What do you read first - passage or questions?

[Falconclaw]

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Pretty straightforward question. I always read the passages first. I guess I should take more timed tests to see if this is too time-consuming, but so far it seems okay. What do you guys do?

 

[GodComplex]

When I was practicing for and took my exam I always read the passages first.

 

[Leah4sci]

Here is my personal opinion.

If you start with the passage you get an idea of the concept but also potentially waste time reading and paying attention to what you don't need.
If you start with the questions you have no idea of the context of the passage and what to look for when answering.

Here's my approach:
skim the passage, get a gist of what's being said and where. Don't focus too much on details.
Read the questions, see what's being asked for, go back to find the data in the passage, and NOW pay full attention to that part so that you can answer.
This is my personal opinion, you must find what works for you

 

[goft20]

I always read the passage carefully because the questions tend to definitely refer back to the passage. Also reading the passage helps me recall science stuff.


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[Lunasly]

I always read the passage carefully because the questions tend to definitely refer back to the passage. Also reading the passage helps me recall science stuff.


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Agreed. With greater emphasis on experimentation, I'd advise reading the passage carefully.

 

[DoctorInASaree]

Passage first. It takes me no more than twenty seconds to read a science based passage.

 

[TheBoneDoctah]

For biology, read the passages first and try to understand as much as you can the first time. Then, look at the questions.

For other subjects, glance at the passage, and then read the questions. The reason for this is in physics, o-chem, and g.chem, you can answer a lot of the questions without the passage (they don't even have to do with the passage). For biology, most questions will have to do with the passage.

 

[Falconclaw]

Here is my personal opinion.

If you start with the passage you get an idea of the concept but also potentially waste time reading and paying attention to what you don't need.
If you start with the questions you have no idea of the context of the passage and what to look for when answering.

Here's my approach:
skim the passage, get a gist of what's being said and where. Don't focus too much on details.
Read the questions, see what's being asked for, go back to find the data in the passage, and NOW pay full attention to that part so that you can answer.
This is my personal opinion, you must find what works for you

That makes sense. I usually read the text of the passage reasonably carefully the first time around, but always skip looking at any of the tables and graphs provided, until I see one of the questions referring to them.
The worst is when I read the first sentence of a passage and think, "Oh ****, this sounds painful," haha.