Critical Reading Time Management Issues

Test Preparation SAT Preparation
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This is bad strategy–do the math: skipping is the same as blind guessing (no eliminations), so if you can eliminate even one answer choice, guessing is (slightly) better than skipping. If you can eliminate 3 choices, well, you should be working very hard to find one of those choices in the passage (and only one will be there), but if you can’t do that, you’d better guess.

Note: This only works if (A) you only eliminate when you have 100% certainty a choice is wrong and (B) when you guess, you actually guess and don’t pick a choice based on a hunch.

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@gcf101

To answer your first question, it depends. If I find the passage “absorbable”, then yes I do. If not, then no I don’t. I have those 3 questions at the end.

I’ll try this strategy and tell you how it works - after all, if I want to improve that 700/690, I need to change my strategy, and I know the risks of avoiding changing my strategy very well. It was a reason why my score stagnated in the low 600s before. (I mean avoiding change)

I will also try the time saving tip. I was too scared to try it to tell the truth.

I prefer looking at the wall clock - I tried watches, but I ended up obsessing about time. I look at the clock at least 4 times in each CR section so I’m fine with that :slight_smile:

tbh I was so de-motivated, but after talking to two friends (for one of them, I explained and broke down a bankruptcy laws passage to something simpler) and reading your posts, my motivation came back. Thank you a lot! I just finished my finals 5 days ago so you probably understand why I “lost” my motivation somehow. I’m excited to read more “boring” passages now and gain culture (see the paradox here :stuck_out_tongue: ) seriously though!!

P.S. I agree the statistics are interesting xD

23

Looking for that elusive 800 on Math and CR next Saturday also. I’m most concerned about some obscure Sentence Completion question that will have words that I will have no idea what they mean.

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@amdcous

I can’t imagine what would my reaction be to an 800 in reading, if it was already very strong to a 700. I couldn’t even “absorb” the fact I got a 700 for a few days! I do hope we have words we know… I do so much better on the vocab section.

I hope you get the grades you want next Saturday!!

@gcf101 I totally liked the approach of “begin with passages, then sentcoms” I did that, and I had a minute and 30 seconds left to answer 6 sentcoms. I answered them all correctly, and under the time limit, I was forced not to second-guess myself or think too much! So I both save time for passages and avoid the inevitable “what-ifs” (now inevitable only when I start solving sentcoms before passages :stuck_out_tongue: ) I’ll practice using this strategy from now on!

BTW I had a level 5 function question in that section (about a word) and I managed to solve it correctly… in 15 seconds! YES!

So on today’s section (timed), I missed 2 questions (as incorrect). One was “all of the following except” and another was “which argument would challenge”

I can solve these types of questions, but I take a long time.

I NEED to reduce the time I need, so I’ll start with “literal comprehension”. (the “except” question is part of that chapter.)

Done with function questions (thanks for you great insight, @marvin100 !) I just need to pay attention to some silly mistakes I might make. I kept the last passage in Erica’s book for tomorrow (it has all types of function questions), just as a “final review.”

I noitced something about how I read passages, though. Even during my testing. I think I spend too much time reading the passage. In fact, I don’t think I do, I’m sure I do.

I started obsessing about reading very carefully the same trial I got a 700 so I “thought” (quotation marks used to express doubt :stuck_out_tongue: ) this was the strategy that would help me get the grade I want, but it harms me. I spend at least 10 minutes (of 20 mins, last CR section in this case) reading the passage only, not even looking at the questions. When time’s up, I’d be working on questions (and have some left)… which I know how to solve!!

How I read: I understand everything fully. I know it’s not a good idea, but I feel like I won’t “comprehend” or “get a good picture” of what I’m reading unless I do that, specially since some passages have topics that I don’t know about. I give the same weight to each sentence while reading (but I do underline important transitions, main ideas explicity stated, and bracket “supporting details”/“examples” of a central argument.) Sometimes I even jot down notes on how the sentences work together/main idea(s).

I know this method is time-consuming, reading everything fully with understanding, anotating what I read (underlining, writing quick notes (more specifically, scribbles), bracketing, etc). Any recommendations for reading strategies that take less time? (or things I need to stop doing)

PS: I’d call myself a fast reader generally, but I slow down when it comes to the SAT.

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@BethanyD - for narrative passages (memoir/novel/short story excerpt), you do have to read everything pretty darn carefully. Any one word might change the tone or provide necessary characterization info. For the rest of the passages, though (expository, informative, persuasive), you need to train yourself to ignore details unless a question asks about them–find all the claims/assertions/conclusions/statements, and follow them very carefully, but tune out the supporting evidence/examples/reasoning unless (A) a question forces you to examine it or (B) you don’t understand a claim.

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I’ll do that, thank you! :smiley:

My concern now should be narratives then. I need to get faster at those.

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That’s not easy. Fortunately, most tests have just one or two narratives.

