How much time should I spend reading the passage? - Physics Mcat

None. Or very close to none.

Time is of the essence on the Physical Sciences section; nearly everyone needs to finsh the section, but for most people that isn’t going to happen if they spend too much time reading unnecessary material. And it turns out that most of the text in physics passage is unnecessary for answering the questions.

When you first turn to a physics passage, it is fine to glance at the first few lines to see what it’s about, though even this isn’t necessary. What you must do is check out every picture, table, graph, and block-quoted (offset) equation. You have a particular task with each of these items:

• Pictures: Often these show an experimental setup, or the system being studied. Examine it to see what’s going on. If it’s confusing, do not spend too much time here; sometimes, you don’t really need to understand the entire experiment to answer all of the questions.
• Tables: These represent the most important part of many passages, because they show experimental results and AAMC loves experiments. For the moment (before you’ve read the questions), you have two tasks: (1) understand what the table is talking about, i.e., what experiment was performed — you may have to read a few lines of text above the table in order to do this; and (2) see what was measured — in other words, read and understand the column headings.
• Graphs: Do not analyze the graphs, just see what they are graphs of, by checking the labels on the axes and by reading a couple of lines of text above them if that’s necessary.
• Equations: Do not attempt to understand any equation that is offset from the rest of the text, but do see what it’s an equation for; again, this may necessitate reading a bit of text.

You then proceed to the questions, referring back to the pictures, tables, graphs, and equations as necessary.

About one question per passage, maybe not even that many, will require reading some more of the text, but by now you’ll have a good idea where to look and what you’re looking for, so you’ll be able to find it quickly. Many people worry about these questions, but they’re rarely a problem. If you have practiced enough passages and studied the right material, you’ll know immediately when they are asking you something that requires reference to the passage, because it’s not amazingly simple but it’s also not something that you saw in the pictures, tables, graphs, or equations. For such not-so-simple questions, look in the passage.

You might think it would make sense to read the passage first if you’re going to have to go back to it later. Not true. For one thing, some passages have no such questions. For another, for most test-takers reading the passage is a time sink. If you had the discipline to limit yourself to a quick skimming it would be fine, but under testing conditions most people hate to miss anything, so skimming becomes reading, and reading becomes time expiring before you’re done or having to spend insufficient time on questions to compensate.

This method will be uncomfortable at first, and maybe forever. To those who are still reading the passages because they feel more comfortable when they do that, ask yourself whether the discomfiture is actually costing you points, and whether the time lost is worth it. If you’re not 100 percent sure, test it both ways, but only after you’ve practiced the new method enough to get good at it. Remember, the point is getting questions right in the time allotted, not liking it.