Does SpeedReading skill would improve Verbal Score?

Question

Hi everyone,

Do you think Speedreading skill / taking speedreading training (including improve the comprehension) would improve verbal score more effective? especially to answer the RC / CR question.

cheers,

abhimahna · Answer

Hey tanzzt ,

My answer to your question is NO.

GMAT Verbal is not a speed test but a test of logical thinking. Yes, it does matter that you are not spending alot of time in answering the questions but that could be taken care of with more comfortness with the questions.

Simple saying "Practice makes the Man perfect". Do the right amount and quality practice, you will see your speed improved automatically.

Hence, I am not in favor of joining any external courses to improve the speed.

I hope that helps!

All the best

AjiteshArun · Answer

There are a lot of newspaper articles on why speed reading  doesn't  work. Most of those articles (almost all) say that if reading speed goes up, comprehension goes down. I don't know whether something that advertises "speedreading + comprehension" will actually work, but my guess is that it won't.

Something that you  can  do to get better at reading and understanding GMAT material is  practice . Practice reading, and practice reading the type of material that the GMAT likes to make RC passages out of.

tanzzt · Answer

thanks abhimahna & Ajitesharun for your reply.

yes it advertises "speedreading + comprehension" that's why I am curious, but it costly.
I thought by read faster so that I can start to think logically earlier and answer the question more quickly.
However, if we continuously practice, do you have any suggestion to do that more effective? especially for a non native speaker.

Do you think English mastery would make it more effective for practicing?

BrightOutlookJenn · Answer

Hi tanzzt , Thanks for asking me to contribute. I agree with abhimahna that an outside (non-GMAT) speedreading course is not likely to help, even if they do advertise improvements in comprehension. Let's figure out what is standing in the way of your speed and comprehension: -> Do you find a lot of vocabulary that you are unsure about? If so, you need to be capturing the vocabulary in a notebook/spreadsheet/somewhere, so you can review it. Specialized nouns like the name of some brain chemical are not worth memorizing, but verbs, adjectives, adverbs that you didn't know should be learned. -> Do you have trouble making meaning out of the sentences, even though you know all the words? Here it may be helpful to work with a tutor, or just another friend who is a strong reader, to discuss sentences that you find hard to understand so that their meaning can become clearer. - > Are you overwhelmed by the information? This is a sign that it could be time to take notes. Let your scratch paper remember key relationships for you. -> Do you read several sentences and then realize you have no idea of what you just read? This is likely a focus and concentration issue. Mindfulness training can make a big difference in this area. You can mechanically increase your reading speed by using a pen or your finger to show your eye exactly where to go: move the pen along the lines of the text and gradually increase your speed. Seems simple, but it can help - especially if you don't have one of the bigger issues above causing deeper problems. Here are some tips that can help improve your overall understanding of RC passages: *Look for the main organizing concept - the main idea. GMAT main ideas often involve some kind of a controversy, surprise, or unexplained finding. Any of these ideas can be dramatic so play up the drama in your mind. (Envision the scientists arguing with each other, or being surprised at their finding, or imagine the managers being surprised that the strategy they had always been taught was actually ineffective.) Then, expect the rest of the passage to keep relating back to the main idea. *Talk to yourself as you read - this is important on CR and RC. Ask yourself questions about what you expect to come next: "OK so what was this new way the scientists measured the size of the moon?" "Oh, so why do those sociologists think the old theory is dumb? What proof do they have?" Try to re-state the meaning of what you have just read in simpler terms. Imagine that you have a friend who isn't able to read the passage on his own, but he is just outside the door, expecting you to explain the most important points to him. Stop at the end of each paragraph at a minimum to update your friend (though you can stop more often to tell him what's going on.) *Decide that you actually want to learn about the topic at hand. Very often, we see something about a passage that we don't like, and we say to ourselves various unhelpful things ... "This is going to suck" or "Who cares about this?" or "I'm not going to be able to understand this." Those are really typical thoughts, but they obviously set us up for failure. Decide on some other mindset as you go into a challenging passage; you could even choose a mantra to say to yourself. Maybe "Let's see what I can learn about this." *Read more from quality publications, especially if you have difficulties with certain subject matter. The Economist is a wonderful general source. Many of my students have found scientific passages harder, so reading regularly from Science News or Science News Daily about pain-point topics (say astrophysics, brain chemistry, zoology) can make those passages seem much less intimidating. Reading every day is a good idea. Better to read two articles every day for a week than to wait and read 14 articles all on Saturday. I would practice some of these techniques on non-GMAT reading first, and then see if you can apply them to RC passages. Finally, if you find that your mind is wandering as you read these passages, I'll again mention mindfulness training. See https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23538911 for related study. Let us know if these tips help! Best, Jennifer

abhimahna · Answer

Hey tanzzt , Read my debrief and the other articles in my signature and start implementing all the strategies n your studies. This will help you. All the best

tanzzt · Answer

thanks  jennpt  &  abhimahna  for your reply,

After reading jennifer's tips and abhimahna's story, I have been motivated to practice again. Now it's time for me to think what i should do next.

thanks.

EgmatQuantExpert · Answer

Hey  tanzzt

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Does SpeedReading skill would improve Verbal Score?

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