I'm studying to retake my DAT in 10 days. Last summer, my averages on BC were 19/19/20/21/20 and I ended up with a 22. I'm averaging slightly higher this year, but I'm not focusing on RC because it's my best subject. With that said, I felt my passages on the real DAT were much harder than on Bootcamp. I know many people say otherwise, but that was my experience. I had two that were unbelievably dense and I had to essentially randomly select the last 7-8 on my real DAT due to timing, despite honing my practice timing before test day. Like you, my main issue with RC has always been time management. If I get a question I KNOW I saw in the passage, but it's taking too much time to work through the details, I have a hard time just making the best selection, flagging and moving on. My brain convinces me in the moment its better to get all correct answers where I can, despite knowing that when it shakes my pace, it only hurts overall. Anyways, this has been my most successful strategy: Questions, Skim, Answer.
-Read questions before passage, taking light notes on what to look for. I'm debating cutting the note part out, because it can slow me down and I'm not sure how helpful it really is (2 minutes)
-Skim passage, highlighting key statements and anything that I know is related to the questions I just read (5 minutes)
-Answer questions, heavily relying on highlights (12 minutes)
This gives me 3 minutes wiggle room, which I always need/use. I like this method because I have a framework of what to focus on before I dive into the passage. It helps me mentally map better. When I pace correctly, my accuracy is great. When I get off pace, my accuracy suffers tremendously in the last passage. My advice is the hardest one for me to follow: do not get stuck. If it takes you off pace, flag, mark, move on and don't give it a second thought unless you have time to go back with your 3 minutes wiggle-room.
Note: if you haven't taken your DAT yet, PLEASE be aware that the instructions page that you see at the beginning of a section is included in your time usage. On my test day, I did not realize this and I lost valuable time taking a few deep breaths before entering the exam only to UTTERLY PANIC when I realized I had lost that time in the real test. If you've taken any CDP tests, it shows this. If you haven't, I'd take a free one just so you can see what I'm talking about. DAT BC does not have this built in, so it caught me off guard and I believe was part of what ended up throwing my scores off. There was also a lot of computer lag on my computer between screens, unlike Bootcamp's seamless question-to-question transition. Ari, you're just too good at streamlined design!
If you are reading this and you have not taken your DAT yet, please know that the test day bumps you see many people report are not universal. I expected a bump, I saw a test day drop. I'm hopeful I'm an outlier, but I really relied on that assumption in my prep last year (I'd add a point to my score averages), but I only saw a bump in RC. Everything else was a drop (Gen Chem, QR but especially GC though I have no idea what happened because I scored lower than my very first practice test) or accurate to my averages (Bio, Ochem, PAT). My scores were lower than my final practice tests (the ones I felt were more representative of my ability because I was learning and improving) and more accurate to my overall test average. This will probably bum some people out, but honestly...I think it's important to know going in lest you get the soul-crushing disappointment I experienced and have to do this all over again 😉 Keep going, keep practicing timing. I honestly think RC gains come mostly from time-management. When you find your stride, you'll see improvement. While increasing speed comprehension would be ideal, it's a tough short term gain so don't get bogged down on that part and focus on what you can control right now. Good luck!!
