Hopeless at critical reading section

thesmiter
Tue, 29 Nov 2011 00:40:10 +0000

There isn’t a secret. Everybody works in different ways, and that’s the truth. You’ll find that a combination of strategies will work best for you. To get you started, here’s my strategy that works for me (emphasis on ME). Undoubtedly other people will post their strategies as well.


Skip the passage
Read the first question based on the passage.
a. Does it refer to line numbers? If yes, continue
b. Does it ask for vocabulary I already know? If yes, answer it right away.
b. If it doesn’t refer to line numbers, skip question, move on. (e.g, What is the meaning of this passage or the author’s viewpoint, etc.)
Read lines mentioned
Go back to question, answer question if possible.
If I can’t answer the question, go back to passage, back up a few lines, read down to the lines mentioned, try again.
If I cannot answer, skip question, move on
After doing all the questions possible, Go back to the questions from 2c. Answer those. You should have a better understanding after answering all the specific questions.
Go back to the questions skipped in 6. Try them again. If I can’t eliminate enough choices (usually 2-3 can be eliminated), go with best guess.


I rarely, if ever, read the entire passage. It’s a waste of time and distracts me from the questions themselves. If you can focus on what the questions ask for, the rest of the passage is irrelevant. Don’t waste your precious time reading everything the godforsaken author has to say.