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This is probably the most difficult section for which to prepare in addition to it being a very critical component of your DAT score.
There are many approaches and strategies but the few who can knock this section out of the water are naturally gifted readers or have photographic memory.
Let's break it down....
50 questions in 60 minutes
17 questions per passage
~40 questions are S&D
~10 questions are tone
Goal: achieve minimum 20 score = ~40 correct answers
Materials:
TopScore: 100% S&D
Crack Reading: 100% tone
Achiever: dunno
Kaplan: can't remember
I've been at the drawing board for a while and trying all sorts of methods. Here's what I've done so far...
Strategy A: S&D
If you answered all S&D questions 100% correct, you can achieve a 20 score. But that's not realistic. However, assuming there are 40 S&D questions, if you get 37 correct, and guess/half-guess on the tone questions, then you could achieve a 20 score. If you completely guess on all 10 tone questions, then statistically you'll get 2 of those correct (5 possible answer choices: A thru E ---> 20% rate). So if you can correctly answer just 1 of the tone questions on your own, then when combined with the 2 correct from blindly guessing + 37 S&D, you'll finish with 40 correct answers. This is a bit risky and I'm not so sure if I can rely on this approach.
Strategy B: Just read the darn thing normally!
This is the most ideal approach as it will enable you to answer all tone questions and allow you to remember the locations in the passage to answer the S&D questions. However, these passages are loaded with details that by the time you reach the 4th or 5th paragraph you forgot most of the details and will inevitably not retain the remaining details, let alone the locations of them in the passage. The passage basically becomes a big blur by the end. So now you feel like you wasted a good chunk of time, haven't answered any questions yet, and wondering why you used this approach in the first place, not to mention stressing.
Strategy C: Kaplan's Outlining/Mapping
This approach entails jotting down notes of key terms and main ideas in each paragraph as you go through it. At the end, you have a nice roadmap of notes and locations to find specific S&D answers. This method is effective but hasn't been practical as it consumes too much time. Not only do you spend time jotting down the notes, but also you spend time scanning the paragraph that you already read to find the key terms to write down as well as the main idea if you haven't figured it out by the end of the paragraph. Plus you lose momentum and continuity each time you start writing. There's also the issue of thick dry erase markers which will force you to write big meaning you'll probably run out of space on your dry erase board/laminated sheets. I abandoned this strategy because it took too much time--I would spend a good 12 minutes to get thru the passage this way. But now I'm wondering whether I should just stick with this approach and work on my timing.
Strategy D: Skim + S&D Hybrid
This hybrid approach entails skimming the passage first to get a mental roadmap as well as the main ideas and then attacking the questions with S&D. In a perfect world, this would work well, however, because the passage is so heavy with details, the passage becomes an even bigger blur by the end than if you read the darn thing normally. Thus, it's not too effective at answering tone questions as well as remembering the locations of the S&D detailed questions. I'm wondering whether I should abandon this approach altogether or work on my skimming comprehension.
Strategy E: S&D First, Then Skim Later
This is similar to Strategy D, but in reverse order. The rationale behind this method is to attack with S&D which will take care of the majority of questions for that passage. And then by skimming afterwards, you will have better comprehension since you basically skimmed the darn thing a dozen times already. However, at least for me, when I'm skimming a passage to find the key term(s) to answer a specific S&D question, I am so focused on making sure I find the term(s) that nearly no skimming comprehension is registered in my memory. But it's probably better to execute Strategy E than Strategy D.
Strategy F: Read passage normally in thirds
I thought of this strategy today and will test it out later. I'm thinking in a typical 12-paragraph passage, most people can probably retain 3-4 paragraphs worth of details. Thus, you would read the first 4 paragraphs normally and then go straight to the questions answering any tone and/or S&D questions you encountered in this first third of the passage, while skipping the ones you haven't read about yet. Then you would repeat the process with the next 4 paragraphs and so on. Theoretically, you are employing the ideal Strategy B but executing it in manageable chunks. You could also break it into smaller chunks of 3 paragraphs each and reading it in fourths.
Other Strategies
There are other ones out there that are derivations of what I mentioned. One strategy is to read the first question, followed by reading the passage until you reach the paragraph for that question, and then answer it. Then you start the S&D attack. The theory behind this approach is that you'll probably get to read 2-3 paragraphs before encountering your specific paragraph at which point you'll have some main idea of the passage. But this approach can become a big mess and I don't recommend using it.
I need some help on RC as much as others and why I started this thread with the hopes that we could brainstorm different approaches to conquer this section. Time is running out and I need to stick with one strategy and improve upon it. I think a 20 score is very respectable at most schools and very attainable since you only need ~40 correct answers out of 50.
