RC methods that worked for you.

[Faefly]

I'm quite concerned with this section as I am somewhat a slow reader.

Are you a fast reader?

What RC method worked for you? ( you don't have to write the whole method, just the gist of it)

How much did you take on the real Dat RC or on a practice test?


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[joker16z]

During the actual DAT, I would do a combination of speed read and search & destroy. I would read and highlight the paragraphs quickly (after jumping to the first question). I found the answer I would keep reading and highlighting until I could answer the next question. After reading the full passage, if I had any questions left over I would guess, mark them, and return to them if I had time remaining.

 

[Axiomatician]

I got a 24 RC.... SO here are my thoughts.

Search and Destroy is relative: to some, it means don't read the passage, but rather answer the question being asked. Once you answer, time to search again.

I used search and destroy, but I would not prescribe the previously described method WHATSOEVER!! You need to actually read the passage.

What I would do was this: read the question being asked. Remember, you can only have one question at a time. When you take the test, you have the passage and you have one question at a time. Keep the question in the back of your mind and completely read through the passage until you find the answer. Your questions on the RC section will usually be in consecutive order, meaning that Question 1 will be in paragraph 1 or 2, and question 2 will most likely be something pertaining to the passage after what you have already read. Once you answer the question, you will click next and it will reload the passage and a new question. It is good to be familiar with the passage and the different sections of it in order to navigate where you need to be reading in your mind.

I think this was important for me, making me able to score better than most everyone else. That, and my passages were ridiculously STUPID hard. I had so many big, long chemicals, I feel sorry for the run-of-the-mill biology majors taking the test. I'm a biochemistry major, having done tons of lab work, scientific literature reading, and soon - research, I was able to wade through the sea of parentheses, dashes, R and L's, etc. I've also read non-fiction on physics and mathematics since early high school(I wanted to be a physicist in high school).

After I realized that Physicists didn't get paid to sit around and try and understand the nature of the cosmos, probing the very fabric of existence, I knew I would rather study the sciences in college and find a job working with people rather than grading papers. Clinical work seemed perfect for me, and now, a few years later, I'm 100% sure I don't want to do anything other than work on teeth!

Good luck studying for RC. If you read through what I said multiple times, making sure you get what I am saying(or at least think you do), I feel like you will have a shot at a good score.

Don't be worried about being a slow reader, I am a slow reader as well. I got a 20 on the reading section of the ACT, but a 31 in science, not having studied for it ever. Scientific understanding is my strong-suite, and comprehending language and communicating is probably one of my best skills. I am an extremely slow reader, even on my RC portion of the DAT. I'm only slow because I take time to visualize, explore all possible nuances with given situations, and truly comprehend what I am reading. Read articles at both Science and Nature websites everyday. That should help. Theres lots of other good reading suggestions on SDN.

EDIT: I realize I went on a LONG tangent; this was intentional practice for the OP! Hahaha

 

[travelandteeth]

22RC, and I would consider myself an average reader in terms of speed. I believe my approach consistently worked for me, and can be more time efficient.
When I tried reading the entire passage I could describe tone and general ?s, but never the specific ones, so I used this approach.
My approach:
On the test, the first screen is just the passage, so I would instantly skip to see the 1st question. I would keep the question in mind or skip if it was a tone question (save for end). I would read the first 2-3 paragraphs, then write keywords/numbers on my scratch paper for each of the following paragraphs. Then when answering the questions I could easily track down which paragraph contained the answer. Bootcamp and Genius practice tests helped alot to improve my timing and filter what info could be important. (I rarely read Scientific American or anything) just did the practice tests.

 

[FeralisExtremum]

28 RC, always read the entire passage and then answered the questions. I would still go back into the passage to confirm answers to questions, but since I had read the passage I usually knew where to look pretty quickly. I think I read pretty fast but that was due to preparing by reading Scientific American articles (or anything that is boring dense science material) to get my speed and stamina up as much as possible. Search and destroy may work on some tests but you never know if you'll have a lot of inference questions that can't be avoided with other techniques.

 

[Faefly]

During the actual DAT, I would do a combination of speed read and search & destroy. I would read and highlight the paragraphs quickly (after jumping to the first question). I found the answer I would keep reading and highlighting until I could answer the next question. After reading the full passage, if I had any questions left over I would guess, mark them, and return to them if I had time remaining.

Thank you for your reply. I heard the highlighting feature was added to Bootcamp. but I hope qvault and crack the dat would the same, so I can practice something similar to what you did.
Were the passage questions in order in your case?

 

[dentalstar100]

During the actual DAT, I would do a combination of speed read and search & destroy. I would read and highlight the paragraphs quickly (after jumping to the first question). I found the answer I would keep reading and highlighting until I could answer the next question. After reading the full passage, if I had any questions left over I would guess, mark them, and return to them if I had time remaining.

Once you read the paragraphs and highlighting, did the highlight words/sentences carry over to the next question?

 

[Faefly]

I got a 24 RC.... SO here are my thoughts.

Search and Destroy is relative: to some, it means don't read the passage, but rather answer the question being asked. Once you answer, time to search again.

