Verbal Reasoning

[pumpkin]

Hi there,

 

I'm not sure what to do in my situation. I've taken the MCAT last year and got PS11, BS11, Writing R, and verbal 6! So all I've been working on is verbal! I avoided taking english courses in university (got a transfer credit) and I've only taken science courses. I've done the whole examkrakers 101 verbal passages. I've noticed that I tend to do better on passages on a topic that I can relate to. I think my major problem is initially reading the passage...sometimes, I read that passage and feel like I have no idea what I just read. It's really frustrating for me because I really want to go to med school in ontario (or even just in canada) but this verbal thing is limiting me so much. I don't know how to help myself. Does anyone know how I can improve verbal?

[filter105]

I wish I could help you, but I have the same problem.

but what I can tell you is that EK strategy works way better... wwwwwaaaayyy better than tpr.

 

Ya, seems to be the common problem, there are many psages where I read even several times, I've no clue!

 

Well, good luck to both of us!

[anastomosis]

Try reading a broad range of articles. Some good practice reading material can be found in The Economist and the New Yorker magazines. After having read the article, ask yourself what is the main point? What's the author trying to tell us/what's the author's point of view?

 

Raising VR scores is not a fast process. May take you several weeks to improve, so hang in there.

 

Don't be afraid to use the Search function on premed101 and SDN forums for VR tips.

 

Good luck

[terryann]

Maybe, start reading articles in magazines ie. Economist etc...especially on subjects that do not interest you, read them slowly until you understand it. You can also get books on speed reading, or effective reading. Try also, the LSAT books. I think, it has to do alot with practice.

[AndreaM]

Read all the time. Read a wide variety of topics. Read things you aren't interested in.

[Femto]

I agree with all of the above.

 

I have yet to write the MCAT, but will be in just over two months, so I can only relate to you from my practice tests.

 

My first couple of practice tests were poor (like 5-7), but then I realized all of the awful bad habits I have developed while reading countless texbooks over the years (also a science student), and so I turned my attention to how I am actually reading.

 

I have realized that speed reading techniques are very important, for two main reasons. First, if it takes you less time to read the passage, you can recall more information from it when answering the questions, because, as we all know, the capacity of your short term memory drops exponentially as time passes. So, if it is taking you 4-5min to read a passage, you may only be able to effectively recall the last half or so of the passage by the time you get to the questions. Second, the faster you read, the more you will comprehend. If you can get the jist of a paragraph in just a few seconds, it will be much easier to put that into context with the previous paragraphs, which you just read 5 or 10 seconds previously.

 

Two key points on speed reading: don't attempt to read in the way that you may be used to (or at least the way I was used to). Instead, treat the words as pictures, up to eight or so words per picture after some practice. You will then be able to just quickly look at almost half of a line and understand its meaning in less than a second (Your eyes move from point to point naturally, not in a gradual smooth motion, which is why you should look at groups of words at a time, and not read in a smooth way from one word to the next. To proove this to you, try and follow an imaginary circle drawn on the wall, and just notice how your eyes move.). The next important thing about speed reading is to not vocalize the words, not even in your head. You don't need to hear the sound to understand the meaning.

 

Anyway, these are just some of the techniques that I have implemented in the past month or so. Since then, my VR score has gone from 5-7 to an 11 on my most recent one, and I can obviously still see lots of areas for improvement.

 

Femto

[spoudaios]

Does this work? I only got 7 in VR which is bad but I am a 2nd language in English.

 

I tried speed reading before. It helped a bit but without strong vocabs, i think it is rather useless since you won't understand what you just read.

 

Then, what to do? You re-read them.

[pumpkin]

Thanks for all the advice guys!

I still don't get why being able to quickly read and understand an article totally unrelated to medicine is critical to be a doctor. It's especially unfair for someone with English as a second language. English was the second language I learned and because we still speak my first language at home, I am equally fluent in both but master of none...

sighhhhh

[Alchemist_Happiness]

Thanks for all the advice guys!