Feel free to add any suggestions or strategies.
There are many approaches and strategies but the few who can knock this section out of the water are naturally gifted readers or have photographic memory.
Let's break it down....
50 questions in 60 minutes
17 questions per passage
~40 questions are S&D
~10 questions are tone
Goal: achieve minimum 20 score = ~40 correct answers
Materials:
TopScore: 100% S&D
Crack Reading: 100% tone
Achiever: dunno
Kaplan: can't remember
I've been at the drawing board for a while and trying all sorts of methods. Here's what I've done so far...
Strategy A: S&D
If you answered all S&D questions 100% correct, you can achieve a 20 score. But that's not realistic. However, assuming there are 40 S&D questions, if you get 37 correct, and guess/half-guess on the tone questions, then you could achieve a 20 score. If you completely guess on all 10 tone questions, then statistically you'll get 2 of those correct (5 possible answer choices: A thru E ---> 20% rate). So if you can correctly answer just 1 of the tone questions on your own, then when combined with the 2 correct from blindly guessing + 37 S&D, you'll finish with 40 correct answers. This is a bit risky and I'm not so sure if I can rely on this approach.
Strategy B: Just read the darn thing normally!
This is the most ideal approach as it will enable you to answer all tone questions and allow you to remember the locations in the passage to answer the S&D questions. However, these passages are loaded with details that by the time you reach the 4th or 5th paragraph you forgot most of the details and will inevitably not retain the remaining details, let alone the locations of them in the passage. The passage basically becomes a big blur by the end. So now you feel like you wasted a good chunk of time, haven't answered any questions yet, and wondering why you used this approach in the first place, not to mention stressing.
Strategy C: Kaplan's Outlining/Mapping
This approach entails jotting down notes of key terms and main ideas in each paragraph as you go through it. At the end, you have a nice roadmap of notes and locations to find specific S&D answers. This method is effective but hasn't been practical as it consumes too much time. Not only do you spend time jotting down the notes, but also you spend time scanning the paragraph that you already read to find the key terms to write down as well as the main idea if you haven't figured it out by the end of the paragraph. Plus you lose momentum and continuity each time you start writing. There's also the issue of thick dry erase markers which will force you to write big meaning you'll probably run out of space on your dry erase board/laminated sheets. I abandoned this strategy because it took too much time--I would spend a good 12 minutes to get thru the passage this way. But now I'm wondering whether I should just stick with this approach and work on my timing.
Strategy D: Skim + S&D Hybrid
This hybrid approach entails skimming the passage first to get a mental roadmap as well as the main ideas and then attacking the questions with S&D. In a perfect world, this would work well, however, because the passage is so heavy with details, the passage becomes an even bigger blur by the end than if you read the darn thing normally. Thus, it's not too effective at answering tone questions as well as remembering the locations of the S&D detailed questions. I'm wondering whether I should abandon this approach altogether or work on my skimming comprehension.
Strategy E: S&D First, Then Skim Later
This is similar to Strategy D, but in reverse order. The rationale behind this method is to attack with S&D which will take care of the majority of questions for that passage. And then by skimming afterwards, you will have better comprehension since you basically skimmed the darn thing a dozen times already. However, at least for me, when I'm skimming a passage to find the key term(s) to answer a specific S&D question, I am so focused on making sure I find the term(s) that nearly no skimming comprehension is registered in my memory. But it's probably better to execute Strategy E than Strategy D.
Strategy F: Read passage normally in thirds
I thought of this strategy today and will test it out later. I'm thinking in a typical 12-paragraph passage, most people can probably retain 3-4 paragraphs worth of details. Thus, you would read the first 4 paragraphs normally and then go straight to the questions answering any tone and/or S&D questions you encountered in this first third of the passage, while skipping the ones you haven't read about yet. Then you would repeat the process with the next 4 paragraphs and so on. Theoretically, you are employing the ideal Strategy B but executing it in manageable chunks. You could also break it into smaller chunks of 3 paragraphs each and reading it in fourths.
Other Strategies
There are other ones out there that are derivations of what I mentioned. One strategy is to read the first question, followed by reading the passage until you reach the paragraph for that question, and then answer it. Then you start the S&D attack. The theory behind this approach is that you'll probably get to read 2-3 paragraphs before encountering your specific paragraph at which point you'll have some main idea of the passage. But this approach can become a big mess and I don't recommend using it.
I need some help on RC as much as others and why I started this thread with the hopes that we could brainstorm different approaches to conquer this section. Time is running out and I need to stick with one strategy and improve upon it. I think a 20 score is very respectable at most schools and very attainable since you only need ~40 correct answers out of 50.
Feel free to add any suggestions or strategies.
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