Reading Comprehension Timing

skempins

Hi Everyone,

I'm sorry if this has already been discussed elsewhere! I looked but couldn't see anything.

My question is, are you restricting your timing when practicing RC questions, or are you just timing yourself to see when you're finished? I have been restricting my time between reading the passage (and summarizing as I go), then restricting the time again to writing a summary for each paragraph and the overall summary, and restricting my time to answering the questions.

J.Y. said to not restrict your time too much when first practicing... maybe 12 minutes for harder passages. But it's hard to set up a timer if you don't know how hard the passage is before you read it. That's why I'm wondering if people have been just marking down how long it took them, but not actually setting a timer.

Thank you for your input! I like reading how other people are practicing.

clarissa.h

I think using a stop watch and writing down how long it took you will be a more informative approach.

skempins

Okay, that's a good thought. That's pretty much what I've been doing so far, so I'm glad to have your input. Thanks!

shinny117

I use the timer to see how much time I spent reading the passage, and then see how much I spent for the questions. I think this helps keep track of where the bulk of the time is being spent. Also, it shows if I spent too much time on the questions, that means I didn't really understand the passage on the front-end.

skempins

That's a very good point. Understanding the passage is the key to the questions.