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I often finish RC around 2-3 minutes over the 35 minute limit. I normally finish reading each passage around 3 min to 3.5 min. Am I reading too slowly? Should I speed up the reading portion of the section? Any idea on how to improve my speed for RC questions?

DGLitcH wrote:I often finish RC around 2-3 minutes over the 35 minute limit. I normally finish reading each passage around 3 min to 3.5 min. Am I reading too slowly? Should I speed up the reading portion of the section? Any idea on how to improve my speed for RC questions?

Are you frequently re-reading the passage after going to the questions?

3|ink wrote:

DGLitcH wrote:I often finish RC around 2-3 minutes over the 35 minute limit. I normally finish reading each passage around 3 min to 3.5 min. Am I reading too slowly? Should I speed up the reading portion of the section? Any idea on how to improve my speed for RC questions?

Are you frequently re-reading the passage after going to the questions?

Not so much. I do debate a lot about the answer choices for some of the Local questions. I have no problem with Main Point, Main Purpose, Organization, and other Global questions etc. I am quite quick with those Global questions.

DGLitcH wrote:

3|ink wrote:

DGLitcH wrote:I often finish RC around 2-3 minutes over the 35 minute limit. I normally finish reading each passage around 3 min to 3.5 min. Am I reading too slowly? Should I speed up the reading portion of the section? Any idea on how to improve my speed for RC questions?

Are you frequently re-reading the passage after going to the questions?

Not so much. I do debate a lot about the answer choices for some of the Local questions. I have no problem with Main Point, Main Purpose, Organization, and other Global questions etc. I am quite quick with those Global questions.

It's hard to say without knowing how much time you spend reading each passage and how long you spend on the questions. If you're reading the passages within 4 minutes, I'd say you're making pretty good time. I've heard of people actually taking 5 minutes to read the passages and speeding through the questions. I guess it depends on your level of reading comprehension.

3|ink wrote:

DGLitcH wrote:

3|ink wrote:

DGLitcH wrote:I often finish RC around 2-3 minutes over the 35 minute limit. I normally finish reading each passage around 3 min to 3.5 min. Am I reading too slowly? Should I speed up the reading portion of the section? Any idea on how to improve my speed for RC questions?

Are you frequently re-reading the passage after going to the questions?

Not so much. I do debate a lot about the answer choices for some of the Local questions. I have no problem with Main Point, Main Purpose, Organization, and other Global questions etc. I am quite quick with those Global questions.

It's hard to say without knowing how much time you spend reading each passage and how long you spend on the questions. If you're reading the passages within 4 minutes, I'd say you're making pretty good time. I've heard of people actually taking 5 minutes to read the passages and speeding through the questions. I guess it depends on your level of reading comprehension.

I normally take 3-3.5 minutes to read the passage. I guess I take too much time deliberating those Local questions.

Start trusting your instincts. For me, at least, if I knew that I read the passage completely thoroughly my first instinct was typically correct. This held true even when I was tempted to debate answers. Time is crucial: If you've read the passage well, go with your gut and move on.

I used up a lot of time on local questions too. I would always go back to the passage and find the relevant information. Sometimes I couldn't remember exactly where something was mentioned and I had to skim through everything to locate it. This ate up a boat load of time so I started marking the passages. I didn't have a formal notation system but I would make little checks and underline topics that I thought would come up in the questions. If something was mentioned twice I would try to make a mental note of where in the passage it was mentioned. This helped me cut down some time because I didn't have to search the whole passage.

Good luck with the studying.

It seems like you read the passages a little too quickly. Try a test round of pacing yourself to read each passage within 4 minutes. Then see if you are able to answer those local questions in less time.

3|ink wrote:It seems like you read the passages a little too quickly. Try a test round of pacing yourself to read each passage within 4 minutes. Then see if you are able to answer those local questions in less time.

wow really? I always thought I was reading too slowly at around 3-3.5 minute per passage. I guess I will slow it down and try to get it to 4 minute per passage.

KibblesAndVick wrote:I used up a lot of time on local questions too. I would always go back to the passage and find the relevant information. Sometimes I couldn't remember exactly where something was mentioned and I had to skim through everything to locate it. This ate up a boat load of time so I started marking the passages. I didn't have a formal notation system but I would make little checks and underline topics that I thought would come up in the questions. If something was mentioned twice I would try to make a mental note of where in the passage it was mentioned. This helped me cut down some time because I didn't have to search the whole passage.

Good luck with the studying.

Same here. I found that marking / highlighting stuff helped me get faster since I spent less time looking for it.

But IMO, local questions will always take more time than global questions, since most people can't remember all those details from the passage and have to go back to check. You might have to experiment with a few approaches (read passage faster, read passage slower, get even faster on global Qs, take/don't take notes etc) in order to find what works for you.