What's the point of highlighting...

[supertrooper66]

when the test unhighlights it when you click off it?

pretty worthless...can't go back to key parts when youre reading questions later. basically, it's worthless.

it does help me to read through something fast by consistently highlighting the line i'm reading. for instance, it helps me mucho in the verbal. it doesn't do much for the sciences, though. i think it keeping your highlights would especially be useful in the VR since there is so much text to search through if you have to refer back to the passage!

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[RySerr21]

when the test unhighlights it when you click off it?

pretty worthless...can't go back to key parts when youre reading questions later. basically, it's worthless.

it does help me to read through something fast by consistently highlighting the line i'm reading. for instance, it helps me mucho in the verbal. it doesn't do much for the sciences, though. i think it keeping your highlights would especially be useful in the VR since there is so much text to search through if you have to refer back to the passage!

what do you mean? it doesnt go away when you click off of it, it stays there the entire time you are looking at the passage.

do you mean why does it go away once you change passages? i agree, that is kind of silly...but whatever.

 

[supertrooper66]

what do you mean? it doesnt go away when you click off of it, it stays there the entire time you are looking at the passage.

do you mean why does it go away once you change passages? i agree, that is kind of silly...but whatever.

say you highlight something, then highlight another thing in next paragraph. does it save the first highlight?

also, have you taken the real MCAT? AAMC's practice tests are slightly off with highlighting compared to the real thing.

 

[RySerr21]

say you highlight something, then highlight another thing in next paragraph. does it save the first highlight?

also, have you taken the real MCAT? AAMC's practice tests are slightly off with highlighting compared to the real thing.

yes, if you highlight something, then highlight another thing in the next paragraph, both will remain.

yes i took the real MCAT 5/27. Every highlight I made stayed unless i changed passages.

 

[Steveoph]

Does anybody know if double clicking on the word will highlight it in the real AAMC test center? I've noticed in alot of my practice exams I have to drag the cursor, and I find it easiest to just double click on key words like "First", Importantly... etc

 

[LikeClockWork]

Does anybody know if double clicking on the word will highlight it in the real AAMC test center? I've noticed in alot of my practice exams I have to drag the cursor, and I find it easiest to just double click on key words like "First", Importantly... etc

I'm pretty sure you have to click and drag to highlight on the real thing. It won't highlight a word just by double clicking on it.

 

[supafield]

if you take your practice test on a mac.... your highlighting doesn't stay.... that may throw some people off.. pc's and the actual MCAT keep your highlighting even if you go to highlight something else.

 

[207588]

if you take your practice test on a mac.... your highlighting doesn't stay.... that may throw some people off.. pc's and the actual MCAT keep your highlighting even if you go to highlight something else.

ohhhh ... I was freaking out during the practice test coz it wouldn't let me highlight anything ... I have a Mac ... so that makes sense now ...

Given the number of students investing in Macs vs. PCs you would think that they would provide better support for Macs :S

 

[dodjie16]

Highlight helps a lot in the verbal section of the MCAT. I would always highlight the names of people and important words because I know that there are questions about them. That way I can quickly find them in the passage whenever I encounter a question based on them.

 

[dwc929]

On a similar note, if you strike out an answer choice but you move on to the next passage, will the strikeout still be there if you come back to it later?

 

[studiddy]

The verbal would be the last section I'd ever highlight, as doing so wastes time and more importantly interrupts my reading making it more difficult to get the flow and feel of the passage. Once a passage is read, unless it says 'according to X in paragraph Y' or something equally explicit, there is no going back to reread, IMO.

 

[supafield]

I was a heavy annotater back in 06 when it was paper.....


Via a little influence from EK, but moreso from the fact that I can't highlight on my practice tests on a mac and have been doing better than I ever did in 2006, I've basically avoided highlighting anything. It disrupts smooth reading when I stop to highlight.

I've reduced my highlight to orgo and only if a long reaction presents itself in text. I'll highlight the molecule then the reaction is undergoes and the following molecule.. but other than that no highlighting

 

[student1799]

Funny, my experience has been the opposite of yours: highlighting really helps me in verbal, but slows me down dangerously in the science passages (especially PS). I just took my first real MCAT, and think I might have to retake it because I ran out of time in the PS section. Although highlighting was not the only cause of this problem, I think it certainly made things worse. If I do take it again, I might even try what some other SDNers have suggested: don't even read the PS passages, and go straight to the questions. (If you really need the passage to do a question, then you refer back to it.) I'm pretty accurate but kind of slow on the PS problems, so that might help me save time.

But on verbal, I find highlighting to be really useful. I don't highlight names and dates, but sentences that I think express an important idea or argument in the passage. That helps me a lot on those "the author would probably agree/disagree with the following" questions, which are the toughest ones for me. I usually finish verbal with a few minutes to spare, so the time taken by highlighting isn't a concern.

 

[supafield]

Funny, my experience has been the opposite of yours: highlighting really helps me in verbal, but slows me down dangerously in the science passages (especially PS). I just took my first real MCAT, and think I might have to retake it because I ran out of time in the PS section. Although highlighting was not the only cause of this problem, I think it certainly made things worse. If I do take it again, I might even try what some other SDNers have suggested: don't even read the PS passages, and go straight to the questions. (If you really need the passage to do a question, then you refer back to it.) I'm pretty accurate but kind of slow on the PS problems, so that might help me save time.

But on verbal, I find highlighting to be really useful. I don't highlight names and dates, but sentences that I think express an important idea or argument in the passage. That helps me a lot on those "the author would probably agree/disagree with the following" questions, which are the toughest ones for me. I usually finish verbal with a few minutes to spare, so the time taken by highlighting isn't a concern.

lol we do have opposite experience .....

I realized for my 2nd time around how valuable the passage is as an asset. Those days you hear everyone complain about how their mcat was death are usually due to test being a little more on the comprehension side using new concepts and hiding them in the passages..... You either don't pay enough attention to the passage or think your knowledge is all they'll test and you get to questions that seemed like they're masters level virology and are thinking the MCAT screwwwed me.

This time I'll read even if I think I already know about the subject. Sometimes they'll describe a system you studied extensively but ammend it with one quick bullet that changes the whole way the system operates.
Ex: non-standard conditions, a mutation, different value for a constant.

I'd be careful skipping reading the passage, it may pan out one day and then screw you the next... Given that you manage your time correctly reading the passage whether you know it already or not won't screw you either way.