Time management for RC

[asterias]

Hey ppl

I have been doing the 3000RC the link to which i found in this forum itself. I take roughly abt 7-8 mins for a passage consisting of 7-8 questions, i.e. around 1 min a question or fractionally less. As you know that while doing it at home we have to move up and down to verify the answer from the passage and that does take some time. My reading speed for the RC passage is around 200 wpm.

In Barron's i found that roughly 8-9 questions come from RC and some of my friends have said that if u do well these 8-9 questions might be distributed over 2 passages instead of 3.


What exactly i would like to know is whether my speed (not just reading but overall answering speed) is enough or do i need to work harder. Coz its difficult to comprehend at high speed.

Please reply asap

Thankin in advance
~Sai

[seagull]

your speed is enough. dont panic about it. try to get your answers correct in that speed. then it would be fine.

What exactly i would like to know is whether my speed (not just reading but overall answering speed) is enough or do i need to work harder. Coz its difficult to comprehend at high speed.

[asterias]

Thank u seagull, the reason for panic was that since i have not done vocab (word lists) fully i am not in a position to give any timed tests. So i dint know how much time ppl take for analogy and sentence completion.

Also i have come across ppl who say that u shd have speeds of 300-400. I believe that i have a decent speed while reading newspapers and stuff. But not all articles in the newspapers are written with hidden meanings. And so the speed can be fast. One more thing is that when u know that you wont be tested for comprehension you can get away easily :-)

These were the reasons for panic.

Thanks again !

[SNYP40A1]

Sure, you can read at 600 wpm, but your comprehension would not be too hot. I have found that I am best reading the passage at my own pace and not having to refer back to the passage as much when answering the questions. Most of the quesitons such as overall point and inferrence questions can be solved without having to look back. I can even get most of the according to the passage questions correct without having to refer back. But for the three choice questions, I often have to look back. I have heard conflicting strategies for how to do the RCs. Princeton Review and Kaplan advise that one just skims the passage. Kaplan or Princeton verbal workbook suggested to just read the first sentance of each passage and then go back when needed. I think the best strategy is to read so that you have a layout of the passage and generally know when certain things were mentioned so that you can look back faster. This is more like indexing than reading. Honestly, though, I consume probably a bit more than a minute per question, but can go through the analogies and antys almost instantly given that I know the words. If I don't it takes a bit longer. I can handle the 2 passage RCs with a little time to spare, but I think I might be pressed for the 3 passage RCs. One thing that definitely helps with my reading comprehension and reading speed is around 100-200 mg caffeine (from coffee). But this might also contribute to added anxiety.

[asterias]

Ok SYN....

But cd u still tell me how much time u take .. ? That way i ll know how much to pace myself during analogies, SCs etc.

[SNYP40A1]

Originally Posted by asterias

Ok SYN....

But cd u still tell me how much time u take .. ? That way i ll know how much to pace myself during analogies, SCs etc.

To be completely honest, I am not sure how much time I take on the reading comprehension questions. Probably over 1 minute per question which means I am probably a bit on the slow side, I compensate by answering the other types of questions faster. Typically, I finish right on time for Big Book 38 questions in 30 minutes. On PowerPrep and Princeton Review, I usually finish with 2 minutes or less to spare. I am a bit worried that I will not have enough time. Either way, how long I take is irrelevant. I wish I could tell you how to improve your RC, but I myself don't really know. Best advice is just to practice.

[asterias]

Hey u were all of great help. Now i know what the usual standard is, and that is what i intended to know in the first place. I am plannin to increase my reading speed a bit, but as u said i read at a comfortable pace and hate moving around the passage. I also detest those skimming techniques. Those techniques work only if u have absolute familiarity with the passage, or atleast the passage shd be very long (unlike GRE). Thats the only case where skimming can work coz u can try to guess what the author might be trying to say. In GRE each line might is imp coz the passages are short and even from a short passage they might ask more than 4 ques which does require you to have high comprehension.

Thanks once again .. ! :-)

[gs_291]

I can't find the 3000 RC link in this forum. Can somebody help me out.

[SNYP40A1]

Originally Posted by gs_291

I can't find the 3000 RC link in this forum. Can somebody help me out.

http://rapidshare.de/files/29203131/...ING-1.zip.html

Originally Posted by asterias

Hey u were all of great help. Now i know what the usual standard is, and that is what i intended to know in the first place. I am plannin to increase my reading speed a bit, but as u said i read at a comfortable pace and hate moving around the passage. I also detest those skimming techniques. Those techniques work only if u have absolute familiarity with the passage, or atleast the passage shd be very long (unlike GRE). Thats the only case where skimming can work coz u can try to guess what the author might be trying to say. In GRE each line might is imp coz the passages are short and even from a short passage they might ask more than 4 ques which does require you to have high comprehension.

Thanks once again .. ! :-)

I read in GRE prep books that once you are experienced, you should spend (on average) around 1+ minute for each RC question and ~45 seconds at most for analogies and antynoms. My strategy is to solve the analogies and antynoms fast and spend more time on the reading...although this could bit me in if I end up getting 4 RCs. 2 RCs would be ideal, but I am expecting 3. I think it is best to read for overall organization and try to absorb the main points, tones, and high-level stuff in one pass. Then you have a good idea of where to find the details so you can come back later if needed. Don't read to understand every detail, but try to get an idea of where to find those details if needed. Try to understand why the author wrote each given paragraph and the views expressed in the paragraph.

[SNYP40A1]

Originally Posted by asterias

Ok SYN....

But cd u still tell me how much time u take .. ? That way i ll know how much to pace myself during analogies, SCs etc.

Here's how much time I spent on one practice GRE. Not sure how well the practice questions resemble actual GRE questions though. But should give an idea of how I pace myself...actually, I don't really pace myself, I just go as fast as possible without sacrificing accuracy. I figure that if I end up running out of time, then I'll just take the rest of the test as a practice test and cancel at the end...no scores reported.



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