RC Speed Vs accuracy

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• 6 Likes

  Simbatron Member

  November 2016 175 karma

  It's hardest to improve on RC, but that doesn't mean that it cannot be done. Here are some tips that have been floating around 7sage that have really helped me...
  
  1) Read the passage as if it's the most interesting thing you've ever come across
  Yes RC passages are notoriously boring as all get out, but you have to overcome this. I'd imagine that legal documents aren't extraordinarily fascinating either. Reading it as though the topic is your favorite topic really helps you remember what you're reading. Fake it til ya make it!
  
  2) Take your time on the passage
  So, just the other day I had a breakthrough. I went from getting like 66% on RC to 78% (it's my worst section so I'm happy with this). All I did was spend that extra minute or two on reading. After each paragraph I stopped to process what it was saying, what the tone was, and jotted down a few notes to the side. It REALLY helped. I know that RC always seems extremely rushed, but if you take the extra time to comprehend the passage, the questions are MUCH easier.
  
  3) Underline important dates, hypotheses, Names, etc. in the passage
  So once you've read enough RC, you realize that there are certain things in the passage that are extremely helpful to take note of. Lots of questions ask specifically for what happens or can be said for a certain time period, what the opinion of someone in the passage is (or the author - make sure to not get those mixed up!), what is an application of a certain hypothesis, why the author included **** key word or example, etc. You don't need to memorize those things during your read through, but definitely underline them. That way, you're making a mental note that it might be important by underlining it and thus you will hopefully read more carefully, AND you will be able to find it again easily in the passage if a question specifically asks about it.
  
  4) Pay attention to the structure of the passage
  There is almost always, at least once, a question that asks about the structure. [bracket] the main conclusion or any sub conclusions. On the side of the passage, write "hypothesis 1" "example hyp 1" "hypothesis 2" "counterexample" "context" etc.
  
  5) Pay attention to the author's tone
  There are LOTS of questions asking "The author of the passage would be most likely to agree with x" And lots of passages are full of loaded words like "this troublesome thing" or "elegant, but speculative". Pay attention to those. They will help you process how the author feels about the topic on which they are writing.
  
  6) Lastly, pay attention to ALL the people!
  So, some passages are incredibly confusing with referential phrasing of ideas, events, and persons. Lots of passages are also riddled with the opinions or studies of 3 or 4 people. They are meant to confuse you. Don't let them. Keep track of what Barbie thinks about pottery, and what Ken thinks about it, and why Kelly doesn't agree with either of them. A question might ask "Kelly would be most likely to disagree with which of Barbie's ideas" and you'll need to know what Kelly thinks vs. what Barbie thinks. There will be trick answers that state what they agree upon, or what Ken thinks vs. what Barbie thinks, or what Ken thinks vs. what Kelly thinks. They are confusing. But you're better than that.
  
  If you practice all of these things you'll get better. Definitely blind review so you can recognize your mistakes and improve. The timing will come. If you're timing yourself, I think it'd be best to maybe start with a goal of completing 3 passages during the allotted time perfectly, then move on to 4. I hope this helps. It at least helped me to write it out (:
• 1 Like

  Cant Get Right Yearly + Live Member Sage ⭐ 🍌 7Sage Tutor

  November 2016 27900 karma

  Great advice @Simbatron ! This is an excellent list of good RC habits, and following these will improve RC performance. All I have to add is:

  @"Giant Panda" said:
  3) the answer choice, which is 1/5, targets a specific sentence in the middle of no where where you have to find it.
  

  If you've taken time on the front end, you're going to have to capitalize on that investment by trusting in your reading. This means not returning to the passage for every answer choice. Answer the question from memory, and if you absolutely can't, it's probably a good time to skip the question. Returning to the passage should be considered a last resort. The exception to this is when the question stem gives you a line cite, or every so often, when you know exactly where to look on a question you can't answer otherwise. If you don't know exactly where to go in the passage and you can't answer the question from memory, skip it.
• 2 Likes

  lawgikal Core Member

  December 2016 108 karma

  I do all of what @Simbatron does. I let the 'main points' guide me: after reading a paragraph, I identify the main point of that paragraph. When I'm done with the passage, I always ensure that I know MOPT.
  
  M - main point of the passage
  O - organization of the passage (what does each paragraph do?)
  P - purpose of the passage (why is the auther writing the passage?)
  T - tone of the author (is the author accepting or rejecting a view, being optimistic or cynical, etc etc.)
  
  By having a clear understanding of MOPT before I go into the questions, I find that the questions go by very quickly.
  
  Hope this helps!
• 2 Likes

  Bevs ScooterMinion Alum Member

  December 2016 1018 karma

  ALL. OF. THIS. Bookmarking for reference. THANK YOU!