EK Verbal Reasoning Strategy - Your Thoughts?

[roycer]

Is anyone else using EK's verbal reasoning strategy? I am learning it now and haven't tried it on any practice passages yet. If you are using it, what do you think of it? Has it improved your score so far? A lot of people on SDN like this method over Kaplan's, and so far I agree.

[bane]

Is anyone else using EK's verbal reasoning strategy? I am learning it now and haven't tried it on any practice passages yet. If you are using it, what do you think of it? Has it improved your score so far? A lot of people on SDN like this method over Kaplan's, and so far I agree.

 

hey roycer,

 

using EK VR over here. I like how its more practical. Kaplans mapping seemed to bog me down a lot. My scores arent great-- between 8-10 all the time. But I like their strategy, which you prolly have in the manual.

 

VR was going to be my weak point from the start, prolly PS strongest, like most people.

 

I'm going to be slaving away at VR even more, as soon as I'm done the EK manuals, which should be by the end of the month.

 

Oh-- but all my VR work has been with the old PBT from the EK101 Passages book.

[roycer]

hey roycer,

 

using EK VR over here. I like how its more practical. Kaplans mapping seemed to bog me down a lot. My scores arent great-- between 8-10 all the time. But I like their strategy, which you prolly have in the manual.

 

VR was going to be my weak point from the start, prolly PS strongest, like most people.

 

I'm going to be slaving away at VR even more, as soon as I'm done the EK manuals, which should be by the end of the month.

 

Oh-- but all my VR work has been with the old PBT from the EK101 Passages book.

 

When are you writing the MCAT bane? I've written the MCAT before I got a 7 on verbal. My main problem is not finishing on time. I actually have trouble finishing the PS and BS sections also, and yet have been able to pull off 10's each time. I just got to learn to GUESS and MOVE ON. Also, I like EK's advice in not "going back" to the passage unless I definitely know where the answer is, and after I can consistently finish the VR section on time. So what I plan to do is, do several VR practice sections until I can consistently finish a little early. From there, I will get a good sense on how long I can spend on a question or passage, and possibly "go back" more often. EK says with practice it will work, so I will try it.

 

Bane, have you been able to use EK's question stem and answer choice strategies yet?

[bane]

hey roycer,

 

sorry for the mega delay in my response-- "been busy" is my only excuse...

 

I'm writing August 14th (i think).

 

So, ya, I have been able to use their question stem/ answer choice strategy-- the hard part is, it takes practice to implement.

 

When I went through the EK VR Manual and did the exercise where you have just questions and no passage and you have to do a few questions (from multiple, undiscolsed passages), I got one wrong out of all of them. So it is useful. But when I went to take my first VR Practice test from the 101 Passages book, I completely forgot about it (and all the other strategies), so I got an 8. My VR score is the one that will need consistent imprvement, since I'm getting 8-10, and I think that I'd like to be scoring around 11-12's before I take it so that I can still drop to 10 and be ok. Its pretty optimistic, but we'll see how it goes.

 

When are you writing the MCAT bane? I've written the MCAT before I got a 7 on verbal. My main problem is not finishing on time. I actually have trouble finishing the PS and BS sections also, and yet have been able to pull off 10's each time. I just got to learn to GUESS and MOVE ON. Also, I like EK's advice in not "going back" to the passage unless I definitely know where the answer is, and after I can consistently finish the VR section on time. So what I plan to do is, do several VR practice sections until I can consistently finish a little early. From there, I will get a good sense on how long I can spend on a question or passage, and possibly "go back" more often. EK says with practice it will work, so I will try it.

 

Bane, have you been able to use EK's question stem and answer choice strategies yet?

[DiscoDoc]

Even if you don't follow their entire stragedy (as Bugs would say), the tips about sitting up straight, energy, and reading every word are very helpful for me.

[bane]

Even if you don't follow their entire stragedy (as Bugs would say), the tips about sitting up straight, energy, and reading every word are very helpful for me.

 

good one DiscoDoc. I forgot to mention those, but I try to do them when I practice ya.

[roycer]

Thanks bane. I'm currently reading through the section on question stems. When I begin to crack on those EK 101 VR passages, I'm going to avoid looking back at the passage as much as possible unless it's explicitly a detail question. This should help improve my timing.