Good, Except Verbal

[Guest drbutterwick]

Hi there,

 

I just can't seem to achieve a decent score in VR. (I'm shooting for a 9). According to Practice Tests 5R and 6R, I'm in the 94-99th percentile in the Bio and Phys Sections, but my VR score is holding me back from a respectable score.

 

I'm only getting about 7 passages done. Does anyone have any tips to increase my score? Would a speed reading course/book help? Does anyone have any experience with speed reading?

 

Thanks for you help in advance,

 

Derek

[Guest Phil667]

Hey butterwick,

 

I feel your pain. My situation was exactly the same as yours a while back. The first summer I wrote the MCAT I got a "6" in the verbal. I did awesome in the sciences and OK on the essay. My problem was that I couldn't read fast enough. I was also getting done only 7 passages on average.

 

The next summer I put the sciences on the back-burner and focused on verbal. I mannaged to get an "11". I found that practicing speed reading did help. Pick up your local newspaper and read it cover-to-cover every day (even the articles you don't care about). Search the web for speed reading techniques as well.

 

I also changed my strategy on the verbal. I left the hardest passages to the last. So if you do only get 7 out of 9 done, at least you can guess on the passages that you would probably get wrong even if you spent a day on them.

 

Hope this helps,

Phil

[Guest UTMed07]

Watch me make use of my copy 'n paste skills.

 

From an earlier post...

I'd suggest reading some speed reading books.

 

Two books I used:

1. Sharkey, John, "Your guide to--speed reading: read faster, improve comprehension, find what you need to know - fast," Coles Publishing, Toronto, 1999. ISBN: 0-7740-0580-7

 

2. Stephen, Berg, "Super Reading Secrets," Warner Books, 1992. ISBN: 0-446-36299-9

 

Of the two... I liked #1 best.

 

I agree with Phil667... practise is important. Incidentally, this is what the books say (along with a few other things).

 

Good Luck.

[Guest lsmed]

hey guys, i have tried a lot of strategies and i don't knwo what to do anymore. I just suck as verbal. I have been getting 5's and now got an 8. You guys got to tell me what to do. My problem is not is reading fast enough. Its the fact that I don't understand the question well enough to answer. Like I sometimes eliminate an answer cause I don't understand it. With three days to go, what should I do???? I don't want to re-write this cause of verbal!!!! Thanks in advance.

[Guest minnieMD]

Hey Ismed,

 

Yeah, i have the same problem with verbal. My scores aren't very impressive either. Just do a lot more practice...reading anything helps...but you've got to understand it too.

 

My question is: How does the scoring scheme work? There are 60 questions and so, what is my score if i get 10 wrong?

Can someone post the mark breakdown? I have these outdated books...

 

Thanks! and good luck to everyone!

[Guest Lactic Folly]

The scoring scheme will vary from exam to exam, as the mark out of 15 that you get is based on your performance relative to everyone else, as in your percentile..

[Guest aneliz]

There is no master breakdown of the scores...the MCAT is scored on a percentile system meaning:

 

If you get 50/60 correct and the average was 30/60 correct, you would have a pretty sweet score out of 15 (>10). But if you get 50/60 and the average is 55/60, you would have a less fantastic score (<7)...

 

So your eventual score out of 15 is dependent on how the other people writing the same version of the test did - not your absolute score.

 

This enables the MCAT score to be universal despite different sittings of the exam and versions of the test.

[Guest minnieMD]

Hi,

But it seems like MCAT results would most likely be approximately the same from year to year. In this case, would a score of 15 wrong in Verbal correspond to roughly?

 

I ask because I don't have a good gauge on how i'm perfoming score-wise.

[Guest drbutterwick]

Hey Guys,

 

For those of you who don't have a break down, this is a rough estimate:

 

Scaled Score Raw Score

12 51-60

10-11 44-50

9 41-43

8 37-40

7 34-36

6 33-30

5 27-29

4 0-26

 

 

Hope that helps:D

[Guest LaGriega]

there is also an unscored experimental passage on VR, which will reduce the number of questions that are scored.