What's your Verbal technique?

[nka623]

I wanted to know what you're verbal technique was and how effective you found it to be. I want to try out all the different ways to go about the verbal, and see what's most effective for me.

I do know that reading the questions first and then reading the passages, just does not work well for me at all. I run out of time.

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[Telo78]

Well I haven't taken the test yet, but am starting to see what works. Definitely start by reading passages (examkrackers 101, or other) everyday. I read two to three a day and really go over the ones I got wrong. You should start to pick up success with that. I've heard that it takes awhile though to really hone the skill so don't expect to start doing well for maybe a few weeks or months. One more thing, learn to not get trapped and caught up on really difficult passages. It's exactly what they want you to do and end up rushing other passages and ultimately screwing up your verbal score. Read these passages without going back a million times and just give it your best guess. Chances are you will do better than if you lulled over it for 12 mins. b/c of the many wrong attractive answers. Remember you only got about 8.5 mins for each passage. Time yourself always when practicing. Good Luck

 

[olemissbabydoc]

I have a pretty decent reading technique anyway, I adapted parts of EK specific for MCAT...

I also have been reading... Scientific American, Scientific American Mind, New Yorker... anything I can get my hands on that's the least bit mcat-ish.

I think i just made upa word..

mcat-ish....

 

[abyssinianson]

When I took the MCAT, I found that reading for the main idea and using a visual guide while reading worked very well for me. I played around with underlining the main words and stuff like that during practice tests but found that I was easily distracted by these techniques because I was focusing too much on the words rather than the idea of the text. So, I tried to just focus on the passage by reading it as I would any science journal article sometimes using my pencil as a line guide as I read through each paragraph. Forcing myself to visually focus this way on journals and the MCAT helped me focus my attention. My job requires me to pore over a lot of literature and I got a lot of practice reading stuff from Science, Nature and similar journals. Try different techniques and see which suits you best.

 

[J ROD]

I read the passage and then I answer the questions and refer back to the passage on questions that ask about particular lines. I found underlining and other techniques take up too much time. I remember where things are in the passage and I am good at getting main ideas. I usually can get the answer right away or I might have a question between two. There is usually one that sounds right and one that is right and only careful reading comprehension separates those. Once you can separate those. You can get 12 or higher.

Personally, I think getting through all the passages is most important. So, I usually speed through at a nice pace to make sure I finish. I think I have a better shot missing the few hard ones I might not know than getting those right but wildly guessing on a whole passage at the end.

So far, it has worked for me. I do not consider myself a great comprehender of reading, but it has got me to a consistent 10/11. But, I did have a job where I had to read transcripts for mistakes and I have noticed that my reading for detail has increased from my previous experiences on tests.

 

[voirlesetoiles]

I've tried underlining, circling key words, scribbling down main ideas in the margins... none of this works for me. It just distracts me. I read the passage longer and comprehend less.

I read straight through the passage and mentally look for the main ideas as I'm reading. I don't preview the questions, but I do refer back to the passage often while answering the questions. The most important thing I do is make myself interested in whatever it is I am reading. Some passages are just dull or I have no prior knowledge whatsoever on the subject, so making myself like the passage so I can get it over with has been the best "technique" I use.

 

[smuwillobrien]

Read the material as quickly as you can, while simultaneously paying attention. If you can do this then the rest falls in place. Come test day, however, you might find your strategies going out the door - mine did - and I went into reckless abandon mode. ;]

 

[smuwillobrien]

I've tried underlining, circling key words, scribbling down main ideas in the margins... none of this works for me. It just distracts me. I read the passage longer and comprehend less.

I read straight through the passage and mentally look for the main ideas as I'm reading. I don't preview the questions, but I do refer back to the passage often while answering the questions. The most important thing I do is make myself interested in whatever it is I am reading. Some passages are just dull or I have no prior knowledge whatsoever on the subject, so making myself like the passage so I can get it over with has been the best "technique" I use.

I agree with this guy completely - perfect advice.

 

[CardiacIntensivist]

Gah, I suck at verbal and have no idea how I got what I did. I tried using keywords butn that becomes a problem when every word I thought was a keyword, wasn't and areas in the passage that sounded like detail to me, wasn't. Ultimately I used my own method of read through the passage, try to get a good grasp of each paragraph and fly through the questions.

 

[midn]

I'm getting very frustrated with Verbal. I read EK's VR book and felt pretty confident after what they said. I was amazed by the amount of information I got from just reading the questions and not even referring to the passages. When I take the actual tests, I'm consistently missing over half the questions. I have no problem with timing as I keep on ending up with about 4 minutes before time is called (on the 30 min lecture). I thought maybe I was going too fast so I forced myself to slow down. It didn't help because I just went as fast on all the beginning passages and slowed down a lot on the last since I knew I had a lot of time left.

I find this whole "main idea" thing to be important but I'm obviously failing in understanding it. I try to question myself as I read the passage but I find that too distracting. Same thing goes for trying to visualize the author.

I am thinking that maybe I should read the passages at my normal speed and then stop and try to recall what the author was trying to say by skimming the passage over again. I really tried to restrict myself from re-reading since EK said that was bad, but I think it's hurting me more than doing any benefit.

