Examining Verbal Strategy

[msamadia1231]

Dear Dr. Ferdinand,

I am looking at my verbal and noticed the first passage I had full concentration, I got everything right. The next passage was about Z topic and I got confused and lost, things went downhill.

I tried trying to tell myself during the exam that I would have to explain this to someone, but said to myself "no I don't, and besides what are you thinking you are taking an exam, pay attention" I did try but it wasn't real enough to continue.

I remember I was really into the first one, it talked about humanities and a book that I had read and I was deeply into it. Now how to take 7 passages and be deeply into it in order to answer all the questions.


I drank coffee for the PS and when verbal came I continued with healthy snacks, fiber cereal, sunflower seeds, raisins?, and drank water I think. For the BS section did roughly the same. But now coffee after I finished PS. It's funny b/c I had put away coffee for a while so I thought a little amount would be enough. I remember my head getting heavy reading things I could have cared less about. Topics that came off as deep and deeper, just as to confuse me.

Will an espresso in a thermo ready to drink before the verbal raise dopamine levels really high to keep me excited while reading?

Sincerely,
Matthew

[msamadia1231]

Realizing my disinterest in some verbal passages and lack of train of concentration, I've set out to read topics in social sciences in Scientific American to well verse myself for topics and force an interest into the field. I noticed that my social sciences were the lowest so currently trying to make this a fun process by reading online articles.

I hope the results show.

[msamadia1231]

After withdrawing from caffeine for a little, I began to notice as with my previous AAMC CBT that I felt a little disinterested and not only with verbal, just in general.

For example, I looked at the mistake on BS that I made and those topics I missed were to say a little careless. Eukaryotes I understood and having to read over it and microbiology it just seemed unmotivating.

I made some instant coffee and adding some raw honey mixed it, and I felt pumped to continue studying. My system wasn't used to that much caffeine and now I am begining to realize it gives me the "excitement" to keep reading on. I've been doing MCAT studying for almost a year coming with 7 months pretty intense and it gets you down when your last score was a 25.

Yes it is an improvement from a 13, but the MCAT something so basic you do the question you get wrong b/c the question didn't need base knowledge just looking at a graph and making an educated guess, and you wonder what if that happens again.

For AAMC 9, it so happened that on the PS section, either I studied well, or the questions were straight forward. I can't tell you how many reproduction passages and questions and reading the concepts in Kaplan, Columbia review and now Berkeley review to have missed 2/4 on reproduction.

I felt down about the results and even practicing verbal seems like I am not really improving. All I can say is that when I drink coffee (instant) and sweeten it with honey, I actually want to read more into the passages and Biology over again. I have really tried to deal without it, but I need to have some everyday in order to function properly and keep me on track with studying.


Anyone experience this? Dr. Ferdinand, from so many students emailing you with similar problems, is it bad to just increase by so little with almost a year gone? It feels almost never ending and a little discouraging.

[msamadia1231]

The question on Micro wasn't even about testing knowledge of all the things in micro, but something completely different, as I cannot mention specific questions.

[Zonal]

Mnemonic ("nee-moh-nick") techniques, also referred to as mnemonic strategies, mnemonic devices, or simply mnemonics, are systematic procedures designed to improve one's memory. The word mnemonic derives from the Greek goddess of memory, Mnemosyne, and means "memory enhancing." The most comprehensive treatise on the historical development of mnemonic techniques may be found in Robert Alan Hrees's 1986 doctoral dissertation, in which it is noted that in preliterate cultures "history is preserved orally and the poets, like Homer, tell that history in their rich poetry, 'recited by heart.' [The ancient] Greeks prefaced such performances with a call to Mnemosyne, requesting her aid for a flowing and accurate recitation" (p. 1).

Since the mid-1970s, mnemonic techniques have been the subject of extensive research attention by psychological scientists. This attention has been directed at both analyzing the presumed components of mnemonic techniques and evaluating their effectiveness in numerous applied and academic contexts. As will be seen, mnemonic techniques come in different varieties and combinations. Moreover, the "accurate recitation" goal of the ancient Greeks notwithstanding, mnemonic techniques have been shown to serve a wide range of memory-related functions.