Approach for RC

Question

I've often read everywhere speaking about 3 Approaches for RC-
1. Reading the questions first
2. Deeply reading the passage first
3. Skimming the passage in first few seconds and then solving question by question referring back to the passage every time a new question comes

Approach 1 suits only when the questions are fact based, which are rarest to be found in GMAT, so this fails!
I thought approach 2 would work wonder for me, but then while solving it, I realized missing some points while reading the passage, which then appears in the question and compels me to refer back to the passage, consuming a lot of time plus nullifying the motto of the approach.
Approach 3 - This one then I tried. But took a lot of time to get acquired to this, even I ain't now, for which I'm here.
What exactly does skimming mean? How much time one should give to the initial skimming? I exactly thought that this is the one meant for me as I wanted this every time. But then this required a well practised disciplined approach, which comes by practice I guess. But how to start with this? Moreover, every time I try this approach, I end up loosing minutes to skim, probably because I don't know what exactly is skimming.

Please help me out!

TheGriffin · Answer

Approach 2 is good but you need to make sure that you try to decipher all lines while reading else u will end up referring back . App 1 and 3 are not recommended.

AndrewN · Answer

Hello,  taorishrushti . I just wrote a mini-guide to improving on RC about a month ago as part of the 12 Days of Christmas Competition. Check out the spoiler in  this post . (And if you feel like applying your newfound knowledge, try out the passage above it—four questions of fun.)

Good luck with your studies, and happy reading.

- Andrew

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi taorishrushti,

To start, you do NOT need to be a 'fast' reader to score at a high level on the GMAT, but you do have to work at a reasonable pace, 'attack' each prompt that you face (re: actively read, look for patterns, etc.) and take a reasonable amount of notes. Many GMATers end up losing points because they try to read too fast (or "skim" text, which is also not a good idea) - and that actually leads to additional problems (re: those GMATers almost always have to reread the entire prompt - sometimes multiple times - which is the actual CAUSE of their pacing problems). Reading the question first is a strategic way to start off a CR prompt, but it's usually not beneficial on RC.

Before I can offer you any additional advice for your studies, it would help if you could provide a bit more information on how you've been studying and your goals:

Studies:
1) How long have you studied? How many hours do you typically study each week?
2) What study materials have you used so far?
3) On what dates (or approximate dates) did you take EACH of your CATs/mocks and how did you score on EACH (including the Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores for EACH)?

Goals:
4) What is your overall goal score?
5) When are you planning to apply to Business School and what Schools are you planning to apply to?

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich

GMATWhizTeam · Answer

Hi taorishrushti,

I would not suggest you to do skimming as the GMAT RC questions test your inferential skills. And skimming is not recommended for detailed based questions also as you will not be reading the passage for every question. The right process approach RC questions is to:

Read the passage 
 Understand the purpose of the each sentence 
 Draw inferences from each para 
 Summarize the para once you finish reading it 
 Derive the main point by summarizing the summaries of individual paras 
 If you come across any details while reading the passage, skip them for the moment as you can always come back to that specific part if you need to solve detail based questions 
 Once you finish reading the passage, read the question stem 
 Go to the relevant area of the passage and make sure you draw the right inferences 
 Eliminate answer choices carefully (either irrelevant, out of scope or opposite choices)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0VhuzaV6P0

This is how you should read a passage and solve the questions. If you learnt the right methods to read the passage and to eliminate answer choices, then I would suggest you to practice a few passages without any time limit. Focus on solving the passages using the right methodology. Once you start getting a decent accuracy, then you can take timed quizzes.

Hope it helped. Feel free to get in touch if you need any further help with the study strategy.

Click here to schedule a call

ScottTargetTestPrep · Answer

Hi taorishrushti,

Since you are looking for RC help, here is a helpful article:

GMAT Reading Comprehension Tips: Top 8 DOs and DON’Ts

If you have any additional questions, feel free to reach out.

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