RC Inconsistency

samantha.ashley92

So in some of the 7-8 question RC passages I'm getting -0 or -1, and in others, I'm getting -4 or -5-- even on the passages I find moderately interesting. The problem is that I really think that my answers are correct while I'm choosing them. Any suggestions?

Ohnoeshalpme

You need to BR these passages before you check the answer choices. Use the BR process to reach 100% certainty, write out explanations for why the answers you chose are correct. Use this added time and certainty to outline, for yourself, what the issues are. I am sure that you will catch a majority of incorrect answer choices.

Another point that I will make is that RC is my weakest section. I often find myself missin 0-1 on a 4/5 or even 5/5 passage, but will often miss 3 on an "easier passage". I think this comes from a crucial misreading or false diagnosis of a critical point in the passage. Maybe I focused too heavily on a single, emotive word, or I skipped over one and these mistakes misguided my approach to subsequent paragraphs. Again, this is something that you pick up in the BR process because it gives you a chance to read, with detail and with time, and it allows you to have 100% certainty on questions that you only get to maybe 70% certainty and move on from because of time.

JustDoIt

RC was also my worst section. Two strategies really helped me.

The first was double blind review. I would do a passage, BR it, input my answers, and then see how many I got wrong. Definitely do not look at the answers. But up where the circle is in the analytics I would look at that number. If it was only one wrong, I would go to the question and see which question I got wrong, then try to figure it out. If it was two wrong, I would try to figure it which two questions I got wrong and then try to find the correct answer choices. This really helps you scrutinize. If it was three wrong or more, and also if I got two wrong in a five question passage, I would completely redo the passage instantly.

The second was slowing down significantly. I went from doing passages in 3:30 to 4:30. Then I was able to breeze through the questions much faster. Granted, I do concede that this doesn’t work for everyone. It is just a matter of finding what works for you and I found that this worked better for me.

Hope this helps!

samantha.ashley92

@Ohnoeshalpme Level 3 questions are always the hardest for me! I don't understand why, but it's like that in LR and LG, too.