I need to increase my verbal score

[Maher]

Hey guys, I got put on the low wait list this year and I have a feeling that my verbal score (8) may have contributed to that. I am looking to get my score up to at least 11 this time around. I understand that practice and reading a lot of random articles is the best way to score higher on this section, does any have any other helpful advise? Strangely enough...I have always done well on writing...

THanks!

[lippykissy]

Hey bud- with exam krackers verbal practice (can be purchased online) and a bit of luck I brought my verbal score up from 8 to an 11....

 

Hopefully it will work out this year though- windsor is looking pretty good right now isn't it?

[Guest postman]

I think verbal is more of a skill and will take some practice. I didn't do particularly well either (9) and I am on the regular waitlist. I am also considering rewriting the MCAT, and I think I'm going to focus on doing lots of verbal passages as well (from examkrackers 101 passages). A friend of mine scored a 13 on her exam (she even scored 15 once on an AAMC practice exam). The advice she gave me is to review the answers, especially the ones you got wrong, and try to get accustomed to the way MCAT designer's think when they create the questions.

 

With that being said, you and I could still make it this year! I am certainly not going to lose hope just yet.

[Jewels1986]

I think reading random articles would help a lot more if you also analyzed them - go through and find main themes, pick out key points from each paragraph, think about the subtleties, use of metaphors, etc. You could read an article or two from an English department on close reading and literary analysis - that'd actually probably help with all the MCAT sections, but especially verbal.

[Laura88]

The advice she gave me is to review the answers, especially the ones you got wrong, and try to get accustomed to the way MCAT designer's think when they create the questions.

 

That is sage advice!

 

I worked in Guelph's Learning Services advising students on study skills for 2 years, and one of the biggest messages I had for them was that you have to look at your wrong AND RIGHT answers and figure out WHAT you're doing wrong, otherwise you can't fix it, and you might be wasting your time. This is particularly true for the MCAT, because the questions have a consistent style and approach, and there's so much opportunity for practice tests.

 

I did a prep class and (maybe this advice is too low level..) our instructor really emphasized that you have to work on your speed and endurance with verbal passages. He had us start doing one at a time, then 2, up to whatever the full number are. And while it's good to practice untimed occasionally, it's really important be able to read and think quickly.

[hope]

That is sage advice!

 

I worked in Guelph's Learning Services advising students on study skills for 2 years, and one of the biggest messages I had for them was that you have to look at your wrong AND RIGHT answers and figure out WHAT you're doing wrong, otherwise you can't fix it, and you might be wasting your time. This is particularly true for the MCAT, because the questions have a consistent style and approach, and there's so much opportunity for practice tests.

 

I did a prep class and (maybe this advice is too low level..) our instructor really emphasized that you have to work on your speed and endurance with verbal passages. He had us start doing one at a time, then 2, up to whatever the full number are. And while it's good to practice untimed occasionally, it's really important be able to read and think quickly.

 

I completely agree. I was doing pretty well on verbal untimed because I could think slower, process my answers......I started out getting 9s. My first diagnostic I completely BOMBED verbal because I kept losing focus and I was rushing, and not pacing myself appropriately. I think I'm gonna pull out those EK books now

[Pantaloons]

Examkrackers 101 was great for representative VR passages.

Princeton, though, had a systematic way for reviewing your answers to see exactly why you got them wrong.

[dizzle]

The above posts are all really great ways to help boost your verbal score. In addition to those techniques, I would say one very key thing I learned was to time myself. This advice is most applicable for you after you've gotten down technique and a good grasp of how to answer verbal questions in general.

 

Consider this:

60 minutes for the section, 40 questions. You get ~1.2 minutes per question, after reading the passage. Therefore you can easily measure your pace against the clock. I would constantly aim to be done a certain number of questions by the time the clock hit a certain time.

 

This is a really key step, because at some point, you will come across a very difficult question. After you spend your allocated ~1.2 minutes on it, you guess a temporary answer and MOVE on.

 

You'll come across an easier question that you'll solve in 20 seconds eventually. Those easy questions will leave you room at the end to go back. You'll finish the test with about 2-5 minutes left and you can then spend your time focusing on the tough questions.

 

Don't get caught up and be stubborn on the tough questions. Make sure you're finishing the section as a whole first.

 

Hope that helps.

[BigM]

I took a prep course and we were taught to just guess on the hardest article, i.e. if you have 5 articles, read and spend time on four of them. For the 5th one just guess. This strategy landed me an 11.

[Maher]

Thanks a lot guys. I'll be sure to implement your advise. I really hope I will get the opportunity to meet you all next year.

All the best,

[runningdoc]

I think there are two ways to really boost your ability to do well on the Verbal section.

 

1 - Examkrackers Verbal 101 has a lot of good passages that are equivalent to the MCAT.

 

2 - Read papers from disciplines other than your own. If you are a science kid, read poli sci, social sci, english lit reviews to get used to how they write. The wording is very different from a paper where hard facts and numbers rule over opinion and alliteration. Get used to reading papers like that to find the core arguments.