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Tips to Improve Reading Comprehension

lewlew88lewlew88 Core Member

Does anyone have any tips to improve Reading Comprehension Accuracy? Reading Comp was my best section when I used to practice on paper because I could highlight and write marginal notes, but recently it has become my worst section. I have no issues with timing. I am 6 points away from my goal score and I know that if I improve this section it would greatly help. Any advice would be appreciated.

Comments

  • AlissaleeAlissalee Free Trial Member
    86 karma

    Hello! in my opinion reading comp accuracy should always trump speed. If you can slow down and get it to a confident accuracy, speed develops naturally. I personally struggled a lot until I spent considerably more time in the passage. I slowed down to a snail's pace and worked with the passage untimed. This translated to just about 3-4ish weeks of going from -10 to about -2 even with timed conditions added back in. I ended up scoring a 176 in Oct.

    I personally do not write anything down while I am reading, and I highlight very seldom. My particular method used a lot of putting the passage into my own words and understanding the structure, tone, examples, and used my own examples to both engage with the subject and even aid in memorization. Furthermore, because the questions are rather predictable, I ended up asking myself those questions as I was reading them and was able to have a solid prephrase prior to even reading the questions. By the time I got to the answer choices, I answer hunted most of the time.

    For reference, I spend about 4-5 minutes on each passage and about 3 minutes on the questions. I seldom look back at the passage. Perhaps 2-3 times during the whole test. Other people I have taught have had good success using this method as well.

    If you'd like to talk more about this, I'd be happy to talk to you (or anyone else on this thread) if you'd like to reach out and message me.

    Happy studying!

  • mcrowle4mcrowle4 Member
    27 karma

    Reading comp was my worst, but I was able to improve pretty dramatically with the 7 sage method. I really thought nothing would work, but the method did. I did a week straight of drills and that fixed me right up. I still struggle with timing, but when I was able to allot a full 4 minutes (and then I cut the "memory time" to 30 sec), my accuracy improved. I also got to a point in my studying where something just clicked with reading comp. I am now able to read for the structure rather than getting distracted with the details. Keep at it! RC is the hardest section in my opinion, but you will get there. Good luck!

  • @mcrowle4 said:
    Reading comp was my worst, but I was able to improve pretty dramatically with the 7 sage method. I really thought nothing would work, but the method did. I did a week straight of drills and that fixed me right up. I still struggle with timing, but when I was able to allot a full 4 minutes (and then I cut the "memory time" to 30 sec), my accuracy improved. I also got to a point in my studying where something just clicked with reading comp. I am now able to read for the structure rather than getting distracted with the details. Keep at it! RC is the hardest section in my opinion, but you will get there. Good luck!

    how did you do your drills exactly?

  • raqraqraq7raqraqraq7 Member
    56 karma

    @mcrowle4 i always have trouble defining the structure, any tips of vocab or consistent things to think about (i know hypothesis, premises, evaluation/value statement, main point, context...)

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