Reading Comp Timing / Accuracy

cdaughe1

Hello, I have been struggling with my timing and accuracy on reading comp.

When I move slow throughout the questions and passage, I tend to do much better with the questions (obviously). I will usually get all the questions right for easier - medium passages/questions, and only 1 wrong for harder passages.

My biggest problem however is that is takes me awhile, and usually in the 35 minutes I can only get through 3 of the passages. I have attempted speeding up my reading / time in questions to reach all 4 passages but my accuracy in questions severely drops in where I may get 2-3+ wrong per passage.

I have gotten much better at low res summaries, and I find that method helpful especially for structure questions.

What is the best way to speed up while maintaining accuracy? I have read previous discussion forums in where people only focus on the 3 passages and leaving the 4th passage for guesses. I have experimented with this method and i usually do way better in terms of accuracy (getting around 18-20 correct, vs 12 - 15 correct). I do recognize I sometimes waste time by checking answers in the passage when I am fairly confident in my memory however, I can't seem to trust it (as every now and then I check to find out my memory was wrong).

Any help / recommendations is recommended, thanks!

mikalyn.greenzweig

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decesares1

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darykcayun98

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Cant Get Right

@cdaughe1 said:
I do recognize I sometimes waste time by checking answers in the passage when I am fairly confident in my memory however, I can't seem to trust it (as every now and then I check to find out my memory was wrong).

So what if you're wrong every now and then? Are you wrong with high enough frequency to justify the sacrifice of a quarter of the section? "Every now and then" doesn't sound like you're anywhere near the kind of frequency which might justify this strategic response. Just miss a question every now and then. You'll make up the difference with interest by completing the section.

A 3 minute passage average sounds crazy fast to me. I average 4 and top out at around 3:20 for the easiest passages. I'll acknowledge there are people who can average 3, but I'm always deeply skeptical until I see the data. But if your passage read really is at a 3:00 average, then you've got about 0:50 per question. That's better than my 0:42, but not by a lot. Either way, you've got to be aggressive and take some calculated risks. When you gamble you lose sometimes. Caution feels more comfortable, but it is only delaying and ensuring your losses.

cdaughe1

I definitely don't average 3 minutes per passage, it is more like 5 minutes per passage.