MGMAT CAT 4 RC Lysosomes: Can I really expect to see a passage this ridiculous? The passage is 112 lines almost double any RC I have ever seen (page 378 OG is the longest psg in the book and its only at 63 lines!).

Not to mention this RC was particularly difficult to read and comprehend. The material was very technical. Also ideas shifted throughout the passage. Tay Sachs did do this, but then it ended up not doing this etc...

Around line 60 I quit b/c the psg was simply too long to diagram effectively. I moved to the questions... uh oh requried me to look for specifics in the psg... I had no idea where to look since I didn't diagram half the passage and the other half I that did diagram was of little help.

I'm lucky this monster only had 3 questions, I feared 4-5 Q's. Even though the psg has only 3 q's, on a real GMAT how could I know how much time to spend on something like this...

Hey, Gmatblackbelt - we actually flagged that one last week as too long and it will get chopped down, but it is a lower priority because the question is from a non-adaptive test and we always give priority to adaptive test questions - any problems with adaptive questions get fixed first. So it will get fixed but it will probably take a couple of weeks!

I do want to verify something with you - you said in your post that it is 112 lines. When I look at it, I see 93 lines. Can you double-check your figure? I just want to figure out if something weird is going on there. Thanks!

I'm looking at it right now. The last line the passage states is line 95, however it goes well over 95. I count an additional 17 lines. I don't think its a screen size issue b/c mine screen is well 20in+ so... who knows.

Also, CAT 4 for is non-adaptive??? hrmmm this might explain some things about my results.

I was in viturual summer C. I was wondering if you recieved my email about going over my latest test results.

if not can u email me at ccroson@ut.edu or just reply to this post?

Thanks

Just to clarify -- your test WAS adaptive, Gmatblackbelt. This particular passage was drawn from an old non-adaptive test (a precursor to the current tests), so it exists in both places, but no one is taking non-adaptive tests from us any more.

We have prioritized this passage for revision, as it is certainly too long. Sorry about this issue. You *should* expect to see "switchbacks" in real GMAT passages, however. In fact, the presence of such complexities (to a certain degree) seems to be a hallmark of GMAT passage design. Passages DO have one major "point" or purpose, but then there are qualifications, contrasts, or other sorts of oppositions that allow the GMAT writers to create confusing questions.

I took my preparation test today and saw this passage today. It was really too long and i lost my concentration ...

Hi, Stacey and other instructors!

I took one MGMAT test today and got a 760 q51 v42.

My first RC passage was this one with 112 lines. And was question 2! I finished the quant part with 60min................and the beginning of Verbal was difficult.

Besides that, i had another passage with about 90lines...............and from questions 11 to 16 i had 2 RC passages in a sequence........

I had to speed up and finished with 71min..but it was difificult.

I hope that my experience be interesting...........

Yeah, I know! I've rewritten the passage and now have to edit the questions to match. Not that it's any consolation to you guys, but it will be fixed within the next few weeks!

Also - nice job on that test - 760!

You can, by the way, get two passages in a row on the real test - that part wasn't just us... :)