RC Help! Are you Reading @ Work? I can't find time otherwise :(

Question

Dear GMAT Forum Members,

I have a situation that I need to please get quality guidance.

My GMAT verbal score is very poor and I really need to be reading for an hour daily.

My challenge I'm having is finding time to read over and above my available time post work hours.

Here's my current schedule:
1. I wake up at 6:30AM and I finish an hour ride, run, or swim (I'm a triathlete)
2. I get to work by 8:30AM
2.5 I go to the gym for 30 minutes during lunch time and then eat lunch for 30 minutes
3. I leave work by 6:45PM
4. I go home and eat dinner by 7:45PM.
5. From 8-10PM, I focus on the actual GMAT.

I am a Sales Director at my firm and I ideally want to spend 1 hour reading "during" work hours, but I don't want to be reading RC passages not related to my job because I'm in an open cubicle, it's going to be so obvious that I'm not doing my day job! I'll get fired!

I have a few questions:
1. Is anyone spending the daily 1-hour reading during work hours? How do they do it?
2. If I'm going to read, can I just read articles/topics related to Sales/business that doesn't make it obvious that I'm messing about at work?
3. I know the GMAT uses historical and scientific passages. Are reading these topic areas important? When should I read those? During my content building post work hours?
4. Which "business sites" can I read that has relevant job-specific topics that are closely related to the materials on the GMAT? Mckinsey? Economist?

I am a Sales Director that sells electronic components to my local markets in ASEAN.

I'm always VERY keen to learn topics about:
1. Sales
2. Marketing
3. Industry specific news. Can I read Mckinsey articles? Is that representative?
4. Improving efficiency at work

I don't want to be reading "general news" because, again, it's not related to my job! Everyone can see my screen.

What does everyone here do to really make the most of their reading during work hours?

GmatKnightTutor · Answer

Finding good "learning" time can be an issue. I sometimes suggest to full-time working students to take sessions, for example, in the early morning before their shift.

My GMAT verbal score is very poor and I really need to be reading for an hour daily.

3 Reading Comprehension tips

piyushdabomb · Answer

Hi OnlineTutor,

I'm happy to connect with you, but as I clearly wrote in my message above, I don't have the time in the morning. Only way I can consider morning shifts is waking another hour earlier, which is very hard with just 6-8 hours of sleep.

GmatKnightTutor · Answer

Only way I can consider morning shifts is waking another hour earlier, which is very hard with just 6-8 hours of sleep.

Happy to tutor new students but this was partly a general suggestion. Waking up earlier may be a better "learning" time than after work - when you might be more tired or simply not in the mood to study.

If you want to read while AT work, I guess it would be hard if you're concerned you may get fired. Even if it's not necessarily true, the stress of thinking so may harm your focus.

The Economist is generally suggested as a good source to read for the GMAT.

GMATWhizTeam · Answer

Hi piyushdabomb,

For GMAT Verbal, it is very important that you follow the  right methodology  and the  logical approach . Your focus has to be on  eliminating four incorrect choices rather than choosing the right one . The key is to develop a solid understanding of the concepts that are typically tested on the GMAT and master the process skills that are required to solve GMAT questions. Only then, you will be able to smartly avoid the traps set by the test makers.

Verbal questions on GMAT are very tricky. For example, 
  In SC, you have to read the sentence from the meaning standpoint and then start looking at the grammatical errors.  
 In CR, you have to understand the argument, identify the premise and the conclusion and then pre-think the answer before looking at the solutions.  
 In RC, you need to have the right reading strategies to understand the inferences which are not directly stated in the passage.

For example, let me elaborate the trick to ace RC:

Mastering RC is a challenge many students face and I’ve faced it myself. As a student, I remember trying various methods including Reading only first para and last para, reading question first, reading only first few lines,  reading online articles , maintaining a gaze span while reading, skimming through the passage and what not.  Nothing helped much . In the end, while waiting for the score to flash, I never had confidence that I’ve done well. All I could do was pray that I somehow got the questions right.

I’ve been through the trouble and I know how it feels. There is one fundamental mistake that most students do, that is trying to read the passage fast.  The trick to ace RC is not to understand WHAT is written, but to understand WHY it is written . Let me take you through the 3 step process that helped me master RC.

STEP 1: INVOLVED READING 
 
While reading the passage, focus on the role played by each sentence and understand what purpose does it serve? Simple questions that you can ask could be - does it support an argument, weaken it, oppose a viewpoint, provide more data, or bring in a different perspective and so on. The idea is to understand the transition in thoughts and which side is the author taking.

STEP 2: EVOLVED READING 
 
Once you’ve understood the intent of each line, you can then choose to ignore the detail and focus on summarising the paragraphs in a line. Then, focus on the intent of each para and think about the structure of the passage. I even believe in identifying (at a high level) what is the main point of the passage even if there is no main point question attached. It helps in having more confidence in marking Inference or Organization based questions.

STEP 3: ANSWER CHOICE ELIMINATION 
 
If the above two steps are done properly, this step is the easiest. All you need to do is, look at each question one-by-one and eliminate the answer choices from your evolved understanding of the passage. Involved and Evolved Reading will help you eliminate 4 choices in most of the questions. In few tough ones, you might be confused between 2 choices, but those can be easily eliminated by focusing on the following aspects:

1.Scope of the choice – shouldn’t be out of scope or too limited in scope 
2.Minute details – shouldn’t have half-truths and rest distortion 
3. Confusing words – shouldn’t have words which seem similar but are different. 
4. Opposite – is opposite of what you should be looking for

These 3 steps are simple and you need to ensure that you practice using this method and perfect it to get high accuracy.

I’d recommend you to follow this order for the verbal part - SC->CR-RC. The reason for this is very specific. Each question type on the GMAT is testing a specific skill. SC tests your comprehension skills. CR tests comprehension & analytical skills. Finally, RC builds on the previous two skills and also tests your ability to be able to grasp the central point of the passage i.e. Your inferential skills. Thus, when you learn in this order, it's much more effective.

You may find this video helpful:
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TiQlDg0bhaI  
Hope this helped and feel free to contact if you have any further queries.

You can always write back to me here or the better way would be to connect over a call and have a discussion. You can schedule a free consultation call using the below link.

Click here to schedule a call

ScottTargetTestPrep · Answer

HI piyushdabomb,

Even if you could find the time to read while at work, my guess is that it would not be super effective. So, with that in mind, I would try to find time to do some reading either first thing in the morning when you get up or after work. If you are unable to pause your exercising routine, then you may just need to either get up earlier or go to sleep a bit later, so you can spend the extra time getting in your reading.

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RC Help! Are you Reading @ Work? I can't find time otherwise :(

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