Reading Comp worries :(

[txlonghorn]

I have completed 5 crack the dat reading passages and keep scoring between a 17-18 on them. I am getting really worried, because the percentile for this score is VERY low - 30ish%. I do not know what I am doing wrong. I have tried the VicViper method, but it has not done anything for my score. I have been reading the questions, which takes about less than 2 mins. I then begin reading the paragraphs and answering the questions as I see them. The problem is the passages have answers to certain questions all over the place. For example, the questions might ask "which of the following challenges and assertion in the passage" or "which of the following is not disputed in the passage". It then will have information from all over the passage. I am having trouble with this section, which I thought would be the easiest section for me. Any advice would be helpful.

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[newmexomfs]

being ESL i am probably not the best person to answer this thread. However I would like to share how I tackled practice tests and real exam. I modified Viviciper's strategy. I read the questions and wrote first 7-8 Qs down on my dry erase sheet. Then I read the passage while creating a mental picture of its organization. I know reading the whole passage takes a lot of time. I just read first two sentences and scanned for keywords ( I did not write key words down). Once U think U have a good idea about passage's organization, you must read the last paragraph to determine the overall theme of the passage and author's purpose/tone. No one method guarantees 23+ on RC.
If you are a science major, then on the real exam atleast 2 passages will be a piece of cake for you. But u wanna confirm every answer and avoid using your prior knowledge of the content matter.

 

[txlonghorn]

Thanks for the reply! I think I will try your method tomorrow. I am also ESL, but I thought I was pretty good at reading...now I just feel like I am dumb.lol. So are you saying that you did not read the passage, just the first sentence, then skim the rest of the paragraph? What about questions that have answers from parts of many paragraphs? CDR has a few of those questions.

 

[newmexomfs]

read every paragraph until u get a brief idea about its purpose. For questions that require you to extract info from all over the passage u r going to have to reread some paragraphs to eliminate incorrect answers. I have taken DAT twice. 2 out of 3 passages are going to have easy questions. usually the last passage is the one that would require you to reread paragraphs and look for scattered info. U shud constantly read breakdowns. It would give u an idea about which passages are written by test makers to kill your time! Lemme know if u hav any other questions!

 

[txlonghorn]

Once again, thanks!

I guess the ones I should watch out for are the ethics and piano passages right? It is just scaring me because after I read the passage, I feel like I did well, then I see that I got 31 out of 50 right. It just depresses me

I am going to just wing a practice passage tomorrow by not focusing on a strategy and just taking the passage test. I think what screws me are those questions that ask which is not true or which is true, but they are all over the place. I will try mental mapping too and see if that works.

 

[txlonghorn]

Well, I took the test again and scored a 20!!! Wooo hoo! I just began looking at 3 questions, skipping the overall theme ones, and then trying to located the detailed questions. I noticed the the questions that I missed the most were the detail ones, so that worries me a bit. However, the answers to the detail questions on crack the dat are all over - in many paragraph, and from what I understand the DAT does not do that...right?