Hi Rhyme.
I have been trying to adapt to your technique of solving RC's as they are my pain points too!! (. But I am not getting how can you effectively skim. I have tried a few times and i ended up reading the paragraph and then paraphrasing the whole of it. which obviously not the intent of this technique. I also ended up losing a lot of time paraphrasing the first paragraph too! While your notes look like sentences, my paraphrases looked like a mini paragraph in its own!!
Can you help me with some tips on paraphrasing and skimming. While practicing i also realized that there are 'types'of passages depending on the tone, detail, intent et al of the passage! Is your technique equally applicable to all types and kinds of passages irrespective of the type of content stated.
For e.g I tried this technique on the very first RC in
OG 10
I am pasting the RC below. Can you help me do it your way. I wasted too much time owing to the number of Detail and specific questions. I did not have much trouble comprehending the passage, given that I am a science graduate but the chemical jargon made me lose my mind and i had to write down each such term in my paraphrase. So all in all - it dint work for me! Please help if your technique can help in such detail oriented paragraphs or no
READING COMPREHENSION
Passage 1
Caffeine, the stimulant in coffee, has been called
“the most widely used psychoactive substance on Earth .”
Synder, Daly and Bruns have recently proposed that
caffeine affects behavior by countering the activity in
(5) the human brain of a naturally occurring chemical called
adenosine. Adenosine normally depresses neuron firing
in many areas of the brain. It apparently does this by
inhibiting the release of neurotransmitters, chemicals
that carry nerve impulses from one neuron to the next.
(10) Like many other agents that affect neuron firing,
adenosine must first bind to specific receptors on
neuronal membranes. There are at least two classes
of these receptors, which have been designated A1 and
A2. Snyder et al propose that caffeine, which is struc-
(15) turally similar to adenosine, is able to bind to both types
of receptors, which prevents adenosine from attaching
there and allows the neurons to fire more readily than
they otherwise would.
For many years, caffeine’s effects have been attri-
(20) buted to its inhibition of the production of phosphodiesterase,
an enzyme that breaks down the chemical
called cyclic AMP.A number of neurotransmitters exert
their effects by first increasing cyclic AMP concentrations
in target neurons. Therefore, prolonged periods at
(25) the elevated concentrations, as might be brought about
by a phosphodiesterase inhibitor, could lead to a greater
amount of neuron firing and, consequently, to behavioral
stimulation. But Snyder et al point out that the
caffeine concentrations needed to inhibit the production
(30) of phosphodiesterase in the brain are much higher than
those that produce stimulation. Moreover, other compounds
that block phosphodiesterase’s activity are not
stimulants.
To buttress their case that caffeine acts instead by pre-
(35) venting adenosine binding, Snyder et al compared the
stimulatory effects of a series of caffeine derivatives with
their ability to dislodge adenosine from its receptors in
the brains of mice. “In general,” they reported, “the
ability of the compounds to compete at the receptors
40)correlates with their ability to stimulate locomotion in
the mouse; i.e., the higher their capacity to bind at the
receptors, the higher their ability to stimulate locomotion.”
Theophylline, a close structural relative of caffeine
and the major stimulant in tea, was one of the most
(45) effective compounds in both regards.
There were some apparent exceptions to the general
correlation observed between adenosine-receptor binding
and stimulation. One of these was a compound called
3-isobuty1-1-methylxanthine(IBMX), which bound very
(50) well but actually depressed mouse locomotion. Snyder
et al suggest that this is not a major stumbling block to
their hypothesis. The problem is that the compound has
mixed effects in the brain, a not unusual occurrence with
psychoactive drugs. Even caffeine, which is generally
(55) known only for its stimulatory effects, displays this
property, depressing mouse locomotion at very low
concentrations and stimulating it at higher ones.
1. The primary purpose of the passage is to
(A) discuss a plan for investigation of a phenomenon that is not yet fully understood
(B) present two explanations of a phenomenon and reconcile the differences between them
(C) summarize two theories and suggest a third theory that overcomes the problems encountered in the first two
(D) describe an alternative hypothesis and provide evidence and arguments that support it
(E) challenge the validity of a theory by exposing the inconsistencies and contradictions in it
2. According so Snyder et al, caffeine differs from adenosine in that caffeine
(A) stimulates behavior in the mouse and in humans, whereas adenosine stimulates behavior in humans only
(B) has mixed effects in the brain, whereas adenosine has only a stimulatory effect
(C) increases cyclic AMP concentrations in target neurons, whereas adenosine decreases such concentrations
(D) permits release of neurotransmitters when it is bound to adenosine receptors, whereas adenosine inhibits such
release
(E) inhibits both neuron firing and the production of phosphodiesterase when there is a sufficient concentration in
the brain, whereas adenosine inhibits only neuron firing
3. In response to experimental results concerning IBMX, Snyder et al contended that it is not uncommon for
psychoactive drugs to have
(A) mixed effects in the brain
(B) inhibitory effects on enzymes in the brain
(C) close structural relationships with caffeine
(D) depressive effects on mouse locomotion
(E) the ability to dislodge caffeine from receptors in the brain
4. According to Snyder et al, all of the following compounds can bind to specific receptors in the brain EXCEPT
(A) IBMX
(B) caffeine
210
(C) adenosine
(D) theophylline
(E) phosphodiesterase
5. Snyder et al suggest that caffeine’s ability to bind to A1 and A2 receptors can be at least partially attributed to
which of the following?
(A) The chemical relationship between caffeine and phosphodiesterase
(B) The structural relationship between caffeine and adenosine
(C) The structural similarity between caffeine and neurotransmitters
(D) The ability of caffeine to stimulate behavior
(E) The natural occurrence of caffeine and adenosine in the brain
6. The author quotes Snyder et al in lines 38-43 most probably in order to
(A) reveal some of the assumptions underlying their theory
(B) summarize a major finding of their experiments
(C) point out that their experiments were limited to the mouse
(D) indicate that their experiments resulted only in general correlations
(E) refute the objections made by supporters of the older theory""
Thank you
close
24 Apr 2011, 14:05
. I DO believe that after reading enough of texts and getting familiar with question types, your eyes can be intelligently adjusting their own speed to reach a balance between time saving and good comprehension. That is, your reading style can be a combination of reading attentively and skimming at the same time, alternatively based on what you are reading at the moment. E.i. your eyes unconsciously know that they should speed down when reading through,say, definitions and they also know that they should speed up while reading about, say, an example of a phenomenon you just digested in the last sentence.
