By no means, I am a good or fast reader. I never liked to read books my entire life and stil do not read much unless it’s required. However, I was able to do well on the DAT RC section because I used this simple method to answer all the questions. I am sure if you have tried to find a good strategy for RC on the SDN, you probably have heard of this method. The method is to NOT read the passage beforehand, but go to the questions first and start answering them right away.

My Strategy in Detail

1. Read the first question.

2. If it is a fact/detail question, skim through the passage and find the paragraph that has relevant information. If you did not find it, skip it.

3. Once you found it, read the paragraph with full attention. (Go to step 6)

4. Answer the question.

5. If it is a tone/inference question, skip it for now.

6. Move on to the next question.

7. Repeat the steps 2-6 for the rest of the questions.

8. By now, you will have read most of the passage. Go back to the skipped fact/detail question first.

9. You should be able to locate them more easily now since you have read most of it.

10. Now, go to the skipped tone/inference questions.  If you have skipped any paragraph, read them now.

11. Answer the tone/inference questions as best as you can.

12. Don’t leave any blanks and move on to the next passage.

 

Things to note

This method is efficient because although you end up reading the entire passage, you won’t have to read any paragraph more than once if you follow it correctly. I finished the entire RC section with 10 minutes to go and as I said before, I am not a fast reader.

Also, while looking for the answer to a question and you find the answer to a previously skipped question, go back to the question and answer it right away.

The most difficult thing about this method is to stay calm and relaxed. Sometimes, you may not find the right paragraph so easily. But do not panic. Stay calm and move on to the next question. Sometimes, you might have a few questions skipped consecutively. But stay calm still. In order to stay calm, you just gotta practice alot and build alot of experience doing this method.

This method is NOT for someone who wants to reall get like 25 on RC. If you really want that high score, you will already have to be a very fast and active reader. If you are not, just stick to my method. My method is for someone who is not a good reader like me but wants to get over 20 on RC section.

Recommended books: None, just follow my method although you can buy DAT Achiever and TopScore for practice.

 That is all for RC section for now. If I remember anything relevant, I will come back and add more.

Time spent writing this post: 1 hour and 20 minutes. Yes, I am a slow writer too (hate english).