dynamic shift in RC section??

[topdent1]

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Hello everyone,

Approaching the rc section of the dat has been pretty simple for me until a few weeks ago. It was simple the way I approached it. I would read the question and then frantically search for the answer in the passage. This way worked for ALL practice exams I took becuase 70% of the questions were detailed oriented. As I talked to a people who took the dat during this summer and reading some of the posts on here, i realized that the DAT is incorporating a lot more tone questions...which sucks. My question to those who have taken the DAT recently is how you dealt with this section, specifically tone questions. Are you better of reading the entire passage? Any helpful suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[denticus]

Hello everyone,

Approaching the rc section of the dat has been pretty simple for me until a few weeks ago. It was simple the way I approached it. I would read the question and then frantically search for the answer in the passage. This way worked for ALL practice exams I took becuase 70% of the questions were detailed oriented. As I talked to a people who took the dat during this summer and reading some of the posts on here, i realized that the DAT is incorporating a lot more tone questions...which sucks. My question to those who have taken the DAT recently is how you dealt with this section, specifically tone questions. Are you better of reading the entire passage? Any helpful suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks.

If you read the entire passage you will just screw yourself unless you have a photographic memory from outer space. The first time I took the DAT I got an 18 using the same technique that you used and I was pretty pleased with my score. This time, I tried using the KAPLAN "key" technique which I had practiced and became pretty proficient at on my practice exams. I quickly realized that although this technique does work very well with KAPLAN and TopScore passaged, it royally sucked on the actual DAT (at least for me it did). Anyway, I decided not to use this technique anymore after the first passage because I found that the passages were much larger then what I was used to so I spent way too much time making my key let alone answering the questions. Plus, your right, the questions weren't "specific". Anyway, I went back to my (your) technique the last two passages, hoping to save my score and I wound up with a 17; still barely acceptable. I'm confident that I would have gotten an 18 or better had I used my original technique all the way through. But that's me. You may do very well with the key technique. My friend took the DAT the same time as me using the key technique and he also got a 17 so who knows. Just stick with what you're good at. What ever you do, don't get a 16!!!! That score seems to be JUUUSSST not good enough to a lot of schools. I figure that with a 17 and higher that you'll still have a good shot, all other things being equal. Anyway, Good luck!

 

[Ocean5]

If you read the entire passage you will just screw yourself unless you have a photographic memory from outer space. The first time I took the DAT I got an 18 using the same technique that you used and I was pretty pleased with my score. This time, I tried using the KAPLAN "key" technique which I had practiced and became pretty proficient at on my practice exams. I quickly realized that although this technique does work very well with KAPLAN and TopScore passaged, it royally sucked on the actual DAT (at least for me it did). Anyway, I decided not to use this technique anymore after the first passage because I found that the passages were much larger then what I was used to so I spent way too much time making my key let alone answering the questions. Plus, your right, the questions weren't "specific". Anyway, I went back to my (your) technique the last two passages, hoping to save my score and I wound up with a 17; still barely acceptable. I'm confident that I would have gotten an 18 or better had I used my original technique all the way through. But that's me. You may do very well with the key technique. My friend took the DAT the same time as me using the key technique and he also got a 17 so who knows. Just stick with what you're good at. What ever you do, don't get a 16!!!! That score seems to be JUUUSSST not good enough to a lot of schools. I figure that with a 17 and higher that you'll still have a good shot, all other things being equal. Anyway, Good luck!

When you say you wrote the keys, do you mean that you wrote unfamiliar words, or did you write the purpose of each paragraph?
Either way I guess it will take so much time, unless you just want to write one word for each paragraph (title mostly).
And if you read the whole passage, i agree, that there is no way that you could finish it in even 10 mins. Now passages are longer and overall I would say ADA is getting crazy, this is almost unrealistic.
So if some one knows something better to help an average JOE ( we are not talking about those with eyes of an owl, speed of a hummingbird and memory of an alien), please help others to get through this section. Thank you.

 

[denticus]

When you say you wrote the keys, do you mean that you wrote unfamiliar words, or did you write the purpose of each paragraph?
Either way I guess it will take so much time, unless you just want to write one word for each paragraph (title mostly).
And if you read the whole passage, i agree, that there is no way that you could finish it in even 10 mins. Now passages are longer and overall I would say ADA is getting crazy, this is almost unrealistic.
So if some one knows something better to help an average JOE ( we are not talking about those with eyes of an owl, speed of a hummingbird and memory of an alien), please help others to get through this section. Thank you.

You're right, either way you're screwed and it's really hard to pick just 1 word to sum up a paragraph. Good luck all! RC is getting ridiuculous!