Reading Comp.

woods.tyler31

Any tips on improving reading comp? Consistently missing 10-13 each time....Have went through the CC a few times.
It sucks.

lizzogonzo

What is your strategy currently? It helps to know what you're doing now because there could be different reasons why there's a plateau in improvement.

What has helped me though is to invest more time into the passage. Skimming it in the interest of having more time for the ACs can be dangerous. Also always actively think about the author's POV, make sure you can distinguish it from other POVs discussed, and the structure of the passage overall and how ideas connect.

Also, this may not be for everyone but I personally stopped taking written notes and highlighting. They distract and take too much time for me. I read it like I would read any other passage and I actually understand it better. So you gotta know yourself as a reader and figure out from there what works best for you.

woods.tyler31

Hey! Thanks for your response. I've previously tried JY method of writing a sentence summary after each paragraph but stopped because I felt like it was slowing me down. I read the passage completely (no skimming). I do highlight, but I feel like I maybe am over-highlighting. Everything feels important to me and I feel stressed reading the passages.

Do you feel that even without highlighting you are able to refer back to the exact spot in a passage that the question may be asking about?

@lizzogonzo said:
What is your strategy currently? It helps to know what you're doing now because there could be different reasons why there's a plateau in improvement.

What has helped me though is to invest more time into the passage. Skimming it in the interest of having more time for the ACs can be dangerous. Also always actively think about the author's POV, make sure you can distinguish it from other POVs discussed, and the structure of the passage overall and how ideas connect.

Also, this may not be for everyone but I personally stopped taking written notes and highlighting. They distract and take too much time for me. I read it like I would read any other passage and I actually understand it better. So you gotta know yourself as a reader and figure out from there what works best for you.

lizzogonzo

Yea maybe give a shot at not highlighting too much or even at all if you can help it. I think when I highlight too much I use it as a crutch. I don't retain as well and even get things mixed up when I over-highlight. In the end though, the way you do RC should be personalized to what works best for you. Try to be mindful of how you're approaching passages when you drill, and think about what works and what doesn't work.

I also want to re-emphasize that the way you are reading the passage is important. Every question is going to somehow relate the ideas back to the author's pov. You're welcome and good luck!

Alissalee

Hello! I don't find that writing anything down, or even highlighting much at all helps with RC. The only words I highlight are things that I "flag" or don't completely understand. Then the key is as you are reading the next sentence or two, go back and fill in the context of what you flagged as unknown. I never write anything down for reading comp.

I went from scoring a -8 and -10 in reading comp to a -1 to -2 in less than a week from incorporating some questions I ask myself in the passage and was actually able to guess what the questions would be, as well as the answers, before even reading them. It allowed me to spend considerably more time in the passage (no speed reading) and I'd get all the answers within about 3 minutes. I ended up scoring a 176 on October 2020's exam.

I'd be happy to help you with it and give you some more advice on it if you message me. Best of luck!