Looong Scientific passages 700-800 level

[Vizay K]

In my CAT 3, I got three long scientific passages with lots of terms, processes and theories etc. I did follow the RC approach from strategy guide, but was still lost. I am wondering if there are any better ideas for attacking these long scientific passages, full of content. Headline lists and skeletal sketches did help me in other passages, but in this type of passages they didn't.

Is it just me or did anybody else run into the same issues...Please advice.

Thanks
Vizay

[StaceyKoprince]

You're getting sucked into the detail.

Remember that your sketch should be JUST an outline - do NOT get into all of that detail. Instead, just note what the purpose of that long, detailed paragraph is, so that you know what kind of info is contained in that paragraph - but leave it at that.

Remind yourself that you will only be given half of the questions that were written for that passage. In other words, there are a lot of details you never need to learn, because you won't be given those questions. Instead, your goal is to figure out what kind of info is contained in each paragraph, and the first couple of sentences of a paragraph are sufficient to figure that out. Skim the rest - if it's just detail explaining what you already read in the first couple of sentences, ignore it for now.

[Dylan]

I’m also have challenges with long scientific reading comprehension passages, although my issues have more to do with the "specific / detail" question types.

Right now, I quickly read and sketch the passage - focusing on its structure, purpose and writer’s position - ignoring all of the definitions (I abbreviate the terms in the sketch). For general questions, I refer back to the sketch. However, it is taking me way too long to answer the more specific questions.

Do you recommend a different approach for scientific passages? How do you comprehend the definition / terms within the scientific passages? How do you approach the specific questions in these types of passages?


Thanks in advance for your response!

[Dylan]

Thanks.

[StaceyKoprince]

You should still be using the same process for your initial read-through and sketch, but here's how to take it a step further:

1) Use the wording of the question to help you decide which paragraph is most likely to contain the answer to this question. Concentrate on what the question is actually asking when deciding where to go - and note that this doesn't necessarily correspond to any keywords in the question. For example, if I ask you "The passage suggests that which of the following would be most useful to determine the source of various sex-linked mutations in Drosophila melanogaster?" what is the heart of that question? Suppose the whole passage is about mutations in the D. melanogaster genome? Those are the most obvious "keywords" but they wouldn't help me to narrow anything down. The heart of the question is actually the "would be most useful to determine" part - HOW you determine / investigate / study these mutations. Let's say that that's what paragraph 2 is about - so I'm going to go look there and educate myself about how scientists study / determine things about such mutations.

This first step assumes that you have both labeled your notes by paragraph and that you have properly recorded the structure (so that you know what kind of info is in each paragraph). Go back and do an "audit" of your recent passages notes to see whether you are really doing the notes properly on your first read-through; if you make an audit part of your study, you will be able to correct your notes and learn how to do them more effectively. (In fact, a good place to start is to do a pre- and post-outline. Once you've done the whole thing have a better idea what it contains, go back and create the outline that would've been most useful to you.)

2) In longer paragraphs, use any keywords in the question to scan that paragraph and find the 1-3 sentences relevant to the question. In my example above, perhaps I scan for sex-linked mutations. Note that I didn't use "sex-linked mutations" to find my paragraph b/c more than 1 paragraph talks about this. But only one talks about HOW to identify them.

3) Study the wrong answers (not on the actual test of course - just in practice). Be able to articulate precisely why any wrong answer is wrong. Pick the one wrong answer choice that you think is most likely to be chosen and articulate both why it is tempting and why it is nevertheless wrong. RC is all about process of elimination. POE simply means identifying and crossing off wrong answers. So learn how they write wrong answers - especially tempting ones.

You'll probably get no more than 2 long passages on the official test. They may both be science but, for most people, they won't both be science. So that's some comfort anyway. Know, though, that this may be one of your weaknesses and it's not going to go away entirely. If you get a passage that you're struggling to understand, give yourself a pass on the hardest question that comes up. Pick the paragraph you didn't follow the most and, if you get a question on that paragraph, go straight to POE, eliminate some, guess, and move on.

Don't forget that everybody has to guess on the test, no matter how good we get. Most people guess on 5 to 8 questions per section. And you should make those guesses on the questions that are hardest for you. Let them go.

[viksnme]

Hi Trace, thanks much for the detailed explanation. Your last 3 words are very important and unfortunately that turns out to be very difficult to follow for a number of us. We battle with ourselves to achieve that. I guess we need to learn to do that anyways, and fast! Let them go and move on !

[viksnme]

Hi Trace, thanks much for the detailed explanation. Your last 3 words are very important and unfortunately that turns out to be very difficult to follow for a number of us. We battle with ourselves to achieve that. I guess we need to learn to do that anyways, and fast! Let them go and move on !

Apologies Stacey, got your name wrong. Mind must have wandered around! Please let it go :D

[Dylan]

NM

[rfernandez]

Good advice.