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Yes fortunately! This means I’ll focus on claims and the main point (I’m good at recognizing those) to save time for the questions and those narratives

29

I was just going over the section I did again, and I noticed this:
-I take too many irrelevant notes to the questions. I annotate even before I read the questions, so I look for info while reading that the questions do not even require!!
-The questions I missed: for one, I didn’t read the passage properly and thought the pronoun referred to the (apparently wrong) person, so I inferred a wrong counterclaim… and it was there in the choices. As for the other one, I skipped one very important word in the question that changed everything.

So that means I’m wasting time that could be better spent understanding properly those questions I missed, and getting 2 more points. On the next section, I’ll prevent myself (that temptation is difficult to resist, but I have to) from annotating unless it were a claim/main idea. And I’ll read any narratives I encounter with understanding - annotating only in case I get lost to “get back on track”

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@BethanyD - the approach you’re taking is exactly correct; keep at it and you’ll give yourself the best chance to see the improvement you’re looking for

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Really impressed with your intensity and personal ownership of your process, @BethanyD . I’m sure it will keep paying off. Keep it up!

32

I have the same problem, I do well when I can properly digest the passages. I started to skim read the passage and hit 700 twice, I hit 680-700 consistently for like 5 tests. But the last 3 tests I did I hi 660,650,650 and on all of those their was at least one section were I had to rush and leave like 5 blank. When I went back to look at the answers I got almost all of them right, I’ll try to do the passages first and see if that helps.

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@marvin100, I am really impressed all your help @BethanyD !
@BethanyD So proud of your laser focus! Keep it up!

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@Yugimoto let me know what happens! My score is stuck at 700 because of time management issues.

Thank you everyone, you really encourage me! :slight_smile:

I want to share an update: Today I was reading some articles on art (the ones I’m “weak” at). It took me 5 mins to read one of about 70 lines (but that was an A4 paper, not the SAT’s “column style,” and another about 4 mins. I also calculated the time I got back to the passages doubting myself: some 2-3 mins. I’ll stop that, because it was useless. (I ended up with the correct main idea before and after those 2-3 wasted mins)

Those 4-5 mins include identifying the main idea and structure. I think it’s very important to do that because it “orders the information” in my head. I didn’t anotate this time, except brackets to show “this part is an example/support” and heaving underlining for “this is a claim.” I don’t need to write notes after all.

I hope to reduce that time to 3 mins. That would be ideal, at least for me. (How much time do you think I should take?)

I’m working on minority experience now. Will let you know how narratives go for me!

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Minority experiences took me so long - 5-7 mins! They weren’t really discussing “experiences” - they discussed history of their races in America and how they feel about “being opressed.”

Not really sure how to minimize time on those. I find them really dense.

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One I read: (exclude the text in red): http://gallery.sjsu.edu/oldworld/asiangate/asian_exp_full.html
I read the first 3 pargraphs in 7 mins

37

Got a 680, might not be the best score but I’m pretty happy anyway. I actually answered every question this time even though I had to rush on a few little to get the sentence completions which I had very limited time to do, for example had like 3 mins for 8 questions, which felt kind of rushed but I only got 2 of them wrong on the test. On the last section, the first question I did I had trouble answering, I wasted like 2-3 mins and couldn’t get it, I was about to panic and give up but calmed myself down and skipped it, telling myself I would comeback. After completing the other questions, I came back to it and knew the answer for sure. Normally I would panic wasting minutes on the question give up and rush the rest without even looking back to the passage but I forced my self to go past the question and keep calm, I ended up only getting one question wrong on that section. I really hope I can get a 700, hopefully those 2 times weren’t flukes.

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Just took the first blue book test and got 2 wrong total out of 67 on CR. Hopefully I can keep this up, I’d be ecstatic if I missed 2 or less questions on January 23.

My method is I first read the entire passage or passages, without looking at the questions, and then answering them after I have read the entire passage.

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@amdcous do you read the passages so well that you comprehend every sentence?

On today’s section I got 3 mistakes, 2 of which were silly mistakes. (similar to those I had yesterday) A strategy I’d use for next time is “underline key nouns.” I noticed this would help a lot not miss key words/info when reading both the choices and the passages.

A strategy for the third mistake would be “consider multiple meanings of words in choices if they all seem wrong”

40

Usually, yes, I comprehend the meaning of each sentence. But, since virtually every question contains a line number(s) to refer to, I read those lines plus the upper and lower 2 to form what I believe the answer is. I also draw a line through every choice that I know cannot be the answer. The vast majority of the time, the correct answer has a word in it that is either directly in the lines ±2 or a synonym of a word found in those lines.

One question I missed was a vocab question rated as a “5” and the other was a question that I did not correctly understand what it was asking, also rated a “5”. So I definitely think this method works, However, I also tend to be a fast reader and normally finish the sections 6-8 minutes early.