I absolutely agree with jqian. I typically read the questions before i read the passage. It’ll be more efficient as you already know what you should be looking for. I would still read through the passage tho. I pass level II with my first attempt with less than 200 prep hours.
Practice different ways and see what works for you. But, here is what I did:
1 - quickly scan the questions to see what you are dealing with - how many math vs concept questions, what concepts are covered, etc., but don’t waste time reading every word. Then quickly scan the vignette to see what kind of info is presented. If someone makes three statements about something, skip over that for now - there is almost always exactly one question relating to this.
2 - *almost* always, the first question relates to the first bit of text in the vignette, then the second, etc. So, I generally read the text for the first question, then answered the first, etc. If something looks like it needs a lot of time to answer, though, scan all the text to make sure you didn’t miss an important point. On a practice exam I spent 10 minutes calculating something before I noticed it was given at the bottom of a really large table (and I got it wrong!)
3 - there are often clear markers in the text when the topic is switching from one thing to another. It’s best to answer all the questions on the first section before moving on, so you don’t confuse yourself with irrelevant details.
In summary, in most cases I think the vignettes could be disassembled to be six separate questions, so doing so on the fly is a good way to simplify the problem.
Hope this helps, and good luck!
I always read the questions first so that I know what to look for when reading the passage. It helps me eliminate the extraneous stuff and focus on answering the questions. This also prevents me from having to read the passage again in its entirety, a waste of precious time.
with enthusiasm unknown to mankind
How to attack L2? Bring a gun to their knife fight.
I just did the questions in order. I would read question one, go find answer to question 1 and read a little before and after the question to make sure I wasnt missing some relevant info. Then do the same with question 2, 3, etc. A lot of people dont seem to recommend that though.
if you are a slow reader who takes time to internalize what you’re reading I suggest this:
Read questions, then go back to the vignette, each paragraph usually contains all the information required for a question.
Section each paragraph off with a dividing line,focus on that paragraph for each question. Paragraphs do not usually overlap in information so this approach will not leave you missing key pieces of information.
Do the questions in order
I wouldn’t use this approach in L3.
i did questions in order for L3, what’s wrong with that??
I was so fearful of missing a question in the AM, i wouldn’t want to flip back and forth.
you are focusing on the wrong aspect of the warning.
I mean to point out you should not take each question as an isolated paragraph as there may be crucial information later in the vignette (esp AM) that may be important to answering the first question.
I agree, though it doesn’t happen often, but there are vignettes where they have important info at the end, so if you read section by section you may have missed important info.
i honestly don’t think time is a contraint for most people (in the MC section anyway), so i don’t understand why everyone stresses on “time saving” and read questions first. i always finish 45min early even though i read the vignettes first and read again after looking at each question.