DAT RC

[jz123]

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Hi, all.

I am 1 week away from my dat. However, I am having a lot of trouble even understanding the articles in practice tests since english is not my first language. I scored poorly at RC and it really gave me a headache when reading articles. Does anyone have any good suggestions to someone who is bad at reading compression and only have a week to prepare for RC? Thanks.

 

[Minions2015]

What are you scoring currently and which tests are you using?

 

[rdub]

Ari posted at least 4 strategies here on his website. Try them all out, see which one works best for you.

 

[jz123]

What are you scoring currently and which tests are you using?

I tried the 1st test on bc and got a 19 and I actually ran out of time and guessed many of them...

 

[BYU4you]

If you have questions about my balanced approach

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/my-rc-strategy-the-balanced-approach.1138782/

Feel free to message me or reply here.


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile app

 

[jz123]

If you have questions about my balanced approach

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/my-rc-strategy-the-balanced-approach.1138782/

Feel free to message me or reply here.


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile app

hi, BYU4you, thanks for giving me an approach to the RC on dat. The problem for me is that I am very bad at reading and my comprehension level is low, so obviously it would take me a long time to fully understand even the first 2 paragraphs. Even I understand the gist of the article, it is still difficult for me to pick out the correct answers. In BC RC, some answer choices are confusing and I have no idea how to narrow down to the correct answer. Also, I have a lot of problems with tone questions. What you recommend me to do in order to do ok on the RC section on dat? Please help, thank you very much!

 

[BYU4you]

hi, BYU4you, thanks for giving me an approach to the RC on dat. The problem for me is that I am very bad at reading and my comprehension level is low, so obviously it would take me a long time to fully understand even the first 2 paragraphs. Even I understand the gist of the article, it is still difficult for me to pick out the correct answers. In BC RC, some answer choices are confusing and I have no idea how to narrow down to the correct answer. Also, I have a lot of problems with tone questions. What you recommend me to do in order to do ok on the RC section on dat? Please help, thank you very much!

The real DAT does not have as many tone questions as BC. (Unless you get unlucky)
If your comprehension is that poor (I'm assuming English is your second language), you might want to try just search and destroy method. Which is looking at the question, finding the topic and then scanning the article until you find it. This will allow you to get the most questions in the quickest time. If reading and comprehending even the first paragraph is that hard then I don't see much point in trying to read the whole thing haha


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile app

 

[jz123]

The real DAT does not have as many tone questions as BC. (Unless you get unlucky)
If your comprehension is that poor (I'm assuming English is your second language), you might want to try just search and destroy method. Which is looking at the question, finding the topic and then scanning the article until you find it. This will allow you to get the most questions in the quickest time. If reading and comprehending even the first paragraph is that hard then I don't see much point in trying to read the whole thing haha


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile app

Please clarify me i I am wrong. So basically the way search and destroy works is that you look at the question and search for the key words in the articles, right?
However, I personally think the search and destroyer method is not working when I did the first and second RC tests on BC. How did anyone use this method to score high on BC's RC tests?

 

[DC206R]

Pure search and destroy doesn't work all the time for BC. You kind of have to read a little, think @BYU4you 's approach. You'll develop your own style after enough practice tests. Search and destroy works well for most of the real DAT, well at least in my case but there were some questions that required reading chunks of the article.

 

[DAT Destroyer]

Hi, all.

I am 1 week away from my dat. However, I am having a lot of trouble even understanding the articles in practice tests since english is not my first language. I scored poorly at RC and it really gave me a headache when reading articles. Does anyone have any good suggestions to someone who is bad at reading compression and only have a week to prepare for RC? Thanks.

Hi jz123,


A week is not a lot of time so I assume you have been preparing all along. If your reading and comprehension speeds are slow, I would suggest you spend the last week just reading and not worrying about timed tests. Your focus is to increase speed and comprehension levels. Choose articles you like to read, it does not necessarily have to be science related. As you continue to practice reading your speed and comprehension levels will increase

I advise students at the start of studying for the DAT to include 30 minutes every day on reading. Not testing, just reading. Over time you will have a lot of reading done. There is not a way to predict what type of passage you will be presented but if your reading and comprehension skills are good it will not matter.

Manage your time on the 3 reading passages so you don't spend too much time on 1 passage. If you get anxious remember to breath and keep going. You have a lot of people cheering you on.

Schools do give consideration if English is a 2nd language, you don't need to get a 30 but at least an 18 should be a target goal.

Wishing you the best and pm me if you would like more advice.

just my 2 cents

Nancy

 

[gangazi]

Hi, all.

I am 1 week away from my dat. However, I am having a lot of trouble even understanding the articles in practice tests since english is not my first language. I scored poorly at RC and it really gave me a headache when reading articles. Does anyone have any good suggestions to someone who is bad at reading compression and only have a week to prepare for RC? Thanks.

Caffeine pill during the 15min break works like gem

 

[jz123]

Hi jz123,


A week is not a lot of time so I assume you have been preparing all along. If your reading and comprehension speeds are slow, I would suggest you spend the last week just reading and not worrying about timed tests. Your focus is to increase speed and comprehension levels. Choose articles you like to read, it does not necessarily have to be science related. As you continue to practice reading your speed and comprehension levels will increase

I advise students at the start of studying for the DAT to include 30 minutes every day on reading. Not testing, just reading. Over time you will have a lot of reading done. There is not a way to predict what type of passage you will be presented but if your reading and comprehension skills are good it will not matter.

Manage your time on the 3 reading passages so you don't spend too much time on 1 passage. If you get anxious remember to breath and keep going. You have a lot of people cheering you on.

Schools do give consideration if English is a 2nd language, you don't need to get a 30 but at least an 18 should be a target goal.

Wishing you the best and pm me if you would like more advice.

just my 2 cents

Nancy

Hi Nancy, thanks for the advice, I will try to read more and figure out my approach.