spring Posted February 14, 2014 Report Share Posted February 14, 2014 For those who re-wrote and were successful at improving their verbal score, how did you approach verbal differently the second time? I have searched through the forum on how to study for verbal, tips and strategies. But I feel that I am doing practice in the same way I did the first time around. Since I didn't score well the first time, it is clear that I did something wrong - how should I change my approach this time? I am following a combination of EK and TPR. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pablo_yike Posted February 15, 2014 Report Share Posted February 15, 2014 I'll tell you one thing to keep in mind. There are VR study materials out there which will actually lower your score. I was doing a bunch of VR practice tests (I think from Gold Standard) and I kept finding I disagreed with the answers they indicated as 'correct'. My confidence and my scores just kept going down. So I got together with a very intelligent friend of mine and he agreed that their answers were at best ambiguous and at worst outright wrong. So going into the exam, I ONLY used AAMC practice tests and got my average AAMC VR practice up to 13-14 (but sadly only scored 11 on the actual day-of). You really have to be careful with what's out there. The unfortunate truth is that I have had the same problems with other materials (old paper-back study books I got from the public library). AAMC have a very precise approach and when I get answers wrong on their practice tests I can almost 100% of the time understand why I was wrong and why their answer was better. Unfortunately, there just aren't that many AAMC tests to buy and they are quite expensive so take this advice for what it's worth (perhaps not much), but I did go from a 9 to an 11 and feel I could easily have made 12-14 if I hadn't felt I bombed BS first. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spring Posted February 15, 2014 Author Report Share Posted February 15, 2014 I am using EK, TPR and TBR this time and have heard good things about these materials. I will be doing the AAMC tests closer to test date. Did you have the same experience with these materials too? I am mainly concerned with the way I am approaching the verbal section because I feel that I am still following the same method as last time (with the exception of previewing the questions - I am not doing that this time). When I read the passage, I get the general idea and usually formulate the main point in my mind. But when it comes to the questions, I get stuck and feel tempted to look back at the passage. The last time I wrote the MCAT, I could not finish the VR section and had to guess on the last passage and got a very low score. I feel that I am not attacking the questions in the right way. Any tips on what I should do differently? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
an1721 Posted February 17, 2014 Report Share Posted February 17, 2014 I am using EK, TPR and TBR this time and have heard good things about these materials. I will be doing the AAMC tests closer to test date. Did you have the same experience with these materials too? I am mainly concerned with the way I am approaching the verbal section because I feel that I am still following the same method as last time (with the exception of previewing the questions - I am not doing that this time). When I read the passage, I get the general idea and usually formulate the main point in my mind. But when it comes to the questions, I get stuck and feel tempted to look back at the passage. The last time I wrote the MCAT, I could not finish the VR section and had to guess on the last passage and got a very low score. I feel that I am not attacking the questions in the right way. Any tips on what I should do differently? I'm in the exact same boat as you right now! The only thing that I've been trying to change when I do the verbal practice questions (EK, Kaplan, TPR..) is that I try not to focus too much on what the author is actually saying (other than the main point of the passage and a main sentence/thought from each paragraph as a landmark), but on how the author is saying something, like is the passage an argument against something or for something? What is the author arguing and what evidence does he/she give for said argument? Like you don't need to remember what the passage is about once you move on so just read it for the author's point of view, this has really helped me get a better feel for which answers are best and why. Also, you can (usually) immediately eliminate at least two of the answers for each question by just getting rid of ones that are way too specific/way to vague or are too extreme (unless the author seems extreme). And focus on passages that are actually readable, some are just too ridiculous to spend too much time on and usually just eat up your time in the end without the points! Just try to get a feel for what the author is saying in these (main point/argument of paper) and then take a guess at the answers! Oh and never assume you remember something correctly! I'm terrible for that, and usually always get the questions wrong if I don't take the time to reread that part of the passage! I haven't yet rewritten the mcat but I feel like I'm definitely taking a different approach on the verbal this time and hopefully I can boost my score up! Good luck!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spring Posted February 17, 2014 Author Report Share Posted February 17, 2014 Has you score improved on the practice tests compared to before? What kind of practice schedule are you using now? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
an1721 Posted February 17, 2014 Report Share Posted February 17, 2014 Has you score improved on the practice tests compared to before? What kind of practice schedule are you using now? I've only just started practicing again, and I won't be rewriting until the summer likely, but I've just been doing individual passages and timing them at about 7 minutes per passage. I've definitely been getting all of the questions right (or only one wrong) with my new approach, whereas when I did this before I would get 2+ questions wrong per passage, and usually run out of time. Soon I will be doing more passages per sitting and trying to decrease the time needed for easier passages, so that I don't run out of time like I did when I wrote it the first time. I found this website that gives you tips on how to improve your verbal, and it really opened my eyes to what I was doing wrong....not sure if it'll help you at all but here's the link: http://www.studentdoctor.net/2012/09/best-methods-to-improve-your-mcat-verbal-reasoning-vr-score/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
an1721 Posted February 18, 2014 Report Share Posted February 18, 2014 I'd like to hear from other people who have actually rewritten the MCAT and improved their score as well though! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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