Do high RC scorers have spare time at the end of the section?

Matt Sorr

To people who score well on RC: Do you typically have extra time to go back over anything after completing the fourth passage? Or do you generally finish just within 35 minutes and not really have time to go back? I often hear people say RC is the most time-restricted section so I'm curious how high scorers typically time it.

Cant Get Right

Time management is the one thing that I feel I really do better than just about anyone else around, and I'll typically have a few minutes, but nothing like LR or LG. In LR I typically have 10+ minutes. In LG I've occasionally done the whole section twice. In RC, I'll usually have 2-3 minutes. Some people are faster readers and may finish with a little more, but if you compare my LR/LG to my RC, I think it's a good indication of how serious the time restraint is. I usually spend my 2-3 minutes returning to the passage I struggled most with. Everything else I just don't get to take a second look at. So on my first attempt, I treat each question like it may be my only attempt.

Matt Sorr

@"Cant Get Right" I really appreciate the response. I figured that unless somebody is an extremely fast reader it would be difficult to have much time at the end of a section. If you don't mind me asking a follow up, when you say that you "treat each question like it my be [your] only attempt," do you mean that you basically never skip questions? Or something else?

blueheadfloating

As a philosophy student, LR and RC are my best sections and I usually do finish them early with -0 to -2. I usually have around five minutes or more left on LR, but RC is definitely more crunched and I'll have a few minutes left, only enough to review a couple questions. I don't skip any questions or save some for later, but I'll definitely flag some that deserve a second look.

However, everyone is different and I am sure there are plenty of good RC scorers who find themselves fighting for time. I just happen to have a very fast reading speed and a background in tackling hard texts because of my major.

Cant Get Right

@"Matt Sorr" said:
If you don't mind me asking a follow up, when you say that you "treat each question like it my be [your] only attempt," do you mean that you basically never skip questions? Or something else?

I don’t skip in RC in the same sense that I skip in LR. In LR, I don’t care if I come away with an answer or not on my first look. I once skipped 8 out of the first 10 and ended up with a -1. It was a real shit show of a section and there was a lot of reasons for why it played out the way it did, but in the end it was fine. In RC, I go ahead and shoot my shot. I don’t agonize over it, I don’t waste any time. I just accept the situation and pull the trigger based on the best understanding I’ve got.

If Glory then Guts

I avg -1 (only on PT's though and haven't taken the real thing yet) and I never finish with time left over, not so much from time pressure, but because this is how I can do the questions most effectively. For me, going back to a question after having read other passages would be fairly futile without rereading the passage again. I much rather devoting time upfront and not rushing as I read, whereas in LR I generally read a lot faster. With that said, I will skip within a passage and then come back to it before moving on.

Matt Sorr

@"Cant Get Right" @"If Glory then Guts" Thank y'all for the responses. I also haven't been finishing with much time and figured going back to, say, the first passage after having read three others may be challenging. To some extent I'm afraid that if I went back to an earlier passage and tried to answer a question without being fresh off of reading the passage, I may confuse myself even worse.

Just wanted to make sure it wasn't "wrong" to be finishing RC with little time left!