Reading Comprehension Question

[montag925]

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.Hey I’m sure this questions been asked a plethora of times already, but I just wanted the opinion of people who already took the test. For the reading comprehension portion, I’ve been practicing doing a passage in 20 minutes, since the three required will need to be done in an hour. On the real thing, did you guys notice that the three passages were all of somewhat equal length and difficulty? My worry is that I spend 20 minutes on the first two passages going at a steady pace only to realize that the last passage is a ball buster. Let me know what you guys think.


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[TheWiredNerv]

They all vary in length.

 

[DDS Nuke]

ditto on the varyin length...instead of giving yourself X amount of minutes per passage, concentrate on your technique (read all, then answer / skim, read questions / answer, or read none until after you read the questions)...if your technique is well practiced you will have plenty of time no matter the length of the passage.

 

[113zami]

(read all, then answer / skim, read questions / answer, or read none until after you read the questions)...if your technique is well practiced you will have plenty of time no matter the length of the passage.

yea after trying so many techniques i figured that i am such a slow reader, and if i read the passage first i'll never finish the questions, i switched to reading questions first and writing down the main idea of each questions, then go back to the passage and read while looking for answers, that way the best score i got so far was 18 a huge improvement for me, but i am expecting that to be much lower for the real test since most (if not all) the practice tests currently available have the answeres word for word in the passage which is not how the real dat is like, unfortunately🙁

 

[montag925]

Being that there are 17 or so questions for each passage, I don't understand how one can keep 17 ideas in their head at once while reading the passage. But hey, if you can then you are a better reader than myself. I've been averaging 18ish by reading the passage then answering the questions, so I know that I am doing something at least half right.

 

[TheWiredNerv]

That is why you write down the topic of each paragraph and one or two things that keep popping up in that paragraph. That's what worked for me.

 

[ZHB]

From the DATs I've taken, they seem to vary in length. But I found that difficulty was a bigger issue than length. Some topics just seemed more intellectually challenging than others.

 

[Cinnabans]

the practice tests currently available have the answeres word for word in the passage which is not how the real dat is like, unfortunately

Why would ALL of the practice tests available be completely different from the format of the actual DAT? That kind of throws me off. I got a 20 and a 21 on the last two practice RCs I took and felt pretty good about my technique but after reading this I'm a bit worried... anyone else have anything to say about this?

 

[TheWiredNerv]

Why would ALL of the practice tests available be completely different from the format of the actual DAT? That kind of throws me off. I got a 20 and a 21 on the last two practice RCs I took and felt pretty good about my technique but after reading this I'm a bit worried... anyone else have anything to say about this?

All the practice material is 2 years old. The DAT has recently revamped their RC section so there are little or none word for word answers.

 

[jigabodo]

All the practice material is 2 years old. The DAT has recently revamped their RC section so there are little or none word for word answers.

I agree. RC has becoming like that.