saltandpepper Posted July 31, 2011 Report Share Posted July 31, 2011 I am devastated.... it's my 3rd try and thought i could do better with practices, but no. i've done tpr the first year, tpr and ek the second year, and i've added kaplan this year. i am only getting around 6...yes six. i just can't get myself to read fast and can only complete 5 psgs most of the times! :'( i find myself spending 5-6 min reading and another 5-6 min answer questions. i am a science studet who hasn't touched a novel since high school and it's killing me now. i got everything else under my belt for medical school(research, GPA, extracurricular activities, and other freaking MCAT sections!). so angry that verbal is holding me back... but more than that, i get depressed wondering if it would mean that i won't be a good doctor as it`s said that the verbal score is a good indicator for that. ah! i don`t know... i am thinking if i should go out of country- in the end, you`re still a doc right? it'd be too bad to have to head to carribean with 3.96 gpa though. or turn to other health care professionals? dentistry? PA? thanks for hearing my rant. i had no one to talk to as i am so embarrassed to talk about how i am doing in VR... even my closest friends as they think i am smart.... i am just pulling my hair out all alone in a corner of a library on Sundy evening of a long weekend. please do share me your wisdom on what i should do Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Genemo Posted July 31, 2011 Report Share Posted July 31, 2011 Can you apply to Ottawa or McGill with your high GPA? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Genemo Posted July 31, 2011 Report Share Posted July 31, 2011 When I first started VR I got a 5 and could hardly finish reading 5-6 passages in 60min. My score hasnt come out yet but at least I feel after practicing my reading speed improved. Have you tried to force yourself to read faster and how did you feel? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saltandpepper Posted August 1, 2011 Author Report Share Posted August 1, 2011 When I first started VR I got a 5 and could hardly finish reading 5-6 passages in 60min. My score hasnt come out yet but at least I feel after practicing my reading speed improved. Have you tried to force yourself to read faster and how did you feel? I have.. and that felt horrible in terms of comprehension. :( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bored Posted August 1, 2011 Report Share Posted August 1, 2011 dude, every1 has their down days.. you have a 3.96.. there like a spot garunteed for you when you apply.. just keep practicing verbal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saltandpepper Posted August 1, 2011 Author Report Share Posted August 1, 2011 dude, every1 has their down days.. you have a 3.96.. there like a spot garunteed for you when you apply.. just keep practicing verbal. i want to believe you... thanks.. i feel that gpa and all the others won't matter though with a verbal score so low like mine. and i really wondered how long everyone else take in reading a psg....!! is 2-3 min an average? someone posted in this forum advising someone else to 'SLOW DOWN to 3.5 min in reading a psg'.......... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bored Posted August 1, 2011 Report Share Posted August 1, 2011 i want to believe you... thanks.. i feel that gpa and all the others won't matter though with a verbal score so low like mine. and i really wondered how long everyone else take in reading a psg....!! is 2-3 min an average? someone posted in this forum advising someone else to 'SLOW DOWN to 3.5 min in reading a psg'.......... nope, 2-3 minutes is never the average passage time for me. If I do it at that speed, i dont understand what im reading. currently, I found princeton strategy of writing/thinking of a setence for each paragraph to be very useful. I think this helps me keep focus while im reading the rest of the passage and stops me from being destracted. following this strategy takes me around 3-5 minutes depending on passages.. but im not done practicing at all.. the thing is, i spend so much time reading the passage and understand well that I can finish the questions really fast.. so in the end it works out.. thats why EK tip about focusing on getting the questions right in less time is better than trying to reduce reading time.. just move ur test to september and spend the month on verbal.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vanillabear Posted August 1, 2011 Report Share Posted August 1, 2011 Verbal is all about practice. I spent a whole week on verbal and verbal alone and after about 5 days of intense verbal I saw my score go from an average of 7/8 to an average of 12. Then I did NO VERBAL for a week and did a Verbal test from TPR Hyperlearning and still got a 12 so I think I've definitely improved. It's all about practice. As for the passage timing, 3 minutes is good... I'd say 4 is too much though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kkentm Posted August 1, 2011 Report Share Posted August 1, 2011 takes me no longer than 2 and a half minutes... i also havent touched a novel since high school, maybe even before high school... unless the crap we read in english classes count. in terms of improving VR, my suggestion would be to ignore Kaplan's strategy and stick with EK. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
