SDstudent,

You've highlighted a a significant problem in reading and test taking and it bite most students at times of test.

Its called extreme wording. You have to train yourself to pay attention to extreme wording such as not, never, always and every . These are easily overlooked since normally there is no visual association for these words. Try imagining not, or always... they mean nothing to the conscious mind on their own but they change the meaning of the message. A good writer will avoid writing in the the extreme but in test they show up a lot. And because in test one feels a bit more rushed they are even more readily overlook. So the key becomes use your PR skills to look for them.

It seem you feel you have a weak area in verbal reasoning. Well from what you say about your Photoreading ability I think you would be successful in direct learning from books that teach verbal reasoning skills. Find 4 or 5 of the best books and do a direct learning session with them. Since verbal reasoning is a skill that you need to practice it is highly unlikely that being able to PR a test alone will be the magic pill.You somehow need to learn verbal reasoning. You need to read the right books that help you to learn, understand, remember and use verbal reasoning skills.

Since you see the Photoreading skill in a positive light it can still help you. Remember everyone discovers the "true potential" of photoreading at their own pace.
Having been disappointed with your MCAT result... again... could in fact be a result of inner fear and overwhelming apprehension given that this was your third attempt. Also you've noticed yourself that you fall prey to extreme wording. I am guessing that you saw that you fell for this during the test. This also highlight consideratble tension on your part during testtaking. Understandable really. My suggestion is you work on entering the accelerative learning state some more. Go back to the earliest session i.e the first time where Paul trains you and repeat that for each photoreading session for a few days. The later sessions are shortened a bit. So that you become more confident entering it on your own. Once you are able to relax and let go of any tension that time limits create on you, you'll find Photoreading a lot more productive and probably will experience a lot less anxiety during tests.

Sorry there is nothing that I can really say that can lift the load of disappointment.

Alex

[This message has been edited by AlexK (edited June 11, 2002).]