I still don't get why being able to quickly read and understand an article totally unrelated to medicine is critical to be a doctor. It's especially unfair for someone with English as a second language. English was the second language I learned and because we still speak my first language at home, I am equally fluent in both but master of none...

sighhhhh

 

Yeah, it happens to a lot of us immigrants-we are not masters of our own destinies, or languages, as the case may be. But I think that your VR score can definitely go up. I'm not 100% sure it's all about speed reading-I think it's more about trying to identify what's important about the passage.

 

I know Kaplan is expensive, but I liked their method for approaching VR. It helped a lot to have a specific strategy for dealing with the passages. Maybe that might be an option?

[Apixaban85]

I agree with all of the above.

 

I have yet to write the MCAT, but will be in just over two months, so I can only relate to you from my practice tests.

 

My first couple of practice tests were poor (like 5-7), but then I realized all of the awful bad habits I have developed while reading countless texbooks over the years (also a science student), and so I turned my attention to how I am actually reading.

 

I have realized that speed reading techniques are very important, for two main reasons. First, if it takes you less time to read the passage, you can recall more information from it when answering the questions, because, as we all know, the capacity of your short term memory drops exponentially as time passes. So, if it is taking you 4-5min to read a passage, you may only be able to effectively recall the last half or so of the passage by the time you get to the questions. Second, the faster you read, the more you will comprehend. If you can get the jist of a paragraph in just a few seconds, it will be much easier to put that into context with the previous paragraphs, which you just read 5 or 10 seconds previously.

 

Two key points on speed reading: don't attempt to read in the way that you may be used to (or at least the way I was used to). Instead, treat the words as pictures, up to eight or so words per picture after some practice. You will then be able to just quickly look at almost half of a line and understand its meaning in less than a second (Your eyes move from point to point naturally, not in a gradual smooth motion, which is why you should look at groups of words at a time, and not read in a smooth way from one word to the next. To proove this to you, try and follow an imaginary circle drawn on the wall, and just notice how your eyes move.). The next important thing about speed reading is to not vocalize the words, not even in your head. You don't need to hear the sound to understand the meaning.

 

Anyway, these are just some of the techniques that I have implemented in the past month or so. Since then, my VR score has gone from 5-7 to an 11 on my most recent one, and I can obviously still see lots of areas for improvement.

 

Femto

 

Haha, how do you manage to do this?

[Femto]

Yeah, it happens to a lot of us immigrants-we are not masters of our own destinies, or languages, as the case may be. But I think that your VR score can definitely go up. I'm not 100% sure it's all about speed reading-I think it's more about trying to identify what's important about the passage.

I know Kaplan is expensive, but I liked their method for approaching VR. It helped a lot to have a specific strategy for dealing with the passages. Maybe that might be an option?

 

Absolutely. The whole point of VR seems to be to test one's ability to extract the main points of an article and to further apply that to any inference based questions. But, how do you "identify what's important about the passage"? For me, it is reading effectively (not sure how else you can do it), which I have come to believe involves a lot of focussed speed reading (albeit, knowing when to slow down to ensure that you have understood a more complex concept is vital).

 

I only think speed reading is important because if you finish the passage in a short amount of time, your short term memory is still able to recall the entire passage by the time you are trying to answer the questions, not because people tend to be pressed for time. Not being pressed for time is just an added bonus to being able to read and recall quickly.

[Femto]

Haha, how do you manage to do this?

 

lol. I know it seems funny. Probably the hardest thing for me to do.

 

Everytime I hear the stupid voice in my head when I am reading something, I just tell myself to shut up...lol. Or, you could try humming/singing while you read, that way it would be impossible to internally vocalize (at least I would assume it would be impossible:))

[sgt.pepper]

I think speed reading should not really be used if I understand correctly from what your saying.(If you follow what they teach you about looking at whole sentences etc). it usally takes me about 2.5 min to get through a passage but I understand the passage for the most part and I can answer the questions without going back most times. I can't believe that someone that is not extremely gifted (i mean genius reading ability not gifted med applicant) can read the passage faster than 2min and get >11or 12. The way I think about is, if i read the passage out loud, recorded it on an mp3 and replayed at 2 or 3Xthe speed which would be 500-700wpm I wouldn't understand a single thing so why would reading 500wpm increase my comprehension or score.

