When answering ' According to the Passage ' questions or other questions focused on Specific Detail, is it best to check the language contained in each answer choice with the language that is contained in the entire paragraph? Does this take to long?

I have been using MGMAT's strategy to answer 'According to the passage' or 'It can be inferred from the passage that'... 'All of the foll stmt. are supported by passage EXCEPT'....'Which of the foll. is an assumption?... type questions.
It appears very logical and has proven extremely effective for me.
The strategy mentions about reading the question and focusing on the key words most likely to be found in the passage. Then look back over the passage to find those key words. Do NOT look at the answer choices.. Four of five of them are meant to mislead you.

Once you find the key words you should read the surrounding sentence or sentences to answer the question. This may take a little time.Condense these relevant sentence(s) into 4-5 words of truth. Then hold it in your head as you scan the 5 ans choices,

Try this if you haven't already.
Regards,
Sameer

Hey guys,

Great topic - and I think that a huge advantage in these areas comes back to those who read strategically the first time through. I highly suggest a method that we at Veritas Prep call STOP:

At the end of each paragraph, stop to check:

-What was the paragraph about (3 words or so about the Scope of the paragraph)
-Why was it written (2-3 words about the Purpose of the paragraph)

So, as an example, at the end of reading the passage your notes might be:

1) Introduce theory of evolution

2) Discuss criticisms of theory

3) Counter criticisms and discuss new research

There are several pieces of value in this strategy

-You'll be able to check for understanding at the end of each paragraph, and minimize the potential that you'll have to reread the whole thing
-For specific questions you should know which paragraph to go back to
-You're much more likely to avoid the trap answers for Primary Purpose questions, which typically trap you by stating something that two paragraphs do discuss, but that misses a third entirely (e.g., for this one, "discuss arguments in favor of and opposed to the theory of evolution" - but what about the new research?)

See if this helps - if you're focusing more on "why it was written" than specific derails, it's much easier to read without getting mired in details, and you can always know where to go for the specifics that you need.
_________________

Brian

Veritas Prep | GMAT Instructor

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