HOW DO I IMPROVE MY RC ?

Question

Hi everybody , its been 2 months of my gmat preparation now , and the biggest challenge i face is the RC
in some of the questions that i solve from the OG , i simply donot understand what is going on and hence unable to create a map in my mind
but when there are topics like sports / wildlife etc which are interest to me , i answer almost 90% of the passage questions right as it is easy for me to make a map in mind , but in topics which are not understandable , how to approach such passages ?

Russ19 · Answer

GMATNinja's video lessons on RC might be helpful for you: https://gmatclub.com/forum/all-gmat-nin ... l#p2396353

LamboWalker · Answer

In addition to GMATNinja's videos (a must) also refer to Ron Purewall's RC tips in his Thursday with Ron videos. Looking at how Ron broke down those passages were a game changer for me.

logro · Answer

Hey - Do check out GIN RC guide available on this forum

Sridevi31 · Answer

Afer watching GMANinja Video, Try LSAT . Dont solve prep company questions. Read tons of RC's from LSAT RC. They are well written and tougher and will make GMAT RC seem easier.

MartyTargetTestPrep · Answer

You have to become accustomed to understanding all the passages, not just the ones that are immediately understandable to you.

So, the move is to slow way down when reading the ones you are having a hard time with. Read them sentence by sentence and paragraph by paragraph, taking all the time you need to understand what you are reading, see what the primary purpose of the passage is, and map out the structure. If you don't understand the second sentence, don't move on until you do. If you bog down at any point in the passage, do whatever it takes to understand that part of the passage, and don't try to answer a single question until you fully understand the passage.

In the beginning, this process may take 15 minutes or more for one passage, and you may feel awful as you read a passage, but as you get the hang of going through passages that way, you'll speed up, and the process will feel natural.

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi ashishmishra06,

The Verbal section of the GMAT is as consistent and predictable as the Quant section is, but Verbal questions have no 'safety net' - meaning that if you make a little mistake or miss a vital piece of information, then you will convince yourself that one of the wrong answers is correct (and not realize it). As you perform at higher-and-higher levels in the Verbal section, you will be more likely to see tougher RC passages (such as Science passages that use vocabulary that you probably have never heard of). The good news is that in those types of situations, you don't actually have to understand everything that you read to pick up most (if not all) of the points associated with that passage. Thankfully, there are ways to train to face RC (regardless of the difficulty level of the prompt and attached questions); the key word there is "train" though.

Before I can offer you the specific advice that you’re looking for, it would help if you could provide a bit more information on how you've been studying and your goals:

Studies:
1) How many hours do you typically study each week?
2) What study materials have you used so far? What “brands” of CATs/mocks have you used?
3) On what dates (or approximate dates) did you take EACH of your CATs/mocks and how did you score on EACH (including the Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores for EACH)?

Goals:
4) What is your overall goal score?
5) When are you planning to apply to Business School and what Schools are you planning to apply to?

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich

vv65 · Answer

The topic can affect how easily we break down and understand the passage ie how much effort it requires.
The topic should not affect WHETHER we understand the passage -- because the GMAC does not expect us to understand specialised language or vocabulary. When such vocabulary is used, the passage always explains it.

All we need to do is read carefully and deliberately, breaking long sentences into manageable chunks, always looking at how different points relate to each other. Which are the facts? Which are conclusions or opinions? What is the evidence for each conclusion or opinion?

The complexity of sentences can affect our comprehension, as can idioms and phrases that non-native speakers may not know. But these problems are unrelated to the topic.

Posted from my mobile device

Gmatisking · Answer

The Gmat has passages from Business, Science, Social science & Humanities.
Figure out what type of passages are you weak in.
And practice more of those so you are comfortable reading those passages.

carouselambra · Answer

Any tips specifically for the science passages that you can share?

TheGraceful · Answer

Although experts have given you the guidance and tips, I will have my two cents here.
There is no other way or option to practice GMAT RC questions  daily . 
No matter what the approach is, you can't master the approach unless you practice it enough. And enough duration means more than 40 days of persistence practice.

Thanks.

MartyTargetTestPrep · Answer

Basically the same thing. Treat science passages as you would any other passage, and take your time to understand them without getting bogged down in technical details.

Science passages can seem complex, but the truth is that they generally discuss just one or two topics in some logical way. So, I have found that they seem more difficult than they really are. Once you understand a science passage, often your response will be something along the lines of, "Oh, so all this passage says is x. No big deal."

Also, you could accustom yourself to reading about those kinds of topics by reading articles in Science Daily. Those are cool, and there are so many of them that you can find ones that are interesting to you.

Sridevi31 · Answer

I bet this is a must watch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXWVCiy1WU0

GMATWhizTeam · Answer

Hi ashishmishra06,

Let me share my insights on this.

OG may be a great source for solving GMAT like questions, however, it is definitely not the ideal way to prepare in your case. Moreover, you may find that the OG is a good option as a question bank but lacks detailed explanations for you to use for improvement. It’s always better to prepare with a definitive resource to help you learn concepts while formulating a consistent strategy to solve questions before practicing them from the OG. This way, your preparation will be a lot more structured, and the chances of you leaving gaps in your learning will be significantly less. Focus on improving the method you follow to solve questions because that's what stops people from scoring 700+.

For GMAT Verbal, it is very important that you follow the right methodology and the logical approach. Your focus has to be on eliminating four incorrect choices rather than choosing the right one. The key is to develop a solid understanding of the concepts that are typically tested on the GMAT and master the process skills that are required to solve GMAT questions. Only then, you will be able to smartly avoid the traps set by the test makers.

How to Master RC?  
There is one fundamental mistake that most students do, that is trying to read the passage fast. The trick to ace RC is not to understand WHAT is written, but to  understand WHY it is written . Let me take you through the  3 step process  that can help you master RC.

STEP 1: INVOLVED READING

While reading the passage, focus on the role played by each sentence and understand what purpose does it serve? Simple questions that you can ask could be - does it support an argument, weaken it, oppose a viewpoint, provide more data, or bring in a different perspective and so on. The idea is to understand the transition in thoughts and which side is the author taking.

STEP 2: EVOLVED READING

Once you’ve understood the intent of each line, you can then choose to ignore the detail and focus on summarising the paragraphs in a line. Then, focus on the intent of each para and think about the structure of the passage. Believe in identifying (at a high level) what is the main point of the passage even if there is no main point question attached. It helps in having more confidence in marking Inference or Organization based questions.

STEP 3: ANSWER CHOICE ELIMINATION

If the above two steps are done properly, this step is the easiest. All you need to do is, look at each question one-by-one and eliminate the answer choices from your evolved understanding of the passage. Involved and Evolved Reading will help you eliminate 4 choices in most of the questions. In few tough ones, you might be confused between 2 choices, but those can be easily eliminated by focusing on the following aspects:

Scope of the choice – shouldn’t be out of scope or too limited in scope 
 
 Minute details – shouldn’t have half-truths and rest distortion 
 
 Confusing words – shouldn’t have words which seem similar but are different.

You may also find this video helpful:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjZUplucYeM

Hope this helped and feel free to contact if you have any further queries.

You can always write back to me here or the better way would be to connect over a call and have a discussion. You can schedule a free consultation call using the below link.

Click here to schedule a call

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