UCAT: Verbal Reasoning

[whys]

I certainly did not sit there counting how many words were in each passage in the exam. The official UCAT practice resources are always going to be the best out there in terms of similarity to the real thing. After all, they are the ones writing your test. However, be aware that there can be variation. I didn’t find that the passages were outrageously long - they were decent and readable in the given timeframe, although others might disagree (this was for MY exam specifically).

Good luck with your practice.

 

[SmartWorker]

Also wdym when you say the mistakes you make are specific??? I

By specific i mean that the mistake i make applies to only in the context of the passage, like how do you generalise your mistakes on VR such that is applicable to any text you read? (hope that makes sense)

 

[Veisn]

I've been trying out a number of strategies for verbal reasoning, but overall I'm very inconsistent regardless of how I approach the questions. Would you guys recommend (a) aiming to answer every question, potentially lowering accuracy, or (b) answer as many as you can while maintaining higher accuracy? Also, I have had some success with scanning the passage first before looking at the questions, although most people seem to prefer to use the keyword scanning technique (after reading the question). Which did you use/which are you planning to use? Thanks for the help!

 

[laik]

Not sure if this has already been answered so sorry if it has- but in terms of VR specifically, how do you get above 'the plateau'? I've plateaued on VR and I find I'm getting reasonable scores (so i feel my strategy works), but to really boost my scores any idea as to what should I do? Thanks

 

[Rei]

laik could you share with us what has been working for u ?

 

[laik]

Sure. personally, reading the question and scanning for keywords from there works best for me. I also just work really fast and skip when a question takes too long (and come back to it if there's time). Not sure if that's a strategy haha, but it works for me. I usually make around 6-10 mistakes, which I'm ok with, but I'd like to improve from there.

 

[Rei]

Sure. personally, reading the question and scanning for keywords from there works best for me. I also just work really fast and skip when a question takes too long (and come back to it if there's time). Not sure if that's a strategy haha, but it works for me. I usually make around 6-10 mistakes, which I'm ok with, but I'd like to improve from there.

Sometimes when im scanning for keywords, i end up reading the whole text .-. how do i stop that from happening

 

[laik]

I'm probably not the best person to give advice cause I still haven't done an actual UCAT yet (this year will be my first time), but maybe really try restricting yourself from spending too much time on the questions where you can't find the keyword? I just quickly skim each paragraph looking for the word (sometimes subvocalising the keyword while I'm searching for it helps) and if I don't get the answer within say, 15 seconds, i just flag and move on. Also keep in mind that different people have different strategies so you may find that looking for keywords works with practise, or you may find that quickly skimming the whole passage without looking for keywords may work as well for you. Hope this helps and all the best

 

[cocodreams]

Hi, I am confused as to whether "scimitar or crook" can be inferred to be two similar things or two different things?

 

[Don Carlo]

Hi, I am confused as to whether "scimitar or crook" can be inferred to be two similar things or two different things?
View attachment 4676View attachment 4677

I honestly would've put cant tell based on the text u sent. cos, just looking from that, there isn't any solid evidence that the Mesopotamians thought they were different or similar to each other (could be wrong tho its kinda hard for me to understand that text). Was there more references to crooks and scimitar later on the text???

 

[cocodreams]

I honestly would've put cant tell based on the text u sent. cos, just looking from that, there isn't any solid evidence that the Mesopotamians thought they were different or similar to each other (could be wrong tho its kinda hard for me to understand that text). Was there more references to crooks and scimitar later on the text???

No there wasn't any further mention of it which is why I also put can't tell because it's not directly stated and you can infer it in a different way

 

[Miata]

If you cut down the sentence to just the aspects you need to focus on, it becomes:
"The first record was in Mesopotamia representing a scimitar or crook."
From that, you can somewhat infer that they would draw some resemblance to each other if something can be represented by the both of them.
Hope this helps. I have to agree that question is pretty tricky...

 

[cocodreams]

If you cut down the sentence to just the aspects you need to focus on, it becomes:
"The first record was in Mesopotamia representing a scimitar or crook."
From that, you can somewhat infer that they would draw some resemblance to each other if something can be represented by the both of them.
Hope this helps. I have to agree that question is pretty tricky...

"if something can be represented by the both of them" - that's a really good way to put it! Thanks

 

[fm8]

hey so I'm really trying to differentiate T/F/C statements

I was wondering what people thought of this question. The information is found in paragraph 2.
I put cant tell because there was insufficient information. but the answer is false but uses the reasoning og " we're not really told...."
this question is from the UCAT official question bank

HELP!!

 

[walaili]

hi friends!
was wondering how u could directly link the american civil war to any time period here? cant make any connections with the reconstruction era?? or am i missin somethin

 

[Don Carlo]

hi friends!
was wondering how u could directly link the american civil war to any time period here? cant make any connections with the reconstruction era?? or am i missin somethinView attachment 4689

Aight, so we are told that:
1. Gilded age began in "the years after the American Civil War" - 2nd sentence first para
2. "Gilded Age was then FOLLOWED by the Progressive era" - last sentence of first para

Hence, the order is: USA civil war, Gilded Age, Progressive Era.
Therefore, USA civil war came before progressive era ---> true

Also dude, all the best for your exam! Remain calm and whatever happens, happens. I'm sure you've prepped a lot and you just gotta trust yourself

 

[Anonymous987]

Guys, How close is the Official Pearson Verbal Reasoning Practice Bank Questions to the UCAT in terms of diffuclty/length. Hopefully its a good represnetation since doing a few questions I realised it reuqires you to read and understand it fully ?

 

[5ushi]

Guys, How close is the Official Pearson Verbal Reasoning Practice Bank Questions to the UCAT in terms of diffuclty/length. Hopefully its a good represnetation since doing a few questions I realised it reuqires you to read and understand it fully ?

Hey! Personally I found the VR questions in the Official Pearson Verbal Reasoning Practice Bank to be VERY VERY similar to the real UCAT. It's 100% worth doing those questions and building a solid technique + actively reflecting on the questions you get wrong.

hey so I'm really trying to differentiate T/F/C statements

I was wondering what people thought of this question. The information is found in paragraph 2.
I put cant tell because there was insufficient information. but the answer is false but uses the reasoning og " we're not really told...."
this question is from the UCAT official question bank

HELP!!



View attachment 4682

Hey the question says "Porcelain became cheap ", but this in contradicted by the fact that "the Chinese had a flourishing export business to satisfy the demands of the European upper-classes". My reasoning for selecting false would be that the passage states that the demand is coming from the upper-class implying that porcelain isn't cheap.

 

[swagatronium]

Hey! Personally I found the VR questions in the Official Pearson Verbal Reasoning Practice Bank to be VERY VERY similar to the real UCAT. It's 100% worth doing those questions and building a solid technique + actively reflecting on the questions you get wrong.

Thanks for the heads-up 5ushi

Hey guys, seen some advice in this thread with regards to how you should approach your VR mistakes, but I'm wondering if anybody else has anything they're doing that might help. (Content removed)

Also, I have seen some great advice on expanding your reading, so thanks for that guys

 

[mmorris]

I've found these two sources super helpful for getting higher scores in VR practice

1: (content removed)

2: Scientific Speed Reading: How to Read 300% Faster in 20 Minutes