RC Speed

Marco Antonio

I usually do pretty well with reading speed. Never more than 5minutes (which is rare). Normally between 3:30 and 4. But when I hear JY's target times I don't understand how anyone could get through the questions that fast. Does anyone have any feedback on how to improve speed?

Do I need to improve my accuracy before I improve my speed?

FerdaFresh

If you're talking about your time spent reading the passage when you say 3:30 - 4, that's fine (I've heard a lot of people say 3:30 is the "sweet spot"; it's my typical time too). But those times are only fine if you understand the passage after reading it.

I'm just assuming that's what you mean at this point... and if it is what you mean, but you're still not hitting target times for the whole passage (e.g. 7 or 9 minutes) that's because you're spending too much time on questions. And the reason you're spending too much time on questions is likely because... you're going back to the passage. And the reason you're going back to the passage is likely because... you haven't understood the passage (clearly).

My advice, spend a minute or so more up front on the passage (or whatever you need; practice will get this down) so that, when you do the questions, you don't need to go back to the passage for them. Going back to the passage is the real time sink, and it's really not necessary for 90% of RC questions.

Alex

@"Marco Antonio" said:
I usually do pretty well with reading speed. Never more than 5minutes (which is rare). Normally between 3:30 and 4. But when I hear JY's target times I don't understand how anyone could get through the questions that fast. Does anyone have any feedback on how to improve speed?

Do I need to improve my accuracy before I improve my speed?

Are you looking to increase your speed reading the passage or going through the questions?

Yeah, I'm an advocate of always putting accuracy over speed, at least initially.

It sounds like your passage reading time is fine if it's right around that 3:30-4:00 sweet spot. So, if that's the case, and you're having an issue with RC questions, and taking too long on them, there are a couple of things I would recommend. First, is you need to have strategies for answering each and every common question type on RC, similar to how you do for LR. You see a strengthen question on LR, and you have steps you take to solve the question. Second, when it comes time to review the questions during BR untimed, keep in mind that the goal isn’t just to make sure you understand the answer. You want your review to directly impact your actions. So while you're reviewing RC untimed, figure out what actions you can take next time to directly increase your efficiency. Could you have zeroed in on a particular word/phrase to eliminate a contender answer choice? Were you able to see how the right answers address the specific task mentioned in the question stem? If not, why not? Last, is sometimes it's just as simple as not spending a lot of time on each question. It's very common for people to spend the same amount of time per question on an RC section, as they would on an LR section. The truth is, you just don't have the luxury of having the same amount of time. So you need to get good at choosing the best answer and moving on. I think this will ultimately be a function of practicing and mastering the other strategies above. But still, sometimes it's really just as simple as moving on.

Hope this helps! Keep grinding, you'll get there on RC.

Marco Antonio

A follow up question: where can I find common RC prompts and strategies for them. I watched a webinar that Jimmy Dahroug did, and it was very useful. I wanted to know if there was somewhere else I could look though.

Alex

@"Marco Antonio" said:
A follow up question: where can I find common RC prompts and strategies for them. I watched a webinar that Jimmy Dahroug did, and it was very useful. I wanted to know if there was somewhere else I could look though.

I got a lot of of watching JY's RC videos where he goes through passages and answers questions in the CC.

goingfor99th

Speed is a function of accuracy! To become faster, you need to improve your accuracy. To improve your accuracy, you need to study the fundamentals of the test.

Also, it could be the case that you have the fundamentals down and simply haven't done enough timed sections to capitalize on all your brain knows. This will happen later in your preparation if it isn't happening already. Look out for it.