RC comprehension reading under time constraint

Question

Hi all, 
I have a problem in RC that when reading under time constraint, my accuracy lowers, this happens because as I approach questions, I feel that I didnt comprehend the passage in its fullest extent. But, if I forget time and do the questions, I go well, which apparently shows me that my problem isnt with certain types of RC questions, but with reading a text knowing that time is passing by...
I have been practicing a long time and also read in my free time. Does any one have any idea on how to tackle this weakness?
Thank you very much for helping!

bb · Answer

Hi. So I had the same issue and I saw that if I spent 8 minutes on the RC with 4 questions, I did OK - perhaps 50% accuracy. 
If I spent 10 mins on a 4-questions RC (approx.) then I could get my accuracy to 75% or higher.

I tried to do a lot of things such as reading a lot of fiction (this post: gmat fiction) but I could only cut down the time so much. I noticed that reading the text slower (which involved stopping after each paragraph and summarizing the text and taking some very brief notes really helped with accuracy - it was a huge difference going from 50/50 to 75%+). Anyway, after lots of work I could not lower it past 10 mins for a long passage and 7.5 mins for a short one and so instead I have shorted my CR time and managed to get the time I need on the RC.

So my solution was to get better at CR so that I could spend the time I needed on RC. (there was also SC in my ancient days but that's irrelevant).

My suggestion - figure out how much time you need and have a consistent strategy/product and then AFTER you have discovered an approach that allows you to effectively read (make sure you only read the passage once and super rarely have to go back), only after that you can start working on optimizing and trimming what you can either on the RC or CR side.

mbaaccount1234 · Answer

bb  thank you so much! useful tips!

GmatKnightTutor · Answer

If you want to practice reading (without burning official RC passages), articles from The Economist could be helpful. You could search for/focus on those types of passages you find harder than others (e.g. science). If your approach is very note heavy, consider seeing whether you can make your notes more concise.

3 RC tips

3 RC tips

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RC comprehension reading under time constraint

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