years..
I cant think of any specific examples...

 

[NuttyEngDude]

Maybe this is because I am an ESL student.. even though I've been in US for 10 years..
I cant think of any specific examples...

In that case have a look at this maybe it will help?

http://www.freevocabulary.com/

 

[Postictal Raiden]

When I understand the passage, I usually get only 1-2 Qs wrong.
But history and law passages kill me. I dont understand what the heck they are talking about.
What do you do if you do not understand the passage at all?

I, too, have been in the US for a little over a decade and suffer from the same problem. Today on AAMC5, I did "good" on the passages related to biology and natural science, but totally sucked on the art and the economic passage. Between these two passages, I missed more than 10 qs. I ended up with 6🙁

 

[Mehd School]

If you can't even a bit understand any law or history passage then you should seriously reconsider your decision to become a doctor.

What a short sided comment. I can tell you've never been under the time constraints of the mcat on a verbose and convoluted passage. Get over yourself.

 

[brood910]

If you can't even a bit understand any law or history passage then you should seriously reconsider your decision to become a doctor.

Tell me that even though I have GPA of 3.9 and I am a double major in bio and psych.
Tell me that even though I am getting 12-14 on science sections.
With your logic, can I say you shouldnt be a doctor if your GPA is lower than mine even though your native language is English?

You seriously should develop your logical thinking skills if you want to be a doctor.

 

[brood910]

In that case have a look at this maybe it will help?

http://www.freevocabulary.com/

Hm, I am not sure if it is worth it to memorize SAT words to just get a few more Qs correct.
But still, thanks a lot.

 

[Mehd School]

Tell me that even though I have GPA of 3.9 and I am a double major in bio and psych.
Tell me that even though I am getting 12-14 on science sections.
With your logic, can I say you shouldnt be a doctor if your GPA is lower than mine even though your native language is English?

You seriously should develop your logical thinking skills if you want to be a doctor.

It's in your best interest to ignore posters of that caliber. I responded to it, and frankly it is a waste of time.


There are two people that will tell you if you can't do something you can't be a doctor: Pre-meds and Pre med advisors. Neither of which have been in medical school or understand the process.

Keep on keepin' on man. The people that say **** like that are the ones who will never cut it themselves.

 

[Postictal Raiden]

Hm, I am not sure if it is worth it to memorize SAT words to just get a few more Qs correct.
But still, thanks a lot.

It's only worth it if you have long time until your test, and even then, it may still be an inefficient use of your efforts and time.

There's no better preparation for verbal than doing mcat passages, especially aamc. The human brain has an incredible ability to learn patterns by sufficient repetition. Even though you may not fully understand a passage, you may get away with using your test taking skills to eliminate weird and extreme answers. For example, when I was taking the AAMC5 today and came across the picasso passage, I knew that it would take me forever to read, so I skipped it and came back to it at the end. I had only 6 mins when I returned to it. I skimmed over the entire passage in 2 mins and went directly to questions. I got most of the answers wrong, but I still managed to get 3 right. I tried to eliminate "too good to be true" type of answer choices. Yes, I realized that I may have gotten lucky, but this is still better than pure guessing.

 

[brood910]

Thanks for the kind words, guys.

Anyways, I am avging 8-9 on EK 101 right now..
I heard that EK scores are a bit inflated due to the easiness of its passages.. Is this true?
I will be satisfied with an 8 on verbal.. seriously.. I can still get around 35 with that.
I found that EK passages are way easier than TPRH verbal passages btw...

 

[NuttyEngDude]

Thanks for the kind words, guys.

Anyways, I am avging 8-9 on EK 101 right now..
I heard that EK scores are a bit inflated due to the easiness of its passages.. Is this true?
I will be satisfied with an 8 on verbal.. seriously.. I can still get around 35 with that.
I found that EK passages are way easier than TPRH verbal passages btw...

I have noticed no consistent correlation, they are all just different. look at spinachdip's post. his scores were all different from his actual aamc average and final score. if you are averaging 8-9 on ek101 maybe you are ready? if you are getting 12+'s on sciences on practice tests then you have taken an aamc already right? how have your scores been and have you taken a test since practicing with the new verbal material?

