PCAT Critical Reading section

[Patel Amish]

Hello everyone,

I took PCAT on 21st July and did really bad on reading and because of that, I will have to retake the exam in September. Can anyone please share their strategies to tackle this section and also suggest any good study guide for reading. I am already using Dr. Collins and Pearson tests.

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[immunogold]

My PCAT composite was a 96 however critical reading was my lowest score at 82 which was still higher than I had expected for this section. I also only used Dr. Collins to study (and took 2 Pearson practice tests) and I know a lot of people say that they did not find Collins helpful for reading but I think it's also a matter of how you use the study guide.

First off, do not start off by reading the entire passage if you don't have to. Always start off by looking at the questions. If the question references a paragraph, go straight to the paragraph, read that portion of the passage only and proceed to answer the question. If you read a question that does require more reading of the passage, then skip it for the time-being and answer any questions that specifically reference a paragraph or definition of a word in a paragraph. Then go back and read the remaining paragraphs to answer the questions that you skipped previously. I found that this strategy helps a lot because it really does save a lot of time. Also practice speed reading! I can't emphasize that enough. Let me know if you have any other questions.

 

[Patel Amish]

My PCAT composite was a 96 however critical reading was my lowest score at 82 which was still higher than I had expected for this section. I also only used Dr. Collins to study (and took 2 Pearson practice tests) and I know a lot of people say that they did not find Collins helpful for reading but I think it's also a matter of how you use the study guide.

First off, do not start off by reading the entire passage if you don't have to. Always start off by looking at the questions. If the question references a paragraph, go straight to the paragraph, read that portion of the passage only and proceed to answer the question. If you read a question that does require more reading of the passage, then skip it for the time-being and answer any questions that specifically reference a paragraph or definition of a word in a paragraph. Then go back and read the remaining paragraphs to answer the questions that you skipped previously. I found that this strategy helps a lot because it really does save a lot of time. Also practice speed reading! I can't emphasize that enough. Let me know if you have any other questions.

Thanks for sharing your strategy. I started practicing this section by reading first and last paragraphs and skim the middle portion of the passage to answer the questions.

Will this strategy work?

Like you said that you only read to those paragraphs that have question reference, then how to you answer the questions that ask for purpose or the tone of an article.

 

[immunogold]

Thanks for sharing your strategy. I started practicing this section by reading first and last paragraphs and skim the middle portion of the passage to answer the questions.

Will this strategy work?

Like you said that you only read to those paragraphs that have question reference, then how to you answer the questions that ask for purpose or the tone of an article.

I think the strategy isn't guaranteed for every passage given on the test but if you read the paragraphs that are referenced by the questions, in the end if you're unable to answer questions that require reading the whole thing - then you can look over the passage again and just speed read through the paragraphs that you haven't read. Does that make sense?

For example, I will answer as many questions as I can that reference a specific paragraph. Then I go back and look at the questions I couldn't answer and I will then skim/speed read over paragraphs I haven't read. By that point, you will hopefully somewhat have the complete picture.