Pros and Cons of this RC Strategy for slow readers!

[Dwight Beet Farm]

Hi SDN'ers.
I am a slow reader. I have been practicing the different strategies for RC on bootcamp tests. I always have time for only two of the passages and would run out of time getting to the third one. This happens with every test I do. I ama DAT retake (previous RC score was 17). Now, let me get to my method of how I will have time to get to the third one. I haven't practiced this method yet. Please, tell me the pros and cons of this strategy. If the pros outweighed the cons, I will go ahead and do it for my real DAT (well, after practicing it 1st).
The strategy is to first look at how many paragraphs you have for a given passage. Skip to the one with the least paragraphs and start answering it. Then, do the second passage and finally to the passage with the longest paragraphs.
Btw, I am using the BYU4you method "the balanced appraoch," when answering questions http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/my-rc-strategy-the-balanced-approach.1138782/

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[BYU4you]

Hi SDN'ers.
I am a slow reader. I have been practicing the different strategies for RC on bootcamp tests. I always have time for only two of the passages and would run out of time getting to the third one. This happens with every test I do. I ama DAT retake (previous RC score was 17). Now, let me get to my method of how I will have time to get to the third one. I haven't practiced this method yet. Please, tell me the pros and cons of this strategy. If the pros outweighed the cons, I will go ahead and do it for my real DAT (well, after practicing it 1st).
The strategy is to first look at how many paragraphs you have for a given passage. Skip to the one with the least paragraphs and start answering it. Then, do the second passage and finally to the passage with the longest paragraphs.
Btw, I am using the BYU4you method "the balanced appraoch," when answering questions http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/my-rc-strategy-the-balanced-approach.1138782/

I wouldn't do that because of two reasons, one it would take you a lot of extra time. On the Real Dat as you know, you have to hit next for every question, you can't just skip to questions like bootcamp. Especially when you have to scroll through answers before it lets you skip.

Secondly, the real DAT, each passage is roughly the same in length anyhow. (Some may have one or two extra questions)

I think you need to just practice practice practice. Vault has 10 (maybe more extra?) quizzes, Bootcamp has like 5. And I'm sure there are other resources out there. Just try your best to read quickly and thoroughly. Almost like skimming and catching important words if you have trouble reading fast to begin with.

 

[PocketRocket]

Yeah what BYU4you said. I myself am a slow reader as well. I tried every possible strategy before settling on the strategy that actually had me reading more. I found that the vanilla method worked best. Eventhough you spend more time reading and absorbing the information, you end up breezing through the questions because you understand and remember a lot of what you just read. I remember doing the bootcamp tests and running out of time. I would read the first 2 psgs and use SnD on the 3rd. Ultimately, that wasn't working out so well for me (averaged 16-18s on all bootcamp tests and CDRs). When I tried the vanilla method on the last bootcamp test 2 days before my real DAT I got a 25. Ended up with a 21

 

[okiedokeartichoke]

Yeah what BYU4you said. I myself am a slow reader as well. I tried every possible strategy before settling on the strategy that actually had me reading more. I found that the vanilla method worked best. Eventhough you spend more time reading and absorbing the information, you end up breezing through the questions because you understand and remember a lot of what you just read. I remember doing the bootcamp tests and running out of time. I would read the first 2 psgs and use SnD on the 3rd. Ultimately, that wasn't working out so well for me (averaged 16-18s on all bootcamp tests and CDRs). When I tried the vanilla method on the last bootcamp test 2 days before my real DAT I got a 25. Ended up with a 21

What's the vanilla method? Just reading the passage first all the way through and then answering the questions?

 

[Dwight Beet Farm]

What's the vanilla method? Just reading the passage first all the way through and then answering the questions?

http://datbootcamp.com/reading-comprehension-strategy/vanilla-method-for-dat-reading-comprehension/

 

[Dwight Beet Farm]

Alright. Thank you guys so much for the insight!

 

[okiedokeartichoke]

http://datbootcamp.com/reading-comprehension-strategy/vanilla-method-for-dat-reading-comprehension/

Gotcha. Thanks!

 

[pduckworth]

I got a 23 on the RC section. Personally, I feel that the best method is still S&D. This is how I handled each question:
01: Read the question. Mentally note a couple of keywords
02: Skim through the passage until I see those keywords.
- If I find the paragraph with those keywords, I will read it and answer.
- If I did not find the paragraph after skimming the whole passage once, I would write down the keywords and then move on to the next question.
03: When answering other questions, if I found the paragraph I needed for a previous question, I would write down the paragraph number next to the keyword on my scrap paper, so when I clicked back to the question, I could easily find it.

I finished RC with about 10 extra minutes using this method.

 

[510586]

I got a 23 on the RC section. Personally, I feel that the best method is still S&D. This is how I handled each question:
01: Read the question. Mentally note a couple of keywords
02: Skim through the passage until I see those keywords.
- If I find the paragraph with those keywords, I will read it and answer.
- If I did not find the paragraph after skimming the whole passage once, I would write down the keywords and then move on to the next question.
03: When answering other questions, if I found the paragraph I needed for a previous question, I would write down the paragraph number next to the keyword on my scrap paper, so when I clicked back to the question, I could easily find it.

I finished RC with about 10 extra minutes using this method.

Was your test more fact based then? I think the largest con of S&D is the tone based questions

 

[pduckworth]

Was your test more fact based then? I think the largest con of S&D is the tone based questions

I had three tone questions total and they all asked about the tone of a specific paragraph (either the first or the last). For those, I just read whatever paragraph they asked about.

 

[510586]

I had three tone questions total and they all asked about the tone of a specific paragraph (either the first or the last). For those, I just read whatever paragraph they asked about.

Wow I've heard that some people got 40-60 tone:fact ratio. That's an awesome test version you got (not trying to downplay your great scores). It's good to hear that not all tests are tone heavy

 

[pduckworth]

Wow I've heard that some people got 40-60 tone:fact ratio. That's an awesome test version you got (not trying to downplay your great scores). It's good to hear that not all tests are tone heavy

I had a lot of questions that asked me to make inferences about the reason behind something.
So, for instance, on my article about hospital acquired infections (which almost felt like cheating because I work in the infection control department at a hospital), I got asked stuff like "What is most likely the reason the author chose to state the antibiotics that X is resistant to?"

I don't consider those to be tone questions (not sure if others do) because I did have the three questions that specifically asked about tone, but they weren't really "fact" either because I had to draw conclusions.

 

[510586]

I had a lot of questions that asked me to make inferences about the reason behind something.
So, for instance, on my article about hospital acquired infections (which almost felt like cheating because I work in the infection control department at a hospital), I got asked stuff like "What is most likely the reason the author chose to state the antibiotics that X is resistant to?"

I don't consider those to be tone questions (not sure if others do) because I did have the three questions that specifically asked about tone, but they weren't really "fact" either because I had to draw conclusions.

Yea I would say those are tone as far as I know

 

[Krisrice]

7 minutes earlier with your method. Love you!