I used search and destroy, but I would not prescribe the previously described method WHATSOEVER!! You need to actually read the passage.

What I would do was this: read the question being asked. Remember, you can only have one question at a time. When you take the test, you have the passage and you have one question at a time. Keep the question in the back of your mind and completely read through the passage until you find the answer. Your questions on the RC section will usually be in consecutive order, meaning that Question 1 will be in paragraph 1 or 2, and question 2 will most likely be something pertaining to the passage after what you have already read. Once you answer the question, you will click next and it will reload the passage and a new question. It is good to be familiar with the passage and the different sections of it in order to navigate where you need to be reading in your mind.

I think this was important for me, making me able to score better than most everyone else. That, and my passages were ridiculously STUPID hard. I had so many big, long chemicals, I feel sorry for the run-of-the-mill biology majors taking the test. I'm a biochemistry major, having done tons of lab work, scientific literature reading, and soon - research, I was able to wade through the sea of parentheses, dashes, R and L's, etc. I've also read non-fiction on physics and mathematics since early high school(I wanted to be a physicist in high school).

After I realized that Physicists didn't get paid to sit around and try and understand the nature of the cosmos, probing the very fabric of existence, I knew I would rather study the sciences in college and find a job working with people rather than grading papers. Clinical work seemed perfect for me, and now, a few years later, I'm 100% sure I don't want to do anything other than work on teeth!

Good luck studying for RC. If you read through what I said multiple times, making sure you get what I am saying(or at least think you do), I feel like you will have a shot at a good score.

Don't be worried about being a slow reader, I am a slow reader as well. I got a 20 on the reading section of the ACT, but a 31 in science, not having studied for it ever. Scientific understanding is my strong-suite, and comprehending language and communicating is probably one of my best skills. I am an extremely slow reader, even on my RC portion of the DAT. I'm only slow because I take time to visualize, explore all possible nuances with given situations, and truly comprehend what I am reading. Read articles at both Science and Nature websites everyday. That should help. Theres lots of other good reading suggestions on SDN.

EDIT: I realize I went on a LONG tangent; this was intentional practice for the OP! Hahaha

haha, don't worry I write a lot too.
Well, I read what you said, and I kinda understood your method, seems manageable. At the same time, this got me worried. while I spend my time reading fantasy books your read biochemistry and physics haha. Now I need to read more science stuff to get more acquainted with the weird stuff they write about in their passages.

 

[joker16z]

Thank you for your reply. I heard the highlighting feature was added to Bootcamp. but I hope qvault and crack the dat would the same, so I can practice something similar to what you did.
Were the passage questions in order in your case?

My previous method wasn't exactly worded the best. I still read the entire passage in length and understood everything. I used the highlight feature (exactly the same as bootcamp) to highlight long words, years, or abstract words as these were questions that tend to be asked about and can be easily missed in the sea of words. I didn't practice reading any lengthly scientific articles daily. I simply did a practice test from the KBB, and the ones from DAT bootcamp.

In general, my questions were in order of the passage paragraphs. Occasionally, I'd have one that was randomly place but for the most part they were pretty consistent, which is why I recommend skipping to the first question, reading 2-3 paragraphs until you find the answer, then move on to the next question. If you can't immediately find the answer within 2-3 paragraphs, guess, mark it, and move on to come back later if you have time left over.

 

[joker16z]

Once you read the paragraphs and highlighting, did the highlight words/sentences carry over to the next question?

Yes it did for me! I read on some places that the highlighting only carried over from the original passage (no question displayed) but my highlights carried over from question to question as I read. Only slightly annoying thing is that for every new question you view, it jumps back to paragraph 1. As a bonus, if you have to revisit a question (ex: because you marked it), it will remember the paragraph you were last looking at for that question.

 

[Faefly]

22RC, and I would consider myself an average reader in terms of speed. I believe my approach consistently worked for me, and can be more time efficient.
When I tried reading the entire passage I could describe tone and general ?s, but never the specific ones, so I used this approach.
My approach:
On the test, the first screen is just the passage, so I would instantly skip to see the 1st question. I would keep the question in mind or skip if it was a tone question (save for end). I would read the first 2-3 paragraphs, then write keywords/numbers on my scratch paper for each of the following paragraphs. Then when answering the questions I could easily track down which paragraph contained the answer. Bootcamp and Genius practice tests helped alot to improve my timing and filter what info could be important. (I rarely read Scientific American or anything) just did the practice tests.

Thank you, so you just see the first question? or do you see multiple questions then read the 2-3 paragraphs?

 

[joker16z]

Thank you, so you just see the first question? or do you see multiple questions then read the 2-3 paragraphs?

Once the RC section starts, you're presented with the full passage in a scrollable text box (you have to click the bar and drag; you cannot scroll with the mouse). You should immediately press next so you're presented with the first question in a split screen view with the passage also in view. Quickly read the question so you have an idea of what you're looking for then start reading/highlighting the first 2-3 paragraphs to see if that answer is found early on. If not, guess, mark, move on to the next question (only try to answer one question at a time unless you happen to read the answer to a previously marked question) and come back if you have time.

