5 Secret Tips to Boost your DSAT Reading Section!

Achieving a high score on the DSAT examination heavily depends on your performance in the DSAT reading section, which accounts for 50% of your overall score. 

While the significance of the Reading Test cannot be underestimated, conquering it is not an impossible feat. So, rather than focusing on memorizing formulas or comma rules, mastering the art of approaching each reading passage is key. 

Considering the importance of the reading section, we are here to help you! You are just at the right place if you were searching for some effective tips to crack the section.

Just dive in and equip yourself with 11 crucial reading strategies to excel in the DSAT reading section and attain an impressive score.

Understanding Reading Section in Detail:

As already mentioned above, the DSAT reading section holds significant importance as it evaluates a student’s ability to comprehend written material. 

In addition to this, it also determines whether a student possesses the necessary literary skills for college-level understanding. 

Comprising five DSAT reading passages, each spanning 500-750 words, the reading section presents a subsequent set of 10-11 multiple-choice questions after each passage. Students are allotted 65 minutes to read all five passages & provide responses to the related questions.

The initial reading passage in the DSAT typically originates from a work of fiction found in books or magazines. The subsequent paragraphs, on the other hand, delve into topics such as US history, the US constitution, science, psychology, economics, or politics. The last two paragraphs encompass subject matter related to earth sciences, biology, and chemistry.

Now that you have a clear picture of the structure of the DSAT reading section, let’s discuss the tips that will help you crack this section with utmost ease.

5 (SECRET) Tips To Boost Your DSAT Reading Section: 

Take a look at 11 effective strategies: 

Here’s an effective method to determine your weakness:

1. Get an official DSAT practice test and solely attempt the DSAT Reading section. 
2. Set a timer for the allocated 65 minutes for the DSAT Reading section and treat it as an actual test.
3. If the time elapses for a particular section and you feel fully prepared to proceed, move on to the next section. However, if you are not ready to move on, continue working until you feel DSATisfied. Make sure to mark any new answers or changes you make with a special note, such as “Extra Time.” 
4. Once you are ready, evaluate your test using the answer key and score chart. However, we mainly need to obtain two scores: a) The Realistic score obtained under standard timing conditions, and b) The Extra Time score. This is why we asked you to mark the questions you answered/changed during the Extra Time period.

The aforementioned steps will help you pinpoint your weaknesses in no time. Once you know them, start working on them immediately. 

2. Anticipate the Answer Before Reading The Choices:

It is no news that the DSAT is intentionally designed to trick you by presenting indistinguishable answer choices. This is another effective strategy that can be helpful for you.

This particular strategy is specifically designed to counteract the deceptive nature of the answer choices. 

Without applying this strategy, your thought process might unfold like this: 

“Okay, I just read the question. Answer A is definitely not right. B could potentially work. C… it doesn’t exactly fit, but I can see how it might work.” 

By this point, you have already fallen into the trap set by the College Board, which aims to confuse you with the answer choices.

Instead, take the opposite approach. While DSAT reading the question, generate your own ideal answer before looking at the provided choices. This prevents you from being influenced by the DSAT’s answer choices, particularly the incorrect ones.

For important questions that inquire about the main point of the passage, consider what title would accurately summarize the passage.

For “Inference” questions, contemplate what the author’s perspective on the situation presented in the question would be.

Now, the crucial aspect here is that your answer choice must be supported by the passage. 

Every correct answer in DSAT passages must be justifiable based on the information provided in the passage. Otherwise, the answer would be ambiguous, which would create issues with canceling out questions, as mentioned earlier.

3. Try Different DSAT Reading Strategies & Find The Effective One For You:

When preparing for the DSAT, you may have already come across a number of strategies on how to approach reading passages and answering questions. Now, some students prefer reading the questions before delving into the passage, while others opt to read the passage thoroughly first.

Don’t know which method will work best for you? Just remember that no matter which strategy you pick, it should align your strategy with your strengths and weaknesses. This will help you avoid making mistakes or running out of time.

Here are some tips to excel in passage DSAT reading:

• Method 1: Read the Passage only focusing on the main points, then read the questions. 
• Method 2: First read the questions, then mark answers in the given passage. 
• Method 3: Take time and read the passage thoroughly, then proceed to answer questions.

Try each method on two sample test passages, keeping track of your percentage score for each approach. If one method clearly stands out as more effective for you, further go for that particular approach. However, if there is no clear winner, choose the method that feels most comfortable to you.

4. Identify and Analyze Your Mistakes:

To strive for excellence, it is also equally crucial to address each of your weaknesses comprehensively. Do not forget that even a single mistake can prevent you from achieving a perfect score of 800.

So, the very first step is to just practice as long as you can. If you are utilizing free resources or study materials, you have access to a vast collection of practice questions.

The second or the most vital step is to understand your mistakes.

Have a special focus on all the mistakes you made during a test and find out the specific reason for each one of them. Knowing the reason for your mistakes will help you to never repeat them again in the future.

There are students who have completed 20 practice tests, solving over 3,000 questions, yet still fall short of attaining a perfect DSAT Reading score.

This is when a big question arises – WHY? It is certainly because they never work on their mistakes. Instead, they just repetitively faced challenges without actively addressing the root causes.

So, try to consider yourself as an exterminator, and your mistakes as cockroaches. Each one must be eliminated, and their source identified, or else the restaurant you work for will face closure.

5. Do Not Spend Too Much Time on Vocab:

Studying vocabulary flashcards gives a sense of progress, creating the belief that one’s score has improved. However, one of the biggest mistakes most students end up making is spending an excessive amount of time on vocabulary.

However, it is just a myth that just vocabulary significantly contributes to improving one’s score.

Vocabulary plays a bare minimum role in the DSAT Reading section, particularly in the current DSAT format.

For the uninitiated, Sentence Completion questions have been completely removed, and the words used in the passages are typically common and can be understood with utmost ease.

Nevertheless, this does not imply that vocabulary should be neglected. You should definitely practice it as DSAT Writing still includes a few vocabulary-related questions. All we want to say is understanding word definitions within their contextual usage can help you. This means, you do not need to spend hours or days or weeks just prepping on vocab.

There you go! You now have five effective tips to excel in your DSAT reading section.

If you need more tips and tricks along with expert guidance – get in touch with Litera Centre.