Studying techniques for reading comprehension

Comments

• Goingtolawschool Alum Member

  September 2019 184 karma

  ^^ same situation
• 2 Likes

  lexxx745 Alum Member Sage ⭐

  September 2019 3190 karma

  To be honest, just practice. JY's tips for RC from the CC really do help. However, it can only take you so far. You need to just keep doing more passages. I went from -8/9 to -5/7 consistently. Some passages I just do really well on. Honestly, just focus, try to enjoy what you are reading, and practice to be able to read faster.
• 9 Likes

  RealLaw612 Member

  October 2019 1094 karma

  My tips for RC:

  First, I ask myself “why” while I read each paragraph. Why is this author saying this? What’s the point?
  Next, after reading each paragraph make a quick mental summary of what it is saying. Think big picture and function instead of details. For example: para 1. “Background of artist”
  para 2. “Support for why she is unique”
  para 3. “Critics’ opinion opposing viewpoint of para 2”
  para 4. “Rebuttal of criticism and author opinion”
  While reading, make mental notes of the structural elements: who’s saying what, overall tone of the passage, etc... the big idea is to understand the structural and reasoning elements of the passage while retaining enough to know where to look to find information for those pesky specific questions. RC is one if the hardest to gain points with in my experience but I was able to go from -10 to -4 average by focusing on the above.
  Also, I never write any notes or highlight and I only read each passage once. The key is to make sure you are understanding those big picture items as you read.
• 3 Likes

  alexanderfusca Alum Member

  October 2019 21 karma

  I found reading the passage slowly to work well. I highlight key words as I'm going along. If I spend 4 minutes reading the passage I can answer each question in 35 seconds max. Better to do the hard work up front by reading thoroughly rather than looking through the passage after like an idiot.
• 5 Likes

  Habeas Porpoise Alum Member Sage ⭐

  October 2019 1866 karma

  @99thPercentileOrDieTryin said:
  My tips for RC:

  First, I ask myself “why” while I read each paragraph. Why is this author saying this? What’s the point?
  Next, after reading each paragraph make a quick mental summary of what it is saying. Think big picture and function instead of details. For example: para 1. “Background of artist”
  para 2. “Support for why she is unique”
  para 3. “Critics’ opinion opposing viewpoint of para 2”
  para 4. “Rebuttal of criticism and author opinion”
  While reading, make mental notes of the structural elements: who’s saying what, overall tone of the passage, etc... the big idea is to understand the structural and reasoning elements of the passage while retaining enough to know where to look to find information for those pesky specific questions. RC is one if the hardest to gain points with in my experience but I was able to go from -10 to -4 average by focusing on the above.
  Also, I never write any notes or highlight and I only read each passage once. The key is to make sure you are understanding those big picture items as you read.

  Wanted to say exactly this! It's what I do as well. Go through each passage paragraph by paragraph and focus on the broader main idea of each paragraph, how the paragraphs connect to each other, and what the author is trying to highlight. In the end, these ideas will culminate into the main point. Always pause to think about tone at the end as well. If you ever get stuck when reading, that's okay, just note what lines you're confused on, accept the ambiguity, and move on. The gap might be filled in later, but it might not even come up. Either way, there isn't much point wasting time on it now.

  One thing I would add is, the first time through the questions pretend that the passage doesn't exist. Just use your low-res summaries (I recommend writing these down on your scratch paper) and your memory. Spend time up-front, trust yourself, and do your best to eliminate ACs with just the knowledge you have. After that, you can focus on just the questions you need to when checking the passage. Avoid using the passage as a crutch to assuage self-doubt.

  But like others have said here, this all takes practice. Good habits + practice and you'll definitely improve on RC!
• 1 Like

  Chris Nguyen Alum Member Administrator Sage ⭐ 7Sage Tutor

  October 2019 4577 karma

  Habeas Porpoise and 99thPercentile have great tips that I totally agree with and use when I'm doing RC. I would add that these things take more time than rushing through the stimulus and "speed reading". In my opinion, "speed reading" doesn't work. It's super counterintuitive, but honestly slowing down and truly grasping what you're reading made me have a faster time. It allowed me to understand everything and made the questions fly by. So, if you're skimming the passages, don't do that and start trying to actively understand what's going on.

  My rule is, the harder the sentence to grasp, the more time you need to spend on it.
• 4 Likes

  tina_gk Alum Member

  October 2019 125 karma

  ok. i was in the same boat. I tried this new trick. Since the exams are now digital. I maximize the font size and pretend that it is one paragraph. I hide the rest until i have the first paragraph fully grasped and then i move on to the next paragraph and do the same. My score has dramatically improved. May be it would work for someone else as well.