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legallyconfused

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jmarmaduke96

Hi there!

I think that there are two main things that are closely related and are both crucial. I would really double-down your focus on getting the structure out of the passage during the timed run. To this end, I would recommend spending a lot more time up front with the passage before moving on to the questions. I think that there is a substantial analogy that can be drawn here between RC and LG. In logic games we know to put in the time up front with the game board, we know to work out the inferences before going to the questions. That always makes the questions not only go by very quickly, but very accurately as well.

I used to have this idea that I should try to read the passage in about three minutes or so and get through the questions in roughly four minutes and then do that again for each passage. Once I learned that I really needed to spend more time with the passage and less time with the questions, one of the big takeaways for me was to recognize that just as not all questions are created equal in terms of difficulty, neither are all passages created equal. If there is a very challenging passage that just requires 4 or more minutes to read, thats okay. Take that time to get a very clear understanding of the material so that you can move through the questions quickly and efficiently.

Obviously your time on a section is limited, so spending more time up front with the passage will mean less time for questions, but I don't think that is a problem. If you are doing good work with the passage and solidly understanding the broad structure, that will be enough to quickly take you through probably 20ish questions out of the section. The last 6 or 7 questions will typically be much more detail oriented. However, once again, having spent the time up front to get comfortable with the low res, the high res, the tone, the viewpoints, the organization, etc, you will be in a good position with a road map to know exactly where to come back to in the passage in order to get clear on the details that you need for those specific questions.

I hope that helps, let me know if I can clarify anything!

legallyconfused

Wow! Thank you so much for this thorough and helpful response. I really appreciate it! I will try to take this all into account tomorrow on my next PT.

lexxx745

@jmarmaduke96 said:
Hi there!

I think that there are two main things that are closely related and are both crucial. I would really double-down your focus on getting the structure out of the passage during the timed run. To this end, I would recommend spending a lot more time up front with the passage before moving on to the questions. I think that there is a substantial analogy that can be drawn here between RC and LG. In logic games we know to put in the time up front with the game board, we know to work out the inferences before going to the questions. That always makes the questions not only go by very quickly, but very accurately as well.

I used to have this idea that I should try to read the passage in about three minutes or so and get through the questions in roughly four minutes and then do that again for each passage. Once I learned that I really needed to spend more time with the passage and less time with the questions, one of the big takeaways for me was to recognize that just as not all questions are created equal in terms of difficulty, neither are all passages created equal. If there is a very challenging passage that just requires 4 or more minutes to read, thats okay. Take that time to get a very clear understanding of the material so that you can move through the questions quickly and efficiently.

Obviously your time on a section is limited, so spending more time up front with the passage will mean less time for questions, but I don't think that is a problem. If you are doing good work with the passage and solidly understanding the broad structure, that will be enough to quickly take you through probably 20ish questions out of the section. The last 6 or 7 questions will typically be much more detail oriented. However, once again, having spent the time up front to get comfortable with the low res, the high res, the tone, the viewpoints, the organization, etc, you will be in a good position with a road map to know exactly where to come back to in the passage in order to get clear on the details that you need for those specific questions.

I hope that helps, let me know if I can clarify anything!

For me, I actually took the opposite route. Once i read faster for some reason it inherently made me concentrate better. Lowest RC ive had for a while was -7 on PT 82 which was p tough. But in the 80s usually -2 to -5(max)

In the 70s around -3 to -5.

mellomel

Hey, thanks for this thread, I am also going through similar stuff and was looking for tips to improve. @jmarmaduke96's method makes a lot of sense though I have a question on the application of that. You mentioned getting comfortable with the low/high res, organization etc. I'm wondering if you actually take notes on any of these after reading the passage or is it just a mental process of focusing a little longer on the passage?

Also, everyone's mentioning the importance of reading for structure and I'm wondering how to apply that as well. If anyone has a kind of practice or dril that they do to improve on this I would also love to hear that (Structure isn't something I can personally focus on right away, the subject matter always seems to get my attention more).

Sorry for bogging down your thread with my own questions but I thought we could all benefit from them

legallyconfused

@lexxx745 Interesting! I have been doing low res summaries lately and that is what has been leading to -6. Before -6 I used to get close to -9!

I remember one time I was taking a PT and I only had about 5 minutes left for my last passage. I read through it quickly and I ended up getting maybe 1 or 0 questions wrong. I just remember being shocked. I mean it could have been an easier passage or it could have had a lot of General question types, so I didn't have to refer to the passage as much. I am honestly just terrified of reading that way again...especially fo Natural Science passages about vasopressin and such lol

legallyconfused

@mellomel Hey there! I love that you asked all those questions! Many of us are probably feeling very similarly about RC to be honest. I have been doing the low res. strategy, but I have actually been writing the small phrases down on a separate sheet of paper. This strategy made me go from a -9 to -6. Well, actually I guess I don't know if it was this strategy or just more practice...

I totally agree about the structure part of your post. I was an education major and I paid a lot of details to what I was reading in college. I get so worried when I try not to pay too much attention to the details because I fear it will hurt my score.

