Need help with RC

[rocky2289]

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Hey guys,

I am giving my DAT on 30th June so I can submit my application in early July and have my scores available byy mid July. I am ready for everything except reading comprehension. Whenever I start doing any RC exams, I keep my target of 7 to 8 minutes a passage but than I end up taking more time as I read slow and I start panicking. Than, I try to read words faster but I am not visualizing or comprehending the passage which makes it worse. So I have started to practice reading faster at readspeeder.com form today for the next 8 to 10 days. Would this resource help? Has anyone used this resource before for DAT to improve the pace of their reading as well as visualizing at the same time?

If you guys ahve any other advice of how to improve my RC, I would be highly appreciated. I have bought practice test from bootcamp and qvault but I quit mid test as I am panicking too much. From One test I have completed on bootcamp so far, I have got 17 on it which is just worse. Any advice will be appreciated! Thanks!

 

[FeralisExtremum]

I can't comment on read speeder, I've never tried that resource. I personally built up my speed using Scientific American articles every day (these are of similar scientific density to what you'll encounter on the DAT, so it prepares you for reading what can be pretty boring passages). I think it's important to read material that is going to resemble DAT passages, because part of the struggle is reading and processing information dense material very quickly - not just any random article.

Some people use shortcut strategies like search and destroy (i.e. read the question first and then scan through the passage to quickly try to find the answer) but IMO these are not very effective techniques and the best strategy is to read the entire passage before approaching the questions. Hopefully you can build your speed up significantly by practicing regularly over the next 2 weeks.

 

[WheatLom]

A good strategy to have is quickly read the first 3-4 questions, maybe taking 20 seconds. This is good to do so it kind of guides your attention, and if you come across an answer you can easily mark it.
Now the strategy I used was I read about 1/4 to 1/3 of the passage and i highlight key words that are relevant to the paragraph. Then I also maybe jot a note on my sheet to quickly recall the paragraph. So after reading the first chunk, we answer questions ( i believe most questions are relatively in order), minus a few tricky ones that may seem obvious at first but require reading some contradiction later in the passage). Now answer as many as you can and eventually you will have read 2-3 Qs in a row that you can not answer because you have not read. now read about 1/3 to 1/2 of the rest of the passage. At this point you should be able to answer a good chunk of questions and now you should know where everything is in the passage.

You may ask how do I know where everything is if I did not read everything? Well if it was not in the first 2/3 to 3/4 of the passage, it MUST be in the last chunk you have not read. This is where you begin search and destroy method. because now you can take the left over questions and the tricky ones that aren't as easily answer and can quickly locate information and efficiently answer. With this method you save time reading and I kid you not i had about 10 minutes left on reading and got a 22 (which is pretty good imo). I gave myself a massage before the math section and continued on with like 4 minutes left on the timer. I got fresh sheets for math and everything with no stress.


To recap this is a reading/answer Qs method combined with S&D at the end.

 

[Faefly]

There are different methods like you can read half of the essay then read the questions and try to answer them.
Or you can read the questions first, write down the main things of each question then read the essay.
Or you can read the questions and search for the answers and skip the tone questions till the end.