Passage Two Always gives me trouble

[cdbaker97]

I have started to notice that whenever im doing a rc section passage two gives me trouble. I normally go -7 to -13 on reading comp. But for some reason whenever I get to the second passage ill read it then not get it then reread it and not get it. I sometimes do not get the passage as it is but I notice it happens a lot more with the second ones compared to the third and fourth. How do I overcome this?

[Adam Tyson]

While much of that difficulty may be in your head and a self-fulfilling prophecy, cdbaker97, that doesn't mean it isn't real to you. So the short and simple solution is to skip passage two and go directly to passage 3! Break the cycle! There's no requirement to do the passages, or games, or LR questions in order, so if there is an obstacle in passage 2 for some reason, go around it.

I suspect that part of the problem may be a bit of "hangover" from passage 1. If your mind is still engaged in whatever happened in that passage, especially if some of the questions there proved troublesome, it could just be that frustration is distracting you from the task in the second passage. Try closing your eyes and taking a deep breath after passage 1, letting it out slowly, and in the process just let go of any more thoughts about that first passage. The next passage is a bright, new day, and a new opportunity to do amazingly well and get a great score! Get excited about having finished one passage and being well on your way to finishing the section successfully!

Finally, remember that you don't have to understand the topic very well in any RC passage in order to do well on the questions. Focus on the big picture ideas, like the structure and the viewpoints and the overall tone. It's an open-book test, so if there were details you didn't quite catch, then if you get asked about those details later you can always go back and figure them out enough to answer the question.