premed11 Posted May 10, 2007 Report Share Posted May 10, 2007 Hey guys, I just had a few questions regarding the MCAT. Here goes: 1.) I use E-mcat.com for the online practice MCATS but they are $35 each. I want to do all of them so is there any other way of buying them for cheaper? 2.) Is there any other practice MCATs that I can buy? 3.) I am horrible in verbal reasoning. I haven't really started studying yet but have started reading economist/atlantic now. I will be buying the EK 101 VR thingy. This will give me practice along with the AAMC tests ill be writing. Do you guys recommend any other sources for practicing VR passages? I am thinking im gonna need a lot of practice (got a 4! on AAMC 3R and thats supposed to be the easy one!!! :( ) 4.) I'm also getting the Kaplan comprehensive 2005/2006 book. I will also be getting the NOVA physics book for help in physics. I heard the EK 1001 questions in Bio is good. Can i get more feedback on this book and do you guys suggest the 1001 questions in chem and physics as well??? Thx alot:) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rock* Posted May 10, 2007 Report Share Posted May 10, 2007 VR is all strategy. Don't think you can improve just by practicing a lot--it's a mistake many people make and that's why their scores never improve past "the wall". You have to constantly test new strategies to figure out which ones work for you and analyze how your score improves with each new technique you master. I would try to get the VR strategies for Kaplan, EK, and Princeton and master all 3 to see which works best, and then fine tune your technique by picking and choosing specific tricks from among the 3. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avenir001 Posted May 11, 2007 Report Share Posted May 11, 2007 Hey guys, I just had a few questions regarding the MCAT. Here goes: 1.) I use E-mcat.com for the online practice MCATS but they are $35 each. I want to do all of them so is there any other way of buying them for cheaper? 2.) Is there any other practice MCATs that I can buy? 3.) I am horrible in verbal reasoning. I haven't really started studying yet but have started reading economist/atlantic now. I will be buying the EK 101 VR thingy. This will give me practice along with the AAMC tests ill be writing. Do you guys recommend any other sources for practicing VR passages? I am thinking im gonna need a lot of practice (got a 4! on AAMC 3R and thats supposed to be the easy one!!! :( ) 4.) I'm also getting the Kaplan comprehensive 2005/2006 book. I will also be getting the NOVA physics book for help in physics. I heard the EK 1001 questions in Bio is good. Can i get more feedback on this book and do you guys suggest the 1001 questions in chem and physics as well??? Thx alot:) Hey, you can leave your email address or pm me about #1 & 2. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Law Posted May 11, 2007 Report Share Posted May 11, 2007 avenir, such a saint Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
haiku_guy Posted May 11, 2007 Report Share Posted May 11, 2007 VR is all strategy. Don't think you can improve just by practicing a lot--it's a mistake many people make and that's why their scores never improve past "the wall". You have to constantly test new strategies to figure out which ones work for you and analyze how your score improves with each new technique you master. I would try to get the VR strategies for Kaplan, EK, and Princeton and master all 3 to see which works best, and then fine tune your technique by picking and choosing specific tricks from among the 3. I agree. You need to read critically. This means you should be thinking about what each sentence is saying, and how it relates to the overall topic of the passage. Think about each part of the passage and why the author included the information you just read. Is it simply facts to support premises of an argument? Is it a conclusion, and if so, what premises support that conclusion? Is it a counter-point that the author intends to discuss and ultimately refute or include in their final overall conclusion? The important thing is WHY the information is there A good way to start is to underline key words such as: therefore, however, contrary to...and so on...these will help you to identify parts of the passage that are important to the argument the author is making. Also, make notes in the margin about each paragraph. Only one or two words or some symbols to remind you what is in that paragraph, and will force you to concentrate on the main points instead of the details of the paragraph. There is also a bonus in doing this, if you are asked a detail question, you will be able to quickly identify the section of text which contains the information you need to refer to. Lastly, there are only a few types of questions that are asked on the MCAT. Learning what types of questions will be asked, and how to identify them allows you to quickly decide what information will be needed to answer the question correctly. There are lots of specific stratagies for critical reading that you will encounter in the books, I have tried to list the ones that I think are key, and to put them into general terms. When you practice, doing these things will probably slow you down at first. This is a good thing, it means you are training yourself to do them even if you run out of time. Eventually, as you use the stratagies you will find which ones work best for you and you will speed up. Cheers! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avenir001 Posted May 11, 2007 Report Share Posted May 11, 2007 Law, jealous as usual Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.