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How do you guys manage RC sections?

Do you do passages sequentially or otherwise (order of difficulty, etc)?

I usually do passages with the most questions first.

I don't know how you could do it by order of difficulty. You wouldn't know how hard the passage and questions are until you were already doing it!

I used to count the questions of each passage and do the ones with the most first, but it took too much time to count and flip back and forth.

Now I usually do the first two passages straight, then I will count the questions on the last two and do the one with more questions first. The only exception to this is if there is a passage with only 5 questions in the first two. I will skip that one as soon as I turn to it and do it last.

The other consideration I take is the comparative passage. I find I get through these much quicker, since the questions are less detailed and more about the relationship between the general arguments of the two passages, thus I can read through less carefully and more rapidly. If the last two passages have the same questions, and one is the comparative passage, then I will do that one last.

If the last two have the same number of questions, and the comparative passage is one of the first two, I will just do them all in order.

buffalo_ wrote:I don't know how you could do it by order of difficulty. You wouldn't know how hard the passage and questions are until you were already doing it!

I used to count the questions of each passage and do the ones with the most first, but it took too much time to count and flip back and forth.

Now I usually do the first two passages straight, then I will count the questions on the last two and do the one with more questions first. The only exception to this is if there is a passage with only 5 questions in the first two. I will skip that one as soon as I turn to it and do it last.

The other consideration I take is the comparative passage. I find I get through these much quicker, since the questions are less detailed and more about the relationship between the general arguments of the two passages, thus I can read through less carefully and more rapidly. If the last two passages have the same questions, and one is the comparative passage, then I will do that one last.

If the last two have the same number of questions, and the comparative passage is one of the first two, I will just do them all in order.

Cambridge bundles.

I would do the ones with most questions first as well. It doesn't take very long. When you see a passage with eight questions, you're gonna wanna prioritize that.

Louis1127 wrote: Cambridge bundles.

But Cambridge packets aren't RC sections..

bobtheblob916 wrote:I would do the ones with most questions first as well. It doesn't take very long. When you see a passage with eight questions, you're gonna wanna prioritize that.

This is generally my recommendation. Near-worst case timing scenario, I'd rather have a 5-question passage to complete in 6 minutes than an 8-question one. Those 8-question passages also tend to be more dense - that's how they get so many questions out of them. And 8 questions is almost certainly going to be the most questions for a single passage, so if you see that one, you can start there without having to flip back and forth.

Hemenway wrote:

Louis1127 wrote: Cambridge bundles.

But Cambridge packets aren't RC sections..

You're right. I was thinking by type increasing by difficulty. My apologies.

I'm a firm believer in doing them all in order, same with LG. Its very hard to figure out which passage is more difficult without wasting any time. The only real things you can account for is the comparative passage and the topic. If you have trouble with a certain topic (science for example) then leave that for last.

By question order for me.