Guest dogeatdog12 Posted July 22, 2005 Report Share Posted July 22, 2005 Hey guys.... I am kinda freaking out here. because of health reasons I couldn't start studying for the mcat till this week. I know it's late but I was hoping to pull it off. Anyway, i did the in class verbal tests and I got some incredibly low marks! I was scoring a sixes and sevens. I was hoping for a 10+ score on the mcat. I am kinda upset here and I don't knwo what to do to improve. I read the verbal reasoning sectioning of the examkrackers book once and fuond it helpful . i dont' know what my next step is to do well. If there's enoguh time I would like some help here too.. thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest madricka Posted July 22, 2005 Report Share Posted July 22, 2005 Stop panicking. Seriously. You can't look back & make excuses & stuff but whatever happened in the past is over and you have to forget about it. What you do from this moment on is what counts. Take a deep breath. Stop focusing on the scores you are getting on practice tests. Just because you get a 7 on a practice test does NOT mean you will get a 7 on the actual test. Look at WHERE you are making your errors. Look at the answers & think about what is messing you up. Are you distracted while reading? Too panicky about the whole test & not enough prep? Reading too quickly? Not paying attention to the questions? And, of course, you have to keep practicing!! I find that studying for the MCAT is like moving a mountain of dirt with a teaspoon to a place 3 feet from where you are standing. Monotonous, but necessary. If you keep focusing on the mountain & the time you have, you will lose it. Just keep focused on what you are doing & you will be okay. There are no short-cuts. I would also recommend using different MCAT prep books. Different books have different strengths/weaknesses & what works for one person doesn't work for another. I bought both Gold Standard (which doesn't work for me) & Kaplan Comp Rev (which I love). Compare this to what it will be like in med school -- lots of work & limited time. You can't freak out about it. Just know you can handle it & plow through. It's going to be hard, but if you keep at it you will be okay. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest HenryTheBig Posted July 22, 2005 Report Share Posted July 22, 2005 Hey, One of my friends had a 9 on his first practise test which I would say is pretty good. However, he was not happy with it. He then read like crazy for 1.5 months. He read things like Time magazine (American magazines) and some magazines that are difficult reads. His practise scores went sky rocketing and he got a 14 on the verbal on the real thing. To be honest, I think a 7 is a very good score for your first practise test. Most of my friends get 4's and 5's their first time. They study the entire summer to increase it to the 9/10 range. I would say that you have natural ability already. You're in a better position than many. If you just practise a bit more I'm sure it'll rise to at least a 9 or 10. Henner Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest dogeatdog12 Posted July 23, 2005 Report Share Posted July 23, 2005 but is there enough time to read everything and prepare for the mcat? i don't know if there may be enough time. I am hoping I can prove to myself otherwise and pull off an amazing score. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest HenryTheBig Posted July 23, 2005 Report Share Posted July 23, 2005 Hey, If you're not working full time I would say you have quite a bit of time. However, if you have other major commitment, then you'll have to really bust your butt off. Henner Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest eager2bdoc Posted July 27, 2005 Report Share Posted July 27, 2005 hi,i m also very scared about verbal so far in my TPR diagnostics i have been getting 3 and also in my last AAMC 7R i got 3. any advise? i m majorly freaking out now..i bought the examkrackers and trying to do those, but i just CANT get pass all the passages, i end up leaving 3!!! which is a lot and its the reason why i have been getiing low marks. ANY ADVISE ppl? with only 24 days remaining, wat can i do to improve it? i have been doing the self-evaluations and that is just not helping me, may be i m not following it properly? any one has any suggestions? please do reply to this thanks eager2bdoc!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest pazas Posted July 27, 2005 Report Share Posted July 27, 2005 hey eager2bdoc, ok first of all, don't panic. especially when reading the verbal passages. because i know i did that the first time, which lead me to having to re-read passages, which only wastes time. so relax. easier said than done, i know. so verbal is your main problem? how are you doing in the other sections? so you need to at least triple your score in 24 days. and it's possible. how are you reading the passages? do not read for detail. this wastes a lot of time, and it is pointless. most q's are not about the little details. read for the deeper meaning...try to understand the purpose of the piece of writing. when you read, think why is the author including this? because verbal q's are about not what the author directly states. so when reading, mentally ask yourself why is the author saying what he or she is saying and the purpose of including such information in the passage. if you can do that as you read, the questions become very easy. however, it takes practice. i would recommend reading a few verbal passages slowly, and perhaps practice getting the meaning of the passage by writing out the purpose of each paragraph. once you're good with that, you can move on to doing this mentally, which takes up less time. the more you practice doing this mentally, the faster you'll get at it. this technique worked for me. i rarely had to look back at the passage when answering, except when detail was required. that in turn helps you finish the passages faster, allowing you to finish the section. so reading the passage correctly the first time is crucial so you don't go back and forth while answering the questions. i hope this is clear. if you have any other questions, let me know. good luck. pazas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest eager2bdoc Posted July 28, 2005 Report Share Posted July 28, 2005 yes verbal is my primary problem. as for the other sections i got 7 in both physical and biological, which is not good i understand, but i had a lot of catching up to do with that, thats y my score was low. But verbal i dont have any hope left...thats y i was really scared !!! i'll try to hopefully finish my pssages with the techniques u told me. wat u do think, should i be doing verbal like everyday? 2-3 passages? or would the whole test (9 pssg) be better to take now and get used to that? any advise on that? thanks eager2bdoc!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest pazas Posted July 28, 2005 Report Share Posted July 28, 2005 I took the Kaplan course, and so we did 'mini MCATs' for each section. For example, for VR Mini MCAT we had about twenty minutes to read three passages. So I think you should give yourself about twenty minutes to finish three passages every day for about three days, and then on the fourth day do a full section. And then after that, you should probably do a full length section at least every second/third day. And inbetween those days, if you feel you need more practice, you should do the 3 passages/20minutes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest jamiel911 Posted July 31, 2005 Report Share Posted July 31, 2005 i was wondering if anyone had any tips for 5 mins left with one passage. thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Kirsteen Posted July 31, 2005 Report Share Posted July 31, 2005 Hi there, You could try the scan-the-questions approach in this case. That is, have a look at the questions and see if there are any which ask for facts that seem to be easily retrieved from the passage. If there are some questions like that then tackle them first, and do what you can with the remaining time, leaving the last 20 seconds or so to fill in the remaining ovals randomly. Cheers, Kirsteen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest jamiel911 Posted July 31, 2005 Report Share Posted July 31, 2005 thanks kirsteen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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