DAT Reading Comprehension

[sexysummer]

Hello all,
on the real DAT exam I am planning to spend the entire hour on 2 passages instead of 3 passages. if I still have time I would go back and answer the question for the 3rd passage if time permits.
Is this something anyone of you taken the dat would recommend. I thought if split the 60 mins and answer 34-35 questions all right instead doing half or even less than half of 50 questions total.

So if I answer all the questions to the 2 passage ~ 34 question will that get me around 19-20?

Thanks for the advice

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[predent_mathlete]

I would strongly advise against that. A better strategy might be to mark all the questions that are not search and destroy, and come back to them after. Then you can get the easy marks for sure, and probably some of the others. Ignoring a whole passage would likely give you a poor rc score.

Edit: for clarity, I still think the best strategy is skim and map the passage, answer the questions then move on to the next passage. Mark any really tough ones. I did that and scored a 26 in reading.

 

[Graffix]

I would also STRONGLY recommend against that. There is no penalty for wrong answers but if a question is blank... no ifs/ands/buts it is marked wrong.

Edit: also for clarity! what i mean is a wrong answer means you get 0 points instead of -1 or similar. I think for the old sat it use to be for every wrong answer it would be -1/4 points. So try not to leave any questions blank.

 

[sexysummer]

I would strongly advise against that. A better strategy might be to mark all the questions that are not search and destroy, and come back to them after. Then you can get the easy marks for sure, and probably some of the others. Ignoring a whole passage would likely give you a poor rc score.

Edit: for clarity, I still think the best strategy is skim and map the passage, answer the questions then move on to the next passage. Mark any really tough ones. I did that and scored a 26 in reading.

Thank you so much for replying.
What do you mean by there is no penalty for answering the question wrong. Isn't the exam graded and given you score based on how many question answered right and wrong. If there is no penalty why they are testing you?

 

[kobe4evr]

you only get points for answers that are correct. I would also advise against that strategy as well. Skim over the passages and note each section for the search and destroy method. I did that and got a 23....The reading is in my opinion a skill section that depends on how much you practice your methods. If you leave out an entire passage your taking an enormous risk

 

[gooperwooper]

Thank you so much for replying.
What do you mean by there is no penalty for answering the question wrong. Isn't the exam graded and given you score based on how many question answered right and wrong. If there is no penalty why they are testing you?

he means you don't lose more marks for answering a question wrong than if you left it unanswered

 

[sexysummer]

you only get points for answers that are correct. I would also advise against that strategy as well. Skim over the passages and note each section for the search and destroy method. I did that and got a 23....The reading is in my opinion a skill section that depends on how much you practice your methods. If you leave out an entire passage your taking an enormous risk

Thanks again,
Just to clarify, you mean skim over the passage reading it fast and take notes for each paragraph? OR read each question and search each question separately from the passage?
How to map it out? it might sound ridiculous but sorry that is what I just know.

 

[rippedbx]

Thanks again,
Just to clarify, you mean skim over the passage reading it fast and take notes for each paragraph? OR read each question and search each question separately from the passage?
How to map it out? it might sound ridiculous but sorry that is what I just know.

I read through each paragraph fast and wrote down a few words for each paragraph. The goal is to write down a few words that a question might ask about and make it quicker to know where in the passage it was talked about. Like write down any names and what they're known for. Maybe write down when a new topic is introduced.
I would number the notes so you know which paragraph they correspond to. I wrote down 5 words or less for each paragraph.

I took the DAT twice. The first time reading comp was my lowest score and the next time it was above average.

 

[sexysummer]

I read through each paragraph fast and wrote down a few words for each paragraph. The goal is to write down a few words that a question might ask about and make it quicker to know where in the passage it was talked about. Like write down any names and what they're known for. Maybe write down when a new topic is introduced.
I would number the notes so you know which paragraph they correspond to. I wrote down 5 words or less for each paragraph.

I took the DAT twice. The first time reading comp was my lowest score and the next time it was above average.

Hi,
I am curious. When you got a low RC score did it hurt your chance to get an interview or acceptance from any schools you've applied?
Did they ask you to retake it and apply again?

Thank you

 

[kobe4evr]

Ive spoken with multiple schools and they all have said that the reading comp score is either the most or second most significant score behind TS. The reason behind it is that they correlate that score with the ability to do well on the boards in the later years in school....if you bomb RC they will ask you to retake it. This shouldnt hurt your confidence but rather encourage you to do well on it