 

[Faefly]

28 RC, always read the entire passage and then answered the questions. I would still go back into the passage to confirm answers to questions, but since I had read the passage I usually knew where to look pretty quickly. I think I read pretty fast but that was due to preparing by reading Scientific American articles (or anything that is boring dense science material) to get my speed and stamina up as much as possible. Search and destroy may work on some tests but you never know if you'll have a lot of inference questions that can't be avoided with other techniques.

Thank you for your reply. I realize I have to force myself to read more scientific American articles. I subscribed 6 months ago, I have full accesses to their online archive back to 4 years. But I don't read anything of that. I mean, I read novels, that's what I like reading, but with novels, you have something interesting going on and you want to read and finish. Now I discovered Webtoon on phone (awesome comics)
If I would follow your method, I'll start with half of passage and see how much I can retain and go from there.

 

[travelandteeth]

Thank you, so you just see the first question? or do you see multiple questions then read the 2-3 paragraphs?

I usually look at the first 2-3 questions and then go through the passage. If I can answer one of them, while scanning and writing keywords then I answer it and move on to the next question. In regards to your previous question, I only had 1 passage on the real DAT in order with the questions.

 

[Axiomatician]

haha, don't worry I write a lot too.
Well, I read what you said, and I kinda understood your method, seems manageable. At the same time, this got me worried. while I spend my time reading fantasy books your read biochemistry and physics haha. Now I need to read more science stuff to get more acquainted with the weird stuff they write about in their passages.

Feralis and I both agree: Read the entire passage.

Speed reading(reading bits and pieces) is undoubtedly the most common mistake made.
Feralis also said one other thing that I also said: He read Scientific American articles.

Read "science stuff" every day, multiple times a day, using it as your break in order to get better at reading. I used reading articles that sounded interesting as a past-time, and it was a good for me to take a break from the material I was studying. The thing about that was that while I didn't realize it, I was simulating the RC portion of the test extremely well.

Here's why: My brain was tired, I was sick of my Destroyer book, and I felt like I was never getting better at angles. When it was 4 pm in the afternoon and I knew I would be studying until the wee hours of the morn', I would go read science articles. Because the RC section is the last one you'll do, you will naturally be DRAINED. Feralis said that reading SA articles helped his stamina. Reading all the articles I did, in the fashion previously described, helped my stamina as well.

Good luck studying.

EDIT: Figure out when you best study. For example, its 2 am right now and I just got done studying pathways of phenylalanine. I am a machine between the hours of 8 p.m. and 3-4 a.m. Figure out when you study best as well! Maybe you're an early riser, maybe you're a night owl.

 

[Faefly]

Feralis and I both agree: Read the entire passage.

Speed reading(reading bits and pieces) is undoubtedly the most common mistake made.
Feralis also said one other thing that I also said: He read Scientific American articles.

Read "science stuff" every day, multiple times a day, using it as your break in order to get better at reading. I used reading articles that sounded interesting as a past-time, and it was a good for me to take a break from the material I was studying. The thing about that was that while I didn't realize it, I was simulating the RC portion of the test extremely well.

Here's why: My brain was tired, I was sick of my Destroyer book, and I felt like I was never getting better at angles. When it was 4 pm in the afternoon and I knew I would be studying until the wee hours of the morn', I would go read science articles. Because the RC section is the last one you'll do, you will naturally be DRAINED. Feralis said that reading SA articles helped his stamina. Reading all the articles I did, in the fashion previously described, helped my stamina as well.

Good luck studying.

EDIT: Figure out when you best study. For example, its 2 am right now and I just got done studying pathways of phenylalanine. I am a machine between the hours of 8 p.m. and 3-4 a.m. Figure out when you study best as well! Maybe you're an early riser, maybe you're a night owl.

Thank you so much for your detailed explanation.
Every day, when I wake up I am reading 2 scientific articles.
or one long one like 3000 words to teach myself to be patient with longer ones even though the real ones are not that long.

On average how many hours you studied each day?

 

[Faefly]

I usually look at the first 2-3 questions and then go through the passage. If I can answer one of them, while scanning and writing keywords then I answer it and move on to the next question. In regards to your previous question, I only had 1 passage on the real DAT in order with the questions.

Thanks for your reply. Yeah, reading the first 2 questions definitely help!

 

[Axiomatician]

Thank you so much for your detailed explanation.
Every day, when I wake up I am reading 2 scientific articles.
or one long one like 3000 words to teach myself to be patient with longer ones even though the real ones are not that long.

On average how many hours you studied each day?

I usually studied between 4-8 hours per day. The last month, it was more like 6-12 hours per day. That is not including eating, messing around, waking up, taking breaks, showering, human activities, etc.

 

[UNCafDDS]

To be clear, you can highlight on the actual DAT? Just for RC? How does one highlight on the DAT RC? Do the online Bootcamp RC practice tests use the highlight feature, and how does one highlight on Bootcamp? Thanks!

 

[Axiomatician]

To be clear, you can highlight on the actual DAT? Just for RC? How does one highlight on the DAT RC? Do the online Bootcamp RC practice tests use the highlight feature, and how does one highlight on Bootcamp? Thanks!

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