Verbal Reasoning in MCAT: Please Help!!!

[Guest ps]

I had been taking the practice MCATs in prepartion for the upcoming MCAT. I scored 48/65 on the Practice test I but faired worse in practice test III - got 38/65. I usually skip one difficult passage out of the nine. I have gone through a number of commercial exams already - such as the ones by Gold Standard, Columbia, TPR, Kaplan, GMAT passages, AAMC's VR practice item book, and about 12 LSAT exams over the past 2 months. Most of my mistakes are careless. I have written the MCAT twice already and both times I got 5/15 in VR; I need an 8 in this section to get into the school of my choice. I still haven't written Practice Tests II, IV, or V.

 

I have been doing well in other sections - 12 to 14 (out of 15). Should I take the August MCAT or keep practicing with the commercial books and take the princeton review/Kaplan course and try to write the April exam. Please help.

[Guest MEDCOMPSCI]

Wow, you have only been able to manage a 5 in VR. Is english your first language? I think your problem seems to be the fact that you are having problems finishing the reading in the allotted time. I would think that missing an entire passage would make if difficult to crack a 9 or a 10 in VR. Maybe you need to work on reading (ie - magainzes, etc.) instead of spending time on practice exams where you skip passages.

 

As for writing the MCAT, well you paid for it so you might as well sit and give it a go.

[Guest Katie]

The first time I took the Kaplan Diagnostic I got a *5* in verbal reasoning. (And yes, English is my first language.) But now my score has totally gone up due to LOTS of practice. I see you've listed tons of practice books here, but you seem to have missed the most important ones! I've heard endless time that the AAMC exams most accurately represent the real MCAT and that AAMC I/II are really outdated. You need to get your hands on III/IV/V man!

 

Too bad the MCAT's so close, but I think you can buy those tests online on the AAMC website. Since you're doing so welll in the other sections, you can devote all your studying time to VR. More practice and analysis of why you choose the wrong answers should help!

[Guest Akane200]

Well, all those review books have pretty easy VR sections. They aren't representative of MCAT at all (I know, I tried to use a few of them... just a waste of money). What I did was just use the AAMC practice tests. Then, when you run out of material, go read news papers and other literature just for comprehension and speed. Don't use anymore review books because it looks like you already have. I went to pick up books in law, articles in psychology, and philosophy articles to prep. They helped a lot in areas of that I seldomly had exposure to.

[Guest Kirsteen]

Hi ps,

 

I was a fair way through a long posting of suggestions picked from my experience with a couple of prep courses when my building experienced a power cut. Kaboom, the post went out with the electricity. In any case, do commit to writing the MCAT this time around. You never know how you may do, and there is always April. In hopes to avoid an April writing though, here's a rundown of some pointers garnered from those courses of some things that have worked...

 

First off all, and this sounds hokey, try to relax. How do you feel when you're tackling your PS and BS sections? Probably a lot more at ease than you do when you're starting in on the VR section? When you're more relaxed the neuronal impulses seem to flow all the more and subtleties become a little louder and more obvious. As such, it's very important when completing the VR section (the section of subleties) to clear your mind of all other thoughts that do not help you achieve the VR tasks. That is, if it doesn't help you read more competently nor answer the questions more efficiently, then don't waste your energies there. While tackling the section banish all thoughts that you must do well on the VR, and that you've only got 85 minutes to complete it, and that you've got a difficult passage in front of you, and that you just can't get another 5 out of 15, and try get back to focusing only on the active reading and responding. After all, the active reading and responding are the only activities that are going to take you successfully through to the end of the section.

 

On timing, try not to check your timing device during the completion of a passage. If you can, wait until the passage is done and check the time before starting the next. At that moment you can judge whether you should be reading the next passage a little more quickly or not. Obviously though, if you feel that you're taking an inordinate amount of time on one passage, you may want to acknowledge that and simply move on to another passage that you may find more comfortable to deal with. Don't feel that you have to be stuck on one passage.

 

Another strategy you may wish to try is to perform a little passage arbitrage. You can do this all at once, before tackling any passages, or on a passage-by-passage basis. Basically here you would read the first few lines of the passage, check the length of the passage, check the number and length of the questions and decide from those pieces of data whether you would prefer to do this passage at that time, or leave it until later. This may help to give you a better idea of what's ahead of you in the section and help to cut down on the fear and anxiety associated with the unknown.

