eternalkeener Posted July 22, 2011 Report Share Posted July 22, 2011 hey All, I'm just wondering if anyone else finds the EK logic totally twisted at times. I found 3 really badly justified questions in test 10 of '1001 passages' for the VR section. Just wondering what everyone thinks, and if they think that the real MCAT can be as 'subjective' as this!! My hunch is no, because so many people work on these questions so that there is some sort of 'best' answer that is the only one that can be justified. The questions I'm referring to in EK test 10 are: # 5, 8 and 10. #5 assumes you have outside knowledge (I'm totally naive to the stock market), and then #8 I find 'A' totally wrong, and can only justify B. On number 10, the justification is really odd! Thanks for your opinion! EK Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thehumanmacbook Posted July 22, 2011 Report Share Posted July 22, 2011 hey All, I'm just wondering if anyone else finds the EK logic totally twisted at times. I found 3 really badly justified questions in test 10 of '1001 passages' for the VR section. Just wondering what everyone thinks, and if they think that the real MCAT can be as 'subjective' as this!! My hunch is no, because so many people work on these questions so that there is some sort of 'best' answer that is the only one that can be justified. The questions I'm referring to in EK test 10 are: # 5, 8 and 10. #5 assumes you have outside knowledge (I'm totally naive to the stock market), and then #8 I find 'A' totally wrong, and can only justify B. On number 10, the justification is really odd! Thanks for your opinion! EK It happens. If you think it's wrong, just ignore it. There are questions in EK that use outside knowledge (ex. "smoking is bad, you should know that and account for it in your answer) and sometimes there WAS support blatantly in the passage that could support another answer. However, the point of these passages are to get the GIST of the style and manner the questions are asked in addition to how the passage is constructed. Don't question it; if you think it's wrong move on. Since this isn't your first MCAT, focus more on the AAMCs anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lekarza Posted July 22, 2011 Report Share Posted July 22, 2011 I agree! I just did test 10 in ek yesterday too and some of the questions threw me off guard! But like other people have said, I'm sure the AAMC tests are more accurate (here's hoping ) so just ignore them and move on! Btw does anyone have a good game plan for the last week of studying for verbal. I need to boost my verbal mark by quite a bit and my test is next Friday (I know I sound a bit hopeless at this point). I know ek you said you were having trouble with verbal. How have you been improving? I need help and I'm scared verbal is going to screw me over for this cycle:( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vanillabear Posted July 22, 2011 Report Share Posted July 22, 2011 I agree! I just did test 10 in ek yesterday too and some of the questions threw me off guard! But like other people have said, I'm sure the AAMC tests are more accurate (here's hoping ) so just ignore them and move on! Btw does anyone have a good game plan for the last week of studying for verbal. I need to boost my verbal mark by quite a bit and my test is next Friday (I know I sound a bit hopeless at this point). I know ek you said you were having trouble with verbal. How have you been improving? I need help and I'm scared verbal is going to screw me over for this cycle:( I've seen my verbal score increase about 4 points (from around 7-8 to 11-12) in the last 4-5 days by just practice. I'm finding that I'm easily able to pick out the attractors, the extreme language and the irrelevant/incorrect information much more effectively. I've also been previewing the question stems before reading the passage and it's also contributed quite a bit! Hope that helps... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pantheraonca Posted July 22, 2011 Report Share Posted July 22, 2011 I'm finding that I'm easily able to pick out the attractors, the extreme language and the irrelevant/incorrect information much more effectively. I've also been previewing the question stems before reading the passage and it's also contributed quite a bit! Hope that helps... same here. i also find that with practice, its easier to eliminate certain answers and thus have a better chance at getting the right one. i tried the reading question stems before reading the passage but for me, that just cut into my time :/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vanillabear Posted July 22, 2011 Report Share Posted July 22, 2011 same here. i also find that with practice, its easier to eliminate certain answers and thus have a better chance at getting the right one. i tried the reading question stems before reading the passage but for me, that just cut into my time :/ My friend felt the same way. In fact, when he stopped reading the question stems he started doing much better! Everyone is different. For me, I know that reading the question stems helps me already form an idea about what the passage is about and so I tend to read/comprehend it much more efficiently. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eternalkeener Posted July 22, 2011 Author Report Share Posted July 22, 2011 I feel the same way - looking at the LOGIC connecting the Q stems and answer choices gets you about 60% of the answers and then if you know the main idea in addition to using logic, about 80%, and then if you're 2nd guessing yourself which happens frequently to me, you will ONLY get the right answer if you re-read the Q and think about the LOGIC. I was going so fast and frantically searching in the passage when all I had to do was relax, slow down and connect the Q and A using logic to verify the answer. This daily practice (1 test per day) has increased my score by - yep, count 'em - 5 points! I'm at a 12 now. I hope to keep going up and then maintain this score on the AAMC tests. My recommendation = practice a full-length (NEVER just a few passages so you get the correct timing, i.e. letting yourself speed up on the passages you find easy and slow right down on the ones you find more difficult and still manage to finish the test on time) EVERY DAY if you can find one. I've gone to my local library to get the Kaplan full-lengths and paid for the AAMC online ones. Best of luck! THANK YOU for the feedback regarding EK. For a while there, it seemed like they were 99.999999999999999999999% perfect like an intensely peer-reviewed test like the real MCAT. Good to know they have their flaws. I won't go crazy now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eternalkeener Posted July 22, 2011 Author Report Share Posted July 22, 2011 Just went back and read your comments more closely - NEVER, I repeat, NEVER read the Q stems before the passage. Otherwise you don't have time to slow down and think about the nit-picky answers to choose between on the harder questions. Some of you may be speed-readers, but I've never received that training so I would never attempt to read the Q stems before - it takes too much time. I focus on actively reading and really stress words and phrases that I think will be important later as I'm reading them in my head. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vanillabear Posted July 22, 2011 Report Share Posted July 22, 2011 Just went back and read your comments more closely - NEVER, I repeat, NEVER read the Q stems before the passage. Otherwise you don't have time to slow down and think about the nit-picky answers to choose between on the harder questions. Some of you may be speed-readers, but I've never received that training so I would never attempt to read the Q stems before - it takes too much time. I focus on actively reading and really stress words and phrases that I think will be important later as I'm reading them in my head. Like I said, it depends on the person. For me, I must read the Q stems (note: not the answer choices). This actually helps me finish quicker because I understand the passage better and read through it faster. Besides, I would know what kinds of things I'm looking for as I read and therefore I provide greater attention to these areas. For example, if there is a question on tone, I'll be more wary of the author's tone. If there is a question on a specific phrase, I'll be sure to concentrate more on that phrase. I guess you just have to tailor your strategy to what suits you best. EDIT: Another piece of advice which I think is fairly common - don't necessarily do the questions in the order they are presented. Do specific questions first (that is, questions relating to a specific word or phrase in the passage/retrieval questions) and then move towards more general questions (such as "main idea" or "weaken/strengthen" questions). That way you build a better understanding of the passage while you are answering the questions and this can help weed out tricky answer choices in the general questions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eternalkeener Posted July 22, 2011 Author Report Share Posted July 22, 2011 True, it depends on the person... I just find I need the extra time on the tricky questions, and without that time, I wouldn't score as high. Experimentation is key to improving your score. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vanillabear Posted July 22, 2011 Report Share Posted July 22, 2011 Kaplan is known to have really easy verbal tests though...you'd probably be further ahead using TPR's FL's. Their hyperlearning verbal book is excellent. Seconded... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eternalkeener Posted July 23, 2011 Author Report Share Posted July 23, 2011 oh, Thank you! You guys are great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lekarza Posted July 24, 2011 Report Share Posted July 24, 2011 I've seen my verbal score increase about 4 points (from around 7-8 to 11-12) in the last 4-5 days by just practice. I'm finding that I'm easily able to pick out the attractors, the extreme language and the irrelevant/incorrect information much more effectively. I've also been previewing the question stems before reading the passage and it's also contributed quite a bit! Hope that helps... Thanks for the advice! You've given me a bit of hope that I can hopefully pull this off I just need to stay motivated for the next week and then I can finally relax! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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