VR Help

[pacemaker]

Does anyone have any tips for the specific inferences and new information questions? I seem to get a lot of those questions wrong. I have looked at TPR strategies for those but I don't know why I just keep missing those questions. Any suggestions or advice?

[atesme]

Do you do your trickiest questions last? That let me get a couple more minutes for information to mull in my head before I had to tackle it. Also, anytime I saw a question that I recognized as a type that I was prone to getting wrong, I intentionally slowed myself down a LOT because usually my incorrect choices were stupid mistakes or things I'd missed seeing.

[pacemaker]

No, I just do the passages and questions in order. I tried the ranking thing as suggested by TPR but that didn't really work me and I found that it took me way too long to try and figure out which passage to do now and which to come back to later. I just use the EK way of finishing the passages in order and I also do the questions in order most of the time.

 

I am really worried about the verbal section....I am a slow reader so timing is definitely an issue and I think because I worry about time too much, I make a lot of mistakes.

 

So far, I have done AAMC 7, 10 and 11 and have scored 8, 7, 7 on the verbal sections for those. I got almost all of the specific inference and new information questions wrong . Just wondering if people have any suggestions on how I could improve on those question types.....

[pacemaker]

I did another full length VR just now and scored a 6

 

Again, I am doing the new information and specific inference questions wrong....I have gone through the ones I got wrong in the past but that hasn't helped me improve....I feel that I don't completely understand the "method or technique" for these questions.......can someone please please please go over some tips/strategies/techniques etc that they found to be helpful for these particular question types...........please!

[MD2019_A]

Here's what I wrote about VR in an earlier post:

 

For VR:

 

1) It's all in the passage; therefore, you should ACTIVELY read the passage and take mental (or written, whatever works for you; find what that is! for me it's mental notes, writing takes too much time) notes for what each PARAGRAPH in the passage. After reading the entire passage, take 3-5 secs to formalize the purpose of the passage and it's tone: was it descriptive? argumentative? analytical? These details will help you answer questions that ask about the author's point of view or the structure of the passage.

 

2) If the passage is some really odd humanities or arts passage (or which ever type you dislike the most), I SOMETIMES skip it and leave till the end; if I ever run out time, I predict that before the last passage and guess the answers before hand just so that i never leave a question blank.

 

3) Never ever ever eveerrr use outside knowledge. Often times a passage is a topic that you know about and you use outside knowledge to answer the question. Don't do that, always assume the author is correct.

 

4) Highlight numbers and dates. If you're given a passage with a list of events, you'll probably need a good grasp of the order of the events and/or numbers because questions often ask regarding that. So keep that in mind while reading.

[pacemaker]

Thanks Ishaquea!

 

I am 3/4 things that you mentioned but for some reason, its just the new info and specific inference questions I tend to get wrong.

 

- You mentioned to make a mental note of each paragraph...do you take a few seconds after reading each paragraph to do that? I am making a mental note of the main idea or bottom line at the end of the whole passage but do not make note of individual paragraphs.

 

- For the specific inference questions, TPR suggests that it has to be a "tight" inference, one that likely maps onto a sentence etc in the passage....I feel that since I am reading for the main idea, I don't pay much attention to the details and as such, can't seem to come up with the "tight" inference.

 

- Also, my timing is still off which only leaves me with 5 minutes for the last passage and I just end up guessing on most of those questions.

 

I am writing on September 10 and I am getting really worried as to whether I will be able to significantly improve in the short time....Is it even possible? I took the TPR course and have been practicing throughout the whole time...I started with a 4 and now I am getting 6,7,8 range