Self-study
Hello,
I’m currently going over the RC part but I’m having trouble focusing and understanding the passages.
Any tips?
2
Hello,
I’m currently going over the RC part but I’m having trouble focusing and understanding the passages.
Any tips?
3 comments
I used to be really bad at RC like -6 to -10 every time and now I'm at -2 average. what helped me was 1) if you dont understand paragraph 1, you won't understand the rest of the passage. if I finish reading p1 & am confused, I read it again. always. 2) you have to be reading closely for 3 things a) the main point of the paragraph. what is the key takeaway the author wants you to have per paragraph b) the author's opinion: about a viewpoint, theory, proposal, critic's statements, etc. c) outside 3rd party's statements and their opinions
I use a highlighting system for this: main point(s) of each paragraph are underlined, author's opinions/beliefs in pink, and outside parties are yellow. it's not so much for referring back to the passage when answering the questions although the highlights are useful if I need to. instead the highlighting reminds me to actively look for each of these 3 things as I'm reading and helps to cement them in my mind. hopefully it helps
So my approach is a zoom out view. This is open book - nobody is taking the passages away from you. When you move on to the questions you want to understand the big picture ideas but don't worry about the details. If and when they ask about them, you'll pick them up. But on the first read stay on the high level stuff. Skip the details and minutiae - the for example, the in addition, the excruciating specifics of the science experience. "Curie did the experiment that proved her theory" is what you need, not every step of the experiment.
Honestly I am having trouble too. I have found that active reading does help a little. So not moving on to the next sentence until I understand the first one. Trying to predict what the next paragraph might be and always reading for the authors stance. I hope this helps :).