Suggestions on increasing speed & maintain accuracy in RC??

[ege222]

I'm scoring on average 18-20 each reading comp but really want to try to amp this section up before June 9th.

My accuracy is around 90%. I read three passages and on average miss two out of all the questions I answer. When I saw I read three I mean I barely get done with all three so there is rarely time left to pick and choose random questions in the 4th passage.

I want to try to get the fourth passage read and most of the questions answered while maintaing accuracy.. Some passage sets I can almost get done by 8:45, but others take me up to 12 minutes.

Any tips or tricks on increasing my score in this area?

Elizabeth

[Adam Tyson]

Elizabeth,

Good job so far on Reading Comp - you're already doing very well.

First, let me say that we generally don't teach methods of getting faster - we teach methods for getting better, and speed is a byproduct of the confidence and accuracy that you develop over time.

That said, there may be some things you are doing that are less efficient than they could be. Without going into great detail in a one-on-one session, all I can do is speculate, but I can share with you some things that I have seen other students do that may have slowed them down.

The first one may be a bit counter-intuitive, but I find that students who read the passages very quickly tend to have trouble finishing the section. This is because they are not taking the time to take good notes, marking the passage to make it easier to find the answers to the questions they get asked. It's also because they are not taking the time to prephrase the main point and tone, among other things, or to carry on an active inner dialogue as they read, asking themselves questions as they go so they can better understand the passage and anticipate the questions they are likely to be asked. So, my first advice to help you get faster might be to slow down!

Another area in which I see students wasting some time is in their analysis of the answer choices. Some students take the time to carefully analyze each answer, looking to the passage to disprove every wrong answer and support their contenders. This can be very time consuming. Instead, you should sort your answers into losers and contenders, just like you do in every other section of the test. If you have only one contender, then pick it and move on - no need to waste time checking the passage for further support. If you have more than one contender then look to the passage for evidence - most RC questions are in the Must Be True category and will thus have to pass the Fact Test, meaning the evidence to support the answer has to be found clearly in the passage and not be based on new information. Consider the strategies you are using to sort your losers out and to test your contenders, and whether you might be overthinking things and using up valuable time there.

Give those ideas a try and see if they help, and then get back to us and let us know how you're doing and what your process looks like so we can try to help you tweak it a little more. Good luck!

[ege222]

Thanks so much for getting back to me Adam! I am probably wasting time with answer choices. Sometimes I see an answer and know it is the correct one but feel the need to double check. What ends up happening is I sit on it for so long another answer choice starts to look attractive. I will work on Reading Comp more today and keep you updated.

Also, is it normal for my score to slide down every couple of tests? I want to be effective as possible with my time and don't want to be counterproductive in taking too many tests. My pattern seems to be I score the same two tests in a row, then go up 1-2 points. Then score the same for the next 2 tests, and the third test go up 1 or 2 points. However, I took December 2008 the day before yesterday, and my score dropped down two points for the first time since my initial learning of powerscore's strategies(You know that phase where your score drops because you are learning the techniques). Freaked me out a little. I still need to boost my score at a minimum of 5 points between now and June 9th. I'm running out of time and trying not to freak out. I wanna murder this test and was starting to feel confident in my slow but steady score increases, until the December 2008 test. I personally felt like that was the hardest test I've taken thus far.

Anyways, Thank god for this forum. It has been my life line for the past few weeks!

Elizabeth

[Adam Tyson]

I would say it's normal to go up and down over time. Don't worry about one slight drop, as long as the general trend is upward. Keep on working to improve on one or two things at a time, and not on making big leaps forward, and that general upward trend, with some occasional dips, should keep happening. No freaking out! Keep calm and carry on.