When we read for academic purposes, we don't do it the same way as we do when we read for entertainment.
I call it "Reading without reading", which means you don't need to read the whole text. The good news is, this isn't rocket science.
Meet the the three S of academic reading:
Skimming, Scanning, looking for Specific Information
Diapositiva 3
It's like skimming milk: separating 'cream' from the rest of 'milk'.
How do you do it? Just read one (or two) initial sentences of each paragraph. It helps you get the general idea of the text.
Crucial: skimming shouldn't take more than 1 minute!
Look for the key words/key phrases in questions and scan the text for them.
However, keep in mind: if the match between the key phrase and the phrase in the text is 100%, it's a trap!