Need Help with reading, Exam in 10 day

[khosrow]

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Hi guys,

My exam is in 10 days. I have been taking BC. it seems that i don't have any problems with other sections. be getting 21 to 25 average. i have already taken two full length exams. but I cannot get my reading higher than 15. the last two months or so i have been reading American science at least two or three articles per night as it was recommended by all I really need help. any suggestion guys? and I cannot postpone my exam. My exam is on the last day of my 6 months window.

PLZ HELP. Thanks.

 

[knewstance]

Have you read through the strategies on BC? They have some good advice.

I think part of RC comes from practice, part from the right strategy, and part being a fast/comprehensive reader.

 

[FeralisExtremum]

What's going wrong in the RC section? Are you able to finish with enough time or are you running out? What types of questions are you getting incorrect most often?

 

[khosrow]

What's going wrong in the RC section? Are you able to finish with enough time or are you running out? What types of questions are you getting incorrect most often?

I mostly get the inference/tone questions wrong. My biggest issue is timing, as well. I tried to spend 10 minutes on the passage and 10 minutes to answer the questions. But I cannot accomplish this. I spend more time on questions of the first two passages that for the third passage I have only 7 to 10 minutes left. I tried search and destroy methods. This was where I got most of my questions wrong.

 

[khosrow]

Have you read through the strategies on BC? They have some good advice.

I think part of RC comes from practice, part from the right strategy, and part being a fast/comprehensive reader.

I have, and I tried but it seems to be failing me since I cannot get any thing higher than 15

 

[Hnl7]

Do you have a strategy picked out that you practice when reading the articles?
Which ones have you tried - is there any that feel better to you?
Also, are you using the highlight function while taking the practice test?

 

[FeralisExtremum]

I mostly get the inference/tone questions wrong. My biggest issue is timing, as well. I tried to spend 10 minutes on the passage and 10 minutes to answer the questions. But I cannot accomplish this. I spend more time on questions of the first two passages that for the third passage I have only 7 to 10 minutes left. I tried search and destroy methods. This was where I got most of my questions wrong.

It sounds like you really need to improve your speed, but 10 days is not a lot of time. Without reading the entire passage (which you'll need a decent reading speed to do) inference/tone questions will be extremely challenging. If you really can't delay the DAT any further you might just have to continue practicing your reading every day and hope your real RC section isn't too inference heavy - there's not much else you can do at this point.

 

[khosrow]

Do you have a strategy picked out that you practice when reading the articles?
Which ones have you tried - is there any that feel better to you?
Also, are you using the highlight function while taking the practice test?

I tried search and destroyed did not helps. the one that said read about 7 paragraph and then start answering questions, and then by going through questions go through the passage, takes a long time for me and does not help. And I am trying to get comfortable highlighting. because I have never used highlighter in my entire life of studying.

 

[Hnl7]

I tried search and destroyed did not helps. the one that said read about 7 paragraph and then start answering questions, and then by going through questions go through the passage, takes a long time for me and does not help. And I am trying to get comfortable highlighting. because I have never used highlighter in my entire life of studying.

Have you tried writing keywords down as you read?

try this - just pasting from another thread
For RC - while reading science articles can be good practice - make sure you actively read. Make sure you pick a strategy and apply it when you read the articles.
For instance grab your whiteboard and dry erase medium thickness marker and make a list 1 through 15 (corresponding to the number of paragraphs you are reading).
Then begin reading the article writing down keywords - dates - names - or concepts that you feel may be asked in a question next to the associated paragraph number.
Doing this will help you issue spot and make sure you read actively. This is just an example - pick a method that works for you!
If you don't have the whiteboard and marker I highly recommend you get them so you remove any discomfort you may have from using them on the exam.

 

[khosrow]

Have you tried writing keywords down as you read?

try this - just pasting from another thread
For RC - while reading science articles can be good practice - make sure you actively read. Make sure you pick a strategy and apply it when you read the articles.
For instance grab your whiteboard and dry erase medium thickness marker and make a list 1 through 15 (corresponding to the number of paragraphs you are reading).
Then begin reading the article writing down keywords - dates - names - or concepts that you feel may be asked in a question next to the associated paragraph number.
Doing this will help you issue spot and make sure you read actively. This is just an example - pick a method that works for you!
If you don't have the whiteboard and marker I highly recommend you get them so you remove any discomfort you may have from using them on the exam.

I sure start doing this from tonight. I have only 10 days. I hope this would prepare me for the big day. thank you so much.

 

[smileygirl711]

if it makes you feel any better, I'm in a similar position! I'm actually taking the dat in 10 days also and reading comp is getting me down every time. My plan is to try my best and not to get to hung up on any one question. If you ask me, I think reading comprehension is one of the sections of lesser importance to dental school. Just try to look on the bright side. You are doing well on the other sections and that is what is most important in my opinion. I think schools would be much happier to see a 15 in RC than in OC. Hopefully we'll lucky out and get questions in chronological order. Believe in yourself, you can do it!

 

[Faefly]

I found this highlighter just add it your chrome, you can practice on Scientific American articles on any other articles
The trick of using highlighter is
You just highlight keys:
What are keys:
1) names
2) definition
3)dates and numbers
4) anything seems necessary
5) don't over do it, don't read the whole paragraph if you have already highlighted the important stuff

Then you read the questions and they ask you about Protein XX
and you say oh, I saw that xx somewhere, I just highlighted it you go to the highlighted section and read it and then you answer the question.

Also, BC is not the only resource for RC, try Crack and datqvault.
Crack added the highlight feature.
Also, dat crusher has 2 RC tests.

I am not good at RC as well.

Now back to the highlighter.

So, for RC I found this very useful plugin for chrome.
To get used to highlighting keywords, dates or names while you read your science articles.
I personally prefer
Super Simple highlighter plugin for Chrome
It has 8 colors and you can add the highlight by choosing the highlighting feature from the right-click drop down menu
to make it easier, go to options and leave only 1 or 2 colors. you can choose your own color like I did in this picture.

Super Simple Highlighter

The other highlighter is faster as you don't need to press on right click for it to appear, but it has an annoying message that you can push to the side.

Yellow highlighter pen for web

Enjoy!

View attachment 220859


You can see I deleted all their colors and created a new one for simplicity and to my preference via options button.

 

[Faefly]

Also another advice is:
Count your losses and admit defeat
Meaning
Focus on the first 2 passages or the ones with more questions, ( give them 24 minutes each)
and 14 minutes for the last one or the ones with fewer questions.
The last one is the one that is gonna be done hastily ( mostly search and destroy)
the first two you should get 32 or 33 out of 34 correct
the last one you can get at least 6-7 correct
and voila
you got 19/20 on RC


I noticed the other day I got 16 out of 17 correct but I did it in 24 minutes using the mapping method. I need more practice on that but you get the point, more time means more accuracy, and luckily the dat passages have different length, so you can divide the time unequally.

 

[khosrow]

I found this highlighter just add it your chrome, you can practice on Scientific American articles on any other articles
The trick of using highlighter is
You just highlight keys:
What are keys:
1) names
2) definition
3)dates and numbers
4) anything seems necessary
5) don't over do it, don't read the whole paragraph if you have already highlighted the important stuff

Then you read the questions and they ask you about Protein XX
and you say oh, I saw that xx somewhere, I just highlighted it you go to the highlighted section and read it and then you answer the question.

Also, BC is not the only resource for RC, try Crack and datqvault.
Crack added the highlight feature.
Also, dat crusher has 2 RC tests.

I am not good at RC as well.

Now back to the highlighter.

Thank you so much.