hippo3717
Thanks Received: 1
Forum Guests
 
Posts: 25
Joined: October 12th, 2012
 
 
 

Timing issue... please help!

by hippo3717 Wed Nov 21, 2012 8:11 pm

There is no absolute answer to this question but here we go.

I take about 3 min or 3:30 in order to mostly absorb the passage as much as possible... I feel more comfortable doing that.
However, the issue is, I always run out of time...

Can a RC guru tell me taking 3 min or 3:30 is too long?

I was once told that someone should spend only 2:00 to 2:30 min on the passage and refer back to it asap...
 
glassesgirl125
Thanks Received: 0
Forum Guests
 
Posts: 1
Joined: November 21st, 2012
 
 
 

Re: Timing issue... please help!

by glassesgirl125 Wed Nov 21, 2012 8:28 pm

I'm no expert at this but I almost always finish my RC sections. I would say that around 3 to 4 minutes is totally okay. Obviously you should spend more time on harder passages (like science, comparative, whatever your specific weakness is like philosophy or law) and less time on the easier passages with less questions. The point is not to read faster, but to read better. In practice you should try reading it once the best time you can, and then to not reference the passage at all except maybe for one or two questions at most and if only to eliminate answer choices or for localized questions that ask you about details. You should not have the reread the passage to find the Main Point, Author's attitude etc because you should already know that on the first read through. The problem may be comprehending the passage as a whole rather then how fast you read or how much time you spend. Most of the time should be spent reading and understanding the passage not answering questions. If you are having to look back at the passage for more than half of questions that's probably too much.

That said you should reference the passage esp for those localized questions, or to just be super certain but don't rely on looking back at the passage. The only way to get faster is to understand it better the first time around.

Hope that helps!
User avatar
 
ohthatpatrick
Thanks Received: 3808
Atticus Finch
Atticus Finch
 
Posts: 4661
Joined: April 01st, 2011
 
This post thanked 1 time.
 
 

Re: Timing issue... please help!

by ohthatpatrick Thu Nov 22, 2012 3:19 am

I wholeheartedly agree with the previous poster, although I think I look back at the passage a little bit more frequently than she does in order to confirm the wording of the answers I'm picking.

I'm sure there are many different (valid) opinions on this topic, as reading speed/comprehension are VERY personalized skills/talents.

However, I have sometimes measured myself head-to-head with a class or student to see who is reading RC more quickly.

There have definitely been students who read the passage faster than I but struggle much more to get through the RC section in time. So there's great wisdom in the previous poster's notion that a quality first read is essential.

While I think that easier passages could be read in 2:30, harder passages can often demand 3 minutes and change.

I find that in RC and in LR, there's little value to reading quickly and getting only a shallow impression of what you're reading. I read both sections very actively, hunting for the author's conclusion, trying to understand other points of view, classifying facts as either neutral or supporting one of the points of view in the passage, classifying the role of the main ingredients.

By the end of your first read of the passage, you should be able to say to yourself:
Main Point
Purpose
Attitude/Tone (if there was any)
Passage Map (main point/purpose of each paragraph)

When RC details get confusing, I may allow myself to read-on without fully absorbing them. But when my RC big picture ideas get fuzzy, I will not allow myself to remain unclear. I'll re-read sentences I think are making important claims. I'll re-read topic sentences of new paragraphs to make sure I understand what this passage will be discussing. I'll go back to key sentences earlier in the passage when I think they connect to some pay-off later in the passage, just to solidify the connection.

Naturally, this careful reading CAN take time. However, the better you get at deciphering Big Pictures, the faster you can read through some passages, because your anticipation of the Big Picture gives you a framework for understanding all the other parts, actually allowing you to read through them more quickly.

Most of the speed difference I see between myself and my students comes down to knocking out wrong answer choices.

Several skills come into play there:
- how fast can you locate the sketchy/broken language in an answer choice? (normally an answer is wrong because of 1-3 words that are either Extreme, Out of Scope, or Comparative)

- how fast can you find the appropriate sentence(s) of the passage that this question is testing?

- how adept are you at navigating the nuances and paraphrases of the answer choice language?

- how quickly can you adjudicate a tricky Down to Two situation without overspending time?

So as a long answer to your question, your reading time sounds like it's only slightly on the slower side. The improvements you probably need to make relate more to upping the quality/retention of what you're reading for and upping your decisiveness with finding proof text, finding broken answer choice language, and clinching your decision.

hope this helps.