GMAT RC - Non Natives! Help needed

Question

Dear Mike
Dear Users

I am writing here regarding Reading Comprehension (for non native). Yes especially for non native... I know, some say, you do not really have to understand the content of the passage in order to answer the questions. However, it is very distracting when you read a passage about e.g. biology or history with plenty of words you do not understand. How do you tackle this problem? Learning endless lists of vocabulary or reading Economist, GEO, Financial Times etc. in order to get used to those topics?

I now went through Economist and Manhattan for Reading Comprehension. Their approach is quite similiar imo. Economist recommends to always first perform a so called "initial reading" i.e. reading the first 1-2 sentences of each paragraph and taking notes. However I have figured out, that this strategy does only suit me when I feel that I master the content (e.g. finance topics which i master asleep). But as soon as there is a annoying topic from history, human sciences to which I am not really used to, I am starting to sweat and getting nervous and hence wasting time and finally answering the question mostly wrong.

Is there anything you could recommend for such a student except the points I already mentioned?

Looking forward to hear from you mikemcgarry and all!

mikemcgarry · Answer

Dear reto , I'm happy to respond, my friend. :-)

First of all, let me introduce a series of blog articles: https://magoosh.com/gmat/2012/strategies ... ion-types/ https://magoosh.com/gmat/2012/how-to-stu ... rehension/ https://magoosh.com/gmat/2012/gmat-rc-el ... g-answers/ https://magoosh.com/gmat/2012/gmat-readi ... ully-once/ You will notice, particularly in that last article, Magoosh recommends a different strategy than the "initial reading" strategy that other companies recommend. We recommend that you read the passage once carefully. We say your job is to " map, don't memorize " --- that is, get the gist of the flow of the argument, the back and forth, although you don't have to memorize every detail, because you can go back to look at a particular detail if you know where it is. Incidentally, in the Magoosh product, we have a fantastic series of lessons on the RC questions. I also think that, especially a non-native person, the very best preparation is to read. Yes, read the economical news ( Wall Street Journal , Bloomberg Businessweek , The Eco nomist , The Financial Times , etc.)--- that's good for the business passages. You also should be reading Scientific America n regularly, to build your stamina with science articles; in reading these articles, you will get familiar with the basic science terminology. You don't have to know a lot of science. For example, in the USA, high school students typically take an introductory year of biology, then chemistry, then physics. I don't know whether you took introductory years of those sciences when you were in the equivalent of secondary school. Think about what would be covered in first year biology ( a cell, metabolism, photosynthesis, etc .), first year chemistry ( atom, molecule, ion, chemical bond, etc. ), and first year physics ( force, mass, momentum, voltage, current, wavelength, etc. ) It is good to be comfortable with these terms in English: perhaps you already know all of this thoroughly in your native language, but you need to be comfortable with these terms in English for the GMAT. Notice that GMAT RC science passages sometimes introduce some more abstruse scientific terms, but typically, the passage defines these terms----these terms are brand new even to most native speakers!! For truly sophisticated non-science writing, see the New Yorker and the Atlantic Monthly . The New York Times is good for general articles: the Sunday Book Review is a particular good place to do some social science reading. I would say that a non-native speaker who struggles with RC should be doing at least a hour a day of pure reading --- that's a hour over and above any GMAT preparations. If you want an outstanding GMAT score, then this will require an outstanding effort. I will say that, believe it or not, the attitude you bring toward reading in general and the GMAT RC in particular, has a huge effect on how much you get from the passage. See this blog: https://magoosh.com/gmat/2012/curiosity- ... n-success/ This is also an important blog: I said some of this already in this response, but there are several important points here: https://magoosh.com/gmat/2014/how-to-im ... bal-score/ Does all this make sense? Mike

reto · Answer

Ah mikemcgarry , you are a miracle. Thanks again for this wonderful post ... why are kudos limited?! :-D

zoezhuyan · Answer

Hi  mike ,

Reading comprehension is a challenge for me as well.
I desire to improve my time management and the accuracy.

