5 RC Rules and Principles.

Question

I'm glad to share some RC rules and principles I've learnt in my verbal class that can help scoring well in RC part.
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5 RC Principles:

NOTE: DON'T APPLY THESE PRINCIPLES FOR SCIENCE-FACT BASED PASSAGES.

Principle 1: Whenever you see a complex sentence,understand only Dependant Clause.

Principle 2: Whenever you see compound sentence whatever comes after 'that' or 'which', understand that.

e.g. John told his brother that Linda is beautiful.

Principle 3: Dump examples.Don't try to concentrate on examples.

- Example are made of proper nouns.
- Try to understand main theme. If you don't understand main theme then read examples.

Principle 4: Structure words are the single most important thing in RC.

If you find following words in a sentence, then there's 75% chance of getting answer from that line.
- thus
-nevertheless/needless to say
-in short
-but
-moreover
-however
-therefore
-on the other hand

Try to concentrate on lines contained these 'connecting words'. Important lines are always marked by structure words.

Principle 5: If you find a sentence with very complex content,dump that sentence. Next line followed by that very complex content will have 'structure word'.

Working Principles for specific type of questions:

1. Working Principles (WP) for Main Theme/Primary Purpose questions:

WP1:
If the content of the 1st paragraph doesn't match with the content of the last paragraph and If first paragraph gives you background information,then the Main Theme lies in either second paragraph-first line or last paragraph-last line.

WP2:
Main Theme lines are usually associated with structure words.

Do's and Don'ts for Main Theme ques:
1 Your answer option can neither be too specific nor be too general.
2 Examples can never be part of Main Theme.
3 Don't add value to what the author has stated.Just Cut+Copy+Paste or Restate.
4 Match structure of answer options with structure of paragraph lines.

2. Working Principles (WP) for Database/Supporting Ideas/Question with highlighted lines questions:

WP1:
Identify the correct lines from which question has been picked up.

WP2:
Read the previous line and next line from the highlighted line stated in question. Understand those lines and try to get the answer.

WP3:
If you find lot of pronouns on these lines, then go one step ahead and one line before.

Do's and Don'ts for Database questions:
1 Need not align your answer to the Main Theme of the passage.
2 In worst case scenario,align your answer to the summary of that particular paragraph in which that highlighted line exists.
3 Don't add value to what author has stated. Just Cut+Copy+Paste or Restate. For a Database question,a very good checkpoint for your answer option: Answer option must align with summary of that paragraph.

Read the passage below and answer the Database question:

Social democracy is a place where there is no government. This is because there is a healthy co-operation among people on all issues. However,when there is a war or a strike,a natural leader emerges and a government is formed.

According to the passage,when do you think a government is formed in social democracy?
A. When people lose instinctive capabilities to co-operate among themselves.
B. Whenever social problem like strike,war etc.

Answer: option B

WORK IN PROGRESS: I'll add working principles for remaining question types in 2-3 days.

Happy Reading. Happy Prepping.

Give me KUDOS if you find this post useful. :-)

pranrasvij · Answer

thanks!

this is very useful and makes sense. Which RC class did you go to? Is it kaplan or such?

PranavChamp · Answer

No.I'm from India and here there is no such classes as kaplan,manhattan etc

I've attended CAT(an Indian exam to get into indian b schools) exam classes .CAT is very similar to GMAT in contents tested.

samark · Answer

PranavChamp,

Thanks for the post- +1.

I dont know, what is a database question type? Pls, clear this..

Also, elaborate on :

"Match structure of answer options with structure of paragraph lines."

Can u provide some scenario/example to understand this WP in depth:
 Don't add value to what author has stated. Just Cut+Copy+Paste or Restate.

PranavChamp · Answer

hey sorry for late reply.

1.  Database question  means a question that asks  to refer some line no. or highlighted text.  and to choose the answer option from that line. in this case you don't need to infer on Author's point of view.  Instead just concentrate on those highlighted lines and match the answer option that most resembles to that line.

2.  "Match structure of answer options with structure of paragraph lines."

WP1 for Main Theme:
If the content of the 1st paragraph doesn't match with the content of the last paragraph and If first paragraph gives you background information,then the Main Theme lies in either second paragraph-first line or last paragraph-last line.

1st paragraph -------------> +ve tone with some background info(facts,stats,and historical background etc.)
2nd paragraph --------------> paragraph started with structure word(e.g.  however ) which converts tone from +ve to -ve
3rd paragraph --------------> -ve tone

in this case,Try to concentrate on structure word which comes at 2nd paragraph-first line and concentrate on last paragraph-last line for conclusion.

Just match your answer option with the tone(2nd para-first line) and conclusion(last para-last line) and don't try to make inference on what author says.

3.  Don't add value to what author has stated. Just Cut+Copy+Paste or Restate.

There is a fine line between two question types: main theme question and inference question.

Main Theme question  requires to match tone of your answer option exactly with structure of paragraphs. That means you can't infer what author has stated instead you need to concentrate on matching structure(tone) of answer option with paragraph lines.

Inference Question  requires to draw conclusion from the Author's conclusion. You need to take some inference on Author's conclusion instead of just plainly restate what he says.

P.S. I'll explain on matching structure and Questions based on inference in detail in few days.

Amanlakra · Answer

That advices are awesome.it really help me..can you post for other question type?

Posted from my mobile device

Abhipsa20 · Answer

This is really great! Where can I find the working principles of remaining question types?

Posted from my mobile device

kntombat · Answer

Abhipsa20 , I guess you will have to search the posts made by  PranavChamp .
he hasn't been active since 2012.

whisperoftart · Answer

Hey Pranav! Do you have more sources for CAT prep?

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