DAT RC help/tips...

[thebossman]

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Hey guys,

Im practicing for the RC component of my DAT and i am using the Kaplan book and the Cliffs DAT and for RC they dont really outline a nice method. I know for the MCAT kaplan does a triage approach and find Topic /Scope and Purpose, along with writting a short summary (1-2 sentences) of each paragraph when reading the passage.

When i use this approach I dont get all the way through in the 50min its very slow.

Any suggestions on good methods to use??

 

[hausee]

It is 60 mins in DAT instead of 50 min from Kaplan.

Hey guys,

Im practicing for the RC component of my DAT and i am using the Kaplan book and the Cliffs DAT and for RC they dont really outline a nice method. I know for the MCAT kaplan does a triage approach and find Topic /Scope and Purpose, along with writting a short summary (1-2 sentences) of each paragraph when reading the passage.

When i use this approach I dont get all the way through in the 50min its very slow.

Any suggestions on good methods to use??

 

[thebossman]

It is 60 mins in DAT instead of 50 min from Kaplan.

The Canadian DAT RC is 50 minutes.

I checked out this website:

http://acedat.wordpress.com/2008/05/04/reading-comprehension-part-1/


but im a little on edge with this method.

Are there any other suggestions?

what has worked for you guys/gals?

 

[GOLF]

just practice with a method that you are comfortable with. i just used regular search & destroy and got in the groove of skimming and keeping track of key concepts and words in my head and their relative location in the passage. in general, the questions are asked in the order they appear on the passage... in general does not mean always; there are a few that skip around and if you get a highly analytical passage (i got one that asked me to analyze a DNA microassay) you have to think quick. blow it up!

 

[drdicty]

Hey guys,

Im practicing for the RC component of my DAT and i am using the Kaplan book and the Cliffs DAT and for RC they dont really outline a nice method. I know for the MCAT kaplan does a triage approach and find Topic /Scope and Purpose, along with writting a short summary (1-2 sentences) of each paragraph when reading the passage.

When i use this approach I dont get all the way through in the 50min its very slow.

Any suggestions on good methods to use??

Number each paragraph on your dry-erase board, and next to it write a one or two-word topic phrase. Underneath, write a few important keywords (like numbers, statistics, names, words that you wouldn't normally use). For example:

1. TP: Schizophrenia
K: 1900s, history, definition

2. TP: Symptoms
K: Experiment, Schnitzelfritz, 25 subjects, 15 positive, 14 negative

This will allow you to take the keyword from the question and quickly scan over your sheet to find the appropriate answer. This does NOT mean that you must peruse closely what you are reading. You can easily do this very quickly by scanning the passage. When I took the DAT, this took me all of 5-7 minutes. A good gauge can be something like this: Unless you are naturally a fast reader, if you find that you are understanding the passage at more than a superficial level, you will probably run out of time and are reading too closely. Remember, this is a scan for keywords. This method is often called search and destroy.

You must really summon all of your focus for this method to be truly effective. Not only must you read fast, but you must also be able to get a shallow gist of the passage to be able to accurately answer the "big picture" or "tone" questions. In most cases, you will not get too many of these questions so the search and destroy method will suffice. However, I've seen that on many occasions, peoples score drop significantly because they encounter more tone questions than expected. I myself had quite a few tone questions.

This method is tried and true. My RC score is living proof that it works. Just practice, and focus. You can do it.

 

[Aschematic]

Unless you are naturally a fast reader, if you find that you are understanding the passage at more than a superficial level, you will probably run out of time and are reading too closely. Remember, this is a scan for keywords.

OMG
That made me feel ssso much better.
So I was doing it wrong all along.
Thank you so much.
What was your RC score?

 

[drdicty]

OMG
That made me feel ssso much better.
So I was doing it wrong all along.
Thank you so much.
What was your RC score?

26. There were two questions I wasn't sure of, so I gambled between the two answer choices I narrowed it down to. Obviously I fell for the trap answers. 🙂

 

[thebossman]

Number each paragraph on your dry-erase board, and next to it write a one or two-word topic phrase. Underneath, write a few important keywords (like numbers, statistics, names, words that you wouldn't normally use). For example:

1. TP: Schizophrenia
K: 1900s, history, definition

2. TP: Symptoms
K: Experiment, Schnitzelfritz, 25 subjects, 15 positive, 14 negative

This will allow you to take the keyword from the question and quickly scan over your sheet to find the appropriate answer. This does NOT mean that you must peruse closely what you are reading. You can easily do this very quickly by scanning the passage. When I took the DAT, this took me all of 5-7 minutes. A good gauge can be something like this: Unless you are naturally a fast reader, if you find that you are understanding the passage at more than a superficial level, you will probably run out of time and are reading too closely. Remember, this is a scan for keywords. This method is often called search and destroy.