details experience as following :
 1 /  when reading passage, I will map the information I think of as pointers. "mental map" seems work worse then write down

2/   write inefficient. -- the words and the time cost
I write down whenever reading a paragraph , it will waste time if I go back to scan the information, while I am not good at recall, because when I write down fewer words that I think need , I suddenly forget and then go back .... How to improve to save time, and write as fewer as possible,

3/   won't miss information potential questions.
I tried to write down less then 10 words for a short passage, scan quickly the examples or list of some characters, or similarities, Yet, it did save time to read the passage, while when take the special questions ,especially EXCEPT, I go back to find, and waste time to fish the question, even cannot ensure the accuracy.

4/  practice again, different choice, 
I practice 3 passages on GMAT Prep, total 15 questions, and some questions are pass, and some are failed, for example # 1,3,5,7  are correct, #  2,4,6  are incorrect , before check the OE, i mean i do not know whether i have pass or fail the questions, i practiced again, some previous correct one will be incorrect , for example, #  3 5 7
 are incorrect.
Does the phenomenon suggest my skill is poor? only me experienced this phenomenon ?

5/  articulate my moment status, citing a topic from GMAT prep as an example
Topic -- a meteor stream 
 P1, reading + write down = 2'40"
   my map as an example
 what is meteor stream
 Hypo ( abbreviate hypothesis ) -- broaden , as time 
 PC model --- found broaden = hypo
Conventional T( abbreviate theory) -- denser = center
SURPRING -- PC model = pipe, as time
  P2 , reading + written down = 2'44
  earth cross stream, 1 day, 
PC model ... 
2 obver : pipe + existed
  P3 , reading + write down = 1' 26
  can seen ?
1970 -1979, some data ...
speed : 19...
btw 2 time, 300 years

genuinely your analysis.

thanks in advance
have a nice day

>_~

mikemcgarry · Answer

Dear zoezhuyan , How are you, my friend? I'm happy to respond. :-)

My friend, I am very sorry to say this, but I think a great deal of your difficulty may be due to your current understanding of English. Your understanding of English is infinitely better than my understanding of Chinese, and it is good enough to convey much of what you want to communicate here on GMAT Club, but in much of what you write, there are multiple minor mistakes that a native speaker would never make. This makes me think that it may be so much of an effort for you simply to manage the mechanics of reading and interpreting a difficult English passage that this effort inevitably takes your attention away from the substance of what the author is saying. GMAT RC is extremely difficult even for native speakers, because all the authors are saying a few things and implying others. The connection between ideas and sequence in which topics are discussed also imply other things. There's a lot to figure out about what they say: the writing is at a very high level of sophistication. If this is compounded with an understanding of English that falls short of that of native speakers, then that will make the GMAT RC challenge that much more challenging. You see, when I write you a response, I am trying to be as clear as possible. The passages chosen by the GMAT are just the opposite: they are incredibly sophisticated and dense, far from clear. My friend, I am not sure what to tell you. I know you want to take the GMAT in less than a month and I know you have lofty ambitions. It may be that by forcing yourself to read a great deal of sophisticated writing in English every day and by listening to English only new broadcast and podcasts, you may refine your understanding of English and increase the amount of information you are able to take from what you read. I almost want to say talk in your native language as little as possible over the next month: devote as much time to English as you possibly can. Your question focused on the issue of note-taking during RC, but whether you take notes is a relatively minor consideration compared to your proficiency in English. My sense is that, as you become more comfortable with English, when the medium of the language itself becomes less of a struggle, you will find you naturally have more "mental space" to devoting to the subject matter and its subtleties. I know this is probably not the answer you would most want to hear, but I hope this is helpful. Take very good care of yourself, my friend. :-)

Mike

GMAT RC - Non Natives! Help needed

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