quick question about 'skimming passage' for ps/bs

[equityrange]

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some people say that they just skim the passage or not even read it at all. is this standard? ive been doing some practice passages for ps/bs, but it takes me about a little more than 1minute to read the passage. what exactly should i be doing? thanks

 

[loveoforganic]

If you're reading the passage in a minute you should be golden. If you're not, passage reading isn't your problem.

As far as skimming, you have to judge on a per passage basis whether you can skim or not. Practice helps with that.

 

[LostInStudy]

Yep, agreed. The one thing practice has definitely allowed me to do is that it has helped fine tune my skill of what is or isn't important in a passage. After you get that skill down then passages aren't a hassle to read anymore.

Hope this helps,

-LIS

 

[Malayna]

I found I was able to skim when the passage had a table or data of some sort or when it was a topic I knew really well. But there are some passages that you have to read, because they describe an experiment or a machine of some kind. It's a judgement call from passage to passage.

 

[IndianVercetti]

What I do is take about 25 seconds to quickly go through the passage and kind of figure out the organization. So in my head I'll be like, OK para1 is intro stuff, para2 is talking about 2 types of compounds, para3 is about experiment 1, para 4 is about experiment 2, para 5 is a concluding type of sentence..etc. Then I look at the questions - if they require in-depth reasoning, I'll go back to the passage and read it at normal speed to understand it. If they are more superficial questions, just answer them straight up.

Also, I find that trying to read a passage after you have looked it over with your eyes for 25 seconds prior helps me to understand it a lot more.

 

[MDub1]

Reading all the passages really helped me out a ton and if you've studied well the time it takes won't be a problem. I always finished the PS & BS sections with plenty of time to spare. Sometimes I think we get too caught up in "test-day" tricks and forget that it's really not that complicated. Doing things like skimming passages or trying to skip around to easy questions ends up costing valuable time and probably several points in the end.

Having said that, though, I think it's important to realize that some of these passages are confusing on purpose and to not spend too much time trying to understand every detail in them.

 

[VonBeethoven]

I agree with what's been said as long as "skimming" to you means briefly going through each paragraph/figure/chart and picking up the main ideas in about a minute.

I made the mistake when I started practicing passages of assuming that I understood enough science that I could complete questions without looking at the passage. The reason this is a problem is that even though I might know the right "textbook" answer to a question, and it's an answer choice, that answer can be (and often is) the wrong answer in the context of the passage/experiment/study.

 

[MDub1]

I saw this as well, the context of the passage can really change the answer to a question so it's important to read.