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MCAT Verbal Reasoning & Writing Review (Graduate School Test Preparation) PDF

436 Pages·2010·12.23 MB·English
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MCAT ® Verbal Reasoning & Writing Review The Staff of The Princeton Review Random House, Inc. New York 00 MCAT VR FM.indd 1 1/25/10 12:11 PM The Princeton Review, Inc. Editorial 2315 Broadway Rob Franek, VP Test Prep Books, Publisher New York, NY 10024 Seamus Mullarkey, Editorial Director E-mail: [email protected] Laura Braswell, Senior Editor Rebecca Lessem, Senior Editor Copyright © 2010 by The Princeton Review, Inc. Heather Brady, Editor Selena Coppock, Editor All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Random House, Inc., New York, and in Canada by Ran- Production Services dom House of Canada Limited, Toronto. Scott Harris, Executive Director, Production Services Kim Howie, Senior Graphic Designer Terms of Service: The Princeton Review Online Ryan Tozzi, Production Manager Companion Tools (“Online Companion Tools”) for the Cracking book series and MCAT Verbal Reasoning and Writing Review are available for the most recent edition. Production Editorial Online Companion Tools may be activated only once per Meave Shelton, Production Editor eligible book purchased. Activation of Online Companion Jennifer Graham, Production Editor Tools more than once per book is in direct violation of these Terms of Service and may result in discontinua- Kristen O’Toole, Production Editor tion of access to Online Companion Tools Services. Random House Publishing Team Every attempt has been made to obtain permission Tom Russell, Publisher to reproduce material protected by copyright. Where Nicole Benhabib, Publishing Manager omissions may have occurred the editors will be happy Ellen L. Reed, Production Manager to acknowledge this in future printings. Alison Stoltzfus, Associate Managing Editor Elham Shabahat, Publishing Assistant ISBN: 978-0-375-42796-1 ISSN: 2150-8909 Editor: Laura Braswell Production Coordinator: Kim Howie Production Editor: Kristen O’Toole Printed in China. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 00 MCAT VR FM.indd 2 2/19/10 1:01 PM CONTRIBUTORS Jennifer S. Wooddell Senior Author and Editor Edited for Production by Judene Wright, M.S., M.A.Ed. National Content Director, MCAT Program, The Princeton Review Jennifer and Judene would like to thank the following people for their contributions to this book: Elizabeth Aamot (Fatith), John Bahling, M.D., Gary Bedford, Jessica Burstrem, M.A., Alix Claps, M.A., Cynthia Cowan, B.A., Sara Daniel, B.S., Cory Eicher, B.A., (James) Ben Gill, Jacqueline R. Giordano, Gina Granter, M.A., Corinne Harol, Christopher Hinkle, Th.D., Alison Howard, Paul Kugelmass, Jay Lee, Rohit Madani, B.S., Mike Matera, B.A., Ashleigh Men- hadji, Katherine Montgomery, Don Osborne, Rupal Patel, B.S., Vivek Patel, Tyler Peikes, Nadia Reynolds, M.A., Maryam Shambayati, M.S., Angela Song, Kate Speiker, David Stoll, Jonathan Swirsky, Neil Thornton, Laura Tubelle de González, and David Weiskopf, M.A. 00 MCAT VR FM.indd 3 1/25/10 12:11 PM MCAT VERBAL REASONING & WRITING REVIEW VERBAL REASONING CONTENTS CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................................................... 1 CHAPTER 2: INTRODUCTION TO MCAT VERBAL REASONING ........................................................................... 15 2.1 The Verbal Reasoning Section ........................................................................................................ 16 2.2 Developing Your Verbal Reasoning Skills ..................................................................................... 17 2.3 Fundamentals: The Six Steps ......................................................................................................... 18 2.4 Guidelines for Using Your Review Materials ................................................................................ 20 2.5 Self Evaluation .................................................................................................................................... 21 Chapter 2 Summary .......................................................................................................................... 25 Chapter 2 Practice Passages ......................................................................................................... 26 Solutions to Chapter 2 Practice Passages ................................................................................. 30 CHAPTER 3: ACTIVE READING ................................................................................................................................. 35 3.1 Basic Approach: The Six Steps ....................................................................................................... 36 3.2 Strategies for Active Reading: Getting to the Bottom Line ................................................... 37 3.3 Passage Annotation and Mapping ................................................................................................. 38 3.4 Habits of Effective Readers ............................................................................................................ 41 3.5 Dos and Don’ts for Active Reading ................................................................................................ 42 3.6 Verbal Reading Exercises: Active Reading .................................................................................. 43 Chapter 3 Summary .......................................................................................................................... 54 Chapter 3 Practice Passages ......................................................................................................... 55 Solutions to Chapter 3 Practice Passages ................................................................................. 60 CHAPTER 4: QUESTION TYPES AND STRATEGIES .............................................................................................. 65 4.1 Review: The Six Steps ....................................................................................................................... 66 4.2 Attacking the Questions ................................................................................................................... 67 4.3 Question Types and Formats .......................................................................................................... 71 4.4 Question Types: Sample Passage and Questions ..................................................................... 72 4.5 Verbal Reasoning Exercises: Identifying Question Types ....................................................... 97 Chapter 4 Summary .......................................................................................................................... 99 Chapter 4 Practice Passages ......................................................................................................... 100 Solutions to Chapter 4 Practice Passages ................................................................................. 105 CHAPTER 5: THE PROCESS OF ELIMINATION (POE) AND ATTRACTORS ....................................................... 111 5.1 The Process of Elimination .............................................................................................................. 112 5.2 Attractors ............................................................................................................................................. 114 5.3 POE Dos and Don’ts ........................................................................................................................... 