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app219
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Strategy for Details & "all of the following except" questions 23 Sep 2018, 11:21
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Hey guys!

Hope your prep is going well. So here is my case: I've been practicing RC for quite a while, applying the basic strategy (90% first paragraph, then deacrease for the others and take notes so you can refer back to it later ect...) and It has worked quite well actually!

But I have realized that there are 2 types of questions which represent nearly 100% of my mistakes in RC:
1) details questions
2) "the passage states all of the following except..." (which is kind of a detail question as well).

Whenever I have a detail questions (1), I usually go back to my notes to spot which paragraph we're talking about, then spot the corresponding sentence and read the sentence before and after that to answer. Still, I often get the wrong answer.

Regarding the "except" questions (2), here I am completely lost. Since answers usually refer to different paragraphs, I am mixing everything up and finally answering by guessing (which is better than nothing but not really optimal).

So:
1) Does anyone have another method or any additional tips for details questions?
2) Any strategy on how to tackle "except" questions?

Thanks and good luck to everyone!

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GMAT 1: 790 Q51 V49
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Strategy for Details & "all of the following except" questions 01 Oct 2018, 12:38
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Hey guys!

Hope your prep is going well. So here is my case: I've been practicing RC for quite a while, applying the basic strategy (90% first paragraph, then deacrease for the others and take notes so you can refer back to it later ect...) and It has worked quite well actually!

But I have realized that there are 2 types of questions which represent nearly 100% of my mistakes in RC:
1) details questions
2) "the passage states all of the following except..." (which is kind of a detail question as well).

Whenever I have a detail questions (1), I usually go back to my notes to spot which paragraph we're talking about, then spot the corresponding sentence and read the sentence before and after that to answer. Still, I often get the wrong answer.
Show more

You're doing it right! Can you do some more introspection into why you're missing these problems? (If you don't have notes - this would be a good thing to start taking notes on. Each time you miss this type of problem, write down an explanation for why the wrong answer was wrong and why the right answer was right.) For instance, you might be picking answers that use the same words as the passage, but that have a subtle difference in meaning. Or you might be picking answers that are more extreme than what the passage actually says.

Quote:
Regarding the "except" questions (2), here I am completely lost. Since answers usually refer to different paragraphs, I am mixing everything up and finally answering by guessing (which is better than nothing but not really optimal).
Show more

1. Make sure you 'state your goal' as you start solving the problem. If the question says 'all of the following EXCEPT are stated in the passage', say to yourself: 'I'm going to cross off each thing that I find in the passage.'
2. Jot down A B C D E as you start the problem and cross off answers as you eliminate.
3. Honestly, it's fine to guess on these. They're relatively rare and can waste a lot of your time. If you're behind on time, this is a great place to save a few minutes.
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Strategy for Details & "all of the following except" questions 14 Oct 2018, 00:14
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ccooley


You're doing it right! Can you do some more introspection into why you're missing these problems? (If you don't have notes - this would be a good thing to start taking notes on. Each time you miss this type of problem, write down an explanation for why the wrong answer was wrong and why the right answer was right.) For instance, you might be picking answers that use the same words as the passage, but that have a subtle difference in meaning. Or you might be picking answers that are more extreme than what the passage actually says.



1. Make sure you 'state your goal' as you start solving the problem. If the question says 'all of the following EXCEPT are stated in the passage', say to yourself: 'I'm going to cross off each thing that I find in the passage.'
2. Jot down A B C D E as you start the problem and cross off answers as you eliminate.
3. Honestly, it's fine to guess on these. They're relatively rare and can waste a lot of your time. If you're behind on time, this is a great place to save a few minutes.
Show more

Hey :)

Sorry for answering so late, It has been some tough and busy days lately!
First of all thank you for answer. I think the problem might be in my notes: I don't wirte down as much as I should to be abel to retrieve the right paragraph afterwards.

Being a non native english speaker, I feel it's quite hard to be reading (or "skimming" let's say) while taking high quality notes. Any advice or article regarding this point?

Best,

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Hi there,
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Where to now? Join ongoing discussions on thousands of quality questions in our Verbal Questions Forum
Still interested in this question? Check out the "Best Topics" block above for a better discussion on this exact question, as well as several more related questions.
Thank you for understanding, and happy exploring!
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