 

Regarding reading, try to read the passage for structure and comprehension. That is, don't worry too much about the minutiae during your first read. Sure, you may wish to underline key words, dates, etc., but most importantly, make sure that, as you move from paragraph to paragraph, you have a good understanding of the purpose of that paragraph and where you can return to find specific nuggets of information when you finally get to the questions. By the end of the passage you should be able to form a mental thread as to the purpose of the passage and its main ideas. Ideally, if you can take 4 minutes to do this then you will have 4.5-5 minutes left to tackle the questions. If the passage is clear in your mind by the time you reach the questions, you may find that you can answer 2-3 questions fairly confidently, or at least, cross out a few more answer choices to lead you to the correct answer. For all the other questions where the correct answer is not immediately and glaringly obvious, don't rely on your memory. The MCAT writers have a field day coming up with alluring answer choices. Use your 4.5-5 minutes to go back to the passage and find the proof to make the right answer choices.

 

If you decide to revise any of your current strategies, instead of trying it over a whole, 9-passage VR secton, why don't you try it over smaller sets of passages--say 2 or 2-3 at a time. This may help you hone your skills without committing you to the full 85, draining minutes, which would result in only one opportunity for VR skills analysis. By tackling 2-3 passages at a time you can alter the way you approach each small section, try another small section, assess and alter it again. This should help you more easily and quickly fine-tune what worked in those smaller chunks and more often than you would be able to do in one, nine-passage attack.

 

A last thing, when marking your passages, it's important to identify why you chose the answers that you did--both the correct and incorrect ones. Try to seek out those questions that continue to trap you, and also, make note of what you did to choose the correct answer, say, between the final two out of the four that were left after your process of elimination. Reinforce the good things that you're doing and take steps to change the not-so-good choices that you're making.

 

On the practice exams themselves, the previous posts are right on the money regarding past AAMC tests. IV and V are the ones to practice from to give yourself a more accurate idea of what you may be up against.

 

Hopefully any one of the above will get you on your way above that five, but if there are any finer points that I can try to fill in for you, zip a note over. Otherwise, best of luck.

 

Kirsteen

[Guest Ian Wong]

I wish I could give more advice than the good stuff that's already been given above.

 

I think most of the other posters hit upon the fact that the most representative practice exams will be the ones that the AAMC releases. At this point in the game, it's too late for them (unless you have a friend whose got them already), so it's best not to worry about it.

 

You've mentioned that most of your mistakes are careless ones. Are you finding that you run out of time, and that it's the hurrying that causes you to make mistakes? Or is it just that you are making the mistakes by mis-reading the passages/questions? Or is there another reason that you can pin-point as to why the errors are occurring?

 

At this stage in the game, I think building your confidence is the most important step. I think that if you can figure out a consistent plan to attack the VR section, that will help eliminate the jitters (it's never easy to write an exam when you know your back is to the wall), and allow you to focus on the problem at hand, which should help eliminate the casual mistakes.

 

Ian

UBC, Med 3

[Guest ps]

I want to thank all of you for the numerous suggestions you have provided. By the way, I do have AAMC I-V. My problems in VR is an unhealthy mix various issues:

 

1. Yes, I think I am a slow reader - When I try to reader faster, I lose track of the argument and then find it impossible to find the correct answer. So Ian, I do run out of time. More recently, I am having trouble finishing even 8 passages. In AAMC I, I faired OK as I got 48/65 but with the later exams subtlties have gotten even more unforgiving.

 

2. I annotate the passage so that I can find out where the details are if and when I need to come back. I know this takes some time but I feel this is the way I can have an active frame of mind and remember where the details are.

 

3. I do get nervous and try to hurry, especially through the last two (in my case the 7th and 8th) passages. In so doing make many careless mistakes which essentially come from not having enough time to go back to the passage and confirm my answers. For instance, in AAMC III, I hurried through the last two passages and got only 4/14. When I re-did them by giving my self extra 5 minutes I got 12/14. I feel it is these 6-8 questions that are going to put me over the top in getting an 8 or 9/15.

God, it is frustrating.

