Are Older RC passages useful? Are older RC less "tight" than newer? Diff btw older and newer RC?

youbbyun

Hey all,

So I was wondering what you guys felt about drilling older RC passages? (PT's 1-40)?

What are some of the biggest differences you feel in those older RC passages and newer ones?

Also, do you feel that older RC passages are less "tight?" I know JY says that some older LR questions are less "tight," meaning that some correct answer choices aren't as "air tight"/vigorous in that they require some small assumptions (whereas newer LR questions are more vigorous and dont make those small assumptions.) Do you feel that the same is true for older RC questions?

Thanks.

Bullfrogger

They're still useful. With that being said I think the newer RC sections are more difficult overall, so better practice. While the passages may be the same difficulty, or in some cases easier, I find that there are more tempting wrong answer choices in the newer RC sections.

Hopeful9812

I think the older passages can be helpful in terms of improving reading comprehension skills- such as locating the main point, author's opinion, understanding reasoning structure of the passage etc. Even if the newer passages may be harder, I think some of the core elements to RC stay the same and therefore practicing on the older ones can be helpful in terms of honing in on some of those skills.

lexxx745

Minimal difference. I dont think the content is harder, but the questions in recent years seem to be a bit more tricky