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Related Discussions
Do you write your summaries out?
AshleighK
Alum Member
I'm trying to decide whether or not I want to write my LRS on timed sections or if I want to do them in my head. What do you do? I'm trying both out but just curious to know what everyone else has done.
Comments
what are LRS?
I think she means low resolution summaries for RC
I write them out beside the paragraph. Helps to have it there, I can't keep everything in my head.
i usually write a quick sentence about what each paragraph is about. it's better to write a LRS, that way you get the gist of what the paragraph is about.
I only write out a LRS if its something that I think will help me once I come back to the passage. Writing out a LRS for every paragraph, no matter what, is sometimes redundant, as I remember what's going on in that paragraph or section without the LRS. Other times, I come back to my LRS and I don't immediately remember what I meant by that, which is a waste of time.
I've found the most effective approach to RC diagramming to be to take the same relaxed, improvisational approach that JY teaches for LG. Some passages are difficult because of the concepts or relationships they address. In this case I'll spend most of my diagramming on making sure I understand these concepts and relationships. I find with science passages this is often the case, as the structure of science passages is pretty uniform: there's a phenomenon (or phenomenons) and a hypothesis (or hypotheses), related in some linear way.
Other passages are harder because of their structure. Either they are nonlinear, or information about multiple subjects is intermixed. In this case I'll do a more high resolution summary to make sure I understand where information about a given idea can be found.
I save LRS information for those situations where a whole paragraph can be succinctly and accurately summed up in one or two words. When used in situations that don't conform to these criteria, I find they can become a real time suck.
Yup that’s exactly what I meant. Thanks
Yeah I agree. I did a timed section of RC from PT 37 and the passages I did well on had LRS next to the paragraphs. The ones I did poorly on had no annotations.
I agree! I tried to balance it in my head but when time is ticking and I'm under pressure I tend to forget details that really make or break the score.
I second this on the harder passages. I find that diagramming and drawing things out help me visually understand. Especially with science passages, I really need a visual representation. When the author talks about atoms splitting I get so lost. I always worry about doing this because I don't want to waste precious time but, J.Y always tells us that spending more time upfront can benefit you in the long-run. Thanks for your input!
In my head. Writing it out might help it stick in your mind, but like everything on the test there are opportunity costs. Just remember, that the more time you spend on one thing the less time you have for another thing. Most importantly, do what makes you feel comfortable!
I write reeeeally low resolution summaries next to each paragraph. Like one or two words. And it's generally the same 20 or so buzzwords (i.e. "hypothesis", "argument 1", "criticism", etc) for every passage. It definitely helps me to write something down because my memory is not great. Those nonspecific summaries help me formulate the structure and I find that they're generally enough to jog my memory about what info the paragraph contains for the questions. Like everyone else has said you just have to figure out what works best for you! I spent about a week drilling RC passages untimed just to try out what method I was most comfortable with.
When you do them in your head do you pause and make out a high resolution summary? Or do you make a LRS in your head and move on? In instances where you have to revisit, do you automatically recall not only the LRS but the general structure of the passage overall?
I have a pretty good memory but I'm just worried the test day anxiety might cause things to go differently than I hope.
Yeah that's what I typically do too. I have a good memory but I learn/ remember things by writing them out. I just did a untimed RC section with writing and although I fell 2 points short from my target I do think this method might be more promising, however I'm going to try the "in my head" method to see how I feel. How many passages did you use? Did you fluctuate between easy, medium, hard, and hardest or you just used remainder PTs?
I honestly am not fast enough at RC to really pause at all. As I read a passage I'm trying to figure out whether the author likes or doesn't like a thing (a hypothesis, a literary figure, a law or whatever) and what evidence the author uses to support her or his position (empirical data, observation, appeals to philosophy etc.). I try to form an LRS in my head as quickly as possible and make it extremely simple, like "hypo 1 sucks.. hypo 2 is better and the reasons why are over here," so I can immediately jump into the questions when I get done reading the passage. I don't worry about remembering every detail but I make a point to remember where to find the details if I need them for a question.
I can't say my method is the best because my average for RC on my last 5 PTs is -2.4, but I just got a -0 on my last one, so it can't be completely worthless.
I do really low-resolution summaries. I love them for two reasons: they allow me to then skim through the paragraph more quickly, and they help me to remember what it's about. Honestly, I hardly look back at them once I start answering questions; it's act of writing them that does it for me. They can be as simple as "Thesis," "Implication 1," "Imp 2." And after I've skim-read it, any questions that focus on details prompt me to go back and closely read that sentence.
Yesss exactly! It's the same for me. I learn and memorize by writing things out. I think I'm gonna stick to it
. I drilled a RC section untimed using this section and I was about 2 points from my target score. It really sticks to me using one word to summarize the paragraphs. For example, I'll say "background", "support", "rebuttal", "critique". I'll do this too for longer paragraphs with shifting viewpoints. Thanks for the reply!
I usually write things like "question", "problem", "solution", "then", "now", and maybe a word/phrase to summarize something if there are multiple problems, solutions, etc. If I think something is really important (like the major premise/main conclusion), I'll box it and draw a star next to the line. However, I do pretty well RC because my brain just works that way. (Don't ask me to help with LG though lol because I suck at that.) If you're struggling or that's not enough information to help you within the time constraints, I would write a fragment for each new idea. I have to do that when I find the passages to be extremely boring. I would think that writing out an entire summary is too time-consuming for each passage; you won't know if you wasted time on an easy passage until you read the questions.
Hey, if LG isn't your suit you can reach out to me! LG is my strength although I'm still working on FPing (I'm only on PT 3). The main thing I'm struggling with is one difficult passage trips me up and I'm working on finding it in myself to maintain my focus and force myself to sparse through the dense language. Other than that, I've seen big improvements in passages I used to have difficulties on but more so, science. What do you do for hard passages?
@AshleighK so I'll admit that I actually learned RC as part of my high school's effort to slay standardized testing; I haven't done the 7sage curriculum for RC yet. However, I scored in the 99th percentile for the state every year and had -4 on my diagnostic (8+ years after my last standardized test). I say all of that because I don't want to mislead you, yet, I consider myself to be generally good at RC.
For hard passages, I definitely pay more attention to what I underline/circle/box in the passage, and I try to limit it to specific words and phrases that stick out to me, like feelings the author has about a concept. The more cluttered everything seems visually, the longer it takes for me to sort through the information.
I'm a fan of essentially taking footnotes when the passage is hard to understand-- so putting a number with all of the concepts you want to expand on. Then, I'll write the corresponding number the extra space and paraphrase the information. I'll also add my brief labeling in the margins, just like you would do in the easier passages. Does that make sense?