Hello 7sage community-
Any tips for RC?
I take notes for each paragraph, but besides that I don't really have any particular methods.
What are some things that you all rely on for each passage?
Thanks :)
2
Hello 7sage community-
Any tips for RC?
I take notes for each paragraph, but besides that I don't really have any particular methods.
What are some things that you all rely on for each passage?
Thanks :)
3 comments
Hello,
I am certainly not the best at RC, but what I try to do is take a little note of what I think each paragraph is doing. For example:
Introducing the issue
Explaining the method
Critiquing the opposition
You can write anything as long as it makes sense to you! I’m sure no one else would be able to understand my RC notes due to writing so fast they’re basically the same as prescriptions written by doctors, but as long as you get it, it’s a win!
Important things that I've been working to keep in mind (even if they sound stupid):
Keep track of perspective words. It's more a recent addition to my RC habits but one of the 7sage tutors said that she literally highlights perspective indicators and uses different colors to indicate the author's vs. perspectives of other people. It sounds like it adds a lot of time but it really doesn't once you get more used to the highlighting tool.
Pause every few sentences to try to make sense of not just what is being said but the overall point of it within the context of the passage. When I'm doing everything properly, I'm able to either jot down or make a mental note of what the paragraph represents in the passage, making it easier to answer questions about purpose in context and structure.
Read the question. Read the question. Read the question. I know that I've bled points - and still do to a much lesser extent - because I didn't actually read the question leaving me to assume what I was looking for leaving me either to bumble around for a bit or to pick a clearly wrong answer.
I got my first "real" 170 on a PT yesterday and I counted at least three questions I clearly misread, leading me to lose time when I didn't need to or get them wrong.
For me RC is an exercise in process elimination, in which case you are bound to run into situations where there are two/three possible answer choices left. Getting good at running a tie break sequence is helpful. Thinking about things like which AC am I doing more work to make right? Or which AC sounds less wrong taking into account the author's MP? Making sure to judge both AC's with this bar helps me single out which one I am being unnecessarily fair to.