Atlas Reading Comprehension Guide Forum

[AshtonB]

Any people out there who can attest to its effectiveness? Is it "too late" to start reading it for the Dec '10 test? As far as RC goes, I'm averaging about -6 on the post-50 PTs

[CurlyKat]

I recommend it!

[Sandro]

I just got it and It cant hurt. Why not.

[Sandro]

unless you are getting constant 0/-1 on RC i would suggest it. Gets to the key of RC and suggests some strategies on different aspects of the section that I find very helpful.

[niederbomb]

It helps.

Takes time to implement, though, and obviously it's not fail-safe.

The advantages are it gives you a procedure which you can follow for every RC passage and a category into which you can fit every incorrect answer choice.

The disadvantages are it mostly uses very easy RC passages from the 40's, so if you're like me, you may think the method worked magic after doing the passages in the book (-0 using their methods) and then be disappointed later on when you still miss questions from other tests.

[AshtonB]

unless you are getting constant 0/-1 on RC i would suggest it. Gets to the key of RC and suggests some strategies on different aspects of the section that I find very helpful.

Just bought it off Amazon, and should be receiving it Wednesday. I know that's not a lot of time, but oh well.

It helps.

Takes time to implement, though, and obviously it's not fail-safe.

The advantages are it gives you a procedure which you can follow for every RC passage and a category into which you can fit every incorrect answer choice.

The disadvantages are it mostly uses very easy RC passages from the 40's, so if you're like me, you may think the method worked magic after doing the passages in the book (-0 using their methods) and then be disappointed later on when you still miss questions from other tests.

Yeah, I have noticed that the RC section has gotten significantly harder in the past 4+ years. I got a perfect RC score one of the pre-45 PTs (forget which one) and close to perfect in other tests released around the same time, but faring just as well in more recent PTs feels impossible. But if I'm able to reduce my error rate at all for the upcoming test, then it'll be money well spent.

[Sandro]

I don't want to sound like a broken record/Atlas fanboy but i finished their book today. Just like the PS LR/LG bible, its nice to have some guiding thoughts/principles when attacking RC. I haven't tried any RC other than the ones in their book (-0 on almost everything pretty quickly too) and it could be they just included incredibly easy questions but I got -3 RC on Oct10 so its not too big of a stretch. I can definitely see it helping me to eliminate obvious wrong answers and give me an edge when trying to get the right one out of 2 or 3 contenders. Their Judge/Scales method is helpful for the big picture as well, I felt as if I was just reading to read the passage before.

[paulshortys10]

Imma buy it right now.. I'm doing terribly in this section, so even if it helps me answer 2-3 more right, it's gonna be worth it.

[JazzOne]

Imma buy it right now.. I'm doing terribly in this section, so even if it helps me answer 2-3 more right, it's gonna be worth it.

Have you tried doing curls while you study? You have to PUMP that knowledge into your brain, son. This isn't lacrosse.

[AshtonB]

Imma buy it right now.. I'm doing terribly in this section, so even if it helps me answer 2-3 more right, it's gonna be worth it.

It's been helping me so far, but like others have mentioned upthread, they use older/easier RC sections which are not really reflective of the ones found in newer tests. Apply the principles diligently and you should see at least a minor improvement, but don't expect miracles.

[cartman44]

..

[youknowryan]

I read both the Atlas and PS RC guides- and in my opinion, they are both worthless and full of captain obvious advice like don't read too quickly, don't read too slowly, make sure to get the main idea of the passage, read to figure out the author's tone, look out for perspective shifts, actively process the info, go back to the text to verify answer choices etc- oh really?????? Because all this time I was reading just to get through the passages and fantasizing about penguins and guessing on the questions.

The best RC advice is to just keep doing RC sections and figure out what works for you- it's a much better use of time than going through those books. Optimal RC styles are very individual- I underline only a few words, I have friends that markup the whole passage, some people read faster then spend more time going back to the text for the answers, others read more slowly and spend minimal time referring back to the passage.

What works for me is to slow down on the reading and after every paragraph to spend a few seconds figuring out in my own words what was said. When answering the questions I also start with crossing our wrong answer choices, instead of looking for the right ones. I cross out the ones that are blatantly wrong- then pick among the remaining ones to find the right one. My Rc is -0 to at most -3

I pretty much agree with this post. I have the RC BIble and it's advice is: find viewpoints, discern structure, capture main points, look for confusing sentences where there are 2+ viewpoints. Honestly, anyone who has done any LR strategy guide knows this stuff. I bought a copy of Atlas' book to read, and have only gotten a few pages into it seriously, but my skimming of the entire thing indicated that it will be much the same as the RC Bible. As painful as it might be taking every RC selection you've read and diagramming it will yield the best results. Example: LSAC loves this format:
P1: Start VP neutral with info about a phenomenon.
P2: Into a viewpoint the article will not agree with.
P3: Intro main point/VP that will rebut P2 in some way.
P4: Continue what P3 started. Throw in some random VP in the last couple of sentences that tempers possible criticisms of P2&P3.
This kind of analysis is REALLY useful since you will be able to answer passage structure, paragraph purpose, VP related Qs, MP and text detail Qs easily. This also accounts for most RC questions. The LSAC has about 20-30 structures they use over and over. Learn to recognize them and the RC section becomes far easier. I learned this by slogging through numerous passages and wish I'd done so sooner.

[Sandro]

It is true that any RC bible/Atlas isnt going to be chock full of technical tips and tricks to help you systematically destroy RC, but I found their take on how to approach RC useful. Surely nobody is saying its as helpful as say the LG bible but I found some of their general statements and tips/strategies to be helpful, and I scored -3 on Oct10 RC. If anything it could help you increase speed slightly.

[cartman44]

It is true that any RC bible/Atlas isnt going to be chock full of technical tips and tricks to help you systematically destroy RC, but I found their take on how to approach RC useful. Surely nobody is saying its as helpful as say the LG bible but I found some of their general statements and tips/strategies to be helpful, and I scored -3 on Oct10 RC. If anything it could help you increase speed slightly.

I think if someone is prepping for December their time is much better spent on lots of Rc passages, especially recent ones, to improve speed. I read both and I did not even pick up one tip- maybe that's just me. I think coming up with your own system that plays to your strengths is the way to go.

LG bible to me is hands down the best prep book ever.

[Sandro]

It is true that any RC bible/Atlas isnt going to be chock full of technical tips and tricks to help you systematically destroy RC, but I found their take on how to approach RC useful. Surely nobody is saying its as helpful as say the LG bible but I found some of their general statements and tips/strategies to be helpful, and I scored -3 on Oct10 RC. If anything it could help you increase speed slightly.

I think if someone is prepping for December their time is much better spent on lots of Rc passages, especially recent ones, to improve speed. I read both and I did not even pick up one tip- maybe that's just me. I think coming up with your own system that plays to your strengths is the way to go.

LG bible to me is hands down the best prep book ever.

Atlas RC bible took me all of 1 and a half days to get through. If someone is struggling with RC just doing passages over and over isn't going to help unless they change how they approach RC. To me someone scoring high but struggling with RC isnt failing because they cant read but possibly because they arent reading the right way....

[lakers3peat]

Have you tried doing curls while you study? You have to PUMP that knowledge into your brain, son. This isn't lacrosse.

Do you ever shut up?

[JazzOne]

Have you tried doing curls while you study? You have to PUMP that knowledge into your brain, son. This isn't lacrosse.

Do you ever shut up?

Oh, you're still jocking my nuts?