<p>In what ways are these two sections different or similar? If the critical reading on the SAT's wasn't exactly your strong point, are you screwed for the MCAT?</p>
<p>Umm...MCAT verbal is harder. I think generally if you're weren't good at SAT verbal, you're not going to be super at MCAT verbal. If you were good at SAT verbal, you still may not be good at MCAT verbal. I had 790 on SAT verbal but only a 10 on MCAT verbal.</p>
<p>bigredmed is on record as disagreeing with me - and he teaches for Kaplan - but my opinion is that the MCAT VR is basically like the SAT CR except much harder.</p>
<p>The easy questions ("What was the general theme of the passage?") are gone, replaced with much harder ones ("What assumption does the author rely on?") and in that sense is much like the LSAT's arguments section.</p>
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<p>Furthermore, reading comprehension is a key component of the rest of the MCAT, as well, as the science components (PS & BS) are based on passages about the subject at hand.</p>
<p>i see. Well then i guess i already know where i'll have to focus a lot of attention</p>
<p>Focus a lot on your well-rounded education - academic reading and writing skills generally - and, when MCAT time comes around, study hard for those few months.</p>
<p>A good testtaker taking the SAT is a Ferrari driving on an open stretch of highway, you're going 85, but you could easily go 160 if you really needed to, and the bumps along the way are really minor. Take that same test taker on the MCAT, and you plunk that Ferrari down into some deep, rocky, muddy swamps where the thing spins its wheels and gets stuck in quicksand. You've got a nice 600 hp engine, but without some thick tires and Range-Rover style body, it's not going anywhere fast.</p>
<p>Haha...</p>
<p>By this analogy, though, since Range Rovers don't do that well on the open freeway, somebody who did well on the MCAT isn't going to do well on the SAT...</p>
<p>And I believe that's somewhat true. Someone who uses the identical strategies for the MCAT on the SAT will likely overanalyze the passage and not go back to the passage for certain vocabulary in context questions. Not to say that a high scorer on the MCAT couldn't do extremely well on the SAT, it's just that they'd have to adjust their strategy slightly.</p>
<p>am i supposed to be gathering that even if SAT verbal wasn't my strongest i can still do well on the MCAT? lol</p>
<p>so if i got like 61/64 for a grandtotal of 770 on the sat cr section should i be able to hit a 12 or so on the mcat verbal</p>
<p>by the way bluedevilmike thanks for that link to the faq's for duke's health professionals site it had a lot of good info for applicants, even if they aren't going to duke</p>
<p>There's no way to make that correlation. As nike has pointed out, the skill sets are different.</p>
<p>Not to mention a 12 is just plain harder than a 770 anyway.</p>