desertEagle wrote:
Hi
How to increase my reading speed at GMAT RC without affecting comprehension. I am usually getting 3 out 4 questions right on 700+ GMAT passages. Most of time i am getting Main Idea question wrong.
I am hoping to take GMAT in Feb end or first week of march. My speed is very slow. I take upwards of 4 minutes to read the passage and around 1.5 mins answering per question. In extreme cases it goes up to 3 min on a difficult question. What would be ideal time to read a GMAT passage and is it possible to increase my speed to that level by end of Feb
Thanks
Well, the most effective way we know to increase reading speed is... [drumroll]
To read a lot. So step 1 is just do that, I suppose.
However, you don't just want to read faster. You of course want to make sure you understand. But understand *what* exactly? You don't actually need to understand every little detail in the passage. What you need to understand is why those details are include. What function they serve for the main idea of the passage. You only need to know more specific than that if a question directly asks about that detail. Then you can reread and parse a little more specifically.
Check out this video on how to read for RC:
Avi does a great job on pinpointing how noticing certain structural words can allow you to pay less attention to other chunks of text in the passage. He outright advocates *skipping* them! I don't go that far, personally, but if that works for you, go right ahead! And his main thesis, that using structural words allows you to fully understand the purpose of the 'chunks' of text, is hugely important.
When it comes to timing, mine usually looks like this on RC:
~4:30 to read the passage and answer the first question (4 minutes for shorter passages, almost 5 for long ones).
~1 minute per question after that.