Reading Comprehension on DAT

[angiee]

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Hi all,

I have NO idea how to study for the reading comprehension. I've looked through so many posts, forums, sites, but still can't really grasp how I should study for this section.

Are there some materials you recommend for practice? I suck at reading comprehension (SAT 4 years ago was horrible, 640)... reading really isn't my forte. I saw Crack DAT reading mentioned...

I want as much practice as possible to do well on this section 🙁

Any help at all will be much appreciated!!!

 

[DeathNote]

Hi all,

I have NO idea how to study for the reading comprehension. I've looked through so many posts, forums, sites, but still can't really grasp how I should study for this section.

Are there some materials you recommend for practice? I suck at reading comprehension (SAT 4 years ago was horrible, 640)... reading really isn't my forte. I saw Crack DAT reading mentioned...

I want as much practice as possible to do well on this section 🙁

Any help at all will be much appreciated!!!

There is no universal one-approach-fits-all for this part of the test. The best thing to do would be to just take practice tests after practice test and figure out what works best for you. I take it you read about search and destroy method, and the read and write short notes on each paragraph method--really you have to figure out what you do best; you can only do that through practice. Something that could help you is to read all the time. Whenever you have time read science articles from online journals and understand them while you read (preferably the first time through).

This is all the advice I can give really for RC

 

[angiee]

What are some materials you used to practice? That's what I can't seem to figure out lol
Thanks in advance!

 

[vindicate]

major in the arts.

#1 major that gets into med school = english (several years ago, not sure if it still is the case). people can cram sciences, but not reading skills 😛

 

[jenbruin]

For practice I used the RC sections from Achiever (more difficult than actual DAT but great practice nonetheless) and TopScore (very similar to actual DAT).

The previous poster is right, you have to practice using the different methods and see which one works well for you. I would always use the taking notes method but would scramble for time during the tests. A few days before my DAT I switched to S&D method which worked much better for me. I wound up getting a 30 on RC which was much higher than any score I got on a practice test (but I've always enjoyed reading and English).

START READING MORE SCIENCE ARTICLES EVERYDAY! I've heard some programs recommend reading at least 2 scientific articles (from a journal) everyday. These publications get a little dense though. I practiced finding keywords by timing myself (10 min or so) to go through and write down keywords from 15 paragraphs (or whatever is most similar to the passage length on DAT). Also, I really like reading newscientist.com for fun scientific news.

 

[lmaozedong1]

major in the arts.

#1 major that gets into med school = english (several years ago, not sure if it still is the case). people can cram sciences, but not reading skills 😛

I disagree. I'm sure there is validity in this statement, but it's just not universally true. I think people who tend to do well on any reading sections are the people who actually enjoy reading and do it somewhat in their spare time. Just my opinion.

 

[INeedAPuppy]

For practice I used the RC sections from Achiever (more difficult than actual DAT but great practice nonetheless) and TopScore (very similar to actual DAT).

The previous poster is right, you have to practice using the different methods and see which one works well for you. I would always use the taking notes method but would scramble for time during the tests. A few days before my DAT I switched to S&D method which worked much better for me. I wound up getting a 30 on RC which was much higher than any score I got on a practice test (but I've always enjoyed reading and English).

START READING MORE SCIENCE ARTICLES EVERYDAY! I've heard some programs recommend reading at least 2 scientific articles (from a journal) everyday. These publications get a little dense though. I practiced finding keywords by timing myself (10 min or so) to go through and write down keywords from 15 paragraphs (or whatever is most similar to the passage length on DAT). Also, I really like reading newscientist.com for fun scientific news.

I'm also looking for strategies to take the RC. What exactly is this S+D method you used?

 

[bchang57]

search...AND DESTROY THE QUESTION!!!

locating keywords in the question and finding them in the article. I like to skim over the article very quickly first before starting the destruction... =p

 

[hail2pitt]

search...AND DESTROY THE QUESTION!!!

locating keywords in the question and finding them in the article. I like to skim over the article very quickly first before starting the destruction... =p

lol i was a failure at this method. i used to read (pretty thoroughly but quickly, but i read fast in general so maybe that helped), and write down things like

paragraph 1: main topic, words that seemed important
paragraph 2: etc etc.

and then when i would read a question, i'd be like "oh this question is about flossing... they talked about flossing in paragraph 3" so i'd go back and look there for the answer. sometimes i wouldn't have to even go back to the reading because i knew the answer already since i read pretty thoroughly. i guess this is pretty time consuming so if you don't read fast then this might be difficult.

 

[TheDentist16]

Hi all,

I have NO idea how to study for the reading comprehension. I've looked through so many posts, forums, sites, but still can't really grasp how I should study for this section.

Are there some materials you recommend for practice? I suck at reading comprehension (SAT 4 years ago was horrible, 640)... reading really isn't my forte. I saw Crack DAT reading mentioned...

I want as much practice as possible to do well on this section 🙁

Any help at all will be much appreciated!!!

For OP and anyone else, I used Crack DAT Reading as my main source to prepare for the DAT RC section. I did 1 CDR test a day, then I moved on to DAT Achiever RC sections, and finally TopScore RC sections. CDR helps with timing and helps you familiarize yourself with the average length of a passage for the DAT RC section. CDR is also mostly historical passages. Achiever gives highly technical scientific passages. TopScore gives both scientific and historical passages.

Combining all 3, you should be more than prepared for the DAT RC section. The actual DAT for me had 2 technical scientific passages, and 1 historical passage. On the side, I also kept up to date by reading the news online to keep my mind active.

Strategy wise, I never liked Search and Destroy. Personally, I read every passage all the way through and took no more then 10 minutes. The time spent reading the passage is more than compensated with the speed and ease with which you can answer the questions (which always took me less than 10 minutes). Some questions you need to know the passage as a whole, such as the "tone" or "main idea" questions, and reading the entire passage will definitely help you get those right.