Comparative Reading Comprehension Strategies

Louislepauvre

Hey everybody!

So I've been going back to PTs19-28 for the past month and have been averaging -3 on RC (which is great for me). Then I just took a more recent test and got killed on the comparative passage. This is what I'm thinking about my strategy:

Read each passage, marking 3-word summaries in the margins of the paragraphs. At the end of each passage, write the main idea of each passage. I will try to consider them individually at first to get a good sense of one without always thinking about how it interacts with the other.

Then, I'll write a little table. At the top I write "Link:" and find the theme/idea that essentially links these two passages. In the table, I'll write two columns: S (for similarities), D (for differences). I'll list what they have in common, and ideas they do not share at all. Id like to do this work up front, because I think I wouldn't struggle with the questions and have to go back to the text all that much.

Does anyone have any strategies they'd like to share?

cqas190517

I treat comparison paragraphs like long LR items. I find the conclusion of both each paragraph and the piece itself, identify the main points, etc. They're argumentative topics so you can use the same strategy as LR problems on them sometimes. I also find that I don't have to really make extra notes if I use the space in the actual passages. I have a system- underline for the conclusion, brackets for context, parentheses for argument support, and I circle keywords. Hope this helps!