When you do full-length PT, do you keep track of RC timing (passage/Q's)? If so, how?

youbbyun

When you guys practice doing full length PT's under test taking conditions, for RC, do you guys keep track of how long it takes you read each passage and do the qusetions?

I know the aim is for 330 for reading passages and about 5 minutes for the questions per passage.

Also, do you guys keep track of how long it takes you to do each LG?

If so, how do you do that? Do you use like a stop watch with a lap function?

OR do you just ignore keeping track of how long it takes to do each individual part and just focus on the general 35 minute time limit? Thanks!

JustDoIt

Think in terms of benchmarks. I would try to spend 4 minutes reading each passage and 4 minutes answering questions, on average. But my benchmarks were something like this: done passage one in 8 minutes. Done passage two in 16 minutes. Done passage three in 25 minutes. Done passage four in 33 minutes.

Unlike my LR strategy which included a bunch of skips, I rarely skipped in RC. I felt that it was easier to understand the passage in the moment than to come back to the passage. But that is just me. I did jump around within the passages, but only skipped about two or three questions per RC section. Hope this helps!

ChaimtheGreat

Just wanted to add that I think timing will depend on passage type and the number of questions attached to each passage. Don't be frustrated if you went a little over on a 7 question science passage (or whatever your weakness is) and don't be content if you are hitting 8:30 min on a 5 question humanities passage (or whichever is your particular strength). I think it is a mistake to think that every passage needs to have a set amount of time to it. I will say that regardless of passage type or question number, at the 10-11 minute mark you need to be out of there and getting low hanging fruit in a different passage.

I skip a lot in RC but that is just me. I sometimes get in a rut- if I come back to the passage later I see the passage in a new light. It is like editing a paper- you will catch more if you edit after some time has passed since writing it.