Question from 7Sager on how to study for RC and section difficulty

studentservice

Hey 7Sagers,

We're posting on behalf of a 7Sager. They would like to get advice from you!

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For some reason on my first PT I got 20/27 on reading comprehension. Now every single time I take a PT I'm getting between 12-16.

I usually finish without enough time to read and answer the last questions for the last passage - any tips on how I can fix this.

Additionally, I feel like if I get say 12/23 on logic games or 17/23 I get the same score. Is the test designed to be more difficult in certain sections on certain tests? I have been consistently getting 152, and I'm hoping to get a 156.

Pride Only Hurts

Hey! It looks like you're missing a pretty normal amount of RC questions. I started around -12 and through exposure was able to bring in down to about -6. I'm still working on improving more in that section myself but I think most people will improve over time. Best way to do it for me was to figure out what speed I need to be reading the passages. Once you find the fastest speed you can comfortably read the passage, you need to figure out how to get more efficient. That comes with time as you'll get better and reading for main points and ignoring the unimportant details. I suggest drilling RC sections as often as possible and really analyzing your performance.

And yes unfortunately it seems the test is designed that way. So if you take a PT with and easy LG section, there will likely be a harder RC section or LR section to make up for that. There's also the curve factor which means missing a certain number of questions on one test might not result in the same score as another more difficult test.

Rule No 8

Also work on implementing skipping strategies into your PTs. For example, skip the hardest question in each passage to gain more time for the last passage. There are usually hard questions and easy questions in each passage. Skipping allows you to gain time and make sure you get the low hanging fruit. It can also give you time for a second pass eventually.
Best of luck!