Reading Help!!!

[dentallover]

Hello:

English is not my first language and I do not used to read frequently. I am having problems with the time in reading. I read the first two passages and I answer almost all correct but I have no time to read the third passage. I do the first two skimming. Any strategy please?

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[RCT PC CRN]

Hello:

English is not my first language and I do not used to read frequently. I am having problems with the time in reading. I read the first two passages and I answer almost all correct but I have no time to read the third passage. I do the first two skimming. Any strategy please?

I'm in similar boat. If I give myself a 30 min a paragraph I get higher percentage of correct answer (>90%). But hey..you are taking 10 whole more min..that is lot of time.

I tried many different ways but I can't seem to find alternate. I would love to see other's suggestions.

I think practice..practice..practice is the only way but when you have 2-3 months of prep time..how much practice you can expect !!

Lets see if someone has any other suggestion beside practice..practice.

Any other source for practice exam for reading? My source at this moment is Kaplan, CDR, Achiever and top score.

 

[dentallover]

I am using Kaplan and Topscore. I also have 1001 passages for Reading but it is more for tone questions in MCAT. What is CDR?

 

[Ibraiz]

CDR is Crack that DAT Reading. I am in a similar situation other than the fact I haven't started with the RC yet. I would love to get some feed backs from people who know how to destroyer the RC section.

 

[dentallover]

Is it Crack DAT Reading good?

 

[UCLAbruinz]

im an immigrant as well, and only been in the states for 10 years.
i think what you need to do is do a lot of reading comprehension tests, find a strategy that works for you, and then you should be fine. The key is to practice and find that strategy.

Try the Kaplan RC tests, Achiever, Top Score.
I never did the Crack Dat Reading but i heard it's not good.

Btw, I got a 26 so you can do it as well. good luck.

 

[dentallover]

Thank you. Can you share with me the strategy you used? I use Kaplan's one and still does not work for me.

 

[zinn12]

im an immigrant as well, and only been in the states for 10 years.
i think what you need to do is do a lot of reading comprehension tests, find a strategy that works for you, and then you should be fine. The key is to practice and find that strategy.

Try the Kaplan RC tests, Achiever, Top Score.
I never did the Crack Dat Reading but i heard it's not good.

Btw, I got a 26 so you can do it as well. good luck.

Can you propose some strategies that you/others found effective? What did you do! BTW, 26 is AMAZING! Congrats!

 

[ashes2ashes]

I really can't give any advice on how to do better on the section, but I can share my strategy with you (I also got a 26 like the person above me)

I always skip the page with the passage and go to the first question. I read the question and then start skimming. The trick for me is to skim through the information as well as keep a look out for the first question. When I find the answer I move on to the next question. If I look at the 2nd question and feel like I have seen it while skimming then I don't even skim for the information again from the beginning but just look for the keyword that will help answer the question (if this is confusing, I basically don't read but just go down the sentence and look for the keywords). If the 2nd question is unfamiliar I start at the paragraph I left off from question 1 and start skimming again, keeping a lookout for the 2nd question. I always finish with at least 15 minutes left on the timer if I use this methodology.

Hope this helps!

 

[LuckMC11]

.

 

[nze82]

Hello:

English is not my first language and I do not used to read frequently. I am having problems with the time in reading. I read the first two passages and I answer almost all correct but I have no time to read the third passage. I do the first two skimming. Any strategy please?

1st of all don't let the fact that English is not your mother tongue scare you. English is not my 1st language either. Yet, I managed to score a 23 on this section of the exam.

To do well on this section of the exam you must realize:
1-You don't need to know the meaning of every single term and phrase in the text.
2-You don't need to have any previous knowledge of the topic.
3-You're not reading the text to obtain any knowledge about the topic.

What you're doing is:
1-Reading through the text in order to understand the structure of the text and how it's organized. What do I mean by that?
Each paragraph of the text has a particular focus. For example, if the topic is "Bacterial Infections" then the text may be organized in the following manner:

Paragraph#1> Introduction to bacterial Infections
Paragraph#2> Cause
Paragraph#3> Treatments
Paragraph#4> Prevention
Paragraph#5> Conclusion

Understanding this structure is the key to success. Why?
When you know how the text is structured, the minute you see a question related to treatment of bacterial infections, you roughly know where to look for an answer (In this case, Paragraph#3), and this will save you a lot of time.

KAPLAN method doesn't really work, because it's too time consuming. What makes it too time consuming?
1-They ask you to read the text first without looking at the questions. What's wrong with doing this? Well, if you don't know what the questions are, then you might waste time reading a paragraph that won't provide you with an answer to any questions word for word. Whereas if you look at the questions first, then you know what's being asked, so you can read the sections of the text that may contain answers to questions more carefully and fly through the sections that aren't related to any questions (I'll talk more about this later).
2-They ask you to write stuff down. Again, a good majority of stuff that you write down may not provide you with an answer to any of the questions.
3-When you're done with writing, they ask you to finally move on to questions, and then come back to the text and find the answers. Now you're reading the text twice, and that can't be good when you're short on time.

How do we revise this strategy?
1-Don't write anything down, try to memorize the structure of the text as you read through it and get a general idea of how different information are distributed throughout the text.
2-Start with reading the questions first. Read question #1 and refer to the text to find its answer. DO NOT panic if you don't find the answer right away. Sometimes you need to read 3-4 paragraphs before you find the answer to question#1. If you don't find the answer after reading 4-5 paragraphs, mark the question and move on to the next. Continue reading till you find the answer for this question.
You might say that you're wasting time by reading through 4-5 paragraphs just to answer question#1. But that's not true. You might spend 3 minutes reading 5 paragraphs just to answer question#1. But most likely, when you move on to questions 2,3, and 4 you've already seen their answers somewhere in the paragraphs you've just read. So you invest 3 minutes to find the answer to question#1, but in return you'll spend less than 10 seconds to answer the next 3-4 questions, and that's called smart time management.
By the time you've answer ~10 questions you've read a good 80% of the text. While reading the text, if you notice that you have come across the answer to one of your marked questions, take the time to go back, and answer it.

What to remember, should you decide to use this method?
-PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE
-DO NOT PANIC. Continue reading at a constant paste even if you don't find the answer to your question write away.

One last thing! You also need to improve how fast you can read. To do this, go purchase a book on a topic that interests you (History, Art, Politics, etc).
Every night, take 1 hour and note the number of paragraphs you can read during that time frame. Every 3-4 nights try to increase your speed a little. After a month or so, you'll notice a tremendous increase in your reading speed.
When your speed is improved try to see how much of the text you actually remember. Try to see how well you recall the structure of the text you just read.

Hope this helps.

Good Luck

 

[dentallover]

Thank you for your recommendations. Do you remember when you took it if the questions follow the order of the paragraphs. I mean if you had to go back and fourth to find the answers to the questions or if the questions followed an order with respect to the paragraphs. Do you know any other Reading practice test besides Top score and Kaplan that you recommend me?

 

[fcbdmb2]

well im different becasue english is my first language and maybe others have had different experiences than me but i personally thought that kaplan's reading examples were far more difficult than those found on the actual test... i was studying from a kaplan book and a barron's book and the barron's was a much better representation of what i encountered in the RC section (though kaplan was far more accurate in every other section).... in the testing room i had two easy fluffy passages on community health and bridges (yes the different kinds of bridges) and one tougher one on specific anatomy of the CNS

maybe you would be better off using the previously mentioned strategies on less dense passages than those found in the kaplan book and then move to tougher passages

now having said all that maybe i was just lucky on the passages i was given and the other users can give you some insight on that..... anyway best of luck!!