Verbal TPR

[polarbear89]

I started a prep course for the mcat and have completed some verbal passages on TPR. I'm noticing that I am getting about 0-2 wrong per passage (and notice that these are silly mistakes that just come from not rereading the question) and can complete each passage in between 5-10 minutes. Are the TPR passages representative of the MCAT or are they easier? Should I be trying to implement the princeton review strategies or am I in a decent place where I should continue to do what I am doing and focus on the other areas of the MCAT where I am severely deficient as I am writing the mcat mid-august.

[holiday1001]

not directly answering the question, but if you have a strategy you're comfortable with, stick with it. make small adjustments as you see fit, but don't try another strategy for the sake of trying it. you want to get comfortable and confident with your strat.

 

best way to evaluate is to do an AAMC vr test if possible ( up to you to decide if it's worth it to sacrifice one VR section now)

[polarbear89]

Thanks! I'll do a AAMC passage at the end of the month and then if that goes well, I'll turn most of my energy to the other subjects that I am weak in.

[michaelgreene]

not directly answering the question, but if you have a strategy you're comfortable with, stick with it. make small adjustments as you see fit, but don't try another strategy for the sake of trying it. you want to get comfortable and confident with your strat.

 

best way to evaluate is to do an AAMC vr test if possible ( up to you to decide if it's worth it to sacrifice one VR section now)

 

IMO, the TPR VR strategy is pretty brutal.

 

Although I do agree with holiday, if you're using one strategy and it's working for you, stick with it! I was using TPR for a while, and I was implementing it exactly how they taught me and I just felt like it wasn't the right one for me. I switched to the EK strategy (and adapted a few little things that I preferred), and instead of averaging around a 9 for every VR section and running out of time (~2 minutes left to complete the final passage), I now get mostly 10s and 11s with the occasional 9 and 12, and I have 3-4 minutes extra after I've already completed the final passage!

 

Good luck to ya, and keep practicing regularly even if you start doing well on practice tests

[tms]

I am also using the TPR strategy and I am averaging about 2 wrong/passage. This is what I started with about 1 month ago and I am still doing about the same. I have also gone through EK and I am using a mixture of the two (based on what I like/works for me). There are some passages I get perfect on and others that I just don't get. I am having a hard time figuring out what I can do to improve (active reading is one thing I am working on as well).

 

Any suggestions?

[drrd]

I am also using the TPR strategy and I am averaging about 2 wrong/passage. This is what I started with about 1 month ago and I am still doing about the same. I have also gone through EK and I am using a mixture of the two (based on what I like/works for me). There are some passages I get perfect on and others that I just don't get. I am having a hard time figuring out what I can do to improve (active reading is one thing I am working on as well).

 

Any suggestions?

 

Try to apply your active reading techniques to those difficult passages that you don't "get." You usually don't have to understand every single word or sentence to do well on those passages, but only the general tone and ideas of the author's argument. Check out TPR's Verbal Workbook for some harder to read passages and practice on those.