GMAT reading comprehension? Just do it

Keep your fears away
One fear most test takers feel is ‘ what if the passages are totally unfamiliar’. This is highly unlikely if you have spent a good amount of time reading quality passages and have taken good number of comprehension tests.

Imagine yourself succeeding
Be optimistic about your preparation and success in the GRE test.  Start your preparation early so that you do not take the test till you are ready.

For god’s sake do not procrastinate
The day you wake up to think, oh I have plenty of time left for prep, you are on the road to procrastination. You have semester work, events to participate in, personal issues; none of these should come in the way of your reaching your goal.

All strategies need not work for you
We all vary in our styles of learning. Some of us would require longer preparation time, others less. It’s more rewarding to compare our performance today with our own past performance than with that of others.

Do not expect overnight results
Efficient reading involves building an array of skills. It takes time. Perseverance is the key. Lot of hard work is required to excel, give up not.

Do research, learn those tiny tips from friends who are preparing for verbal tests, what worked for them, what did not, they are invaluable sources of test info.

Meditate; with your learning your own reflections and insights can throw up new ideas that work best for you.

Do not panic; 
instead make a panic plan. Put together a remedial plan with the help of a mentor- a senior or trainer; there is always a way out.

Invest intelligently in buying good reading material: 
books, CDs, general reading material. And invest time wisely.

Selfishness is a virtue 
If Ayn Rand did feel that way, so can you. Do not spare your reading time playing agony aunt/uncle for those hapless souls; nevertheless when you need reassurance ask and get! Howzzat.

GMAT reading comprehension - How to prepare Part 1

Comprehension: fix it

Every admission test includes a section on passage comprehension, in which a test taker is required to read, analyse and answer questions based on what is stated or implied in the passage. 

These questions are designed to test a wide range of abilities pre-requisite to academic study at a higher level. Those abilities include:

• understanding the meaning of individual words, phrases and sentences with in the passage
• understanding the meaning and purpose of paragraphs and larger bodies of text
• distinguishing between specific details and meaty points
• summarizing a paragraph or an entire passage
• drawing conclusions from the given data
• reasoning out extended information
• understanding the structure of writing and organization of arguments
• identifying the author’s assumptions and opinions
• synthesizing various points coherently
• identifying strengths and weaknesses of a position
• developing and considering alternative explanations
•  Gleaning the tone and tenor of the author

As this list implies, reading and understanding a piece of text requires far more than a passive understanding of the words and sentences it contains; it requires active engagement with the text, asking questions, formulating and evaluating hypotheses and reflecting on the relationship of the particular text to other texts and information. Passages are generally drawn from the life sciences, arts, humanities and everyday topics and are based on material found in books and periodicals, both academic and nonacademic.  Questions can cover any of the topics listed above, from the meaning of a particular word to assessing additional evidence that might support or weaken points made in the passage. Mostly  the questions are standard multiple-choice questions, in which you are required to select a single answer choice, and others ask you to select multiple answer choices........to be continued...in the next blog

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Component skills to master GMAT reading comprehension

GMAT reading comprehension tests you on many component skills.

There are a lot more analytical skills that go into high performance in the verbal. Here is a set of skills – of recognizing the fine differences between the list of terms.

Label passages into narrative, argumentative, expository, descriptive
Recognize- main points of the passage, factors, examples
Relate- between causes and effects, major and minor ideas
Critique- the author’s assertions
Translate- abstract and figurative expressions into more precise and literal language
Apply- information in the passage in hypothetical contexts
Draw- logical conclusions, inferences
Analyze- a text for weaknesses, strengths, validity
Compare and contrast different points of view
Recognize the organization of the passage
Integrate- new ideas into the passage
Defend/ rebut-the author’s position

For high score verbal, acquire a copy of RC topper module at.
Email your queries to urmentor@semanticslearning.com



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GMAT reading comprehension

How to answer central ideas and organization/structure of the passage questions?
These passages are organized on certain templates. We need to know these.

Why
Because there are questions that seek you to identify the structure or organization of the passage
What are those structures?

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