Older RC passages

PPPPreme

I've been doing a lot of RC sections lately as it's one area I'm trying to improve at. My scores have definitely gone from an average of -10 to -8, to about a -2 to -5. Normally I'm at about a -4. However, I've been doing older RC passes - 20's and 30's, because I've been wanting to save the newer ones. I've become concerned upon reading that RC passages are generally easier the older they are (some people have said significantly so) compared with the newest preptests. Is it even worth doing the older ones? How much harder are the newer ones?

taschasp

There's probably more variance in difficulty between individual passages on a given test, and between all the passages on two given consecutive PTs, than there are between older and newer PTs. So it's not an astronomical difference by any measure. But, overall, a lot of people find the older RC passages somewhat easier, and perhaps more importantly, they're just a bit different. You don't get the comparative passages, for one thing.

So, make sure you are planning your PT schedule in a way that you won't end up with a bunch of newer PTs you haven't touched and a ton of older ones you've done, because that wouldn't be very efficient--since comparatively, the newer ones have more value (as they'll be more similar to what you'll encounter on your actual test). But doing older ones still has a lot of value.

PPPPreme

@taschasp ah, fair enough. I appreciate the info!