JB. Posted May 31, 2012 Report Share Posted May 31, 2012 I did the free AAMC practise test. I scored 9 on the verbal section before studying. I have worked through every passage and try to use the strategies in the ExamKrackers book and just did the verbal section on AAMC test 5. I scored a 9 again!! I am getting perfect in some passages and then other passages I'm lower. I am not getting a consistent score of say two wrong per passage. Is this normal? What progression should I expect to see? FWIW, I'm a regular reader, I'm not running out of time- just not getting enough right answers LOL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alai Posted May 31, 2012 Report Share Posted May 31, 2012 Verbal is the kind of thing that you can honestly make very few real predictions for. I started at 6-8 two weeks ago, I'm at 9-11 now. Your (and others') predictions are mostly meaningless. Shut up and keep working. Also, I think you would agree that 2 is a ridiculously small sample size any way to draw any real conclusions from. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JB. Posted May 31, 2012 Author Report Share Posted May 31, 2012 Maybe I wasn't clear, I've done 2 AAMC verbal sections, and I have also done every single passage in the ExamKrackers Verbal Reasoning book (not the 101 passages, but the other VR book). I have done much more than two passages, if that makes sense. I will keep plugging away, though. Thanks for your input Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alai Posted May 31, 2012 Report Share Posted May 31, 2012 How've you been averaging on the practice ones? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JB. Posted May 31, 2012 Author Report Share Posted May 31, 2012 On the sections where I was expected to just do one passage, I would get anywhere from perfect to two wrong/passage. The other sections where they want you doing three passages at a time, my scores equated to a 9/10. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alai Posted May 31, 2012 Report Share Posted May 31, 2012 Yeah, I'd say it's too early to call it a plateau (though that does happen eventually). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr.Henderson Posted May 31, 2012 Report Share Posted May 31, 2012 Keep in mind that you don't want to be going overkill in preparation. Lots of practice is the key to a good VR score, but going overkill (stressing and doing practice passages non-stop) will likely yield the opposite of the desired effect. Keep working at it, find a strategy that works for you and then do it consistently. A 9 means you're on the verge of getting into that golden zone of 10+, try different strategies and see if you can push it a bit further (e.g. read the questions before the passage, vice versa, try without referencing back to the passage and then try referencing back). I found I did the best when I relaxed, read the passage once, and answered the questions without any sort of second guessing or review. So, that's what I did no matter if I doubted myself, and I ended up with an 11. Experiment and try not to stress. Good luck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaKirbster Posted June 1, 2012 Report Share Posted June 1, 2012 I've certainly found that the verbal passages are either hit or miss. I don't get 2 wrong per passage or anything either, i usually get them all right, occasionally one wrong - or I get 30-50% of the questions in the passage wrong. Especially on the AAMC tests, I've found that a single passage often single-handedly drops me from a 12 or 13 to a 10 or 11. For example, on the last AAMC I did (6R I believe), I got exactly half of my total verbal mistakes in a single passage... Ouch! In the end, either you get it or you don't - a lot of it comes down to luck. Of course, you can try to boost your chances of being 'lucky' by being well prepared Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prof.A.DumbleDore Posted June 1, 2012 Report Share Posted June 1, 2012 I've certainly found that the verbal passages are either hit or miss. I don't get 2 wrong per passage or anything either, i usually get them all right, occasionally one wrong - or I get 30-50% of the questions in the passage wrong. Especially on the AAMC tests, I've found that a single passage often single-handedly drops me from a 12 or 13 to a 10 or 11. For example, on the last AAMC I did (6R I believe), I got exactly half of my total verbal mistakes in a single passage... Ouch! In the end, either you get it or you don't - a lot of it comes down to luck. Of course, you can try to boost your chances of being 'lucky' by being well prepared This. Exactly what happens to me. If on one passage you get the main idea wrong or had the incorrect thought process. GEE GEE Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Economist Posted June 1, 2012 Report Share Posted June 1, 2012 Just a question, how much time do you give yourself per passage when you do the EK 101 Passages? For the whole test, it's 85 minutes for 9 passages which is around 9.444 minutes / passage. I read around and most people recommend 6~8 minutes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Let'sGo1990 Posted June 1, 2012 Report Share Posted June 1, 2012 Just a question, how much time do you give yourself per passage when you do the EK 101 Passages? For the whole test, it's 85 minutes for 9 passages which is around 9.444 minutes / passage. I read around and most people recommend 6~8 minutes. There was a post somewhere on SDN where sn2ed actually recommended getting the old book (as long as it was the same price or cheaper as the newest edition) and doing the 85 min tests since it'd help build stamina. I did the first 85 min test and finished with roughly 10-12 minutes left because I had only been giving myself 6:30~7:00 for each passage before doing EK test 1. That means I spent roughly 8 mins 22 seconds per passage during the EK test. 10-12 minutes sounds like a lot to check over your answers. The thing is, by the time I finished the last passage, I found it was difficult to go back and double check answers I wasn't entirely sure of since I had just finished 9 (if I remember correctly) passages and it was impossible to recover my train of thought for each one. Apparently the passages on the real MCAT are longer. So 6:30~7 may be a good time to stick with. Not sure what I'll be doing about timing myself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Economist Posted June 1, 2012 Report Share Posted June 1, 2012 Thank you for the reply! From reading your post, it seems like a good idea to just barely finish the passages. Also I've heard about the actual passages being longer but after skimming through past AAMC tests, they don't seem that much longer. (Perhaps a paragraph longer on average?) Hard to tell since I do not know if fonts are exact. Guess I should try the real tests to gauge how much time I should give myself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
axialpac Posted June 1, 2012 Report Share Posted June 1, 2012 I did the free AAMC practise test. I scored 9 on the verbal section before studying. I have worked through every passage and try to use the strategies in the ExamKrackers book and just did the verbal section on AAMC test 5. I scored a 9 again!! I am getting perfect in some passages and then other passages I'm lower. I am not getting a consistent score of say two wrong per passage. Is this normal? What progression should I expect to see? FWIW, I'm a regular reader, I'm not running out of time- just not getting enough right answers LOL If I were you, I would take a closer look as to what type of passages they are (natural sciences, social sciences, humanities?) and see if there's a consistent pattern... as in, you keep messing up on the same type of passages. Because you mention that you are getting perfect on certain passages, but not on others. Just a thought... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prof.A.DumbleDore Posted June 1, 2012 Report Share Posted June 1, 2012 Good advice. Also keep track of what types of questions get you. See if there are any patterns. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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