How did you prepare for RC on DAT?

[anthonys]

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I am curious how yall prepared for Reading Comprehension on DAT?
I got so much lower on RC compared to other sections (TS 22)..
What books would be useful?

 

[jmh018]

I didn't use any specific materials. I read articles online a lot so that was good practice. That's what I would recommend and then practice tests. Also, I don't know if you read the questions and then hunted for the answers. I am a firm believer in NOT doing this. I think the best thing to do is practice reading on a computer, read the sections first then look at the questions. I got a 23 on that section using this method and had more than 10 minutes to spare.

 

[lr2014]

Everyone prepares for the RC in a different manner. Some methods might work better than others for you like the search-and-destroy or the read-everything-then-destroy. Just define a strategy and stick with it in the test. Read a lot of scientific "dental-related" articles and you will do fine.

 

[zackc19]

The RC section is a tough one to prepare for IMO. I spent about 18 years practicing reading in preparation. I am obviously joking, but also serious. The point is that you spend your entire life developing your reading comprehension. I don't know how much progress you could really make in just a few months.

The only thing I did was a couple practice tests to see how much time I could expect to have. I ran out of time on all of them. On the real test I ended up with about 10 minutes extra to go back and review things...

Good luck!

 

[Bifenthrin]

I didn't prepare for it at all. Went in expecting to score in the low 20's on RC. Finished the section with about 20 minutes to spare, and scored a 25.

 

[cwoodds]

^^ I agree with zack. Take some practice tests and see what strategy works best for you. Stick with the strategy on test day, don't get flustered. My strategy was to read the first few questions, read the passage until those questions were answered, then go back for more questions, repeat until I was done reading the entire passage. Usually by the time I was done reading the passage, there were maybe 3 or 4 questions left unanswered and I used search and destroy for those. I ran out of time on every practice test I took but ended up with a 28 and 10 minutes to spare on test day.

 

[user101]

If you can read you should be fine..I don't understand how any exercise would help so I didnt do anything to prepare. I got a 20 in RC

 

[anthonys]

thx for all the replies

 

[indplayer]

i didnt prepare at all for RC other than full DAT practice exams and did pretty well. I think in this stage, its extremely difficult to increase reading speed/comprehension. i think the best way is to do practice exams where they have questions where the answer is explicitly stated in the text (search-and-destroy) as well as questions where you have to infer based on the text (actually comprehending the passage). most of the questions in my real DAT were the latter so search and destroy didnt work at all, but i know some people had passage/questions where search and destroy proved sufficient to get a high score.

 

[ktran17]

Honestly, the best way to prep for the RC section is to read news articles and scientific literature as much as possible. The latter could be textbooks, research articles, or even posters. Just get used to reading dense scientific information. I got two science passages out of three..

FWIW: I got a 20 on the RC section without studying and English is my third language. IMO, if you're the type that reads to comprehend then you should be fine. Which you should be doing at the college level anyways..

 

[aqz]

^^ I agree with zack. Take some practice tests and see what strategy works best for you. Stick with the strategy on test day, don't get flustered. My strategy was to read the first few questions, read the passage until those questions were answered, then go back for more questions, repeat until I was done reading the entire passage. Usually by the time I was done reading the passage, there were maybe 3 or 4 questions left unanswered and I used search and destroy for those. I ran out of time on every practice test I took but ended up with a 28 and 10 minutes to spare on test day.

I did what this guy did and got a 25.

 

[II H5 II]

^^ I agree with zack. Take some practice tests and see what strategy works best for you. Stick with the strategy on test day, don't get flustered. My strategy was to read the first few questions, read the passage until those questions were answered, then go back for more questions, repeat until I was done reading the entire passage. Usually by the time I was done reading the passage, there were maybe 3 or 4 questions left unanswered and I used search and destroy for those. I ran out of time on every practice test I took but ended up with a 28 and 10 minutes to spare on test day.

This is pretty much exactly what I did also and I got a 26 in reading comp. I think you should try this out.

 

[Nanach]

crack the reading

 

[R3DEUCE]

It's great to know various strategies and be comfortable with them. However, not all will apply on your actual test. You'll have to read the first passage to get a feel. I was completely against the search and destroy method, however, once I read my first passage and answered the first set of questions, I realized that it was my method of choice and so I proceeded with that strategy for the remainder of the RC. I scored a 23.

It's hard to really pinpoint how to prepare for something like this though. It's just a skill that should be picked up throughout the years. If you feel you need to do something, I would start reading science intensive articles and try reading them as fast as possible without missing the content and tone. If you get your hands on Crack the DAT, I found that the questions they supply for this section are much more difficult than the actual test. But it's a great resource for learning strategies and practicing your timing skills.