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Reading Comprehension:
Generally, it has been noticed students definitely have some trouble with reading comprehensions on their practice tests, either they are missing some question or they are getting the problem in selecting right options or else in order to give right options they are going through the passage time and again —far too many to score well on the verbal section. Over all it has been found that student’s strategy for dealing with reading comprehension is a bit flawed. Technically, there is two pronged strategy to solve the comprehensions sections –
- First, skim the passage and then attack the question.
- Second, go through the passage with proper understating then attack the questions.
The first one works wonder in certain exams and it depends on person to person as well. Second, works for GMAT, specifically. Since many of the questions in GMAT require an understanding of the passage as whole, not just individual parts, so it is inevitable to understand each and every question thoroughly. As a result, one needs to start employing “active reading” and doing lots of practice of reading editorials pages of news papers, magazine, and other material. One needs to change ones strategy and spent more time on the first question reading the entire passage carefully while actively looking for the STOP elements of Structure, Tone, Organization and main Point. This way, you can have a much more clear understanding of the passage from the first read through and could immediately identify things such as:
- What is this passage seeking to do?
- How the paragraphs organized and what is the point of each one?
- Is the author arguing for/against something or simply presenting information? If he’s arguing for/against something what evidence and logic does he use to support his position?
- How do these specific examples or pieces of evidence support his claim or act as counterexamples?
By taking more time up front to read the passage carefully, when you start your preparation for GMAT Reading Comprehension (RC), you may feel somewhat intimidated by the long RC passages and may naturally prefer the short passages. If you concentrate your preparation on the long passages and become quite adept at handling them, don’t forget to spend time preparing for those short passages.
Questions tend to be some "specific & detailed" questions you more or less easily can find in the passage, because the passages are structured. But when the texts are short ones, Students realize they have problems because the questions are more "comprehension questions" of the entire passage. In addition, some face problem to have the impression that in short passages the content is not clearly divided into sections. Often, student had to reread the texts several times and never find out in which part of the passage they have solution.
There are some others tricks and tips -
Do an initial reading and take notes: Short passages are structured into either one or two paragraphs. If they are one paragraph, you can often divide the passage by searching for structural words. First, do an initial reading to map the text out. The idea in a one-paragraph text is to read the first couple of sentences and take notes.
Look for structural words and other text markers: Next, you should start skimming through the rest and paying attention to text markers, such as the structural words. For example, a structural word used could be “however, or “yet”. Focusing on such words will help you to understand the overall structure. In addition, you should also pay attention to the very end, as it may provide a summary, information about the author’s opinion, or a conclusion.
A final tip for two-paragraph short passages: The same procedure should be used with a two-paragraph text. In addition to what you have done with the first paragraph; look closely at the first two sentences of the second paragraph. You should extend this to the third sentence as well if there is an opposition conjunction. Of course, pay close attention to the end of the second paragraph, as well.
This is significant to do active reading and is very important in all RC passages. Think about the structure of the text. But don’t forget to do so when handling the short passages as well.
