<p>i finally know what my weakness is …(critical reading)but how can i “solve” it?
here is my problem.
–after i did like a tons of critical reading ex. ,i know that i actually get the meaning of the passage.but i always neglect the small details,the slight and “invisible” details… therefore when a question asks me about the details,i will be like -O- therefore,do u have any tips for me??? PS.my second language is english.</p>
<p>also,what prep book effectively works for critical reading?(i have almost finished the PR review 11 practice tests,and i dont want to do the CC yet,i want to do the tests from CC when my CR skills has really been improved)</p>
<p>That’s great that you understand where your weaknesses are. Now you know what to work on.</p>
<p>Pay special attention to the details you’re getting wrong. Why did you miss that question? What didn’t you understand? Were you inferring things not stated in the text?</p>
<p>Take lots of practice tests and analyze what it is you’re doing wrong.</p>
<p>I find it helps to read the questions before reading the passage.</p>
<p>Also, mark the passage as you read it. Read ACTIVELY.</p>
<p>Prioritize the questions with line references. Do these first. The question tells you where EXACTLY to find the answer.</p>
<p>The general questions (tone, title, etc.) can be harder to grasp at first, so put these off until you’ve answered the other questions and thought more about what you’ve read.</p>
<p>Hope this helps.</p>
<p>ha ironically i always get the questions right that are asking me
about the author’s tone,or title…</p>
<p>I recommend reading for fun. Try the newspaper or challenging fiction. When you start understanding how writers put together their pieces, the critical reading will come much more easily to you.</p>
<p>I know it’s a frustrating bit of advice to get (there’s no eight-day plan) but I think it’s probably the most useful. </p>
<p>Cheers!</p>
<p>The way I handled detail questions was by doing them while I was reading the passage. For the most part, questions will follow in the order that the details are presented in the reading, so after each paragraph or whatever, I would see what questions I could answer already without reading on. This way, I didn’t have to go back into the passage afterwards to try to find where the details to answer a question were. By the way, I got a 790 in CR.</p>
<p>you can always go back and reread…to find the little details…</p>
<p>Yeah, but the way I do it, you don’t need to spend time going back to reread because you glean the details you need from the first read through.</p>
<p>^But, how do you figure out the main jest of the passage when a detail question requires it?</p>
<p>Actually, I want a full, in-depth lesson and outline of your strategy, if you don’t mind.</p>
<p>The detail questions can usually be answered by just reading the parts around the line reference or the paragraph that its in. For a lot of them, the answer is directly in the passage, and you could physically put your finger on it. For the ones where you need to know the “jest,” a lot of times you can figure it out just from that one paragraph that its in. </p>
<p>The first thing I do when I come to a passage is take a look at the questions stems for it, specifically looking for line or paragraph references. With each one that I see, I underline the reference in the actual passage so that I’ll know to be extra attentive when I get to that part in the reading. You’ll notice that each reference is in more or less the chronological order that it comes up in the passage.</p>
<p>So now when I actually start reading, after I get to each reference and the area around it, I’ll stop, go back to the question with that reference, and try to predict the answer based on what I just read. Always try to predict the answer before looking at them so that none of the wrong answers influence your choice. Then look for the answer choice that best matches your prediction. As I said before, most of these types of questions can be answered based only on the text around the reference or the paragraph that its in (you don’t need the entire passage). </p>
<p>Ideally, all the detail questions can be answered this way so that I don’t need to go back into the passage again. What should be left are the “global” questions that ask for stuff like the purpose of the passage, etc. These questions require an overall understanding of the passage, which I should have after reading through the entire thing once, so I usually don’t have to go back into the passage again. </p>
<p>Hope that helps.</p>
<p>I do terribly on CR too. I have many weaknesses in CR, especially when I’m reading hard passage. Even though I read it thousands times I cannot figure it out. Or sometimes I see 2 passages are given, and the questions are all about inference or details, so it means I have to read both passages at one time.</p>
<p>legend.dracula:</p>
<p>You don’t have to read both passages at one time. In fact, I would recommend that you don’t. Instead, read the first passage, then do only the questions associated with that passage before reading the second passage. Then read passage 2 and do the questions for that one. Lastly, do the questions that pertain to both. </p>
<p>For questions that pertain to only one of the passages, the wrong answer choices will a lot of times contain info that appeared in the other passage, and not the one at hand. A wrong answer may seem right because you remember reading it, even though it was from the other passage. So by reading one passage and then only doing the questions associated with that passage first, you’re juggling less details in your head, and therefore less likely to pick an answer thats wrong because it contains info from the other passage.</p>
<p>well but the fact is sometimes I see 2 passages and all the questions are in the same formula: difference between 1 and 2; what is in 1 but not in 2; 2 passages share the same tone… so I don’t know how to read.</p>