 

4. I haven't done humanities courses for many years now. I am a total hardcore science guy. I am doing graduate work in the area of theoretical physics with potential applications to medical technology. So, most of the journals and aricles I read are technical - none which obviously help me in the VR.

 

I am making every attempt to read the passages a little faster so that I can shave off at least a minute, so that when I get to the end I can finish the last passages without having to rush through the answers. Do you all fill in the scantron as you are going along or do you fill it when 5 minutes is called? I don't know if it makes any difference, but I just I'd ask anyways.

 

Once again, I really appreciate all your suggestions. Thanks you all.

[Guest Kirsteen]

Hi again ps,

 

About a month ago, I ran into similar troubles as you. I was taking far too long to read the passage and getting an inadequate grasp of the material in order to most accurately answer the questions in the time that I had allotted to that passage.

 

What I resolved to do was cut down a little on the annotating and practise reading faster. Therefore, in practice passages I began timing myself rigorously and unforgivably: I noted the start time, the time when I had finished reading the passage, and the time left for the questions. Partially by doing this in sections of two passages at a time, I managed to whittle my time down to 3-4 minutes for the reading per passage. Now, although I had managed to get the reading down more quickly, I had also found that some of my comprehension had slipped. I took a day or so off from it then went back and made sure that I still read at the same, quick pace, but also made sure that I did not move on to the next paragraph within a passage until I fully understood the last. I can't stress this last point enough. Since then my scores have improved dramatically (per performances on AAMC IV and some Princeton Review full VR sections).

 

Some key points: to reiterate I've found that this last point is key. That is, try to understand what's going on the first time you read the paragraph, before you move on to the next. If you don't get what the author's saying in the first reading of that paragraph then go back and read it again until you do (within reason). If you don't understand it and move on to read the next, it works against you in that your confidence in that passage can fall; your stress level can increase; and chances are, if you didn't understand the previous paragraph, then the subsequent paragraphs are going to feel more murky.

 

On the other hand, if you do try this approach, then it helps to achieve a few things: 1) it gives you a clearer understanding of what the passage is about which may help build your confidence and relieve a little bit of stress when you hit the questions; 2) it will definitely help you pinpoint the wrong answer choices and the right answer choices more efficiently and perhaps, with less effort; 3) it will reduce your need to go back and reread paragraphs for comprehension instead of details. Also, with respect to this approach, I've learned over the past number of weeks that when I'm reading in this way, although it feels like I'm spending 6-7 minutes on the reading alone, when I actually look at the timer at the end of reading the passage, in almost every case, I'm shocked to find that I've managed to read AND understand the passage in 4 minutes, or if it's a particularly convoluted passage, 5 or so. It's pleasantly surprising.

 

On "bubbling in" the approach I've adopted is to fill in the bubbles after completing each passage. That is, I'll circle my answers in the answer booklet as I'm going through the one passage, then once all the questions for that passage have been answered, before moving on to the next, I bubble them in on the scantron. The exception to this is, if during the last five minutes I find myself rushed during the last passage, I'll bubble them in one at a time, i.e., as I'm answering each question. You may want to give this a go if you want to avoid the invigilator screaming at you to put your pencil down and irreversibly close your book when you still have 4-6 good answers to fill in on your sheet.

 

Keep your chin up, be diligent and keep practicing,

Kirsteen

[Guest zebra]

Hi ps

 

You mentioned that you read a lot of technical papers being a physics major. To me, in a scientific type of reading, there are lots of concepts and details, but they are all stated in clear and precise manner. So the mindset is to figure them out and put them into proper places in the mind. These are the types of passages we get in physical and biological sections.

 

 

However, that's not really what MCAT Verbals are like, especially in the social science and humanities passages.

To me, those passages typically have very few ideas, but a lot of elaborations and examples to show the subtleties of those very few important concepts. My expererience is that, if you get the important concepts, you'll probably get all the questions right. If you don't, chances are you'll get most of them wrong. So it's a different psychology then when reading passages in verbal, and I don't know how to put that into words precisely. But I think if you go read some philosophy (where they love to go into subtleties of simple ideas), then you'll know what I mean.

 

 

I recommend checking out works by Hume, Kant, and Locke.... to me they talk about some of the most abstract ideas.