<p>Are the Economist and WSJ the only things that are good to read/helpful for the MCAT? Would reading things outside the sciences (economy, philosophy, ethnic, etc.) be helpful or does it not matter what you read as long as it’s high level material?</p>
<p>And is there anything else that high school students (seniors) could do to get a head start on the MCAT?</p>
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<p>Yes that would be helpful - in the Verbal section, passages come from all disciplines, not only the sciences.</p>
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<p>There’s really nothing that a high school student can or should do to prepare for the MCAT. Sure, start reading difficult material, but to do that for the sole purpose of preparing for the MCAT would be foolish.</p>
<p>Nothing will help Verbal. You read the way you read, period. Just take practice tests, so you are used to texts on the test. My D. was consistently below in Verbal then other sessions on practice tests. She just got lucky during real test to get her highest practice Verbal test score. </p>
<p>HS kids should not waste time to prep. for MCAT. College freshmen should not do it either. It takes few months (for some few weeks) to prep. for MCAT. Do it right before you plan to take test.</p>
<p>SDN wisdom says that “balanced” is every section being greater than or equal to an 8…so 11 8 11 is acceptable, but 12 6 12 would not be. I believe this is because of the schools that have MCAT cutoffs, the individual section cutoff for the majority of these schools is an 8.</p>
<p>SDN wisdom, that has to be my new fave oxymoron :)</p>
<p>Shoot for doing as well as you can in every section, and study hard for each of them so that the odds of you doing about the same in each section (maybe better on whatever section you’re most confident about) are as good as possible.</p>
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<p>What? Why on earth would this be the case? Obviously you improve in reading from age 2 through age 12, and then age 12 through age 18. Why would you stop there?</p>
<p>Practice will help you improve. Not raw practice on its own, of course. Sit down. Process the structure of the essay. The function of each sentence. The purpose of the logic chain in the argument.</p>
<p>Perfect practice makes perfect.</p>
<p>^^^</p>
<p>I agree…and also realizing that you may be doing somethings that impede your reading is also a big help.</p>
<p>My son used to be a slow reader. Then we discovered that he was “pronouncing” each word in his head. I guess that is common with some slow readers. Once he learned just to “absorb” the words as his eyes quickly pass over them (without silently pronouncing in his head), his reading speed improved enormously. </p>
<p>Now, that may not have much to do with reading comprehension, but it meant that he could then finish passages in a timely manner and have extra time to review.</p>
<p>^I actually think that’s what I do too. I am a slow reader (hence, why I couldn’t take the ACT because the time limit killed me), so that’s part of the reason why I want to start reading much more. I want to expose myself to challenging material that will help me for college-level reading and the MCAT as a by-product of that reading. Also, I’m hoping that I can improve speed while reading more and more.</p>
<p>Take some reading-intensive humanities courses, such as philosophy? While they may not help with speed, phil should enhance reading comp.</p>
<p>“What? Why on earth would this be the case? Obviously you improve in reading from age 2 through age 12”</p>
<p>-It is also obvious that niether 2 nor 12 years olds are preparing for taking MCAT. I obviously meant that in few months / weeks (depending on individual preferences) it is impossible to improve Verbal score. It is possible to get more familiar with texts by taking practice tests, but it will not result in significant improvement. One will not go from 8 to 14 in practice Verbal tests, while it is very possible to do so in other sections.</p>
<p>Your post #63 was a response to posts #61-62, which were discussing a yearslong plan.</p>
<p>But in any case, it’s still not true. Over a period of months or weeks, there’s plenty of room to learn how the questions are formulated, figure out these particular passages, and above all refine your reading strategy to seek out better detail and outlining.</p>
<p>^Well, it just did not happened to my D (Verbal / Reading has been lowest in all of her exams / tests in a past), while overall improvement was very significant and she was very happy with her MCAT score.</p>
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<p>You can’t make that type of generalization based on one person’s experience.</p>