Anyone in the same boat? Suggestions?

 

[tp709]

from my MCAT experience,
read passage thoroughly first (approx 2-4 minutes), then answer questions.
that way you won't have to keep referring back to the passage, and ends up saving time, and greatly improves accuracy.

you have to adapt to being able to focus on reading a number of passages under pressure, though, that's the only downfall. If you start space out, its all downhill from there.

On the august MCAT, I used this technique - I was really nervous and freaked during the exam and wasn't able to get to two ENTIRE passages. Despite this, I still ended up getting a 9, because my accuracy was good. So, I recommend using my strategy, but learning not to snap under pressure.

 

[shantster]

For me, I felt that the most effective way for me to improve my verbal score was to review the tests after taking them as explained by EK in their book. It helped me improve from consistent 8/9s to a 12 on the actual thing, which was really a shock to me.

While taking the test, I read through the passage thoroughly first, underlining it as I read. I did this since I always highlight while reading for classes and if I don't, I've noticed I don't focus as much. While reading, I tried to summarize what I read in my read to form the main idea and then modify it as I went through. Then I'd answer the questions based on what I had mentally used as the main idea.

Hope that helps.

 

[shantster]

I'm getting very frustrated with Verbal. I read EK's VR book and felt pretty confident after what they said. I was amazed by the amount of information I got from just reading the questions and not even referring to the passages. When I take the actual tests, I'm consistently missing over half the questions. I have no problem with timing as I keep on ending up with about 4 minutes before time is called (on the 30 min lecture). I thought maybe I was going too fast so I forced myself to slow down. It didn't help because I just went as fast on all the beginning passages and slowed down a lot on the last since I knew I had a lot of time left.

I find this whole "main idea" thing to be important but I'm obviously failing in understanding it. I try to question myself as I read the passage but I find that too distracting. Same thing goes for trying to visualize the author.

I am thinking that maybe I should read the passages at my normal speed and then stop and try to recall what the author was trying to say by skimming the passage over again. I really tried to restrict myself from re-reading since EK said that was bad, but I think it's hurting me more than doing any benefit.

Anyone in the same boat? Suggestions?

Have you been reviewing the tests as they say to in the book? I had felt the same way as you did about a month and a half before the test and I started to review tests as they explained. It helped me be able to understand the main idea a lot better on the real thing.

 

[midn]

Have you been reviewing the tests as they say to in the book? I had felt the same way as you did about a month and a half before the test and I started to review tests as they explained. It helped me be able to understand the main idea a lot better on the real thing.

Yes and no. I only started verbal about two days ago. Since I have absolutely nothing to do, I keep on doing my MCAT stuff so I flew through the VR book. EK suggested to wait a few days before reviewing so I've only reviewed about two lecture exams. I've decided to slow down and wait at least two days in between before attempting more passages. I plan to review on my off-days.

Thanks for the advice.

 

[as1024]

I m also using EK method for verbal, but I realize alot of the questions deal with details(sometimes 50%). How do you guys tackle these type of questions? do you guys use the go back method?

 

[JadedSurgeon]

I wanted to know what you're verbal technique was and how effective you found it to be.

Generally I sit next to her while playing soft music and whisper these words in a deep, husky voice "Have you ever ." OMG wrong forum, so sorry.

 

[shantster]

Yes and no. I only started verbal about two days ago. Since I have absolutely nothing to do, I keep on doing my MCAT stuff so I flew through the VR book. EK suggested to wait a few days before reviewing so I've only reviewed about two lecture exams. I've decided to slow down and wait at least two days in between before attempting more passages. I plan to review on my off-days.

Thanks for the advice.

I generally set it up to do a practice full-length each week and then waited two days before reviewing the question stems and then two days after that before reviewing the main idea. The other days are good for just content review on the sciences so that you don't stress yourself out too much with verbal. I also found it helpful to take my time each time I reviewed the tests so that I would gain as much information as I could from the passage and begin to pick up patterns in the structure/writing styles to help me develop the main idea more quickly.

 

[midn]

I generally set it up to do a practice full-length each week and then waited two days before reviewing the question stems and then two days after that before reviewing the main idea. The other days are good for just content review on the sciences so that you don't stress yourself out too much with verbal. I also found it helpful to take my time each time I reviewed the tests so that I would gain as much information as I could from the passage and begin to pick up patterns in the structure/writing styles to help me develop the main idea more quickly.

When you wait two days to review the question stems, do you also put off grading the test also? Just so you don't bias yourself towards an answer?

 

[shantster]

When you wait two days to review the question stems, do you also put off grading the test also? Just so you don't bias yourself towards an answer?

I always graded it right after I took it and marked the correct answer on the test booklet itself. I liked to be able to look at the correct answer to be able to pick up on patterns in what the correct answer choices are as opposed to the wrong answer choices. After a while, you should be able to get a sense of whether an answer choice is more likely to be correct based on the way it is worded.

I just realized that I should have mentioned above that if I found that I was going into a time crunch before the test where I wouldn't have enough time to review all my verbal stuff, I made sure that I prioritized reviewing the AAMC tests over the EK tests since that's the writing style that you'll see on the actual test.

Hope that helps.