I cant finish RC on time in real exam

Question

I`m not bad at RC. But it just took me a lot of time to understand GMAT text. What can I do to improve my reading speed without compromise my comprehension?

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi Susy426,

To perform at a high level on RCs, you do not need to be a 'fast reader' and you do not actually need to understand every word that you read - but you do need to approach each prompt in a specific way (and proper note-taking is an essential part of maximizing your performance in this area). It's also possible that the issues that you are facing in RC are also happening in other areas of the Exam (meaning that we have to take a good look at how you are handling the ENTIRE GMAT). 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 long have you studied? 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

Contact Rich at: [email protected]

GmatKnightTutor · Answer

For reading practice, using articles from The Economist may be helpful in case you want to save Official RCs. Ultimately, you want a reading method that "works" for you. Perhaps work with a study buddy who is strong on RC to see how they approach a passage. The method I teach doesn't require note-taking per se but perhaps you find it helps somewhat.

3 Reading Comprehension tips

MartyTargetTestPrep · Answer

Hi Susy426.

One strategy you can try is reading to fully understand the passage while not fully processing all the details.

For example, if a passage is comparing the theories of three scientists, you would seek to understand the point of the passage and why it's mentioning the theories, but you might not seek to get straight every detail of the theories or which belongs to which scientist when reading the passage. Rather, you'd wait until you needed such details to answer a particular question to carefully consider those details.

Aishyk97 · Answer

Hi, I am no expert but I can share what helped me improve.
I realised that the only way to improve would be to practice.
Improving on verbal requires time, dedication and patience.

1. I started practicing with LSAT sets. They are tougher than the real GMAT but they put you under the pressure of the exam. They also test the same aspects as the gmat.

2. Practice only with time. Accuracy without time is of no use. You will not have any time in the exam. So you should always practice in test conditions.

3. Do a fewer number of questions. But analyse them thoroughly. What kind of questions are you struggling with, are there certain passage types throwing you off, where are you losing time.
Do not spend a lot of time analysing any individual question instead try figuring out general patterns in your test taking.
Make notes after you attempt each set. What went wrong and what went right.
Write down where you went wrong in each answer. You should be very clear about each answer choice once you are done analysing.

GMATNinja  has a fantastic 13 week study plan. You could check it out for verbal prep.

Hope this helps. Best of luck!

Posted from my mobile device

TheGriffin · Answer

Susy426  Same issue , I am facing . I shall try now not to delve into details and shall evaluate my performance .My accuracy is good but then I too take more time .

Aishyk97 · Answer

TheGriffin

Another thing you can do to improve is to make note of topics that you don’t understand generally and watch a YouTube video on it. Having context also helps when you’re trying to understand a passage.

Practice official material and LSATS, do so only with time.

I practiced RC for a month, making notes, figuring out topics I have more trouble with, watched some YouTube videos and I started seeing my performance improve.

Posted from my mobile device

ddtDDT · Answer

I second this. What separate my 5th attempt from the others is 50 LSAT RC sections (200 RC passages) (within 1.5 months). Try to finish each passage under 15mins (for pace), 4 RC in a row (for stamina).

My RC went from 21s and 22th to 88th percentile.

TheGriffin · Answer

dungdt2010  thanks , so is it important to do LSAT RC passages ? aren't official RC passages enough ? Can you explain bit more on 15 mins for each passage ?

ddtDDT · Answer

Hi,

Whether official GMAT RC passages are enough for you depends on your reading level. However, their number is so limited that it may not be enough for you to increase both reading speed and comprehension.

For the 15mins each passage, the number 15 is based on my experience (which aligns with that of my friends who achieved high 700s). When you reach that speed, start practicing official GMAT RCs and aim for timing such as 3 1 1 (short passages with 3 questions) and 5 1 1 1 (long passages with 4 questions).

Remember that LSAT takers can do 4RCs in 35 mins, so the speed of 15 mins/ passage is definitely achievable. Aim for 80%+ accuracy also. Personally I think LSAT RC questions are not as challenging as GMAT questions, but they are absolutely beneficial for you to increase reading speed.

TheGriffin · Answer

dungdt2010  Thanks , so did you start with LSAT RC Material even before finishing Official RC qsns ? Also what was your strategy for CR ? and can you post the link for practising LSAT 200 RC's , I use to think this may be overkill .

ddtDDT · Answer

I took the test 5 times and exhausted official RCs even before my 1st attempt. I learned the hard way that my reading speed was too low so I started using LSAT RCs. After that, I came back to official material to practice my timing.

For CR, I enjoyed CR bible. But I think the improvement came a lot from my practice with LSAT. The logic in CR GMAT is not "that hard", but you need to understand thoroughly the question. I did not practice more than like 50 CR questions in the last month before my last attempt, but I hit 100% accuracy with CR (obviously with luck involved).

During the test, I tried to eliminate really quickly 3 "unrelated answers". You may hate the idea of "unrelated answers", but with practice you can develop the sense. For the last 2 answers, I tried to ask "what do the author want to test?" when I got stuck between the two.

TheGriffin · Answer

dungdt2010  awesome ! so when you say 15 mins per RC ; is this for all levels say 600-650 , 650-700 and 700+ for LSAT? can you post some links to practise such qsns ? Do you read a lot on day to day basis - or its just practising LSAT RC , which gave you that bump in last attempt ?

ddtDDT · Answer

you can find LSAT RC material on lsathacks dot com. I did 1 or 2 LSAT RC sections (4 or 8 passages) in one sit daily (mostly 4 passages), sometime I did 3 sections.

There is no difficulty indicator for LSAT questions (at least with my material), so ya the timing applies to all of the passages.

Note:
In fact, I did not aimed for 15mins per passage when I practiced. I aimed for 50-60mins/ 4 RCs so I messed up my timing a lot in my 4th attempt (21st percentile RC). I realized the issue and worked on it by doing official RC with strict timing.

Hope that helps.

Petpas · Answer

I have the same issue..
Thanks everybody for the tips!

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I cant finish RC on time in real exam

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