What to do if left with 4-5 minutes for a passage?

[panman36]

Well, I just had a disastrous RC section in which I finished passage 3 with 4 minutes left. I decided to read the first paragraph of the final passage plus the first and last sentences of the remaining paragraphs to try to get the gist of it then went on to the questions. I only got to three questions, and missed all three.

I feel like reading the first paragraph plus the first and last sentences of remaining paragraphs wasn't sufficient for even discerning the main point of the passage. Obviously, the best advice is to not get this far behind. But is there anything I should do differently if disaster strikes again and I'm left with this much time on a passage?

[ohthatpatrick]

You're right, this is a tough situation no matter what. However, some passages lend themselves much more to a 4 minute drill than others.

If the passage has pretty clear topic sentences to its paragraphs, then I think your method of reading the first paragraph and then quickly surmising the gist of each body paragraph could be fruitful.

I think this quick reading approach is likely to be most effective in passages that have at least two perspectives. You normally get easy structural cues like "some critics say ...." and then the author's rebuttal with "but/yet/however".

Unfortunately, some passages are not nearly as obvious about what each paragraph is there to discuss. And some passages are very linear and informative, so the accompanying questions focus on the nitty-gritty details.

Which passage was it? With the quick read you did, you said you had a hard time formulating a sense of the central argument of the passage / author's position on the topic.

This may just be because it was a particularly ill-suited passage for reading quickly. But it may be that you could improve your "bird's eye view" reading skills by making this a drill you do for yourself now and then.

Try giving yourself 90 seconds on a passage and see if you can pick out the 2 or 3 most valuable sentences / the author's overall purpose / the overall function of each paragraph. In most passages, I think it IS possible to do a lot of this in only a limited time, but it's a bit of an art form. You need to speed up when you know you're getting examples / subsidiary details .. and slow down and focus when you know you're getting points of view, bigger claims, and the author's voice.

What questions did you choose to attempt? If I've only done a quick read, I would favor getting a good guess on Big Picture questions, such as "main point", "primary purpose", "organization of passage", "purpose of a certain paragraph", etc.

Otherwise, we can try to pick a question stem that seems like a very specific detail oriented one, as long as the question stem gives us a good line reference or an easy-to-find keyword.

If you're doing the Comparative reading passage as your last minute passage, then you should probably just read the first passage and then go to the questions.

There is normally one question that asks ONLY about psg. A. And there are normally 2-4 questions that ask what can be inferred from both passages / what both authors believe / what is the focus of both passages, etc.

You can normally eliminate 2 or 3 answers very quickly and easily since some of the trap answers will be something applicable to psg. B but not to psg. A.

In terms of not getting yourself in this position in the first place, review this RC section and identify which questions really sucked a lot of time from you. Beat yourself up a little if you can remember spending way more time on certain questions than on others. Remember to not spend too much time in any one place. All points are equal, so it might be better to just get a good guess on a few really tough questions and thereby save yourself the few minutes that you'll need to wrap your head around the final passage, giving you an opportunity to cash in on the points available there.

Let me know if this provokes further questions.

[panman36]

Which passage was it? With the quick read you did, you said you had a hard time formulating a sense of the central argument of the passage / author's position on the topic.

This may just be because it was a particularly ill-suited passage for reading quickly. But it may be that you could improve your "bird's eye view" reading skills by making this a drill you do for yourself now and then.

Thanks for in depth reply. I wish I could remember the passage. If it comes to me I'll post but I think I've done too many PTs lately to remember.

But I think you're right. It was a pretty unlucky passage for this kind of read. The paragraphs would begin with the opposing side then the author would go on to say why that's retarded. Explains why I didn't get a single point. Even answered a couple 180s I think.