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skim reading during RC?

mel_emm8mel_emm8 Free Trial Member
in Reading Comprehension 39 karma

I know this is usually said to be a huge no-no, but in my studies (poli sci and sociology student) i skim read all the time and find it super helpful to save time.

When it comes to RC, I find I struggle the most with the wordings of the questions as opposed to the passage itself, so when I take 3-4mins to read the passage, I don't have enough time to answer all the questions properly and usually range anywhere from -7 to -10 on an RC section in the 60+ PTs.

Any ideas on how to overcome this? Even when I use the Memory Method, I still feel like I don't have enough time to answer the questions. Would skimming over specific details be beneficial or detrimental?

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  • AlexAlex Alum Member ⭐
    23929 karma

    @mel_emm8 said:
    I know this is usually said to be a huge no-no, but in my studies (poli sci and sociology student) i skim read all the time and find it super helpful to save time.

    When it comes to RC, I find I struggle the most with the wordings of the questions as opposed to the passage itself, so when I take 3-4mins to read the passage, I don't have enough time to answer all the questions properly and usually range anywhere from -7 to -10 on an RC section in the 60+ PTs.

    Any ideas on how to overcome this? Even when I use the Memory Method, I still feel like I don't have enough time to answer the questions. Would skimming over specific details be beneficial or detrimental?

    I mean you never quite know what is going to work for you until you try it. That said, I'd be very surprised if skimming it ended up being beneficial. Skimming certain things is fine, but the RC section is so short as it is that I don't think skimming it really isn't worth it. I think more or less you should be reading every word and actively thinking how it all fits together. It would be too easy to miss something important skimming. That's my opinion anyhow.

    I guess your options would be to practice reading the passage in less time or answer the questions more efficiently.

    Do you find yourself trying to prove every answer with textual support? If so, perhaps you need to rely on your memory a bit more, at least for certain questions. I definitely am pretty aggressive with my usage of POE with RC. I go in two sweeps, eliminating 2-3 possible answers, and then only return to the passage if I need help picking out the right answer out of the remaining choices. Pre-Phrase answer where you can obviously...

    FWIW, it took me a while practicing the memory method before I was able to have any sort of breakthrough. I did many of the passages with a a stop watch counting up and tried to get faster little by little without sacrificing accuracy. I honestly think that's what helped me the most. Always time yourself, but don't be so beholden to time that you're sacrificing accuracy. Perhaps review the method and how JY employs it and then practice a bit more?

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