Did you find EK verbal Technique helpful?

[Futbol99]

Sorry if this is another repeated thread; verbal is usually the subject...

 

I have started to study verbal beginning of Sept. (planning to write Jan), and have been getting furious with my fluctuation in scoring and inconsistency of staying on time.

 

I only started to really look in-depth in verbal couple weeks ago, trying to dissect why I get things wrong, look up many techniques (Ive exhausted all the sources on here and many on SDN) to just basically start finding which technique would work best with me... all I learned in short was focus on the main idea, which I know...but its much easier said than done.

 

Then I got into reading the entire section on EK for their Verbal strategy. I was wondering if its helpful to do what they recommend like how you practice knowing the author, coming up with the main idea in 20 seconds after you finish reading the passage? Im asking just because they say to practice this as its helpful in the long run, so was wondering if it has truly helped others, because rite now its not helping me stay under time allotted and find it really inconvenient for me but my scores aren't getting better..

 

Any advice would be appreciated...

much thanks!

[Theintelligentfool]

I found the EK verbal strategy helpful to an extent. It helps with getting you in the right mindset while reading and doesn't really take up any extra time. Practicing knowing the author is less helpful than EK makes it out to be. You will likely get 1 or questions along the lines of "how would to author feel about X".

 

Keeping the main idea in mind is probably the best advice I got from EK. Again, EK overinflates it's importance but it does help a lot. I always forgot to do the 20 second mental breakdown though.

 

The best advice I ever got was basically a set of 2 rules:

1)If the answer cannot be inferred from the passage, that answer is wrong. Do not choose it.

2)If the answer does not FULLY answer the question, don't choose it.

I pretty much raised my verbal score 2 points instantly after just applying those during practice tests. I was always stuck on choosing between 2 or 3 answers and applying these rules helped in most cases.

 

Ultimately, you are going to have to find what works best for you. For some people, VR comes naturally. For others, it's very difficult. The most important thing to do is to keep doing practice tests. Learn from your mistakes, and try to see the patterns. Don't let yourself get frustrated.

[Futbol99]

I found the EK verbal strategy helpful to an extent. It helps with getting you in the right mindset while reading and doesn't really take up any extra time. Practicing knowing the author is less helpful than EK makes it out to be. You will likely get 1 or questions along the lines of "how would to author feel about X".

 

Keeping the main idea in mind is probably the best advice I got from EK. Again, EK overinflates it's importance but it does help a lot. I always forgot to do the 20 second mental breakdown though.

 

The best advice I ever got was basically a set of 2 rules:

1)If the answer cannot be inferred from the passage, that answer is wrong. Do not choose it.

2)If the answer does not FULLY answer the question, don't choose it.

I pretty much raised my verbal score 2 points instantly after just applying those during practice tests. I was always stuck on choosing between 2 or 3 answers and applying these rules helped in most cases.

 

Ultimately, you are going to have to find what works best for you. For some people, VR comes naturally. For others, it's very difficult. The most important thing to do is to keep doing practice tests. Learn from your mistakes, and try to see the patterns. Don't let yourself get frustrated.

 

Thanks for the response! I appreciate it

[questforstarfish]

It helped me, I think! I did TPR's method on practice tests and would come out with an 8 or a 9, but with EK's I was boosted to a consistent 10 (I got that on practice tests from AAMC as well as on the real exam). I think with more practice I can scootch it up to an 11, hopefully!

 

Different methods work better for different people, but for me EK was something very new but seems to be more effective than other methods for me

[thumpinJD]

The EK verbal techniques are helpful, but their practices are not! I abandoned EK 101 after seeing the verbal passages from official AAMC material. The writing style is not as close as the people at EK claimed. Also, the logic EK employed is, after all, EK logic, not AAMC logic. You don't want to go into the exam with EK logic.

 

The above is my opinion and my opinion only!! I did end up with an 11 for the verbal section on the actual MCAT without using any exam prep material (i.e. EK, TBR, TPR, etc...).

[bighopes100]

Focus more on the AAMC exams but I'm going to give you the dark truth for most people: Verbal is a lot of luck and its EXTREMELY difficult to improve in the ~2 months that people study for (to the point where you consistently score 2-3 points higher).

Good luck

[futureGP]

It helped me.

 

Especially about having the same mindset when you're doing the practice tests as if you're doing the real test

And the suggestion about regularly practising in a timed situation.

 

I sorta skipped the main idea/look at answers only/guess answer based on question part.

 

I ended up with a 12 only with EK101 passages, technique book, AAMC exams. And this is a surprise because i totally bombed the verbal section for the SAT when I wrote in 3 years prior.

[Futbol99]

Verbal is a lot of luck and its EXTREMELY difficult to improve in the ~2 months that people study for (to the point where you consistently score 2-3 points higher).

Good luck

 

Lol, coming close to 2 months studying for the MCAT and having a bit over a month left, I have succumbed to this same conclusion. From talking to a lot of friends who have done MCAT, it seems that either you're a natural, or been reading the same styles and thinking in the same manner for years, or lucky.

One of them has studied consistently for a few months, ended with a low score, another has never reached double digits in all AAMC's, got a 10 on his Mcat. I don't think there's another way to look at verbal.

 

It's been a frustrating 2 months. Hoping I'll see some improvements on FL's when I start them, but as it stands, Im going to be praying for a lot of luck lol.

 

Btw, thanks for all the replies!

[CheerDoc]

I improved my score from 6-9 to consistent 11's when I stopped trying to apply various reading and highlighting strategies. Read the passage like you are reading something very important from a friend, like its something you're very interested in. Getting the overall feel of the passage and its author is very useful when answering the majority of questions. The only strategies I found useful were those regarding to what the questions were ACTUALLY asking for, as its not always obvious.