RC "drilling" Forum

[TunnelVision]

Does drilling RC passages by type, like the Cambridge bundle's breakdown, help? I really liked drilling LR by type and I think that helped a lot, but the passage "types" do not seem as distinct as a parallel question vs. a weaken question in LR. My accuracy for RC has been improving a lot since I started prephrasing answers and doing passages untimed to really figure everything out, but I am still too slow. It probably takes me 2-3 minutes to read the passage and understand it reasonably well. But for some of the questions, especially inference questions and what would the author/some group agree with, I have to skim through the text, which might take me more than a minute. I can usually elminate 2-3 choices based on my first read, but should I have to be returning to the text for this? How can I get faster? And again, is drilling by type useful? Thanks a bunch!

[Geetar Man]

Does drilling RC passages by type, like the Cambridge bundle's breakdown, help? I really liked drilling LR by type and I think that helped a lot, but the passage "types" do not seem as distinct as a parallel question vs. a weaken question in LR. My accuracy for RC has been improving a lot since I started prephrasing answers and doing passages untimed to really figure everything out, but I am still too slow. It probably takes me 2-3 minutes to read the passage and understand it reasonably well. But for some of the questions, especially inference questions and what would the author/some group agree with, I have to skim through the text, which might take me more than a minute. I can usually elminate 2-3 choices based on my first read, but should I have to be returning to the text for this? How can I get faster? And again, is drilling by type useful? Thanks a bunch!

I think the drilling helps you become familiar with everything, the same way that it happened when you drilled LR. It will also help you to recognize the same questions over and over. Drilling these RC passages will help you, as long as you review and find/correct your wrong answers.

[TunnelVision]

Right, I understand that drilling RC passages helps, but I'm wondering if it's worth drilling them by "type" as in do all science passages one day, then all art/history passages another day... or if that really doesn't matter like it did for LR. Aren't the question types basically the same across all passage types, or is there some variation that I am unaware of? Unlike LR and LG, I really have only done 5 or 6 RC sections so far, so I am still in that "dumb" stage where nothing has clicked.

[Geetar Man]

Right, I understand that drilling RC passages helps, but I'm wondering if it's worth drilling them by "type" as in do all science passages one day, then all art/history passages another day... or if that really doesn't matter like it did for LR. Aren't the question types basically the same across all passage types, or is there some variation that I am unaware of? Unlike LR and LG, I really have only done 5 or 6 RC sections so far, so I am still in that "dumb" stage where nothing has clicked.

Oh I see. Well, I don't really think it matters what type of passage you drill. Kaplan organizes them that way, but I thought it was pointless. I think its better practice to do random passages, rather than know what you should expect.

In short, do them randomly. Also try to incorporate the comparative RC as well.

[MLBrandow]

Right, I understand that drilling RC passages helps, but I'm wondering if it's worth drilling them by "type" as in do all science passages one day, then all art/history passages another day... or if that really doesn't matter like it did for LR. Aren't the question types basically the same across all passage types, or is there some variation that I am unaware of? Unlike LR and LG, I really have only done 5 or 6 RC sections so far, so I am still in that "dumb" stage where nothing has clicked.

TunnelVision,

I think the real benefit to drilling the RC as arranged by Cambridge comes not from the topic arrangement, but by difficulty within the topics. Sure, it's just some guy's opinion of the relative difficulty of the passages, but I think there is a benefit to going through them in some semblance of easy to difficult. I really think Geetar Man has the right idea in that the best thing about drilling all the passages by type is that you're drilling them together and consistently, so you will be better able to analyze your trends and mistakes on a macro level. Otherwise you're looking at doing four passages every few days (or less) on a per PT basis..

[TunnelVision]

That makes sense. How many passages do you guys drill during one study session?

[Geetar Man]

That makes sense. How many passages do you guys drill during one study session?

Honestly, that's up to you. If im going to do RC, I say at least 4, to mimic a section.

[GoldenGloves]

That makes sense. How many passages do you guys drill during one study session?

Honestly, that's up to you. If im going to do RC, I say at least 4, to mimic a section.

Doing just one passage, stopping for a moment & beginning another is unlikely to be all that helpful. Pacing is crucial in RC & your ability to allocate time in full RC sections is key. Don't neglect this.