How do you keep focusing on passages you are not interested

[ganbayou]

Hi,

I have been trying to hard to be interested in some passages that actually do not interesting to me, sometimes trying to take notes or read questions first to get involved, but often times it does not work on the subjects that I'm not interested......
How do you keep focusing on those passages?
I heard you should be active reader but not sure what it means...I tried, but still sometimes it makes me feel like I'm going to fall asleep...
By the way do you have PT79 threads?

[ohthatpatrick]

Not sure about the PT 79 question. I think there's an official "release" date for the test that hasn't come yet, so my guess is that we're waiting for that.

I do a few things to keep myself engaged in a terrible-topic passage.

1. Enjoy the hunt
To me, every RC passage is just a new level to a puzzle video game. The puzzle is trying to solve where the author's big points are and what her purpose in writing the passage was. So I'm entertaining myself by 'scoring points' when I've found the main point, or when I've figured out what a certain paragraph is doing for the overall purpose.

2. You're on a date with a PhD candidate
Most people getting PhD's have some narrow interest into which they have taken an academic deep-dive. I picture myself across the dinner table from someone I'm incredibly attracted to. I ask them about what they're studying, and the passage is their answer. I have to listen carefully so that I can ask some sort of thoughtful follow up question to show I'm interested and smart enough to be their partner.

3. Reading Comp is better than being dead
This is big for me but might not work for other people. I have a fanatical love of life and fear of death, so it's easy for me to be thrilled by the privilege of existing so matter WHERE I am or how droll the circumstances: RC passages, long lines at the grocery store, sitting in traffic .... I use all of these as an opportunity to remind myself how grateful I am to be conscious. With RC, there's the added motivation of loving knowledge and being eternally fascinated by the universe. Almost any RC passage is going to enlighten me about some slice of the world I've never known or considered, so I relish the opportunity to know more about how other people are spending their time/energy on Earth.

[DominicG543]

Had the same problem, haha. But for real, I'm sure that all the problem is about focusing on important things and avoiding waste of time. I'm not a really well-concentrated person when it comes to something that I don't really want to do at the particular moment. If I want to paint but I have to prepare something - I would work for sooooo long, because of thinking about painting. So, sure that a self-discipline is needed. For me, organizing my time and creating a working plan was a really good way to do everything in time and with good results.