Thursday Test Tips

What do you do when reading passages don’t “click”? For some students, it seems, when the topic is something they are familiar with, like “how to love a dog so much it takes over your life”, then they do well. But when they encounter a weird passage like “the migration of internet trolls in Idaho”, their brain fizzles. This is the time when you have to RISE TO THE OCCASION. Here are my tips for what to do:

1. Spend extra time on the first paragraph 
-This is the main thing. Read it more than once, for sure. Annotate if necessary. Come back to it after you finish the passage and, yes, read it again.

2. Look out for definitions of words and concepts 
-If it’s an obscure topic, the passage will usually explain things to you. Your job is to look out for those definitions and really pay attention to them.

3. Map the Structure 
-If you can get your head around how the author composes the argument, in other words the “structure”, you will have more solid ground.

4. Slow down and Be Curious 
-This is all about your attitude when encountering new things! Be curious and open to learn something new. You might actually enjoy it!