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Specific Strategies to Try to Boost Verbal Scores

The Law

By The Law
in MCAT Preparation

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The Law Newbie

The Law

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Hey Everyone,

 

I think it might be useful for all of us to share ways to get those extra 2-3 questions right in this section. I feel that I've hit a stalemate in this section. I almost always get the same score ~9/10 using the examkrackers verbal passages. With the AAMCs, I tend to do a bit better, but I think that if we all shared strategies, maybe we can find ways to get an extra 1 or 2 questions right.

 

Here are some things I do for verbal:

 

1. Do my best to do each passage in 8 minutes. If a passage is harder/more questions and I need more time, I cautiously will use more time... but if need be, I will just GUESS on questions and move to the next passage and try my hardest to come back to these later. The first time I wrote the MCAT, I did this with a couple questions, including one that asked "all of the following are true EXCEPT" - and the statements were long and hard to verify, so later I managed to come back and look it up and was really confident I got that right (happened to change my "guess answer" after going back). As everyone knows, 1 or 2 more questions right can be the difference between a 9 or 10... an interview or a rejection!

 

2. I started to quickly SKIM the questions to look for key words that I might need to look for later on in the passage. Nothing is more frustrating than getting a question like, "the author's use of the "____<insert word here>" and not being able to find the word!

 

3. Highlight names, interesting statements/concepts the author is teaching, and transition words. Do not highlight too much or you can't find anything later!

 

4. I write down on paper before I start writing the test, the time I expect to be remaining at each passage. This helps me keep track. Don't waste time doing mental math during verbal!

 

5. LEARN TO ADAPT when getting really difficult passages. Some days, you will do verbal and it'll breeze by. Other days, the test is not going so well and your timing is a bit off. I think it's crucial not to panic, maximize the points you can get, and adjust your timing so that you don't end up skipping an entire passage or something! The time problem can be minimized if you learn that sometimes, you gotta give up and not be SURE of your answer. Especially in this section!! Look at the big picture, 40 questions - every one of them is worth the same as the hardest ones!

 

6. Which of the following best WEAKEN or STRENGTHEN the author's statement, " _____". Put the statement in your own words. Then at each answer, check, does it or does it not WEAKEN/STRENGTHEN what I just said. These are pretty easy questions because they give you the statement a lot of the time, so you just have to understand that ONE sentence in order to get the answer right!

 

 

Anybody else have any SPECIFIC strategies? For example, ways they try to analyze specific types of questions... weaken/strengthen, things they do to get ready to write (such as write the times you expect to be at for each passage), etc.

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The Law Newbie

The Law

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I really really REALLY like your attitude =)

 

If you are in Toronto, we should study together sometimes :)

 

Haha, I would, but my schedule is completely unpredictable. As my sister said to me yesterday on facebook, "how is it that we live in the same house, yet I only get to see you like twice a week?!" My schedule is insanely busy! I finally finished my lab work for the day (who am I kidding, lab work NEVER ends, but I did enough to appease my boss when she checks up on me on Monday!), so now I'm in the Mount Sinai hospital studying. Fun times. Going to review some physics and do a practice PS section. Fingers are crossed.

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