I would LOVE if anyone could share some drills to improve RC as well. I have just been doing the 7sage section and practicing RC passages every third day.

eramasam

i just try to have a great deal of focus and read deliberately. that way referring back to passage is minimal and faster when needed. Also confidence in recognizing the correct answer and moving on, rather than reading all the answer choices. There's some risk there but it mostly pays off.

jmarmaduke96

@mellomel Hi! Those are some great questions. Personally, I do not take physical notes when reading the passages. I write very slowly and I find that the extra time it takes is not worth it compared to the negligible benefits (for me) of writing things down. I do underline/highlight certain things if they stick out to me though.

However, I do have an open dialogue with myself about the passage while I read. Typically, after each paragraph I will identify one or two words that I think are really at the core of the low-res for me. Those words are very important because when done properly, that gives me a root from which I can later unpack my high-res summary of the paragraph. The idea is that the word/words you pick as your low-res should be the foundation and you can just ask yourself common sense questions like "why?" about the low-res and the high-res will essentially just fall into place for you. For this reason, while I do actively say the low-res to myself even while the clock is running, I don't generally take the time to say the high-res. Although, I do always ask myself "if I needed to, could I say the high-res?" If I can honestly answer yes, I usually don't take the time. If I think I can't say the high res clearly, then I do go through the exercise to make sure that I am understanding the passage.

I have found that, in my experience, doing the low-res this way goes a long way towards having you very well prepared to understand the structure and organization as well. On top of that, the active dialogue with the passage also includes asking relevant questions such as "why does the author think that?" "why did the author feel the need to tell me about that detail?" "where do I think that this passage is going?" "How does this relate back to what I just heard?" etc etc. I suppose all of that is a long winded way of saying that it is a mental process of focusing a little longer on the passage.

As far as drills to practice this, I think that the best way to practice this method is just to do it without the pressure of the clock. I would start with the early RC passage, from PT 1-35 so you don't waste the new ones, and break down each paragraph/passage. For the paragraphs, come up with a low-res, high-res, structure, and a sneak peak/hookback. For the passage as a whole, write down, in your own words, the main point, the organization of the passage, the tone, the viewpoints, and if the passage fits any cookie cutter forms.

The more that you practice this untimed the more that it will become reflexive under timed conditions. Once you get more comfortable, applying all of it comes a lot more naturally and it won't feel AS uncomfortable. I hope this helps, let me know if I can clarify anything!

jmarmaduke96

@lexxx745 That is really interesting. Honestly, there are probably a lot of different ways of approaching RC that all work. Probably different people will be attracted to different methods based on their particular reading style or strengths/weaknesses. That might be a good lesson for people in general as they study, just try out some different techniques and see what works best for them. Do you find yourself still being able to have a dialogue with yourself while you read? or are you going quickly enough that you are just getting everything you need from your initial read-through?

legallyconfused

WOW! Those -4 and -3 people in the poll need to share their amazing strategies if they haven't already! I'm so happy everyone is communicating on this thread

legallyconfused

Hey everyone! So I just tried doing two RC sections. During the first one I did, I wrote a small phrase on a separate sheet of paper as a low res. summary for each paragraph. On this one I got 22/28. During the second RC I did, I wrote nothing and underlined a phrase that I thought best summarized the paragraph. On this one I got 19/27. Of course this could be happening for a variety of reasons (fatigue from doing two RC sections, easier/harder RC section, because I am used to writing low res. passages). Just thought I would share!

mellomel

@jmarmaduke96 Thanks a lot for your detailed response! I will definitely work on having that open dialogue at the end of passages as opposed to rushing to the questions. And as for the practice you suggested, I used to do something similar for BR, but it's a good idea to incorporate that into untimed drilling. I especially like the idea of coming up with a sneak peak/hookback, which I think will help with seeing the structure much more clearly.

Jay Tee

@jmarmaduke96 said:
For the paragraphs, come up with a low-res, high-res, structure, and a sneak peak/hookback.

Probably a silly question, but what do you mean by sneak peak/hookback?

jmarmaduke96

@"Jay Tee" Hi there! Sorry about not being clear, a "sneak peak" refers to when you take a moment after at least the first paragraph (although every paragraph would be better) to hypothesize about where the passage might be going. For example, if the first paragraph tells me the view that some scientists take and then the last sentence of that paragraph tells me that there is reason to suspect they are wrong, my sneak peak is going to be that we will learn why the scientists are wrong. Ideally, you can quickly look at the first word or two of the remaining paragraphs and see if you were correct or not. This is a great way to stay engaged while reading the passage and it helps as part of your active reading strategies. Furthermore, by doing this you won't be as surprised as often by certain directions that the passage takes.

As for "hookbacks," those are a similar concept but in reverse. After each paragraph, ask yourself how that paragraph "hooks back" to the paragraph that came before.

So here is an example putting it all together. If the first paragraph tells me that the average temperature on earth is rising more quickly than expected, my "sneak peak" will be that the rest of the passage will tell me why that is happening and maybe suggest a solution. Once I read the second paragraph, I find out that I was right and I am learning how greenhouse gases contribute to the rising temperatures. Now for my "hookback" i'm going to note that this second paragraph gave me a hypothesis to try to help explain the phenomenon mentioned in the first paragraph. I hope that helps, let me know if I can clarify!

Jay Tee

@jmarmaduke96 no need to apologize! Your explanation is super thorough, thank you so much for the tips!

legallyconfused

I have to say that I feel so much better knowing that approximately 30% of the people that have taken the poll are getting the same score as me.

italian_taco

Shout out to @jmarmaduke96 with the GOAT responses. I already started seeing improvements in my RC just from his advice.