How To Read A Reading Comp Passage
 |
Stacey is a GMAT Instructor living in Montreal. Click here to read more articles from Manhattan GMAT and to learn more about Manhattan GMAT's classes. |
Recently, a Beat The GMAT member asked me to write an article on the reading part of reading comprehension – specifically, what are we supposed to do and look for during the initial few minutes before we start to answer the first question? I thought it was a great idea; a lot of people struggle with this. (By the way, if you ever have an idea for an article, send me a PM!)
Note: this article doesn’t address how to answer reading comprehension questions; it focuses on the initial read-through and note-taking. If you do that well, though, then that should help you answer any kind of question.
Goals
Whenever we start a specific type of problem, we should have certain goals in mind (depending, of course, on what that problem type is). Reading Comprehension (RC) is no exception.
First, we have some timing goals. I aim to complete an initial read-through of an RC passage in 2 (shorter) to 3 (longer) minutes. I try to answer “general” questions (e.g., main idea) in about 1 minute and “specific” questions in about 1.5 to 2 minutes.
I also take some short notes while I read through the passage; these notes will be based upon the goals discussed in the next several paragraphs. My notes will be heavily abbreviated; see the “Taking Notes” section below for more on this topic.
Next, we have some goals for the initial read-through of the passage. Every passage has a topic and what I call The Point. The topic is what you would probably expect: the basic topic under discussion in the passage. The Point is the main reason the author is writing this specific passage (you can also think of The Point as the thesis statement). For instance, a passage topic might be the curious decline of bees in recent years (entire hives have been dying, losing the ability to find their way back to the hive, and so on). The Point might be that, out of three possible causes (all mentioned in the passage), a certain pesticide is the most likely cause (according to the author). Back to our Goal: when I read the passage, I need to make sure I understand The Point, not just the topic.
Further, I also need to make sure I understand the purpose of each paragraph. These passages follow the same rules we’re supposed to use when we write an essay: each paragraph should have one distinct purpose or message (and, often, that message is delivered via a topic sentence, usually the first or second sentence of the paragraph).
Finally, I also need to make sure that I do NOT fully understand or remember all of the detail in each paragraph. That “NOT” was not a typo. I’m trying to read this passage in 2 to 3 minutes maximum; I don’t have time to try to fully understand, let alone remember, all of the detail. My goal is to know in which paragraph the different kinds of detail reside – that’s all.
Wait – How Can I Get Away With NOT Understanding the Detail?
This is where we can take advantage of the fact that the GMAT is a standardized test. An individual test-taker is given only about half of the questions that were written for that passage. That little piece of knowledge has major implications for how we conduct the initial read-through.
I know that I’m going to have to understand The Point, because that permeates the entire passage and even, to some extent, every question that I answer. I also know that I will not get asked about every detail on the screen, because I’m never going to see half of the questions. So why learn all of that annoying detail unless I know that I’m going to get a question about it? (And I won’t know that until the question pops up on the screen.)
Instead, as we discussed above, my goal for the detail is to know in which paragraph it resides. That way, if I do get a question about the chemical mechanism by which the pesticide affects a bee’s nervous system, I’ll immediately know that I can find that detail in paragraph 2. I won’t have any idea how to answer the question yet; I’ll have to read that detail now to see whether I can figure it out.
Note: did you hit a word you don’t know? Skip it. Is some sentence really convoluted? If it’s the first sentence of a paragraph, use your SC knowledge to find the subject and verb, just to get a basic understanding of what it says. If it’s a “detail” sentence, skip it.
The Initial Read-through
Most of the time, The Point can be found in one discrete sentence somewhere in the passage (though sometimes we have to combine two sentences to get the full Point). Most often, The Point can be found in the first few or last few sentences of the entire passage, but it is possible for The Point to show up anywhere.
So, a new passage pops up on the screen and we, naturally, start reading. Read the first sentence, then stop. Rephrase it in your mind (put it into words that you can understand very easily), and jot down a note or two. Then do the same with the second sentence. Once you think you understand the purpose of that one paragraph, you can start skimming the rest of the paragraph. While you skim, you’re trying to make this distinction: is this information just detail that goes along with whatever I decided was the purpose of this paragraph? Or is this information something new: does it represent a new idea or a change of direction? If it’s just detail, jot down the basic kind of detail it is (“bees dying”) and move on. If it represents a new idea or change of direction, then pay a little more attention and take some short notes.
Do the same with the other paragraphs, though you can be a bit more aggressive about skimming. If, for example, you think you understand the purpose of the second paragraph after reading only the first sentence, that’s fine. Start skimming (but take note of anything that represents a new direction).
When you’re done, take a moment to articulate The Point to yourself. Is that already in your notes? Put a star next to it. If it isn’t in your notes, jot it down.
Taking Notes
Your notes should be heavily abbreviated – much more aggressively abbreviated than notes you would typically take at work or school. In fact, if I look at my notes for a passage a few days later, I should have a lot of trouble figuring out what they say (without using the passage as a reference).
How can we get away with abbreviating this heavily? Again, we’re taking advantage of the nature of this test. You’re going to spend perhaps 6 to 8 minutes with this passage and then you can forget about it forever. You don’t need to commit anything to long-term memory, nor do you need to take notes from which you can study in a week. (Of course, if you’re just practicing, you are going to review your work later, but you should still practice as though it’s the real thing.)
Analyzing Your Work
Everyone already knows that it’s important to review your work on the problems you do, but did you know that it’s also important to review how you read and take your notes? When you’re done with a passage and the associated questions, start your review with the passage itself. When you were done reading (but before you answered questions), what did you think The Point was? What did you think the purpose of each paragraph was? Did that knowledge or understanding change as you worked your way through the questions? If you misunderstood something after the first read-through, why do you think you misunderstood it? Did you read too quickly and overlook something? Did you not take the time to rephrase what you read? How could you do this better next time?
