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Hey guys
How do you guys feel about drilling RC passages by types? Does that help? I know drilling LG & LR by types really helps out but know sure about RC. Thanks for input guys in advance.

When you say 'by type', what exactly do you mean? Subject matter? Number of viewpoints?

I'm guessing you're referring to the Cambridge packets, which divide them up as Law/Humanities/Natural Science/Social Science. They could help, if you need work in one of these subjects. Otherwise, no real benefit except seeing how difficult some passages are rated. Looks at your PTs, and see if there is a systematic weakness in one of the areas.

Noodley, for one, has not recommended them as useful.

bp shinners wrote:When you say 'by type', what exactly do you mean? Subject matter? Number of viewpoints?

I was referring to Cambridge packs. They are bundled by subject.

Thanks for input bitsy.

I found them to be a detriment to my prep honestly. I recommend full sections from old PTs if you want to do drilling. Developing a strong sense of timing in RC is very useful, and something you just won't get by doing them cut up by topic. (The LG and LR by type are a big help though.)

Your approach to a passage isn't going to change because it's about feminist writers of the 18th century or strawberry pests.

cahwc12 wrote:I found them to be a detriment to my prep honestly. I recommend full sections from old PTs if you want to do drilling. Developing a strong sense of timing in RC is very useful, and something you just won't get by doing them cut up by topic. (The LG and LR by type are a big help though.)

Your approach to a passage isn't going to change because it's about feminist writers of the 18th century or strawberry pests.

I agree with this, I wish I hadn't done any "By-type" RC because it ended up spoiling many sections that I would've liked to do as full 35-minute sections to perfect my timing. RC doesn't benefit as much from re-drilling so you only get one true shot, use them wisely. I also found untimed RC is about as useful as untimed LG (completely different from real thing).

I was always more afraid of the science passages, but towards the end of my prep I saw topic-type as a meaningless distinction. They seemed to all have this traditional vs. new-school theme going on with some oddball caveat that one wouldn't normally expect. I also started becoming alert to oddly strong logical indicators mentioned during background info since they often yielded inferences that never flowed with the rest of the passage.

I'm no RC expert, but those are the aspects of RC I wish paid attention to earlier on.