How To Find A Great Tutor For Verbal Reasoning

[Johni00]

anyone know how I can find a great verbal tutor who could go over my weakness rather than telling me the strategies that I can easily gain access to online?

 

Im asking this here because most of the people here must have min of 11 on verbal so they probably know about this matter better.

[Aletheist]

There are two ways to raise your VR score:

1. Get lucky with your guesses on the VR section (good luck)

2. Raise your IQ (not feasible)

 

Don't waste your money with a tutor. They can't help you. Just read the passage and answer the questions. There is no secret to doing well on the VR section.

[Johni00]

There are two ways to raise your VR score:

1. Get lucky with your guesses on the VR section (good luck)

2. Raise your IQ (not feasible)

 

Don't waste your money with a tutor. They can't help you. Just read the passage and answer the questions. There is no secret to doing well on the VR section.

I think it would be helpful if someone could sit with me and go through my weaknesses and guide me in a way so I wouldn't make the same mistakes

[ygella]

It's certainly possible to increase your verbal score. It takes practice and patience. I don't think anyone can sit down and tell you why you made a certain mistake on a verbal passage. However, you can do a few passages and look the mistakes you made. Try to figure out why you thought for a particular question the answer was b which in fact the correct answer was a. Figure out your thought process behind answering the questions and see why/how this is different from the actual correct answer and move on from there. As I said before, increasing your score is possible, so make sure you practice it as much as you can.

[Johni00]

It's certainly possible to increase your verbal score. It takes practice and patience. I don't think anyone can sit down and tell you why you made a certain mistake on a verbal passage. However, you can do a few passages and look the mistakes you made. Try to figure out why you thought for a particular question the answer was b which in fact the correct answer was a. Figure out your thought process behind answering the questions and see why/how this is different from the actual correct answer and move on from there. As I said before, increasing your score is possible, so make sure you practice it as much as you can.

hey ygella, thank you for your heart warming reply. I've been doing a pretty good job at finding out my weaknesses, most importantly Im mostly figuring out my weaknesses based on AAMC verbal passages which Im finding myself getting used to the question types that AAMC asks. Main reason Im seeking a tutor is to make sure that Im doing everything in my absolute potential to improve on verbal.

[MathToMed]

Have you considered trying verbal passages with a friend? (Do them individually and then consolidate/debate before looking at the answers?)

[Johni00]

Have you considered trying verbal passages with a friend? (Do them individually and then consolidate/debate before looking at the answers?)

unfortunately I don't have any friends who is taking the mcat currently. I messaged you by the way, not sure if you received it.

[katakari]

I'd recommend paging through a Kaplan verbal book. They have a unique way of categorizing incorrect answers and giving approaches to different question styles that I found would have been incredibly helpful had I known them when I wrote my own MCAT.

[ygella]

I would also recommend the examkrackers book. Their strategy really helped me improved my verbal score. 

[Johni00]

I'd recommend paging through a Kaplan verbal book. They have a unique way of categorizing incorrect answers and giving approaches to different question styles that I found would have been incredibly helpful had I known them when I wrote my own MCAT.

I've took a few kaplan verbal section test, and their way of categorizing incorrect answers are similar to that of EK. but I'm still struggling with AAMC verbal material that I find them more challenging than any other verbal companies.

[Johni00]

I would also recommend the examkrackers book. Their strategy really helped me improved my verbal score. 

I've already exhausted those materials and although I did improve on EK and other verbal companies, my score dropped significantly on AAMC material.

 

my main reason to seek a verbal tutor is to help me figure out my weakness based on AAMC verbal tests.

[kwyhan]

One method TPR uses is categorizing question types.. But honestly, after doing AAMC practice tests and doing the real thing, the questions are not as easily categorized as TPR makes it. Ex. structure question, evaluation question, vocabulary question. 90% of them are inference questions. 

[Johni00]

One method TPR uses is categorizing question types.. But honestly, after doing AAMC practice tests and doing the real thing, the questions are not as easily categorized as TPR makes it. Ex. structure question, evaluation question, vocabulary question. 90% of them are inference questions.

that is exactly the reason my score dropped when I took AAMC practice test. I was so used to the methods of TPR and EK101 in terms of categorizing answer choices that I was no longer flexible in dealing with different questions types. and AAMC requires that flexibility, so its a bit hard to let go of my bad habits.

and Im still looking for a good tutor :/

[km2kenne]

Hey John,

 

What's important with Verbal isn't finding someone who has a great VR score, but someone who has that and is a good teacher. Unfortunately the only way to improve is to do a lot of practice. Don't believe people who tell you you can't improve your VR score. It is definitely possible to improve, but you need to dedicate an equal amount of time to it as you would to any other subject on the MCAT. 

 

Unfortunately it's not easy to tell if someone is going to be a good VR tutor until you've had at least one session with them. Even going through prep companies isn't a guarantee you're going to get a good tutor, but it does provide a little more accountability for things like refunds if the tutor ends up being bad. The downside being most prep companies charge about $100/hour. 

 

I'm actually an MCAT tutor specializing in VR. I scored a 14 in VR on my MCAT and I've been teaching teaching it for a prep company for a couple years now. If you'd like I'd be happy to chat with you over google hangouts or skype and go over where you're struggling. Strategy is a big part of VR but I find the hard thing is to find out what strategies actually work, and then practice enough to start recognizing the common types of questions.