how do you read the passages?

[pharmRxn]

in reading comprehension, i been told that it is better if we read each passage twice very quickly. i prefer to read each passage very slowly otherwise i lose concentration. which method worked for you?

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[kakme]

I am not a fast reader, but I practiced a lot with Dr Collins till I caught up on the timing. The first practice test I took, I only completed 3 of the 6 passages in the 50 minutes allowed. Then I realized that I could use my pencil to guide my eyes as I read. Also, I underlined very important sentences, numbers, facts, etc. as I read. I always read the passage, making sure I concentrated well and understood it. I underlined any sentence I didn’t understand and moved on, instead of wasting time to analyze it. Also, if I started reading a passage and I didn’t understand the first paragraph, I moved on to the next passage. This is because if the passage is a bit difficult to understand or follow, there’s a likelihood you’ll waste more time trying to understand it; you may also have to keep going back to read paragraph(s) to answer each question. I apportioned 8 minutes for every passage – 3 for reading and 5 for answering questions.

 

[roziak]

I give myself about 30sec/passage to skim through all the questions (not the answers) for the passage to give myself an idea of what I am looking for in the passage.

I read it one time through, relatively fast (probably about 1.5x-2x my normal reading speed) while underlining all keywords or phrases I think are important ESPECIALLY if I remember it being a question. Then, when I get to the questions I have alot of the main points and terms underlined so I can just find it in the passage and then read it normally to understand what it says fully and choose the correct answer.

Try this on a couple passages. It may seem a little awkward at first, but I got used to it really fast and did great on the English portion of the PCAT. The only questions that this method doesn't work on are the ones that ask generally "what is the author trying to say from the passage". But, by skimming through it really fast in the beginning of this method, you should have an idea of what the author is saying. OR you can just read the last 2 sentences in the passage to answer the question - that is usually a dead giveaway of what the author is trying to say. Those question types are usually pretty easy anyways.

Good luck!

 

[diastole]

I just read through once at normal speed, making sure to understand it, and then went straight to the questions. I had a general idea of where to find the answers and then reread the sentence or two that contained the pertinent info. I didn't really have issues with time in this section so I think how you approach it depends on your reading speed and how much you are understanding what you read. I advise trying different methods and picking the approach that works for you.