RC Question

[Miami88]

Hi everyone,

I have a quick RC question (may also apply to LR questions as well?)

If you make a prediction of the answer, and review the answer choices (say you start on A and move down to E) and you find an answer that is strikingly similar to your prediction early on (A or B) do you just pick it and move on or do you read through the rest of the answer choices? Right now I am reading through the rest of the answer choices however I keep ending up picking my first answer and getting it right.

Unlike the Logic Games, you have to pick the "best" answer, so I feel like I have to read all the answer choices - but if you have a really strong feeling about an answer is it just better to move on? My accuracy in RC is quickly getting better but my time is still pretty slow - any comments?

[EarlCat]

This business about the "best" answer is nonsense.  The right answers are right (they are supported by the passage AND answer the question asked) and the wrong answers are wrong (they are either not supported by the passage or they don't answer the question asked).  The writers never give you two right answers where one is subjectively "better" than the other.

That being said, the ONLY questions on which I would skip reading all the answer choices are Must be True questions in the Games section.

[Miami88]

This business about the "best" answer is nonsense.  The right answers are right (they are supported by the passage AND answer the question asked) and the wrong answers are wrong (they are either not supported by the passage or they don't answer the question asked).  The writers never give you two right answers where one is subjectively "better" than the other.

That being said, the ONLY questions on which I would skip reading all the answer choices are Must be True questions in the Games section.

After more practice I definitely understand the BS-ness of the "best" answer concept - it truely is either right or wrong. That being said - why do only skip Must Be True LG questions? What about Inference LR questions (sometimes presented as Must be True)? I'm sure there are other question types that warrant finding the answer and moving on?

This concept seems to be left out of discussion in most of my study material (Princeton Review and Kaplan). In the explanations they often say something like: "B) This is the correct answer because of _____ - move on to the next question. But for study purposes lets look at why the other answers are wrong." The majority of the times they don't say that - but when they do its not really clear why?

[EarlCat]

why do only skip Must Be True LG questions? What about Inference LR questions (sometimes presented as Must be True)? I'm sure there are other question types that warrant finding the answer and moving on?

I don't ever skip reading the answers in LR or RC because the language isn't as simple as in games.  There is no dispute what "G must be first" means, and the fact that G must be first will probably be something I've already deduced in my setup or by working another question or two.  So that answer I can be pretty darn sure of.  On the other hand, there might be some subtlety in the language of an LR "must be true" answer, so I like to read the other answers just to make sure I didn't miss something.

[Specks]

To help improve speed, consider crossing out the lines that repeat in RC answers. For example, if you have four answers and they all start out with, B is a Native American blah blah blah, and then goes into the differences, straight up cross out the extra. Its extra reading you do every single time you read an answer and it slows down your ability to differentiate among the answers. Also, things between commas can pretty much be skipped in the actual passage. Example: Helen Keller, a blind girl, said blah blah blah. "a blind girl" is like a side note and can totes be skimmed if not skipped altogether.