people who have difficulty with standardized test

[spartan87]

hi, i was just hoping to hear some people share their stories on how they overcame their difficulties taking standardized test and got the score they wanted on the mcat..I am in a princeton review course and just finished taking my first full length practice exam and got a VERY poor score..a little embarrassed to even say what it is, and i couldnt even finish doing any of the essays.. Im a slow test taker and couldnt finish any section on time..I am a pretty good student, I have a 3.8 gpa after completing all basic sciences and a few upperlevel science classes too...so somebody who went through the same situation say something encouraging!...please

[jameslynton]

I understand where you are coming from - I am dyslexic. The Princeton review is very good on the sciences. Their failing is on the verbal part (most important part). I know of two students who were very good on science part but got 2-3's on the verbal. They did not get accepted into any US school on their first attempt. I got a call from one and he worked only on the verbal area and is enter a US school this fall (hint-hint). He said the verbal work increased his science scores also.

My suggestion for verbal is the two examkrakers books on verbal. I am also suggesting students spend 70% of their work time for the MCAT on verbal section and 30% on science. If reading is an issue. There are many good books on increasing your reading comprehension. I suggest the small Barron's GRE book to build and re-enforce your vocabulary. The Kaplan and Princeton method of read and go back does not work on the MCAT. You have to read once and pick up the themes, tones and such. It is more touchy feely and subjective reasoning than figuring moles. Hope this helps!

[argazul]

practice practice practice. know how time moves. try to check time after every passage to measure your speed (not recommended for test day, should be figured out during practice). i knew at what points i wanted to finish each passage with questions. if i was ahead i would continue with that same reading speed (not slow down), if i was behind i would read faster and answer questions faster.

Another thing you should check is whether you get bogged down on one or two questions. if that's the case then use your instincts, guess, and move on. These are some of the techniques i used.

[argazul]

agree with james, verbal most important even for science sections.