117 5.4 Stress Management .......................................................................................................................... 118 Chapter 5 Summary .......................................................................................................................... 120 Chapter 5 Practice Passages ......................................................................................................... 121 Solutions to Chapter 5 Practice Passages ................................................................................. 127 00 MCAT VR FM.indd 4 2/17/10 11:10 AM CONTENTS CHAPTER 6: RANKING AND ORDERING THE PASSAGES ................................................................................... 135 6.1 Why Rank the Passages? ................................................................................................................. 136 6.2 Assessing Difficulty Level: NOW, LATER, and KILLER ............................................................... 137 6.3 Ordering the Section ......................................................................................................................... 139 6.4 Verbal Reasoning Exercises: Ranking .......................................................................................... 140 Chapter 6 Summary .......................................................................................................................... 147 Chapter 6 Practice Passages ......................................................................................................... 148 Solutions to Chapter 6 Practice Passages ................................................................................. 153 CHAPTER 7: MAPS: FOCUS ON STRUCTURE ....................................................................................................... 159 7.1 The Structure of a Passage ............................................................................................................ 160 7.2 The MAPS of a Passage .................................................................................................................... 161 7.3 Verbal Reasoning Exercise: MAPS ................................................................................................. 166 7.4 Dealing with Stress ............................................................................................................................ 179 Chapter 7 Summary .......................................................................................................................... 180 Chapter 7 Practice Passages ......................................................................................................... 181 Solutions to Chapter 7 Practice Passages ................................................................................. 186 CHAPTER 8: STRATEGY AND TACTICS ................................................................................................................... 193 8.1 Maximizing Your Performance ....................................................................................................... 194 8.2 Focus on Pacing ................................................................................................................................. 197 8.3 Refining Your Pacing ......................................................................................................................... 198 8.4 Verbal Reasoning Exercises: Pacing and Self-Evaluation ...................................................... 200 Chapter 8 Summary .......................................................................................................................... 206 Chapter 8 Practice Passages ......................................................................................................... 207 Solutions to Chapter 8 Practice Passages ................................................................................. 212 CHAPTER 9: REFINING YOUR SKILLS ..................................................................................................................... 219 9.1 Continuing the Self-Evaluation Process ..................................................................................... 220 9.2 Refining Your Skills ............................................................................................................................ 221 9.3 Managing Stress: Preparing for the Day of the Test ................................................................ 239 Chapter 9 Summary .......................................................................................................................... 240 Chapter 9 Practice Passages ......................................................................................................... 241 Solutions to Chapter 9 Practice Passages ................................................................................. 246 CHAPTER 10: FINAL PREPARATION ........................................................................................................................ 251 10.1 Mental Preparation ............................................................................................................................ 252 Chapter 10 Practice Passages ....................................................................................................... 253 Solutions to Chapter 10 Practice Passages ............................................................................... 258 00 MCAT VR FM.indd 5 2/19/10 1:04 PM MCAT VERBAL REASONING & WRITING REVIEW WRITING SAMPLE CONTENTS CHAPTER 11: INTRODUCTION TO THE MCAT WRITING SAMPLE ....................................................................... 263 11.1 Introduction to the MCAT Writing Sample ................................................................................... 264 11.2 The Prompt and the Tasks ............................................................................................................... 266 11.3 How to Prepare for the Essay ......................................................................................................... 268 11.4 Writing Sample Exercises ................................................................................................................ 270 Chapter 11 Summary ........................................................................................................................ 276 CHAPTER 12: THE T-A-S STRUCTURE ..................................................................................................................... 277 12.1 Options and Imperatives Prompts ................................................................................................ 278 12.2 The T-A-S Structure .......................................................................................................................... 279 12.3 Hallmarks of a Good Essay .............................................................................................................. 282 12.4 Numerical Scoring Guidelines ......................................................................................................... 284 12.5 An Essay-Writing Timetable ........................................................................................................... 285 12.6 Writing Sample Exercises ................................................................................................................ 286 Chapter 12 Summary ........................................................................................................................ 297 CHAPTER 13: PREWRITING ........................................................................................................................................ 