How to became a better reader???

Question

How to read better? I need a Verbal score close to 40, but I find reading very tough. I have no problem with math I can score any time close to 50. 

Right now my Verbal is close to 30, although I scored 20 in the real GMAT exam. Any way, I believe my current score is close to 30, but I need to push up to 40.

What should I read to improve my score? I read all the OGs and many other books. Right now I am trying to practice from LSAT RC. Is it a good idea?

JingChan · Answer

I hate when people say this because it seems so trite, but the only way to become better at reading is to read!

I suggest taking an approach like this: time yourself while you read at a pace where you have 100% comprehension of the material. Slowly try to speed that up.

Make sure that when you're reading a passage that you formulate the "main idea" in your mind. You should have a very clear picture by the time you're done with the first paragraph. As you continue, keep that main idea in your head and solidify how each paragraph relates to that idea. This is called active reading. It's imperative that you do this while taking the GMAT.

It sounds daunting, but these skills can be built in a short period of time. Just be persistent.

Good luck.

Calamity Jane · Answer

Good advice. I would try reading some non-GMAT materials to work on your overall RC skills. Business Week, Financial Times if you're so inclined, non-fiction, or classic literature. Anyone who can understand classic lit will do well in RC! Especially Shakespeare, although I wouldn't recommend it if you're just beginning in that direction!

zoltan · Answer

Thank you very much for your advices.

I know that this kind of question is trite, but reading and comprehending passages is my main headache in GMAT.

I have bought recently some non-GMAT books, which are kind of deep, and also I read Economist magazine sometimes. I will purchase some Shakespeare books as well, since I have never read any book from Shakespeare in English, and I am very much interested to read some literature books. 

I believe I have to change rudimentary my reading habit in order to perform well in RC, and as both of you said the only way to improve reading skill is to read. 

I did the GMAT twice in this year Jun and July, but I could not score well in Verbal. I want to give a last chance to take GMAT again, but I want to have a solid verbal skill in English when I am giving the exam again. 


Thank you

pelihu · Answer

If you want to improve your GMAT verbal score, reading Shakespeare is not going to help (take it from me, I was an English major). Judging by your posts, you need to build a better foundation if you want to score better on the verbal section. You need to have a good grasp of the basics before you can really work to improve. Reading dense materials at this point won't be much help.

Try Strunk & White's Elements of Style. Make sure you know every rule in that book front and back. Then, get back to studying the OG.

zoltan · Answer

Hello Pelihu,

I thought that Strunk & White's Elements of Style improves SC skills. 

Does it really help in RC as well?

Thank you for your advice!

Calamity Jane · Answer

Aaaack, no, definitely not Shakespeare. Sorry if I wasn't clear earlier.

kidderek · Answer

I am going to respectfully disagree with Pelihu. I don't think Strunk & White will help much.

Your verbal is lacking quite a bit. The easiest way to improve your verbal score is to work on your sentence corrections. I suggest using a regular prep book such as Princeton Review. The stuff in there is pretty easy. Then you might want to move on to Manhattan Gmat's sentence correction. 

hint: Learn the idioms in the context of a sentence, not just as a fragmented phrase!!!

Forget about dense material, forget LSAT CR or RC. You need to crawl before you can walk. Try getting into the mid 30s for verbal before you think of the 40s. As for reading comprehension, start reading the New York Times or The Economist. Read it and be able to comprehend it to the point of having a meanignful conversation with someone else. No offense, that might be beyond you right now. 

Baby steps. You're not going to go from a sub-30 to a 40. There are native English speakers who can't hit 40.

zoltan · Answer

Thank you very much for all the advices. I think that everyone has a little bit different strategy to improve his Verbal score, but the bottom line is to achieve the desired score. 

I will go through this Strunk & White book as well, because it might help me to improve my overall knowledge in English. It cannot harm. Also, I will try to use your advices, but, may be, I need to find my own strategy to improve my English level. It can be Economist magazine, other books, OG material or something, but the most important is to find the right strategy, which works for me.

I agree with you that I need to be patient and I cannot just jump from 30 to 40. On the other hand, I do not have too much time to improve my Verbal, I should take GMAT again 3 months later.

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