Stink at RC - doomed? Forum

[JSIM462]

I have improved in every section but RC. I don't know, but it is really killing my score. HELP!

Advice is appreciated.

[dakatz]

RC is the one thing that kept me from a 170. No matter how much I practiced, and no matter how many methods I tried to apply, my score was always constant in that section. LG can be improved once you learn the method, but its tough to improve how you read and remember small bits of information in RC. "Doomed" is a highly relative term. I knew RC would keep me out of the 170's. Is that considered "doomed"? I don't think so. If you are great at LG, and good enough at LR, you allow for at least a little slip room on RC.

[charlesxavier]

It depends on what steps you have already taken in order to try to boost your RC score. How do you approach each RC section? I missed 17 on my diagnostic RC. I got that down to a -1 on a recent Preptest. You just have to learn what method works best for you. My score increased dramatically simply by taking more time to read the passages.

[jks289]

Practice. There isn't a method here but to read and read and read. Read brief dense articles (The Economist is a decent source) and afterwards try to summarize the relevant points. And do lots of timed sections. You may not end up with a perfect score, but you'll maximize your personal potential.

[Flanker1067]

Practice. There isn't a method here but to read and read and read. Read brief dense articles (The Economist is a decent source) and afterwards try to summarize the relevant points. And do lots of timed sections. You may not end up with a perfect score, but you'll maximize your personal potential.

+1

Took me about twice as long to see results for RC as the others. Still managed to improve.

[dynomite]

I have improved in every section but RC. I don't know, but it is really killing my score. HELP!

Advice is appreciated.

Here's what I said in another thread:

I skim the questions (VERY quickly) first. Yes, there are those who say that this is a waste of time, as you'll need to read them again anyway. But for me:

1) Most obviously, I get a sense of the topic and the information I'll need to extract from the passage.
2) I get a sense of the main point by seeing what most of the questions are asking about, which helps focus my reading on those areas that deal with the general theme of the questions.
3) Any questions that contain line references ("Which of the following is closest in meaning to the phrase 'blah blah blah' as used on line 35") I star the lines ahead of time so I know to pay close attention when reading. (and can often answer the question immediately when I get to that part of the passage, saving a lot of time)
4) This helps with those "The author mentions each of the following as an example of the XXX EXCEPT" questions which normally take forever. I know to pay attention to those examples and number them 1-4 when reading, making it very easy to reference come question time.

I can see how, for some, this strategy wouldn't help, but for me it's worth spending 15 seconds ahead of time to save up to 60 seconds afterwards.

Also, some on here have had a lot of success by skipping the passage with the fewest questions altogether.

1) Even just skipping a passage with 6 questions and bubbling in 6 Ds, you are statistically very likely to get at least 1 of those questions correct.

2) All of a sudden have almost 12 minutes per passage for the other 3 -- PLENTY of time to read, diagram and answer questions.

In other words, you can still get 20+ correct answers on a RC section even when you skip a passage.