RC time suggestions?

Comments

• 2 Likes

  tonyahardzinski Core Member

  February 2021 307 karma

  Try only doing 3 sections, if you can slow down and get every question right on 3 sections you'll score decently! That's my plan. I average about 9-10 mins per section, with near perfect accuracy so I know that on the April flex that is my strategy then I will just skim the 4th passage and hope I get 1-2 right on that passage. Since I've been practicing that way my score is still a 22/23 on the RC so not bad!
• thinklikealawyer Core Member

  February 2021 284 karma

  Following!
• 2 Likes

  SufficientCondition Alum Member

  February 2021 edited February 2021 311 karma

  I like Tony's strategy. It's not bad advice since the time invested in improving RC could likely help you more on a point for point basis in other sections.

  If you're really looking to improve, though, I recommend speed-reading exercises. Some will scoff, but part of the challenge of RC for me was physically being able to read fast enough. Understanding all the content is practically a Sufficient Condition to scoring 24 or higher, one that takes a lot of practice reading. Being able to scan the text quickly enough is a Necessary Condition to scoring perfect, though.

  You can practice for just 10 min a day:
  - spend a minute to get your default speed in WPM.
  - spend 2 min or 2 x 2 min reading one line per second
  - spend 3 min or 2 x 3 min reading one line per half second (two lines per second)
  - spend 2 min reading and note your new speed in WPM
  Note it's important to keep pace regardless of how fully you understand what you're reading. This is how you can improve the physical speed at which your eyes move.

  There are a few other methods that helped me score a 172, but that's the one I think other people are least likely to mention. I can also describe the speed reading exercise in greater detail if you'd like.
• cpeaks13 Core Member

  February 2021 496 karma

  @90DFjihoonlee i would love to hear more about your methods and speed reading!
• jmarin5 Member

  February 2021 162 karma

  @90DFjihoonlee said:
  I like Tony's strategy. It's not bad advice since the time invested in improving RC could likely help you more on a point for point basis in other sections.

  If you're really looking to improve, though, I recommend speed-reading exercises. Some will scoff, but part of the challenge of RC for me was physically being able to read fast enough. Understanding all the content is practically a Sufficient Condition to scoring 24 or higher, one that takes a lot of practice reading. Being able to scan the text quickly enough is a Necessary Condition to scoring perfect, though.

  You can practice for just 10 min a day:
  - spend a minute to get your default speed in WPM.
  - spend 2 min or 2 x 2 min reading one line per second
  - spend 3 min or 2 x 3 min reading one line per half second (two lines per second)
  - spend 2 min reading and note your new speed in WPM
  Note it's important to keep pace regardless of how fully you understand what you're reading. This is how you can improve the physical speed at which your eyes move.

  There are a few other methods that helped me score a 172, but that's the one I think other people are least likely to mention. I can also describe the speed reading exercise in greater detail if you'd like.

  Yes, I would definitely love to hear more about your methods and how/where you practice those methods. Is it on an app or some website/platform? Thank you!
• SufficientCondition Alum Member

  February 2021 311 karma

  @jmarin5 said:

  @90DFjihoonlee said:
  I like Tony's strategy. It's not bad advice since the time invested in improving RC could likely help you more on a point for point basis in other sections.

  If you're really looking to improve, though, I recommend speed-reading exercises. Some will scoff, but part of the challenge of RC for me was physically being able to read fast enough. Understanding all the content is practically a Sufficient Condition to scoring 24 or higher, one that takes a lot of practice reading. Being able to scan the text quickly enough is a Necessary Condition to scoring perfect, though.

  You can practice for just 10 min a day:
  - spend a minute to get your default speed in WPM.
  - spend 2 min or 2 x 2 min reading one line per second
  - spend 3 min or 2 x 3 min reading one line per half second (two lines per second)
  - spend 2 min reading and note your new speed in WPM
  Note it's important to keep pace regardless of how fully you understand what you're reading. This is how you can improve the physical speed at which your eyes move.

  There are a few other methods that helped me score a 172, but that's the one I think other people are least likely to mention. I can also describe the speed reading exercise in greater detail if you'd like.

  Yes, I would definitely love to hear more about your methods and how/where you practice those methods. Is it on an app or some website/platform? Thank you!

  There are platforms for it. I ended up downloading those but not using them. One thing worth noting is that reading on-screen is different than reading on paper. I did not practice on-screen speed-reading (I try with very limited success to limit my daily screen time), but that could help even more if you're motivated. I'll try to elaborate more below.
• 2 Likes

  SufficientCondition Alum Member

  February 2021 311 karma

  @cpeaks13 said:
  @90DFjihoonlee i would love to hear more about your methods and speed reading!

  Premise 1: If you want to improve at anything with some level of consistency, you have to measure it.

  I already shared a brief itinerary for speed reading 10-15 min per day above. One part of this is measuring WPM at the beginning and end of your practice. Feel free to post results here or update me via PM. You can keep mental track of your progress or keep a day-by-day journal if you're really into it.

  Premise 2: Confronted with complexity, it helps to generalize

  An easy way to start measuring WPM is to count the words in five lines of text. Divide by five and you have words per line. Multiply by the number of lines in a page and you have a rough figure of the number of words on a given page. In measuring the exercises above, use the number of words per page to calculate how many words per minute you have read.

  Premise 3: Significant improvements are the result of multiple marginal gains.

  There are individual techniques that you will find enable you to physically read the text faster. Combined, these help boost your WPM. I'm starting to tutor and can teach you more about this one piece if you decide it's something you want to take farther. These don't help the comprehension piece necessarily, just scanning ability. Comprehension improves through other methods over time. I have another post here on that: https://7sage.com/discussion/#/discussion/comment/172813

  Premise 4: We are social organisms.

  Reviewing with others--even reading comp--is a valuable tool to reinforce and validate your progress. I personally invested many hours with a study group to review questions that were mostly easy. It helped immensely.

  Premise 5: the caveat is of course that this method is far from a panacea; it will improve reading speed only.

  Comprehension is another matter.

  Conclusion: improving reading comprehension takes a significant investment of time and energy, as well as prolonged attention to multiple focus points.