Which one of the following most accurately summarizes the main point of the passage?

shunhe March 24, 2020

Hi @gmaramara,

Thanks for the question! We’ll definitely always run into passages that just don’t click with us as much as others, and those are never fun. In general, if you can make yourself interested in the passage material, it helps a lot. Also, if you’re getting lost when you’re jotting down your notes, it might help to actually take fewer notes—maybe just note the main idea of a paragraph or a larger section down by the side, and underline/highlight otherwise important phrases. You might even consider, if you read fast enough, doing a quick skim through and getting a big picture view of the passage before going through again and getting a deeper understanding of everything in it, which would definitely be better than having to reread every single paragraph multiple times. In the end, practice makes perfect, and the more passages you get through, the less this will happen to you.

Specifically with this passage, which is a pretty tough one, I’d probably write for example “what bill does” next to the second half of the first paragraph. Then next to the second, it’d be “reasons for bill.” And then the next paragraph would be “arguments against bill.” The last paragraph is just the conclusion, but more importantly, suggestions for an alternate solution, and so I would probably write “suggestions” next to the last paragraph. A note taking system like that is more concise and shouldn’t cause you to lose your train of thought as easily.

Hope this helps! Feel free to ask any other questions that you might have, especially if you think there was a specific reason you kept losing your focus that you think we can help with.