test in a week, need help on RC

[InternationalPreDen]

Hi guys, so I rescheduled my DAT from Aug 10th to September 5th (a week from now) , and I've managed to get 20s on bootcamp/DatGenius practice tests for all other sections except RC.. The thing is that I never managed to finish the RC on time.. It took me about 25 mins to finish reading each passage, and by the time when I got to the last passage I had only 10 mins or so left. Then, I had to use S&D method for the last passage and answer whatever questions I can answer and guess the rest (I normally ended up guessing 7-10 questions).

I am a slow reader, and english is not my first language. I avoid reading in english unless I absolutely have to. (Though I love to read books in my native language..). I prefer to read things on paper so I can use a pencil to track which line I am reading..

The method I commonly use for reading is Mapping. I read the entire passage, write down words that I think might be important (Names, terms) for each paragraph, and then move on to questions and try to answer them.

I have tried using S&D, but it doesn't always work for me, and I get nervous when I can't find answers for a question.. (God, I wish I can just use Ctrl+Find for RC).

Here are my RC scores
BC1: 19
BC2: 17
BC3: 18
Genius1: 20
Genius2: 21
CrackDat1: 19
CrackDat2: 16

Any suggestion/advice/help would be deeply appreciated!

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[enamel88]

You're in better shape than I am. I scored 17 in both bootcamp test 1 and 2. A lot of people have been saying that the rc for the actual test is easier than bootcamp and is more search and destroy able although your test version may vary. I say keep working on your strategy until your test day and know that the real test is easier. How are the sciences looking for bootcamp?

 

[InternationalPreDen]

You're in better shape than I am. I scored 17 in both bootcamp test 1 and 2. A lot of people have been saying that the rc for the actual test is easier than bootcamp and is more search and destroy able although your test version may vary. I say keep working on your strategy until your test day and know that the real test is easier. How are the sciences looking for bootcamp?

My sciences scores are btw 19-21, but I have only finished 3 so far. I am worried b/c I couldn't finish it on time.

 

[enamel88]

Yea timing wasn't the best for me either. I felt pretty rushed but note that during the real test you can allocate some of your bio or OC time to GC bc you take all 3 sciences in 90 min.

 

[Hammer Time]

Dude I'm not the fastest reader either. For us, we need strategy. Enter search and destroy. Seriously. I didn't read a single passage completely on the DAT, and did just fine.

 

[SenoritaKorea]

The most important thing about RC is to find the rhyme/reason/organization, rather than reading for details.

I think there's an element of search and destroy that is going to me most helpful for RC, but it's a little over-simplified. There will be "chunks" of information in RC, and you have to be able to recognize them. Sometimes an RC passage will present a block of vocabulary words, they'll describe a sequence of events, or they'll just want you to be able to identify past/present/future of medical advances. If you can get an eye for detecting these "chunks," you're going to be ahead of the pack.

Also, there will be vocabulary definitions that won't fall into the trend I just described--just know that a "golden word" that you may inherently understand from a science background should still throw a flag, because they may be presenting it out of context. I would usually run across one of these words, and try to "visually" remember where I saw it (example: when asked about the word, I would remember it was towards the middle of the passage, on the left side of the screen, towards the bottom of the paragraph).

Timing is also very important. I gave myself 18 minutes for each passage--8 minutes to read, and 10 minutes to answer questions. This gave me 6 minutes of "flex time" at the end to go back to questions I marked. Don't waste time on any 1 question. Sometimes if I stared at a passage too long, I wasn't going to find what I was looking for if someone had bolded and italicized it for me.

 

[Hammer Time]

I think there's an element of search and destroy that is going to me most helpful for RC, but it's a little over-simplified. There will be "chunks" of information in RC, and you have to be able to recognize them.

It's pretty simple. Search for those chunks and read them when you need to.

 

[SXCoronado]

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[Bob Faget]

One thing that's important to know is that DAT Bootcamp's RC section is significantly harder than the actual DAT's RC. I got a 22 on the DAT Bootcamp RC and remember having a lot of trouble understanding what the articles were even saying.. Come test day, I got a 27 on RC.

Good luck!

It was the opposite for me bro. I did 26 on DAT boot camp, but got 20 on the real thing. I had one article on the real thing that was hard as sheep!

 

[enamel88]

For search and destroy do you eye ball the keyword of the question in each paragraph? Or actually read /skim the passage? I caught myself skimming/reading but sometimes I might have to go through the whole passage just to find an answer to one question. I really hope the real dat rc is as search and destroy able as people say