Wording

[mluskey15]

Hi, I have a question about wording in logical reasoning and reading comprehension sections. My normal process is to take a timed test, circle the question numbers that I answered incorrectly or struggled with upon completing the test, and then I do an untimed blind review of the circled questions on a blank, brand new test so that I can't see what I picked beforehand. I then check the answer choices of my blind review and analyze what I did and didn't do correctly from there. I've found that a majority of the questions I answered incorrectly in the timed test and then answered correctly in blind review were because I missed words and therefore misunderstood a stimulus or an answer choice. It's like I go through it again in the blind review and I do a face palm because I feel silly for never seeing what was wrong in the first place. Any tips on this?

[Rachael Wilkenfeld]

Hi M,

Sometimes, when we are trying to read quickly, our eyes bounce over words. It was a frequent frustration for me at first, especially one time when I overlooked an all-caps EXCEPT in the question stem. I was so angry with myself, so I completely understand how you are feeling.

One thing that helped me a lot was to give my eyes less to try to read at once. I used my answer sheet to cover the parts of a question I hadn't gotten to yet, and only revealed the words line by line as I pulled down the cover paper. For a digital test, I would do the same thing with a piece of scratch paper. I've also tried running my finger under the words as I read, but that was way too easy for my eyes to skip over words still. I would encourage you to experiment a bit to see what strategy keeps your eyes moving and doesn't slow you down too much.

Hope that helps!
Rachael