Tips for Verbal Section?
- Take sample reading comprehension tests to assess strengths and weaknesses. Students who took few classes in the humanities often struggle with the verbal reasoning section. If you fall in this category, you must concentrate on improving your reading proficiency, increasing your vocabulary and understanding the form and logic of formal arguments.
- Understand the format of the verbal reasoning section. Test takers must read several 500- to 600-word passages that cover topics in the humanities, social sciences and natural sciences. Following each article is a group of up to ten multiple choice questions that relate only to information presented in the writing. You don't need any prior knowledge to answer the questions correctly. Natural science passages address topics not covered elsewhere on the MCAT.
- Read articles from diverse disciplines while remembering the skills tested in the verbal reasoning section. MCAT questions ask test takers to draw inferences from scholarly articles, to determine the thesis of writing passages and to comprehend and analyze complex arguments. The best way to improve reading comprehension and verbal reasoning is to read scholarly articles frequently.
- Practice taking the MCAT under simulated test conditions. You have only 60 minutes to answer the 40 questions that comprise the verbal reasoning section, so you must learn to pace yourself in advance. The MCAT is computer-based, so take enough computer-based practice tests to become familiar and comfortable with the process.