 

[marcdagr8]

If you can't even a bit understand any law or history passage then you should seriously reconsider your decision to become a doctor.

Dick

 

[Postictal Raiden]

Thanks for the kind words, guys.

Anyways, I am avging 8-9 on EK 101 right now..
I heard that EK scores are a bit inflated due to the easiness of its passages.. Is this true?
I will be satisfied with an 8 on verbal.. seriously.. I can still get around 35 with that.
I found that EK passages are way easier than TPRH verbal passages btw...

EK passages are much easier to read but their questions are harder to wrap your head around. TPRH passages are on par with aamc passage difficulty, but their questions are a tad easier than aamc questions. You need to try doing aamc passages so you have an idea. Personally, I believe nothing prepares you well for the real test other than aamc FL's. EK and tprh may help you develop stamina and increase your reading speed, but don't expect them to improve your verbal test taking skills. My performance on aamc is 1-2 points lower on average than my performance on ek.

 

[brood910]

I have noticed no consistent correlation, they are all just different. look at spinachdip's post. his scores were all different from his actual aamc average and final score. if you are averaging 8-9 on ek101 maybe you are ready? if you are getting 12+'s on sciences on practice tests then you have taken an aamc already right? how have your scores been and have you taken a test since practicing with the new verbal material?

I am saving AAMC FLs for later.
I used some Kaplan FLs and my avg on them is PS: 14 VS: 7 BS: 12..

I feel like I could ace all this if English was my first language.. Gosh..

 

[brood910]

EK passages are much easier to read but their questions are harder to wrap your head around. TPRH passages are on par with aamc passage difficulty, but their questions are a tad easier than aamc questions. You need to try doing aamc passages so you have an idea. Personally, I believe nothing prepares you well for the real test other than aamc FL's. EK and tprh may help you develop stamina and increase your reading speed, but don't expect them to improve your verbal test taking skills. My performance on aamc is 1-2 points lower on average than my performance on ek.

That... scares me a lot...

 

[NuttyEngDude]

I am saving AAMC FLs for later.
I used some Kaplan FLs and my avg on them is PS: 14 VS: 7 BS: 12..

I feel like I could ace all this if English was my first language.. Gosh..

you should take one, like aamc 3, you might be surprised.

 

[Sub Rosa]

EK 101 scores are not a good indicator of performance on verbal reasoning. The passages are simple but the questions are very difficult. Work on your reading comprehension and develop a better working vocabulary by reading basic articles on your weak subjects (e.g., law, history).

Good luck!

 

[NuttyEngDude]

Yeah sorry I dont mean to pressure you. If you are using kaplan, i believe you can go into their qbank and only practice "social science" and "humanities" passages. That might be exactly what you're looking for. Granted their question types arent anywhere near what you'd get form EK101 but if it's passages types that you want that will do it for you. Good luck 🙂

 

[AktionPOTENTIAL]

If you can't even a bit understand any law or history passage then you should seriously reconsider your decision to become a doctor.

This is your first post and this what you had to say? GTFO!!

OP, I also faced familiar constraints due to the fact that I learned English at school, back at home. It took a lot of practice, watching documentaries on History/NatGeo and extensive reading to get to where I am today. With the beast looming, I am sure you may not be able to make significant gains using these methods. However, on your downtime it wouldn't hurt to read book reviews from the NYT, the older ones along w/ a few op-eds. They are sometimes convoluted, containing unfamiliar vocabulary which you should take a few minutes to look up.

Good Luck! Hang in there.

 

[UniBoy4]

Tell me that even though I have GPA of 3.9 and I am a double major in bio and psych.
Tell me that even though I am getting 12-14 on science sections.
With your logic, can I say you shouldnt be a doctor if your GPA is lower than mine even though your native language is English?

You seriously should develop your logical thinking skills if you want to be a doctor.

Hahaha, you know I was just joking.