RC strategy besides S&D??

[futuredentist2]

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Hi guys!
I'm was trying S&D, and it wasn't exactly working for me.

What other strategies do you guys recommend that worked successfully for you?
Just reading and mapping out the passage before attacking the questions?
Or
Reading the questions first and write keywords down then read the passage?

Thanks in advance!

 

[chemkay]

Here is how I do it (S&D didn't work for me):
I read the first question, then I read the passage until I get to the answer of that question. Then I continue doing that. It's similar to search and destroy except I read the entire passage thoroughly. I think this will only work if you are a quick reader. I usually finish with 10-15 mins to spare.

 

[futuredentist2]

Thanks! Does the method work even though the questions aren't usually in the same order as the passage?

 

[Muscle Extender]

I would sometimes skim read an article that didn't interest me, then I would read each question and go back to that spot in the passage. For articles that interest you it is easiest to read them and then just answer the questions after.

 

[chemkay]

I think it does. But even if you get a question that is at the end, you have read the entire passage and the next question you will have already read the answer to. So if you can remember what you read, you should be able to go to the exact paragraph in the passage. Does that make sense?

 

[futuredentist2]

Okay thank you guys! I'll be trying out the methods!

 

[chemkay]

You are welcome. When I was using S&D I was getting 18-19 but using my method of actually reading it, I am scoring 23-24. So I stopped using S&D.

 

[futuredentist2]

Yea I got an 18 on Bootcamp trying different methods, almost ran out of time!

 

[soccerfan01]

Here is how I do it (S&D didn't work for me):
I read the first question, then I read the passage until I get to the answer of that question. Then I continue doing that. It's similar to search and destroy except I read the entire passage thoroughly. I think this will only work if you are a quick reader. I usually finish with 10-15 mins to spare.

Ok I did your method all last week for Quvault and it worked and got me an 18 on every single test. But Qvault questions are really simple search and destroy type not much tone and overall analytical types. However took my first Bootcamp test today I got "less than 15". I am a super slow reader as is so I know this contributed to my low score. However, your method was awesome but I am losing on two ends 1. my reading speed is below average 2. the question types are more analytical and I suck at that on a reading comp stand point... Do you have any advice to fix this?

 

[ckirty]

The strategy that worked best for me was reading the passage quickly (less than 5 minutes, more like skimming really) just to get a general idea of where everything was in the passage. Then I'd read a question, think about where it would make sense for the question to be located from what I remembered, and locate answers that way. Most of the time I was able to get within a paragraph of where the answer was, but some were small detail questions that I couldn't remember so I had to just search and destroy those. In Crack DAT RC i scored ~20 using regular search and destroy throughout the whole test, but by skimming the passage first I scored 22-23 each time and scored a 23 on the real DAT.

Best of luck in your studies!

 

[soccerfan01]

The strategy that worked best for me was reading the passage quickly (less than 5 minutes, more like skimming really) just to get a general idea of where everything was in the passage. Then I'd read a question, think about where it would make sense for the question to be located from what I remembered, and locate answers that way. Most of the time I was able to get within a paragraph of where the answer was, but some were small detail questions that I couldn't remember so I had to just search and destroy those. In Crack DAT RC i scored ~20 using regular search and destroy throughout the whole test, but by skimming the passage first I scored 22-23 each time and scored a 23 on the real DAT.

Best of luck in your studies!

Thanks for the input man, but did you take any of the Bootcamp tests or did all your sole practice come for CDP reading. I have CDP reading and I am about to practice those now. But the problem with me solely lies in that BC questions are pretty much all super tough at least that is what I observed today with TEST 2

 

[ckirty]

Only used CDRC. Sorry, I thought you were just looking for general strategies for RC 😀

 

[soccerfan01]

Only used CDRC. Sorry, I thought you were just looking for general strategies for RC 😀

Well when it comes to CDP, were the question types on the REAL DAT similar to CDP. I am reviewing my tests comparing Qvault to BC and why I did better is clearly on the questions types asked.

 

[ckirty]

The real test has fewer inference questions than Crack, but the questions which were just details were very similar. I honestly don't remember a question from my real DAT that the answer wasn't located in the passage. Even the couple "Which of these statements would the author most likely agree/disagree with?" had the 4 things he would agree with located in the passage while the fifth had a statement that contradicted the answer choice, or the 1 thing that he would agree with in the passage. From other people's breakdowns it doesn't sound like this is the typical case, however. It seems like others had a few tone or inference questions. Timing was my only issue on the real thing.

 

[Average Guy]

No one mentioned the Kaplan strategy yet so here it is! I like the Kaplan strategy because it simplifies where to look for the answer in the passage. For each passage you create a "road map". For each paragraph in the passage you jot down 2 - 3 notes about the general purpose and a specific detail or two from the paragraph. It also helps to write down large vocabulary words where they appear in a passage so if a question uses that word you know which paragraph to look back on.

In terms of timing, spend 20 minutes on each passage: ~12 minutes mapping it out and the remainder to answer the questions. So far I've been getting around an 18 - 19 on the RC but I tend to waste time re-reading multiple paragraphs since I wasn't exactly paying attention to what I was reading If it wasn't for that I would certainly be getting over a 21

 

[soccerfan01]

No one mentioned the Kaplan strategy yet so here it is! I like the Kaplan strategy because it simplifies where to look for the answer in the passage. For each passage you create a "road map". For each paragraph in the passage you jot down 2 - 3 notes about the general purpose and a specific detail or two about the paragraph. It also helps to write down large vocabulary words where they appear in a passage so if a question uses that word you know which paragraph to look back on.

In terms of timing, spend 20 minutes on each passage: ~12 minutes mapping it out and the remainder to answer the questions. So far I've been getting around an 18 - 19 on the RC but I tend to waste time re-reading multiple paragraphs since I wasn't exactly paying attention to what I was reading If it wasn't for that I would certainly be getting over a 21

When you say 18 - 19 on RC are you basing this off of results of Bootcamp?

 

[Average Guy]

When you say 18 - 19 on RC are you basing this off of results of Bootcamp?

No, I'm using the Kaplan online resources to measure my performance.

 

[DATtestTho]

I got a 26 on RC by just reading each paragraph before even looking at the questions. As I read each paragraph, I would write a sentence or two on my scrap paper with the general idea of each paragraph. I would also include important looking things (sci names, dates, names). If you can do this in 8-9 minutes, then spent 11 minutes on questions you should be fine. At the 20/40 minute mark move on to the next article. Did this and had 8 minutes to spare and use on the iffy questions.

 

[jmh018]

Just read it through if you can read fast enough. Search and destroy in my opinion is a terrible strategy. I got a 23 on reading by reading the whole passage through before looking at the questions. I have average reading speeds, probably around 300 wpm but pretty good comprehension. I only had to look back the the passages for a handful of answers. The rest I knew from the original read through. I also had ten minutes left at the end of this section. If you can make this strategy work, I would use it.

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