reading comp. + strategies

[anususo]

could any body suggest strategies for reading comp. I have tried everything but still not getting good results.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[andyjl]

i'm assuming you've done quite a few practice rc tests right? by now you should have an idea of what kind of questions they ask. That's how i set up my scratch paper writing down key words and/or the type of information it contains. for example if a paragraph talks about "several conditions of.. several factors" or "the symptoms include..", you should write down "conditions," "symptoms" and know that when a question asks about those you look back at that paragraph. if a sentence defines a word, write that word down. if it starts talking about different experiments, write down experiments and know to refer back to that paragraph.
make sure you write down peoples names or the group that did some kind of investigation or experiment, those are often asked.

also after you have done a general reading of the passage you should be able to ask any inference type or questions which you should answer last because then if you get the general idea, then you could answer easily

 

[El Sol]

Does anyone actually read the passages and answer the questions? I've tried reading the passages and just answering questions but it takes forever.

 

[andyjl]

Does anyone actually read the passages and answer the questions? I've tried reading the passages and just answering questions but it takes forever.

you're not supposed to read the whole passage, you wont be able to retain most of it
you gotta write down a key word or two for each paragraph and use those to help refer back to specific paragraphs to find your answer.

 

[DMDreaming]

i'm assuming you've done quite a few practice rc tests right? by now you should have an idea of what kind of questions they ask. That's how i set up my scratch paper writing down key words and/or the type of information it contains. for example if a paragraph talks about "several conditions of.. several factors" or "the symptoms include..", you should write down "conditions," "symptoms" and know that when a question asks about those you look back at that paragraph. if a sentence defines a word, write that word down. if it starts talking about different experiments, write down experiments and know to refer back to that paragraph.
make sure you write down peoples names or the group that did some kind of investigation or experiment, those are often asked.

also after you have done a general reading of the passage you should be able to ask any inference type or questions which you should answer last because then if you get the general idea, then you could answer easily

I used this method and scored a 22 in this section. I would suggest numbering the key words according to paragraph so you can jump right to it when you need to. Also, I didn't read the entire passages. I just read the entire first and last paragraphs and then concentrated on the first sentence of each remaining paragraph. Skimmed the rest in between and made notes. Then I started answering questions and marking any "tone" questions (there weren't as many as I expected). After I finished answering the "regular" questions, I went back and answered the ones I'd marked. By then I'd read basically the entire passage while answering the other questions and had an easier time answering the tone questions. With this technique, I had about 8 minutes left when I was done with the entire section.
Hope this helps!! Good luck!

 

[TimeforDAT]

I used this method and scored a 22 in this section. I would suggest numbering the key words according to paragraph so you can jump right to it when you need to. Also, I didn't read the entire passages. I just read the entire first and last paragraphs and then concentrated on the first sentence of each remaining paragraph. Skimmed the rest in between and made notes. Then I started answering questions and marking any "tone" questions (there weren't as many as I expected). After I finished answering the "regular" questions, I went back and answered the ones I'd marked. By then I'd read basically the entire passage while answering the other questions and had an easier time answering the tone questions. With this technique, I had about 8 minutes left when I was done with the entire section.
Hope this helps!! Good luck!

yup, you nailed it, i pretty much used this method too and i had about 15 minutes to answer the other questions

 

[evlyann]

I scored a 22 in RC and this is how I did it. For practice, i used Kaplan, Topscore, Achiever and Barrons. Also, I bought the MCAT prep book and did those reading ones, which are Difficult! Also, what really helped ezpecially with the inference Q and tone Q was using my old SAT books. THe long passages in the SAT definitly help u undertand how to nail those types of Q. For the real test, I just read the Q and scanned for the answer. I finished with more than 10 min to spare. GL!

 

[swooth01]

Great strategies

 

[hokie4life]

how did you guys read and outline and have so much time! when I first started it took me so long that I ditched this method and so now i just look for the questions and answers w/o reading and finish on time and have been doing well so far on topscore but i know the real test is NOT like this and that topscore is MUCH easier. so how did you guys practice this map method? did you use it on topscore even though tospcore requires no inference really and just asks word for word Q formthe paras really?

I know my search and hunt fast strategy is great for topscore but the real test isn't like it so should i just try to master this map strategy on things like topscore as well so I can do it on test day?

 

[ddstobe]

I scored a 22 in RC and this is how I did it. For practice, i used Kaplan, Topscore, Achiever and Barrons. Also, I bought the MCAT prep book and did those reading ones, which are Difficult! Also, what really helped ezpecially with the inference Q and tone Q was using my old SAT books. THe long passages in the SAT definitly help u undertand how to nail those types of Q. For the real test, I just read the Q and scanned for the answer. I finished with more than 10 min to spare. GL!

one problem with the SAT books is that they have many history/art/government type passages that we don't need to know about, very little sciences.

 

[evlyann]

yeah the SAT is geared more towards the arts, but u just want to hone ur technique. The subject should not make that much of a difference. Just make sure u get a good technique down and that u understand why an authr has a certain tone and stuff like that. GL!

 

[drteeth]

Yea, I consider myself a bit of slower reader so on my 1st DAT I went with the read the question and find the answer strategy scored an 18. I tried the kaplan method, skimming, everything, but the method I used really seemed to be the only way that worked for me...

 

[DMDreaming]

how did you guys read and outline and have so much time! when I first started it took me so long that I ditched this method and so now i just look for the questions and answers w/o reading and finish on time and have been doing well so far on topscore but i know the real test is NOT like this and that topscore is MUCH easier. so how did you guys practice this map method? did you use it on topscore even though tospcore requires no inference really and just asks word for word Q formthe paras really?

I know my search and hunt fast strategy is great for topscore but the real test isn't like it so should i just try to master this map strategy on things like topscore as well so I can do it on test day?

I didn't really outline the entire passage but rather wrote down the paragraph numbers and the key word(s) in each. Usually the question will ask something directly related to the key term and I could quickly identify the paragraph where it was found, and read until I knew the answer. This way I identified the most probable question subjects (by key word) and only read in depth the areas necessary to answer. I marked the tone questions and by the time I finished answering the factual questions could easily go back and answer them. Hope this helps!