Jump to content
Premed 101 Forums

Another Verbal Freakout


Lost&Found

Recommended Posts

  • Replies 333
  • Created
  • Last Reply
10. the passage on puns messed me up. 2/5. I got 5/7 on the philo passage.

 

Going to do test 2 sometime next week.

 

Ahh, i really enjoyed the passage on puns, I got 4/5 on that one I think.

 

have any of you guys purchased the self assessment package? its got 120 verbal questions (approximately 20 passages worth) of AAMC material.

 

I'm going to start that after I take the AAMC 4 tomorrow. :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I didn't purchase it, and now there's no point. I write on the 10th.

 

If I need to write it again next summer, I'll probably be desperate for more practice questions. Granted, I still have most of EK101.

 

I'm writing on the 10th, too! Im starting to get a bit antsy...just want to get it over with. I've been fairly happy with my scores on practice tests so far. Writing my third AAMC FL today, so hopefully I continue with the trend.

 

How's your prep going?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm writing on the 10th, too! Im starting to get a bit antsy...just want to get it over with. I've been fairly happy with my scores on practice tests so far. Writing my third AAMC FL today, so hopefully I continue with the trend.

 

How's your prep going?

 

Yeah, I agree! I want this summer to end already :P

 

I finished my content review a few weeks ago, and my science scores have been rock solid (12-14) for a while now. The only remaining problem is VR. My VR scores tend to hover around 8-9, and it doesn't seem like it's going to improve. I'm just hoping that we get a nice curve.

 

Good luck!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Why are some practice tests 9 passages long (EK, 85mins), others 4 long (Kaplan, t=?), if the test is 7 passages in 60 minutes?

 

9 passages is the old format, so you probably have the older version of EK101. As for Kaplan, I have no idea what they're trying to do.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I always preview the questions. It lets me know what to look for, and it usually gives me a sense of what the passage is about before I even read it.

 

Interesting...haven't tried that. It wish I had more time to prep so I could try adding this, but at this point I don't think I should be switching strategies. I was writing AAMC8 the other day and got really caught up in one passage and had to rush through the last 2 passages. Lost confidence in my slow read-for-understanding strategy, so I kept flip-flopping strategies the past couple of days. Nothing seemed to work (I was getting 2-3 points lower than my average), so I switched back tonight and did much better. I will definitely be sticking to my old strategy next week and on test day next Friday. Let's just hope they don't throw any brutal passages at us :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Interesting...haven't tried that. It wish I had more time to prep so I could try adding this, but at this point I don't think I should be switching strategies. I was writing AAMC8 the other day and got really caught up in one passage and had to rush through the last 2 passages. Lost confidence in my slow read-for-understanding strategy, so I kept flip-flopping strategies the past couple of days. Nothing seemed to work (I was getting 2-3 points lower than my average), so I switched back tonight and did much better. I will definitely be sticking to my old strategy next week and on test day next Friday. Let's just hope they don't throw any brutal passages at us :D

 

I hope we get some nice ones!

 

Out of curiosity, did you get tripped up by that Picasso passage (Passage 5)? If so, the exact same thing happened to me a few days ago.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I hope we get some nice ones!

 

Out of curiosity, did you get tripped up by that Picasso passage (Passage 5)? If so, the exact same thing happened to me a few days ago.

 

Hmmm...I don't remember a Picasso passage in AAMC8. It was actually Passage 2 (literary study) that threw me off. I had a tough time reading it for some reason, and took way longer than I should have. Ended up losing only 2 marks on Passages 1-5, but I only had ~10 minutes to get Passages 6 & 7 done, so I had to rush them. Lost 5 marks on those 2, bringing me down to a 10.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I just finished the EK 101 book and I also finished the princeton review hyperlearning verbal workbook, I can't even believe how bad I am at verbal. I was staying at an average of approximately a 7 out of 15. My result for the last EK test was 13 out of 40, pretty good eh?

I write on Sept 7th, does anyone recommend downloading a reading software program to improve my comprehension (Ex., readingsoft.com) for this last month of prep since I have run out of verbal materials...

 

HELP! thanks :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I just finished the EK 101 book and I also finished the princeton review hyperlearning verbal workbook, I can't even believe how bad I am at verbal. I was staying at an average of approximately a 7 out of 15. My result for the last EK test was 13 out of 40, pretty good eh?

I write on Sept 7th, does anyone recommend downloading a reading software program to improve my comprehension (Ex., readingsoft.com) for this last month of prep since I have run out of verbal materials...

 

HELP! thanks :)

 

I found that EK 101 is great for practicing passages and reading comprehension, and most of the passages were good representation of what you'll see on the MCAT. However, the questions were brutal. There were several mistakes in the answer key and often questions had 2 correct answers. I was averaging 9-10 on most EK passages after practicing, with a streak of 3 11's a couple weeks ago. My scores on AAMC verbal have been 12 on AAMC7 and 10 on AAMC8 (rushing and bombing the 2 last passages, so my score could have easily been higher), so I think EK underestimates your score. Still, it's the best practice material I've found so far. If you haven't done them already, do the full length AAMC MCATs. You can also try to get your hands on some LSAT material, or just read newspaper articles as if they were VR passages. Just make sure you have a strategy for reading comprehension and you're sticking to it while practicing. Good luck!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for that advice. I will be starting (hopefully) on Monday to do the AAMC's since I've finally finished content review. In terms of my "Strategy" if I would even call it a strategy, I just dive right into the passage and start reading it, because I think that reading the questions first would waste time. But while I'm reading, I RARELY understand what the author is trying to say overall. I usually finish 3 passages + answering the Q's in around 25 minutes which I'm hoping to lower to 24-25 mins. I will try and find some LSAT prep stuff now I guess, thanks again.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for that advice. I will be starting (hopefully) on Monday to do the AAMC's since I've finally finished content review. In terms of my "Strategy" if I would even call it a strategy, I just dive right into the passage and start reading it, because I think that reading the questions first would waste time. But while I'm reading, I RARELY understand what the author is trying to say overall. I usually finish 3 passages + answering the Q's in around 25 minutes which I'm hoping to lower to 24-25 mins. I will try and find some LSAT prep stuff now I guess, thanks again.

 

In my opinion, don't speed up until you work on general comprehension. That seems to be your current weakness, and therefore that's what you need to focus on.

 

Don't just read the material, think about it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

In my opinion, don't speed up until you work on general comprehension. That seems to be your current weakness, and therefore that's what you need to focus on.

 

Don't just read the material, think about it.

 

This is so true. Don't try to rush through just to save time on the passages because you think it will give you more time to answer the questions. You'll actually waste more time flipping back and forth between the questions and the passage looking for the right answers. It's much better take your time reading so you fully understand the passage. If you take an extra 60 seconds to read a passage, you'll more than make that time up when answering questions because they'll come much easier to you.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.


×
×
  • Create New...