Reading Comprehension: Strategy, Question Types & Traps: DAT review sheet

Format at a glance (ADA DAT Guide)

Item	Fact
Length	3 passages, 50 questions, 60 minutes
Position	Third section: after the Survey of the Natural Sciences, the PAT and the optional break; Quantitative Reasoning follows
Content	Science passages; no outside knowledge is needed, and outside knowledge can mislead
Scoring	200–600 scale; counts toward the Academic Average; no penalty for wrong answers
Tools	Mark and review screen; erasable noteboard; the passage stays on screen while you answer

Pacing math: 60 min ÷ 3 passages = 20 minutes per passage; 60 min ÷ 50 questions = 72 seconds per question including reading; about 16–17 questions per passage.
If you spend 8 minutes reading each passage, 36 minutes remain for 50 questions: about 43 seconds each.
Even-pace checkpoints: about 40 minutes left when you start passage 2 and about 20 minutes left when you start passage 3.

Method	How it works	Strengths	Risks	Suits you if
Full read first	Read the whole passage (often about 7–10 min), mapping each paragraph, then answer	Big-picture, tone and inference questions; fewer rereads	Running out of time; forgetting details anyway	You read quickly and retain structure
Search-and-destroy	Read a question, pick a distinctive keyword, scan for it, read the lines around it, answer	Fast on detail questions	Paraphrased answers, keywords that appear in many places, main-idea questions	Full reads leave you short of time
Hybrid	Skim the passage (first and last sentence of each paragraph, 1–3 min), jot a map, then search question by question	Speed plus a sense of structure	Skim drifting into a full read	You miss big-picture questions with pure searching

Choose by testing each method on timed, full-length sets and keeping the one with the best accuracy inside 60 minutes. Do not switch methods on test day.
Good keywords are easy to spot: names, dates, numbers, abbreviations, capitalized or unusual terms. A passage's topic word (e.g. 'enzyme' in an enzyme passage) is a poor keyword.
Passage map: 2–5 words per paragraph on the noteboard (¶3 = 'Koch's postulates, 1890'), so any search starts in the right paragraph.

Type	Stem clues	Attack
Detail (retrieval)	'According to the passage…', 'The author states…'	Scan for the keyword, read a sentence before and after, match the MEANING, not the words
Main idea / primary purpose	'Primarily concerned with', 'best title'	Use your map and the first and last paragraphs; reject choices that are too narrow (one paragraph) or too broad
Inference	'Suggests', 'implies', 'most likely', 'would agree'	Pick the smallest step beyond the text that the passage fully supports
Tone / attitude	'The author's attitude toward…'	Find evaluative words (unfortunately, remarkably, promising); science passages are usually measured, so extreme tones are rarely right
Function	'The author mentions X in order to…'	Ask why X is there: example, contrast, evidence, definition; read the claim it supports
Vocabulary in context	'As used in paragraph 4, ___ means'	Reread the sentence and substitute each choice; the common meaning is often a trap
EXCEPT / NOT / LEAST	Capitalized EXCEPT, NOT, LEAST	Label each choice T or F against the passage; the answer is the odd one out

Restate the task before reading the choices: 'find the one that is NOT supported'.
Go to the paragraph that lists the items once, then check every choice against that list; number the listed items on your noteboard.
A statement that is true in real science but not in the passage can be the EXCEPT answer: the question is about the passage.
Unsupported includes both 'contradicted' and 'never mentioned'.
Double negatives: 'All of the following are NOT true EXCEPT' means every choice but one is false; pick the single true one.
These questions are slow: answer, mark if unsure and come back rather than stalling.

Trap	What changed	Example shift
Certainty shift	Strength of the claim	'is associated with' → 'causes'; 'suggests' → 'proves'
Scope shift	Who or how many	'some species' → 'most species'; 'may' → 'will'
Extreme language	Absolutes the passage does not use	always, never, only, all, none
Reversal	Direction of a relationship	'A raises B' → 'B raises A'
Comparison swap	Which side is bigger	'more than' → 'less than', or the two items swapped
Wrong subject	Correct fact, wrong owner	Right finding credited to the wrong scientist, organism or decade
Half right	One half unsupported	First clause matches the passage, second clause does not
Frankenstein	Two true facts joined	A cause-and-effect link the passage never makes
Copycat words	Same words, different meaning	Exact phrases from the passage that do not answer this stem

Read the whole stem, including EXCEPT, NOT, primarily and according to.
Predict the answer in your own words before reading the choices.
If a question passes about 90 seconds, choose the best remaining answer, mark it and move on.
Check the clock at passage boundaries, not after every question.
With about 2 minutes left, make sure every question has an answer: blanks earn nothing.

Choosing an answer because it repeats the passage's exact words: correct answers are usually paraphrases.
Using what you know from biology class instead of what the passage says.
Stopping at the first keyword hit when a later sentence ('however…') changes the meaning.
Forgetting that an EXCEPT question is reversed and picking the first true statement.
Spending 25+ minutes on the first passage and rushing the last one.

Before you pick: 'Is every word of this choice in the passage's corner?' One unsupported word sinks the whole choice.

Pick an answer to see right away whether it is correct and why.

At an even pace, how many seconds per question does the DAT Reading Comprehension section allow, including reading time?
A passage says a drug 'was associated with lower infection rates in two small trials.' Which answer choice is the best supported?
A question reads: 'All of the following are described as features of the enzyme EXCEPT…' Three choices appear in paragraph 4's list; the fourth is a well-known real property not mentioned. Which is the answer?
Using search-and-destroy in a passage about dental caries, which keyword is the WORST to scan for?
Which question type is search-and-destroy LEAST suited to?

0 of 5 answered

Answer key: 1 A · 2 A · 3 B · 4 B · 5 A

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