<p>I went from a 9 to a 15 repeatedly on section tests after a month or two of preparing–the only section I ever got a perfect score on during practice tests. Ended up with an 11 on the real thing (got off on timing, bummer)–so while your kiddo might be an example of how strategy and some studying doesn’t help much, I’d like to think I’m an example of how it’s totally possible.</p>
<p>Really, it’s just a matter of “giving in” and really using the strategies you learn during classes or practice tests and not continuing to test and approach the test the same way as you have for other tests (like ACT). Once I figured that out, it was cake. </p>
<p>I’m confident that had I stayed on track timing-wise on my test day, I would have ended up 13+. My mistake though!</p>
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<p>Geez…I fought so hard with the kaplan students I taught to get them to “give in”. The students who make it that far are good test takers, and the idea of doing something new that is uncomfortable and may even result in them doing worse for a time is a real stumbling block…although on the other hand, it gives those of us able to adapt a leg up I suppose - and look where’s it got me!</p>
<p>Enlighten me…what do you mean by “giving in”? What are students doing when they’re not giving in? And what do they need to do?</p>
<p>For students who have had great success on standardized tests (and everything else they have ever been graded on), there is a strong belief structure that has built up that they can just overpower any test with their intellect and generalized mad test taking skillZ. EDIT: It is a belief built from equal parts hubris and naivete. ;)</p>
<p>They resist the techniques, tricks, and unproven (to them) theories taught by the test prep bunch. They continue to believe content knowledge will win out over a better understanding of what the test-takers are actually testing (and it’s not content knowledge) which is “timed critical reading and thinking”. </p>
<p>They view the techniques taught by the test prep folks as sham, as goofy, as risky, and as unnecessary. </p>
<p>If they don’t get that out of their mind, if they do not suspend their disbelief, if they can’t make that leap of faith, they may still have a good chance to do well on the test if they truly are content prepared and great/fast test-takers, but it is unlikely they will ever do well enough to be among the top test-takers. They will hit a wall.</p>
<p>I have never taken the test but I know my kid backwards and forwards. She took her first diagnostic real retired exam after first-year and before organic or physics and under test conditions. She made a 31 virtually cold. (She’s really good at taking tests.)</p>
<p>She used examcrackers and a used set of current Kaplan materials and, in her opinion, “prepared” for the test for 6-8 weeks while working full-time. Over that time her scores on timed complete retired tests were iirc never below 32 never above a 36 (maybe once). </p>
<p>A post mortem discussion about a re-take found that she just did not believe what they were preaching. (EDIT: And consequently, used very little of it.)</p>
<p>You gotta believe. That’s what they mean by “giving in”. Does she believe today? Probably not completely. But I do. ;)</p>
<p>What I am saying is that time is very limited resource. We all should try to max return on investment of limited resources. Yes, prep. will help in all sections, but while it is very reasonable to expect to improve 4 - 6 points in other sections, it is nor very reasonable to improve that much in Verbal in short period of time while MCAT prep. is one of many activities (all of which are very important, like pursuing high GPA)</p>
<p>Kristin,
coincidently, D. also had 11 in Verbal. However, her practice tests fluctuated 9 to 11 right from the start. She was just extremely lucky to get her highest practice score for Verbal section in her real exam (very rare). She did try all that was suggested (including Economist). However, she was glad that she has spent majority of her time on other sections, since return on time investment for PS and BS was very evident.</p>
<p>So, my D came in and read my post at #77. Her response? “Well, yeah. Maybe so, Dad. But I still win.” lol.</p>
<p>Maybe we’ll work on “adaptability” a little. ;)</p>
<p>And BTW, that’s why I would prefer the in-person class to the on-line or just staudying the materials on your won. She didn’t have Brm “fighting” her. I’m sure he would have been more persuasive than a screen she could just click through or a page she could turn.</p>
<p>I think this thread may have the highest views to post ratio of any non-stickied thread ever in this forum.</p>