This is a general question. What RC style has worked for you? I have done the following but still having difficulty with RC. I typically get 50-65% of the questions right, but dont seem to cross the 90% RC barrier.

I read the passage and then answer the question, I don't make notes of the things discussed in the passage, because my reading is not very quick and I ended up spending time in paraphrasing and the like which was an overkill. Skimming the passage did not help much either, I got stuck with inaccurate info. I just have to read the whole passage and comprehend it? I have tried to see if there are patterns to what i get wrong, like main idea/inference or logical structures etc, but it seems random. At times I get some right and some wrong. I tend to get lost in the subject matters that I am not familiar with and so I really really need some guidance on what RC strategy I should do to improve my scores on RCs.

Also in terms of practice should I do a bunch of RC passages together and then see how I did or do an RC, evaluate my answers and then go to the next RC? Is any one style better than the other?

Thanks.
Bala

here are some very, very basic tips for READING COMP:

1) ONLY READ FOR THE MAIN POINT. DO NOT PAY ATTENTION TO DETAILS AT ALL.
remember: these passages are "open book". in other words, you can go look back at them anytime you want. therefore, you don't need details, because you can just go back and find them!
the only thing worth reading for is the main point, because you can't "go back and look that up".
when you read for the main point, here are 2 tips:
- FOCUS ON THE AUTHOR: what is the author trying to do here? what is the purpose, and how does s/he accomplish it?
- pretend that you have 100 more of these to read TONIGHT.

2) WHEN YOU TAKE NOTES, TAKE MINIMAL NOTES (no more than 2 lines per paragraph, maybe 3 if you MUST).

3) WRITE YOUR NOTES / SUMMARY SO THAT THEY WOULD BE ACCESSIBLE TO A DECENTLY SMART HYPOTHETICAL 11-YEAR-OLD.
DO NOT use "big words" in your explanations. if you can't "keep it simple", then you probably don't understand.

4) NEVER, EVER COPY WORDS VERBATIM FROM THE PASSAGE.
two reasons:
* if you have to, then you probably don't understand the reading in the first place.
* a lot of wrong answers recycle words from the passage, but correct answers usually rephrase. so if you're keeping words from the passage, then you may be more likely to be fooled by these wrong answers.

--

MAIN IDEA QUESTIONS:
- remember that you should ALWAYS COME UP WITH YOUR OWN ANSWER, IN YOUR OWN WORDS, BEFORE you look at the answer choices.
- equally important, ONCE YOU HAVE COME UP WITH THIS MAIN IDEA, DON'T CHANGE YOUR ANSWER. in other words, you should stick with whatever you said, and see how the answer choices fit IT. do not try to fit your choice to the answer choices; instead, try to fit the answer choices to your answer.

once you've formulated your answer, the major challenge is understanding the ways in which the correct answer will REPHRASE your words. most importantly, the correct answer will usually be VERY GENERAL; it won't mention any actual specifics by name.
for instance, if you have a passage that talks about why high-speed rail is better than commuter airplanes, then the main idea will probably be listed as something like "comparing the relative merits of two forms of long-distance transportation".

also, if you get AUTHOR'S PURPOSE or WHAT IS THE REASON/INTENTION BEHIND SOME WORD OR PHRASE questions, you should also PREDICT THE ANSWER BEFORE YOU LOOK AT THE CHOICES.

finally:
always be COMPLETELY LITERAL, COMPLETELY ROBOTIC, and NEVER MAKE ANY ASSUMPTIONS.
this includes "inferences".
inferences don't mean AT ALL what they mean in normal conversation.
instead, INFERENCES are things that MUST, logically, be true.
remember the redheads example:
if the passage says of my last 5 girlfriends, 3 are redheads:
CORRECT inference: 2 of them were not redheads. --> this is correct because IT MUST be true. it is 100% logically certain that this is true.
INCORRECT inference: i like redheads. --> this is considered incorrect, because it does not HAVE TO be true. in other words, it relies on EXTRA ASSUMPTIONS.

you should AT THE VERY LEAST do all the problems for one RC at a time.
if your time management isn't the greatest, you may want to do a few RC's back to back, just to make sure that you can stay within the time guidelines.
(our time guidelines are 6 minutes for a short passage + 3 questions, and 8 minutes for a long passage + 4 questions.)

Thank Ron for the wonderful tips.

How do we increase speed (along with accuracy)? My timing has been highly inconsistent.

One thing what I have noticed while taking full tests is that - I struggle to complete questions from 30 to 41. And a huge passage in that range - I am thrown out of track. (most of the times, we are sure get 1 in that range). Long RC's slow me down a lot.

Could you please share some timing guidelines for the whole of verbal section?

What do you think about this strategy?
Q Time
5 67
10 49
20 40
25 31
30 22
35 13
40 4

I assume you mainly want to know how to increase speed and accuracy on RC? In addition to Ron's tips above, I have a suggestion for Specific RC Questions.

Instead of working in this order:
(1) Read the question.
(2) Read the answers, looking for one that sounds right.
(3) Read the passage or section of the passage, looking for proof of the answer you noticed.

Do this:
(1) Read the question to determine what it is about. That is, what are the nouns/concepts/terms mentioned?
(2) Re-read the part of the passage that discusses those nouns/concepts/terms.
(3) Read the answer choices, looking for the one that says essentially the same thing you just read in the passage.

If you go to the choices first, you run a timing risk: you could waste time and effort trying to prove a wrong answer, only to find that you can't quite prove it. Even worse, you could convince yourself that you've found proof, even though you haven't, and pick the wrong answer!


Some people prefer to check their pace less frequently (e.g. every 15 minutes or 7-8 questions, rather than every 9-10 minutes or 5 problems). After all, the checking itself takes some time. However, if you find that your pace slips too much between less frequent checks, then this might be a good strategy for you.

What I do: Whenever it's convenient (e.g. right after an RC passage) do a quick ratio check of (# of minutes remaining/# of problems remaining). If it's less than 2, I speed up a bit. If it's close to 2, I keep my pace.

_________________
Emily Sledge
Instructor
ManhattanGMAT