obi Posted August 1, 2011 Report Share Posted August 1, 2011 You have ~8 mins to do each passage. I would say spend about 4 minutes reading and 4 minutes answering questions. A good strategy is instead of writing down a sentence to summarize each paragraph (takes time.. which you're already short on) just go over it in your head. I made up a passage where the author argues that teachers should get more pay. Here's how you might "summarize" each paragraph in your mind before continuing onto the next paragraph. This way, you don't waste time by realizing that you've glazed over 2 or 3 paragraphs and now have to go back and re-read them. Give it a try and let us know if it helps a little! "Teacher's want more pay" "They want more pay because they work longer hours than we think" "He has empirical data to back it up" "Counter argument is difficulty of work is proportional to pay, but this is a misplaced assumption" "Paying them more would lead to benefits in quality of education" Ps. you could also scroll through other threads on verbal and find out who the resident verbal master is... i think its Erk or someone.. they have links to verbal help in their signature. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grey's Anatomy Posted August 1, 2011 Report Share Posted August 1, 2011 takes me no longer than 2 and a half minutes... i also havent touched a novel since high school, maybe even before high school... unless the crap we read in english classes count. in terms of improving VR, my suggestion would be to ignore Kaplan's strategy and stick with EK. wow that's a fast reading speed...you're probably just a fast reader but do you find yourself being able to get a good idea of all of the main points or do you read quicker so that you will be able to take your time revisiting the passage in order to answer the questions? how are you scoring with this strategy if you don't mind me asking? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
preppy038 Posted August 1, 2011 Report Share Posted August 1, 2011 To OP you have a great GPA which will allow you to get an interview at uOttawa and McGill. Do not be discouraged, a low VR mark does not mean you will become a bad doctor. It takes me ~3 mins to read the whole passage. When I learned, I learned that reading fast doesn't always help and you gotta find a balance between reading fast and reading horribly slow. if you are having a hard time comprehending when reading fast, you can practise your reading by visiting the Economist, Wall street journal or CNN. Try to read the articles carefully and understand. If you read them regularly from now on and try again, you'll find that your reading improves. Practise, practise, practise. You WILL improve. Try to focus while reading. Sit up, have your mind prepared before each passage, take a deep breath and begin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kkentm Posted August 1, 2011 Report Share Posted August 1, 2011 wow that's a fast reading speed...you're probably just a fast reader but do you find yourself being able to get a good idea of all of the main points or do you read quicker so that you will be able to take your time revisiting the passage in order to answer the questions? how are you scoring with this strategy if you don't mind me asking? havent done a full practice exam yet however i average a bit less than 1 question wrong per passage (i guess that translates to a 10 or 11?). i also havent been practicing VR much so im hoping to improve my mark to atleast a 12 by the time i actually write. but yes, i do indeed refer back to the passage quite often when answering questions. i cannot imagine doing VR without referring back to the passage although that is what EK recommends for their strategy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
medhopeful64 Posted August 1, 2011 Report Share Posted August 1, 2011 Hey OP, I was having the exact same prob as you. And I think it lies in the psychology. You have to let yourself believe that the strategies WILL help you. Try to push away the pressuring thoughts on how you need to achieve an 11+. Really do read "with arrogance" like EK says. I stopped freaking out, and took a break from verbal for a few days. Yesterday, I did an AAMC verbal test and ended up with an 11! (compared to my dismal scores of 6-8 it was a huge improvement). So try psyching yourself up for verbal. Think of how enjoyable it is to listen to the author, and read calmly but attentively. If you try doing that, you might be able to read at a decent pace without compromising comprehension. Try that and see if it helps! You can do it!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saltandpepper Posted August 1, 2011 Author Report Share Posted August 1, 2011 thank you for your encouraging words people... last night, i ended up watching three old episodes of grey's just to feel better... they didn't quite help but you guys from this forum did psyching myself to enjoy reading? i will try... and also limiting each psg to 8 min... i will see how that goes... someone here did a week boot camp with verbal only? that's amazing. but i get SO tired of doing even two full exams of verbal a day. doing verbal really drains all the energy out of me and leaves me with a major headache... man..i don`t know how you did that. alright... here we go..another day of mcat studying. good luck to u all sincerely! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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