aps_can wrote:
I just cant score above 78% in RC. Can anybody help? If I read a passage wihout making notes I read it on time but the roadmap is not clear and for a clear roadmap if i start writing a sentence for a paragraph i lose lot of time. How to cope with this problem? I'm using Kaplan's resources for practice.
Get
the official guide for GMAT review 10th edition (referred to as
OG on this site) published by ETS - the passages are very straightforward in there.
As a general rule, I would read the
first paragraph carefully and sum it up in a note to yourself (1 minute). Then read each other paragraph quickly and make a note to yourself (2.5 minutes total). Then take 30 seconds to gloss over the passage, make sure you have the main ideas, and look at the first question.
Any time a passage starts to give examples of something, skip it. For example, if a passage says:
"There are a number of ways that scientists can prove the existence of sediment in a cave. They could drill through the rock, use a sophisticated laser to help them locate certain areas, or rely on topographical maps to help them pinpoint probable locations."
STOP as soon as you see "There are a number of ways" unless this is the first paragraph. This is because you can come back to the passage and read it if a question about this comes up, otherwise, who cares? You can get the general idea without all these specifics.
As a disclaimer, I found the RC on the PP practice tests a bit harder than the average
OG passage because I was doing well on the section, but I felt that this difficulty was attributable to the length of the passages rather than the nature of the questions. Best thing to do is just practice.
BTW, what did you mean by 78%? Is this the % of practice questions you are getting right? That's actually pretty good, as long as you are doing well on the rest of the section. If you are answering 3 of 4 difficult RC questions right, you're not really in bad shape.