You must really summon all of your focus for this method to be truly effective. Not only must you read fast, but you must also be able to get a shallow gist of the passage to be able to accurately answer the "big picture" or "tone" questions. In most cases, you will not get too many of these questions so the search and destroy method will suffice. However, I've seen that on many occasions, peoples score drop significantly because they encounter more tone questions than expected. I myself had quite a few tone questions.

This method is tried and true. My RC score is living proof that it works. Just practice, and focus. You can do it.

THANKS ALOT DRDICTY!!!!!!!

just another question regarding this...

so i get the passage and i read (scan 😉 ) through it and write topic and keywords out.. and then after 5-7 min on passage this should leave me with 10min for 15-17Q .. not bad..

My old approach on PAPER was to read all the questions then scan passage and hop back to answer. But the problem here is on computer test is that you have to click next to view each question not likeon paper where all questions are infront of you. This consumes alot o time.

What is a good source of passages? I have the KAPLAN DAT book and they only have 1 passage, and 2 tests, but to practice passage i dont want to do the test, i just want to do pasages ver and over, should i use the MCAT VR book? or would this be too different than dat RC?

is there online source to get PASSAGES and Q online, not ship it out to me.

 

[drdicty]

THANKS ALOT DRDICTY!!!!!!!

just another question regarding this...

so i get the passage and i read (scan 😉 ) through it and write topic and keywords out.. and then after 5-7 min on passage this should leave me with 10min for 15-17Q .. not bad..

My old approach on PAPER was to read all the questions then scan passage and hop back to answer. But the problem here is on computer test is that you have to click next to view each question not likeon paper where all questions are infront of you. This consumes alot o time.

What is a good source of passages? I have the KAPLAN DAT book and they only have 1 passage, and 2 tests, but to practice passage i dont want to do the test, i just want to do pasages ver and over, should i use the MCAT VR book? or would this be too different than dat RC?

is there online source to get PASSAGES and Q online, not ship it out to me.

I understand what you mean about the paper vs. computer system. I didn't have to deal with this too much because most of my resources were on the computer to begin with, so the only times I used paper were during the free Kaplan diagnostic that was administered at my school, and the few passages that were in my Kaplan book. I took the Live Online course, so my practice passages were all online.

I looked around online for some resources, and it seems like Crack DAT PAT's reading comprehension package is the best one if you don't want to purchase something like TopScore, which only has them as part of full-length exams. If it's anything like the PAT software I purchased from them, it should be an instant download upon purchase. This should be plenty of good practice for you:

https://pat.crackdat.com/order/more_information.php?product_id=50,

The MCAT Verbal Reasoning is a bit different from the DAT's RC section. The DAT is much more straightforward (i.e. in most cases, you are almost able to find a regurgitated answer straight out of the passage, so the race is more against time), so my advice is that you are better off practicing with passages that are similar to what is on the DAT.

You can do it!

 

[thebossman]

I understand what you mean about the paper vs. computer system. I didn't have to deal with this too much because most of my resources were on the computer to begin with, so the only times I used paper were during the free Kaplan diagnostic that was administered at my school, and the few passages that were in my Kaplan book. I took the Live Online course, so my practice passages were all online.

I looked around online for some resources, and it seems like Crack DAT PAT's reading comprehension package is the best one if you don't want to purchase something like TopScore, which only has them as part of full-length exams. If it's anything like the PAT software I purchased from them, it should be an instant download upon purchase. This should be plenty of good practice for you:

https://pat.crackdat.com/order/more_information.php?product_id=50,

The MCAT Verbal Reasoning is a bit different from the DAT's RC section. The DAT is much more straightforward (i.e. in most cases, you are almost able to find a regurgitated answer straight out of the passage, so the race is more against time), so my advice is that you are better off practicing with passages that are similar to what is on the DAT.

You can do it!

Thanks for this. I think i will purchase this.

So i just read the passage, DONT GLAZE OVER, and for each paragraph write a topic & keywords. Then go through the questions.

I tried reading all the questions then going to paragraph but i didnt like this approach. Ive been doing this. lets hope it works.

thanks again

 

[Aschematic]

So, studying this section by reading scientific journals is a bad idea, correct? Thanks again.

 

[drdicty]

Thanks for this. I think i will purchase this.

So i just read the passage, DONT GLAZE OVER, and for each paragraph write a topic & keywords. Then go through the questions.

I tried reading all the questions then going to paragraph but i didnt like this approach. Ive been doing this. lets hope it works.

thanks again

I'm not discounting other methods - pre-reading the questions works for some. However, for most people, I've seen that it actually muddles the mind more because you're hit with too many things to remember all at once as you try to find those answers when you're reading. It's more efficient, I think, to just "load" your blank slate (mind) with keywords from your scanning, writing them down in an orderly fashion, and then being able to go directly to the corresponding paragraphs when you find the same keywords in the questions.

 

[drdicty]

So, studying this section by reading scientific journals is a bad idea, correct? Thanks again.

I wouldn't say that's a bad idea. It was one of the recommended study tools for Kaplan, and I never actually tried it - but I'm sure it can be helpful since at least two of the passages are usually science-based.