OAT Reading Comprehension

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Ronak83

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Any RC tips that could be useful?

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There's a highlight feature on the real OAT. I highly recommend it for highlighting big ideas, stats, and other important details. If you take the online Kaplan exam and I think the DAT Bootcamp exam, they have this feature. Other than that, since you only have limited time to read 3 long passages, I recommend skimming each paragraph and getting a sense of the main topic, that way when you get to the multiple choice questions, you'll know where to locate the answer roughly. Just get in as much practice as you can if you're not good with comprehension style questions
 
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I skimmed and used the highlight tool, especially for key terms, quotes run-on examples, names, strong emotions, contrasting facts, etc

After you do enough RC practice, the questions that are asked are relatively predictable. Making efficient use of the highlighting tool can make detail-oriented questions easier to find and save you a lot of time.

You can see the text and the questions at the same time. So you can combine this with the Search and Destroy method too.

If you're a slow reader, I highly recommend you practice reading scientific articles! DAT Bootcamp has daily recommended ScienceDaily articles for practice.
 
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I skimmed and used the highlight tool, especially for key terms, quotes run-on examples, names, strong emotions, contrasting facts, etc

After you do enough RC practice, the questions that are asked are relatively predictable. Making efficient use of the highlighting tool can make detail-oriented questions easier to find and save you a lot of time.

You can see the text and the questions at the same time. So you can combine this with the Search and Destroy method too.

If you're a slow reader, I highly recommend you practice reading scientific articles! DAT Bootcamp has daily recommended ScienceDaily articles for practice.
What did you use for RC practice?
 
i did a practice test via datbootcamp and used the same methods on the actual OAT. skimmed the first few questions, then skimmed and highlighted the article, then search and destroy. i scored 400 on this section
 
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I'm usually someone who NEEDS to read through an entire article before attempting to answer questions. Unfortunately, that method is way too time consuming during the OAT so I highly recommend the search and destroy method instead. I was hesitant with this method at first because it's opposite of what I usually do, but this method is way more efficient. I would read the question first and then skim through the article until I found the answer. Then move onto the next question and skim again. By the end, you'll be an expert on the beginning/middle of the article because you skimmed it so many times already! Just make sure you practice this method several times and time yourself. I did well with this method on the OAT, and even had time at the end to go through the questions!
 
I actually did worse during my practice exams with the search and destroy method. So on the actual OAT, I read through the articles entirely and used the highlight tool for major ideas, pieces of information that sounded like they might show up as questions, etc. I was able to read all 3 articles and finish all the questions with several minutes left on the clock. I got a 400 on the RC section with this method, when I was getting lower 300s practicing with the search and destroy approach. Try both and see what works better for you :)
 
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