How many DAT RC passages should you do per day?

The honest answer is between 1 and 3 passages per day, depending on which phase of prep you are in. Anyone who tells you to do more is either selling something or has not actually prepped for the DAT.

The phases of RC prep, and the right volume for each

Diagnostic phase, week 1

One passage per day, taken under timed conditions, reviewed slowly. The point is not volume. The point is finding which question pattern is leaking your score. You cannot diagnose what you do not look at carefully.

Skill-building phase, weeks 2 to 8

One to two passages per day. One passage targets your weakest pattern. The second, on days you have time, is a timed full-section style passage. Reviewing each one matters more than doing the next one.

Drilling phase, weeks 9 to 11

Two to three passages per day. By this point your strategy is automatic and your weak patterns are tagged. Volume builds endurance and pattern recognition, not new skill.

Test week

One passage per day or none. Sleep matters more than practice this close. The cumulative effect of a full prep is real. The marginal effect of one more passage in the last week is not.

Why more is not better

DAT RC is a skills test, and skills are built by review, not by volume. The student doing 5 passages a day with a 10-minute review of each is doing less actual learning than the student doing 1 passage a day with a 45-minute review. Volume without review is rehearsal of bad habits.

Most students have done 50 to 80 timed passages by test day. That is plenty. Quality of review is what separates a 19 from a 25.

What to do this week

1. 1
   Pick a phase based on where you are.

   Are you still figuring out what is broken? Or are you drilling?
2. 2
   Match volume to phase.

   More than 3 passages a day at any phase is almost always wrong.
3. 3
   Spend at least 30 minutes reviewing every timed passage.

   Tag each wrong answer by question pattern. Do this even on the ones you got right.
4. 4
   If you skip review, skip the passage.

   An unreviewed passage is a coin flip.

See the full 12-week schedule for the day-by-day version.

Related: Realistic improvement plan · The 5-bucket diagnostic