RC - do you scan question stems PRIOR to reading the passages?

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• 3 Likes

  Alex Alum Member ⭐

  November 2017 edited November 2017 23929 karma

  @"mmbarros.br" said:
  So the title of the discussion is gigantic but it summarizes it pretty accurately. I ask because during the 40's and 50's PTs, I was essentially scanning them just to get a sense of what to expect and whether I had to focus perhaps on a specific point of view or paragraph and I would also make a mark on sentences that are asked. For these PTs, I would get -1/-4 consistently and now that I am with the 60s and 70s PTs, the RC is just destroying me. Sometimes I do what I mentioned above with some success and sometimes I don't. Just wanted to get a sense of what people do here, especially of course if you are super successful with the RC passages. Maybe it all boils down to the RC passages becoming more and more difficult over the years, I don't know! Thanks!

  I'll be honest, I think RC has become straight up more challenging over the years.

  I miss between 0-5 on RC. It's by far my most volatile section (i.e. the only section where I can randomly miss 5 out of no where)
  To answer your question ... No, I don't nor have I ever scanned the questions first. I do read a lot slower than I used to however. I used to read passages in 2 minutes or so and then constantly scan the passage for support to answer most questions. I noticed that this doesn't work as well on newer tests since there seems to be less direct textual support for the questions compared to the earlier tests. I've adapted my strategies a bit for the newer tests by reading a bit more carefully my first time through. I've also been writing detailed analyses for every passage I do. Lastly, I've also just straight up begun drilling/fool proofing RC. Before, I kind of neglected RC a bit and it's showing on newer tests for me...
• 1 Like

  studyingandrestudying Core Member

  November 2017 5254 karma

  I think it would probably slow someone down to read the RC questions first.
• 1 Like

  jennybbbbb Alum Member

  November 2017 630 karma

  I wouldn't scan them. The newer RC passages focus more on the main idea/structure of the passage than previous passages. I usually read the passage and then go into the questions. I find myself spending more time reading the RC passages now than for older tests since a lot of the questions, you don't really need go to back to the text to find the answer.

  Hope that makes sense.
• mmbarros.br Member

  November 2017 edited November 2017 33 karma

  That was very helpful guys! This all makes sense and sort of confirms my bias that the RC has become probably harder and it has shifted slightly in what is demands of us. Maybe that explains why in earlier prep tests I was able to scan things and pretty accurately answer the questions. Now, this is not the case and I feel that reading the question stems might actually clutter my mind and boggle down my understanding. Thanks everyone!
• karenkaren Alum Member

  November 2017 edited November 2017 116 karma

  I don't scan them in general, because trying to actively look for answers to those while reading is impossible and would interfere with comprehension.

  One thing that I have started doing recently is on comparative passage, I read passage A, then check to see if there are any questions on A only, or both, but that I can use passage A only to eliminate. I find this reduces my confusion between passages.
• 1 Like

  mmbarros.br Member

  November 2017 edited November 2017 33 karma

  @karenkaren That's a great point and I should start doing that! Thank you so much!
• FerdaFresh Alum Member

  November 2017 561 karma

  I only do this for comparative passages. I'll skip straight to a question that deals with just one author and answer it first after reading the passage associated with it. Sometimes this will influence what passage I read first (e.g. B before A). Otherwise, I do not look at the questions at all before reading.