RC quick tips to boost score 700+

I will start my humble verbal suggestions with RC, mainly because I believe the importance of this section is not well understood and there are too many theories. Again the following is my own technique(it may not be 100% original of course) and should be used with precaution.


First some thoughts on RC,

Out of the 3 verbal question type RC is the easiest to explain to a person who does not know anything about GMAT. Few years ago,I was talking to a friend of mine who was curious about GMAT and asked me about question types in verbal,SC,CR and RC. When I finished explaining RC , she said:''So it is just understanding what you read'' . She will never be a gmat guru but she was right. At the end of the day,GMAT RC,despite its question types,word games,close answer choices,is about understanding what one reads! So in theory if you are clever enough to understand all you read you should get all RC questions correct!!!

Yet, my humble opinion is that most testtakers, the ones who get 20-35 and who think RC was easy, make many mistakes in RC. Unlike SC, RC is very sneaky and doesnt make you feel you are getting questions wrong.

RC also carries a huge importance for the timing in verbal section. If you plan to solve an RC within 5 minutes,when you dont really understand the passage ,that time doubles immediately. Whereas, you can always pass a SC question by looking at the difference among choices, if you dont know where the info RC question is based upon in the passage, you are doomed. Worse: The additional time you spent in RC wears you out , decrease your morale. Please check your verbal mistakes, it is very likely that you will get more CR and SC wrong right after a horrible passage! At least this was happening to me.

Also, my experience with gmatprep tells me RC and CR mistakes are more damaging to the verbal score than SC ones(even after accounting for the disproportion in question number)

So RC IS IMPORTANT. DESPITE THE HYPE ABOUT SC,RC IS CRITICAL FOR A HIGH VERBAL SCORE.
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Overall Approach

I read so many general approaches to RC,

- Skim passage fast, then read very quickly answer qs. - Skim passage,read first and last sentence of each paragraph - Read first question first,then read passage answer first question immediately then read the rest of the passage.........

My opinion: This is not the way to go if you are serious about RC and your verbal score. So,the following is my general approach and I repeated these 2-3 times just before the verbal section on the test day.

1) Start to read(:)this is great advice,no?) SLOWLY. This was one of the best advices I have seen. I read this somewhere dont remember. It is crucial. You wanna solve RC as quickly as possible so you rush into the 1st paragraph, read it in 20 sc and move to the next and basically=> You have no idea about what to expect next,you have no idea about author's position, no clue about author's goal.
YOU SHOULD READ THE FIRST PARAGRAPH SLOWLY!!!. MAKE SURE YOU UNDERSTAND THE OVERALL ISSUE!!! UNDERSTAND THE TIME ARTICLE REFERS TO. DIFFERENT PLAYERS.... NEVER EVER START FAST.

2) Paraphrase with exaggeration! You should think for 1-2 seconds in every 2-3 sentences and repeat your understanding in your own language. But when you paraphrase add something to it. When you repeat your understanding in your own language, say something in your mind that will make you remember that. For example, if author says scientist A was wrong. I paraphrase this in my own language: Wow look at this author , he says this stupid scientist made wrong assumptions.Lets see why?.... It may sound silly but it is very effective. This exaggeration also keeps your attention at high levels.

3)Related to the previous item: Reading with the desire to learn and at least agree or disagree with the author! In almost all passages, either the author or the people mentioned argue for X and some other people argue for Y OR there are two things described and author gives evidences etc.
It is not easy to stay focused in a long RC passage, to achieve this,I always tried to take sides,when possible, and criticize either the author or the other parties... Since I like arguments and discussions, this technique helped me follow turns in the passage, evaluate evidences and claims, expect what might come next. So, simply, take sides.(even in a neutral passage that just describes a phenomenon,you can find a way to stay focused by using number 2 and 3 above). Never ever read a gmat passage as if you are reading newsweek. What all gmat books tell you is => Read to learn?! But how??? Once again,I am repeating, the only way to read to learn is to TAKE SIDES and CRITICIZE,QUESTION,MAKE FUN OF THE AUTHOR or OTHER PARTIES. BE AGRESSIVE,ACT LIKE THEIR WORST ENEMY OR BEST FRIENDS.

4)Take notes. I didnt take notes at all on my first gmat. I thought I wont refer to those notes anyway why bother?? I took notes this time, did I refer to the notes? NO!So what is the importances of notes. For me, notes are useful in that they help you undertand the flow of the passage. They can also, help you understand info given a bit better since you think as you write it down(but make sure you think and dont just copy and paste to the sheet!). Dont take sophisticated notes,here how my notes would look like(of course passage is made up)
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1962, New England: Feminist VS Politicians, Policitians X(for me ,this cross means something negative that is all,so it might mean dont like,oppress etc) feminists
Feminists fight protest

Samanda K. +++ (means something + so support here) feminists! BOOK.
BOOK DIFFERENT than Contemporaries BEC. 1,2,3( I would just write 1,2,3 to make sure I remember 3 reasons are given)

BUT(I would write turning points very big) AUTHOR SAYS NO! SAMANDA STUPID!
BECAUSE.... POLITICIANS ++ FEMINISTS ACTUALLY

FINALLY, INCONCLUSIVE. AUTHOR DOES NOT KNOW
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My notes would be a bit longer but definitely they would not be easy to read anyway.So my notes serve their purpose the moment I write them,that is it. MAKE SURE YOU TAKE NOTES.ESPECIALLY TOUGH QUESTIONS WILL COST YOU MORE TIME AND EFFORT IF YOU DONT TAKE NOTES.

5) Last and extremely important point in the overall approach: Once you finish the passage, the biggest mistake you can make is to go and read the question immediately. I know you say what the hell I will do??? Well, here it is,take 10-15 sc,scroll up, and just remember what you just read in 1-2 words per paragraph and visualize the flow of the passage for the last time.So for the above made up passage, my recap would be,
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POLITICIANS-FEMINISTS FIGHT

SAMANDA's BOOK + FEMINIST AND DIFFERENT

AUTHOR X SAMANDA,SHE IS STUPID ,EVIDENCES

STILL,AUTHOR DOESNT KNOW
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This step is so crucial and helped me so much I dont know what else I can do to make you use it. DEFINITELY GO BACK FOR 10-15 SC and RECAP THE FLOW.

These steps may seem time consuming,but trust me on two things

- Other techniques will cost you more time overall,you will need to dig and search for info,get frustrated, lost concentration. And still get more questions wrong

- Also:)) believe me you wont be able to apply this approach 100% under the test conditions so it wont be that time consuming. YET,developing this systematic approach is so important, it will help you a great deal even if you dont follow each step to the max.

Happy studying!!!
Wish you score of 700+!!!Do give thumbs up!!!