299 13.1 Prewriting: A 4-Step Process ......................................................................................................... 300 13.2 Writing Sample Exercises ................................................................................................................ 304 13.3 Timed Essay #1 .................................................................................................................................. 308 Chapter 13 Summary ........................................................................................................................ 313 CHAPTER 14: FOCUS ON THE THESIS ...................................................................................................................... 315 14.1 Articulate the Thesis Principle ....................................................................................................... 316 14.2 A Thesis Paragraph Model ............................................................................................................... 317 14.3 Generating Strong Examples .......................................................................................................... 321 14.4 Putting It All Together ....................................................................................................................... 323 14.5 Writing Sample Exercises ................................................................................................................ 324 14.6 Timed Essay #2 .................................................................................................................................. 327 Chapter 14 Summary ........................................................................................................................ 331 CHAPTER 15: FOCUS ON THE ANTITHESIS ............................................................................................................. 333 15.1 Focus on the Antithesis .................................................................................................................... 334 15.2 An Antithesis Paragraph Model ...................................................................................................... 335 15.3 Putting It All Together ....................................................................................................................... 338 15.4 Writing Sample Exercises ................................................................................................................ 339 Chapter 15 Summary ........................................................................................................................ 344 00 MCAT VR FM.indd 6 1/25/10 12:11 PM CONTENTS CHAPTER 16: FOCUS ON THE SYNTHESIS .............................................................................................................. 345 16.1 The Synthesis Rule ............................................................................................................................ 346 16.2 A Synthesis Paragraph Model ......................................................................................................... 347 16.3 Putting It All Together ....................................................................................................................... 349 16.4 Using Synthesis Dichotomies ......................................................................................................... 350 16.5 Avoiding Circular Reasoning ............................................................................................................ 351 16.6 Writing Sample Exercises ................................................................................................................ 353 16.7 Timed Essay #3 .................................................................................................................................. 359 Chapter 16 Summary ........................................................................................................................ 362 CHAPTER 17: WRITING CLEARLY: PART 1 .............................................................................................................. 363 17.1 Writing Clearly: Style ......................................................................................................................... 364 17.2 Writing Sample Exercises ................................................................................................................ 371 17.3 Timed Essay #4 .................................................................................................................................. 374 Chapter 17 Summary ........................................................................................................................ 378 CHAPTER 18: WRITING CLEARLY: PART 2 .............................................................................................................. 379 18.1 Using Punctuation Wisely ................................................................................................................ 380 18.2 Eliminating Fragments and Run-Ons ........................................................................................... 383 18.3 Bringing Your Nouns and Pronouns into Agreement ................................................................ 383 18.4 Using Nonsexist Language .............................................................................................................. 384 18.5 Putting It All Together ....................................................................................................................... 384 18.6 Writing Sample Exercises ................................................................................................................ 385 18.7 Timed Essay #5 .................................................................................................................................. 388 Chapter 18 Summary ........................................................................................................................ 392 CHAPTER 19: FINAL PREPARATION ......................................................................................................................... 393 19.1 Before the Exam ................................................................................................................................. 394 19.2 Writing Sample Exercises ................................................................................................................ 395 VERBAL REASONING APPENDIX .............................................................................................................................. 397 Applying Verbal Reasoning Techniques to the Science Passages ....................................... 398 WRITING SAMPLE APPENDIX ................................................................................................................................... 411 A.1 National Council of Teachers Guidelines for Nonsexist Language ....................................... 412 A.2 Interview and Personal Statement Preparation Questions ................................................... 414 Passage Permissions Information ................................................................................................ 417 00 MCAT VR FM.indd 7 2/17/10 11:11 AM 00 MCAT VR FM.indd 8 1/25/10 12:11 PM

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The MCAT tests more than specific subject knowledge in biology, chemistry, and physics. In order to conquer this test, you’ll also need strong problem-solving and critical-thinking skills, and the Princeton Review’s MCAT Verbal Reasoning and Writing Review will help! The Verbal Reasoning sectio
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