Though everyone's method seems to fall into two camps, either the 'key word' or skim and search, both rely on hunting for the answer. If you are having trouble reading the passages, and you have a good understanding of the English language, then I would read to capture the gist of each paragraph. Don't worry about the articles and some of the pronouns. Focus instead on the nouns and the verbs and what the modify. Perhaps anohter way to look at it is read like Tarzan would "Jane do research on oncogenes. Cancer bad!" Well, okay, maybe not quite that hacked, but you get the idea. Keep in mind that the DAT is not as word-for-word as Topscore, and you probably know that. You can expect some questions which require you to interpret the meaning of the passage and/or intent of the author - both of which require skills of interpretation and conjecture.
Given your performance on Topscore I would look for you to do the same, possibly a couple of points better. I consistently scored 20-21 on the RC section and pulled a 20 on the real thing. While that is not a terribly high score, I was not worried about that portion and instead focused my energy elsewhere and so I am content with it.
