Reading Comp.

Here is what worked for me: I spent about 8 minutes reading the whole passage first, this way I more or less know where the info is and what the passage is about. Then I spent the remaining 12 min for the questions. I read the question and went right to the paragraph that has the appropriate info.

Since most of the questions are very direct they only require you to find the right place in the passage to answer correctly. If you read the passage first, you will be well oriented and can easy zoom in on the right section to answer the questions.

You can try this method; see if it works for you. Remember it takes some practice. But, if you don't see improvements try a different method that might be better for you.

Good luck.

I agree-
take about eight mins to scan/quick read the passage, durring this time use your scratch paper and write a few key words (4-5) per paragraph number your list the same way the passage is numbered. Now you scratch paper will act as a map. if you get stuck on a question skip it and come back to it after you have done all the other questions for that passage but before you go on to your next passage. don't waste time trying to 'pre-read' the questions, it will mess you up for the overall content questions.

practice alot- it is all about timing and how well you can do under pressure. remember to breath. you will do fine.
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i tried to read the question and look for the answer and it was a bad idea. i finished the test, but i guessed on 4 questions. now, i want to try differnet method. first, i am going to look at the questions for the passage. then write down some words to remind me of each question. second, i am going to read what i wrote down twice or three times. third, i am going to go back to the passage and read it very fast until i see a key word or sentence that answer the question. this way i will read or look at each paragraph only once, and i think it will work fine.

try it and see if it works with you. reading comprehension should be easy.

Yea just scan the passage quickly and then look at the questions and search for the answers...I got a 23 this way and had time at the end. I tried the method where you write down keywords and stuff but it always took too much time. Goodluck.

here's wat i did.. i took maybe 2 mins to scan the paragraph.. and the rest of the time to look for the answers.. no road map or anything. for me the road map is too time consuming.. and i can't read wat i wrote anyways..

having taken the DAT, i can tell you from experiance you need to read the passages. the questions are like this, "which of the following BEST describes the author's view points" and then there are 5 choices. none of which give you a clear idea. the real thing does not even come close to what kaplan, topscore or acethedat have as their practice exams. best tip i can tell you is, when you take the exam put on those headphones and just relax. its better to answer a few correctly than to mess all of them up. good luck.

786mine said:

having taken the DAT, i can tell you from experiance you need to read the passages. the questions are like this, "which of the following BEST describes the author's view points" and then there are 5 choices. none of which give you a clear idea. the real thing does not even come close to what kaplan, topscore or acethedat have as their practice exams. best tip i can tell you is, when you take the exam put on those headphones and just relax. its better to answer a few correctly than to mess all of them up. good luck.

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also having taken the DAT, these question, unlike the MCAT, are few and far between. I maybe had one where is asked for the main point or attitude.

but i do agree that reading the passage is a must, i am a slow reader but i still had time to read every passage and go through the answers. If you have a decent memory you might not need to waist the time to write key notes on paper. For me reading the passage was enough to know where is what.

786mine said:

having taken the DAT, i can tell you from experiance you need to read the passages. the questions are like this, "which of the following BEST describes the author's view points" and then there are 5 choices. none of which give you a clear idea. the real thing does not even come close to what kaplan, topscore or acethedat have as their practice exams. best tip i can tell you is, when you take the exam put on those headphones and just relax. its better to answer a few correctly than to mess all of them up. good luck.

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I agree these questions require a lot more attention and thought. but you get an idea of this while skimming thru the passage. I usually make my best guess and mark the question. There's no sense in taking 5 mins for this single question when you can answer 5 other questions in that 5 minutes. Yeah, going back later might be a little harder to recall, but I'll take that risk over not being able to see the rest of the questions in the section.

I don't think reading the passages is a must at all. If you can scan keywords well enough, just go ahead and start looking for the answers. This was advice from a sdn'er and it worked for me, I got a 23

vaio said:

I don't think reading the passages is a must at all. If you can scan keywords well enough, just go ahead and start looking for the answers. This was advice from a sdn'er and it worked for me, I got a 23

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Does anyone recommend using the Kaplan mapping method? Kaplan gives you 50 minutes for the practice so Im usually running a little short on time but I think with practice this method would be preety good.

Also, the 10 extra minutes on the real test would help

i tried kaplan's roadmap.. it was a disaster for me.. i couldn't locate anything either due to sloppy handwriting or bad word selection.. so it's time consuming for me.. maybe if you practice at it.. u'll get good, i never really gave it much of a chance since i saw no immediate improvement. i'm satisfied w/ a 21.

I wouldn't recommend using the road map or whatever method they've invented, just practice finding answers quickly by searching for keywords. I didn't even prepare for the reading comp. section or do any practice either. It really isn't that hard. Practice on topscore and see if it works for you

It's like the "mojo", eiher you have it or you don't. Try getting a min of 16, and bump up all the others by 1 point, and you are in the green. BTW when are you taking the DATs? And will this be your first time?

would it be better if to read the questions real quick before reading passage, have anybody done that?