Verbal Focus: Should You Read News Publications?

Should You Read News Publications to Improve Your GMAT Reading Skill? No.

By EMPOWERgmat

How do you recommend improving GMAT reading skill? Should I start reading works of literature, Scientific American, or The Wall Street Journal?
Sure. Just wait until you're done with the GMAT.
 
Ramming through works of literature and mainstream news publications will not help you improve your GMAT Reading Comp performance, and amounts to a gross waste of precious time resources. These are all works and publications designed to sell advertising---they're entertainment, and very different from the reading content you'll be required to work through on the GMAT.
 
GMAT passages are inspired by academic journals and not mass-published articles.
 

What Should I Read Instead Then?

GMAT Reading Comp passages
 
How Can I Use RC Passages to Improve My Reading?
1) You must understand what RC passages are designed to measure:

• Your ability to rapidly generate interest in a myriad of topics when you have to (as you will be required to do in B-School)
• Understand the motivation of the author
• Understand how the information in the passage relates to that motivation
• Your thoroughness in reading the questions and the options
• Your ability to distinguish between something that can be properly concluded and something that cannot
• Your accountability to answer the exact question asked
 

2) You must read at the proper pace for success: 150 Words Per Minute, which is slower than you speak. Reading at this pace will:

• Afford you plenty of time to finish the section without skimming or guessing
• Dramatically improve your comprehension and ownership of the passage
• Reduce the amount of wasted re-reading time
• Enable you to more rapidly answer the questions
• Improve your ability to answer the questions correctly

 
Forget the urge to be done. Otherwise, you're rushing to get a lower score. Read the right way and improve in every dimension (pacing, accuracy, and confidence).
 
3) You need to know what to look for:
The author's agenda. The author didn't just pointlessly type this stuff. There is always a reason, a motivation behind the writing. You have to read with an eye to detect that motivation. For example, to discuss three challenges to the way medical research papers are peer-reviewed. To discuss a business model, and to enumerate several reasons why it could introduce too much risk.
 
4) Post CAT
GMAT performance is measured by the skill you possess. You can't memorize skill---you need to train to possess it. You need to REHEARSE. The best way to train to read RC passages is to re-read them in your post-CAT analysis. Go through the motions: 150 WPM, looking for the agenda, noticing how the parts of the passage relate to the whole. Then, rework the questions. "But I remember the answers." Who cares. You're rehearsing the process through repetition. It's not about the answer. It's about building your skill.
 
5) Tons of Passages
Every CAT you take will contain 4 passages, and between all of the Official Guide material, and those in the course, you have dozens to train on.
 
Optional Additional Reading Material?
If you are actively following the above guidance, and are still looking for some additional GMAT style matter to rehearse your reading style on, use GMAT-like matter---academic journals. The website J-STOR contains thousands of academic journal articles highly representative of those on the GMAT. However, you have to keep these items in mind:

• Check on categories that appear on the GMAT (biology, business, arts, archaeology, etc.)
• Enter the word "the" search field to return all of the results in that category
• Avoid overly technical passages, or overly technical sections of passages.
• The GMAT touches on topics in a more superficial manner. Often the abstract, summary, or conclusion is most like the real thing
• Ignore the citations. The GMAT doesn't use citation numbers

Conclusion
Use your time wisely. Don't waste time on mass-publications. Train to read at 150 WPM. Your work should be a rehearsal to reinforce success oriented tactics rather than the fools gold of question volume without real growth or introspection. Lastly, be consistent in your approach. Resist the urge to bounce around different resources and different methods. Follow what's proven, and prosper.