Got my feet wet with Reading Comprehension

[blankguy]

---

Members do not see this ad.

Man! It's dense technical reading.
I took the sample reading comprehension from the Barron's book sample A. Is this very representative of the type of reading in the DAT? All the passages are about dentistry. I didn't even get to do the third passage. 😡 Ran out of time. It seems to me that a lot of it is recalling facts that is buried in the text, with 1 or 2 questions for each passage that are of the "...the passage implies...", "...the author thinks....", etc...

Are there any technical dental magazines or journals that I could get a hold off to read and get myself used to reading such texts?

I scored a 15 on this🙄

 

[flong]

15 is pretty good for starting out. Just keep practicing with practice material (kaplan, etc...) and read books from time to time. Read for comprehension, not for pleasure 😉

 

[blankguy]

The material is so dense....
....I felt like I was stuck in mud.
I think it was harder than the Scientific American articles.

Any dental publications I should read along with the magazine??

 

[Balki]

I posted some RC suggestions earlier you might find it helpful. And good luck
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?threadid=87164

 

[blankguy]

Thanks balki.
Are there any publications you would suggest aside from the mentioned above for me to get used to reading heavily technical texts???

 

[speter33]

Make sure you also practice on your PC with topscore. Working in the barrons book is much different than on the PC i think. Personally I like scrolling up and down much more than turning the pages.

 

[blankguy]

Originally posted by speter33
Make sure you also practice on your PC with topscore. Working in the barrons book is much different than on the PC i think. Personally I like scrolling up and down much more than turning the pages.

Yea, but I don't plan on taking the DAT for another say 1 1/2 years. Since this is a skill that is not acquired by "training" or "studying".

 

[Balki]

Those are excellent sourses, any scientific magazine will do as well. What I would do if I was you is to try not simply read but rather actively anticipate the possible questions that might be asked. This should help you greately. YOu might also find passages for other standarized tests helpful but note the differences in the structure of that test. For example MCAT passages are great but not enough technical stuff. However these passages can be used to general tone or "what is this essay about" questions. I noticed you have 1.5 years before you take the test, don't get too much ahead of yourself. RC can be improved, especially the strategies of approaching it. i.e skimming etc. My favorite source was science magazine and NY times science section.

Good luck

 

[blankguy]

Just subscribed to scientific american. I think there are other magazines that deal in similar area.


BTW is National Geographic useless?😕

 

[flong]

nature magazine is better. Read about their genetic area. Amazing discoveries daily

 

[3rdMolarRoller]

My advise, read anything you want...your local news paper, JADA, or just maxim 😀

I never practiced for the RC part of the DAT. I didn't kill it but I didn't do bad. I got a 20.

Try this method I used: Read the first question then begin reading the passage. When you find the answer read the next question and find the answer and so on.

I had about 10 min left at the end to go back and read questions i marked.

Hope this helps you some

 

[blankguy]

The problem with that approach is that it is not effiecient and the questions can come at you pointing to different parts of the article in any order. I might end up reading 4/5 of the article for the 1st question whereas the 2nd question may be in 1/4 of the article and so forth.

Also I think given my first experience any medical text will do as well if I could only get a hold of them😡

 

[3rdMolarRoller]

80% of the questions I had were in the order of the text. But this may change from year to year

 

[blankguy]

Just tried the PAT and got a 16.
It seems like to get a 20 the number of questions that I have to get jump by a significant number.

What do you guys think of reading dental journals?