[Femto]

I think speed reading should not really be used if I understand correctly from what your saying.(If you follow what they teach you about looking at whole sentences etc). it usally takes me about 2.5 min to get through a passage but I understand the passage for the most part and I can answer the questions without going back most times. I can't believe that someone that is not extremely gifted (i mean genius reading ability not gifted med applicant) can read the passage faster than 2min and get >11or 12. The way I think about is, if i read the passage out loud, recorded it on an mp3 and replayed at 2 or 3Xthe speed which would be 500-700wpm I wouldn't understand a single thing so why would reading 500wpm increase my comprehension or score.

 

If what you say above in bold is correct, then you are probably reading fast enough, and reading any faster would not be any more efficient. Obviously there is an optimal speed to read these passages, perhaps we both just started at different speeds and so we are each focussing on different things (I am focussing on speeding up so I can take advantage of all the things I have already said).

 

Also, I think you have missed the point a little bit wrt speed reading. There is absolutely no similarity with "speed talking" or "speed reading out-loud". Clearly by reading outloud at 300-500 w/min (An appropriate speed for VR...I think) you will not understand a thing. That is why when you speed read, you should not vocalize the words, even in your head.

 

In most VR passages, there is really only a few main points, and the rest is either support, which doesn't require much focus on comprehension, or pretty insignificant information that you should have enough experience to know that it is very unlikely that a question will come from there anyway. I find it easier to relate each main point to a single overriding concept (main theme) if they all come at me within a minute or so, otherwise I will forget the true significance of each main point and how they relate to each other by the time I need to answer the questions.

 

I am sure you are already aware of this, but I am just learning how to do VR. I am simply just explaining what I have found to work for me, and in the process actually think more about my strategy to understand it better myself . I think the more we discuss it the better we will learn how to improve.

[sgt.pepper]

If what you say above in bold is correct, then you are probably reading fast enough, and reading any faster would not be any more efficient. Obviously there is an optimal speed to read these passages, perhaps we both just started at different speeds and so we are each focussing on different things (I am focussing on speeding up so I can take advantage of all the things I have already said).

 

Also, I think you have missed the point a little bit wrt speed reading. There is absolutely no similarity with "speed talking" or "speed reading out-loud". Clearly by reading outloud at 300-500 w/min (An appropriate speed for VR...I think) you will not understand a thing. That is why when you speed read, you should not vocalize the words, even in your head.

 

In most VR passages, there is really only a few main points, and the rest is either support, which doesn't require much focus on comprehension, or pretty insignificant information that you should have enough experience to know that it is very unlikely that a question will come from there anyway. I find it easier to relate each main point to a single overriding concept (main theme) if they all come at me within a minute or so, otherwise I will forget the true significance of each main point and how they relate to each other by the time I need to answer the questions.

 

I am sure you are already aware of this, but I am just learning how to do VR. I am simply just explaining what I have found to work for me, and in the process actually think more about my strategy to understand it better myself . I think the more we discuss it the better we will learn how to improve.

My point is that the speed reader authors say that you should read groups of words b/c like having a conversation people don't talk like "today....I... went....to...the ...park" or else we won't comprehend what they are saying. But my point is that if a person was talking to you at >3x the speed of normal conversation (which is the equivalent to what speed reading is for reading) you would not comprehend what they are saying. So if i can't comprehend a person talking at 3X the speed why would i comprehend reading at 600wpm.

 

If you are reading 250-350wpm that is the fastest you can read without losing comprehension. If you are reading slower than that, then i do agree with you and you have to read faster because you are probably reading every word/syllable.

[Maher]

My advise to all of you. Strategy has nothing to do with it. All you need to do is practice, practice, practice, practice and eventually you will get to where you want to be. Purchase both editions of the examkrackers verbal resaoning works books and work through every single test. Also get your hands onto some princeton and kaplan verbal workbooks just for the sake of practicing. And then of course, these is the mock MCATs all of us should do. When you do your practice tests focus! The VR section is all about maintaining your focus. You don't have to speed read or any of that, the most important part of the passage is the passage! Read it to understand it.

Good luck!