Next, match your initial notes to your current knowledge of what information is contained in the passage. Were you able to find the right paragraph easily when answering a specific question? If not, why not? What should you have jotted down on the initial read-through to make that easier? Conversely, did you have too much information jotted down? Maybe you were able to answer a specific question just from your notes, or maybe you had a lot of detail written down that you never had to use. If so, you wrote down too much information and you spent too much time on the initial read-through.
Could you have abbreviated even more? Write down what that might have looked like, from the beginning. (In general, if you feel your notes were fairly far from your “ideal” for any reason, then re-write the notes the way you should have written them the first time.)
Take-aways
(1) You do NOT want to learn or comprehend every single thing that the passage says
(2) Know your goals:
(a) Find The Point
(b) Find the purpose of each paragraph
(c) Know where (in which paragraph) to find different kinds of detail
(3) Practice sticking to your timing and practice abbreviating heavily
(4) When you review your work, also review how you read and took notes on the passage
25 comments
Varun on April 23rd, 2010 at 4:16 am
Very nice article.
Thanks,
Varun
marc on April 23rd, 2010 at 5:14 pm
This was a very insightful and thorough article. I find that it compliments the kaplan prepcourse that i am currently in and has helped to cement some of the strategies that i am working on developing for the test.
Nikhil on April 25th, 2010 at 1:02 am
Hi Stacey,
Your article is indeed very helpful
I have been practicing RC from OG and have observed my performance as -
1) I read each and every details of the paragraphs of the passage and it takes me about 3-4 mins (4-5 if passage is lengthy) to finish completely along with taking notes.
2) After i have grasped the complete passage it takes me about 0.5 mins (1-1.5 if the question is a bit difficult, mostly inference questions) to answer the questions like main idea or questions based on what the passage supports.
3) Time needed for me to answer a complete passage with approx 6-7 questions takes me about 9-11 mins, which i think is a ok.
4) The accuracy level i was able to achieve was - 4/6 | 5/6, | 6/6 - getting all questions correct is less frequent.
Your article suggests above to skim the passage and use the road-map or notes to locate the answer depending on the question, but unless i dont grasp the whole passage i find it difficult to answer the question (or atleast i take some more time > 2 mins to get into the context and hit the correct answer). I am concerned with the accuracy which i should obtain getting all correct on all the passages, which i am not able to achieve (In 1 out of 8 passages i get all the answers correct).
Mostly the questions which i get wrong are inference questions, Can you please suggest me something on how to increase my accuracy ? Should i change my method of reading ?
Thanks in advance.
Regards,
Arun
Stacey Koprince on April 25th, 2010 at 7:26 am
Remember that, on the real test, you won't see ALL of the questions written for that passage. You'll only see 3 or 4 questions. So, first, when you answer 6 questions, you have an advantage on the later questions, because you know a lot more about the passage now that you've already answered 3 or 4 questions. That's not going to happen on the real test.
Second, when you answer all 6 questions written for a passage, it really is the case that you need to use almost all of the information that was given - but, again, that's never going to happen on the real test. When I do passages from OG or other non-test-format sources, I only answer 3 or 4 questions. That set-up more closely mimics the real test. (And then I can set aside the passage for a month or so, then come back and do the passage again with the remaining questions, so I get twice as much practice from one passage!)
If you learn how to read appropriately and build an adequate outline or roadmap, then you will learn to grasp what you need in order to answer the questions in the 1 to 2min timeframe. But it takes a lot of work! You have to practice and review actively, meaning that you constantly go back to analyze: what could I have done better here? What did I pay attention to that I shouldn't have and what didn't I pay attention to that I should have? How should I have known, on my first read-through, what was worth reading carefully and what was worth mostly skimming? Etc.
Have you read this article yet? It deals with RC inference questions.
http://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2010/02/25/how-to-analyze-a-reading-comp-inference-question
Cindy Rippe on April 26th, 2010 at 7:27 pm
Stacey, I have been really working on my notes and your article has some great guidelines! I am still struggling with my timing on the RC. I take too long to read and answer the questions and then I feel rushed throughout the rest of the test. I only need a 550 on the test, so I am not striving for a huge score.
I am considering guessing on 1 complete passage of RC to give me more time to focus on accuracy on the other portions. How do you feel about this strategy? Would it be better to do quick read and grasp the point and tone, so I could answer those questions and then guess on the more specific questions on each RC passage, rather than eliminate one all together?
My goal is to get rid of the the pressure cooker feeling that I have on the second portion of the verbal section, where I struggle with my pacing and my focus due to the time pressure. If I can have time to read and do the remaining CR and SC, i usually get them right. I’m thinking a strategy like I mentioned above might give me more freedom to hit the other questions. Do you agree? My test is this coming Monday. Any pointers on how to practice this before now and then? I was going to take a practice test tomorrow and try this strategy on RC.
Your articles have helped me so much! Thanks for all the advice,
CCCMom
Stacey Koprince on April 27th, 2010 at 1:44 pm
I would be wary about guessing on the questions for any entire passage because that means guessing on 3 or 4 questions in a row. It's pretty bad for your score to have 4+ questions wrong in a row (and who knows whether you answered the question right before the passage correctly?).
Having said that, you are going to have to guess on this test. The best way to guess is to guess on those ones that give you that sinking feeling when you're about 30 seconds into them. You know - the ones where you're thinking, Argh, why did they have to give me THIS question?
If that happens to be a specific-detail question, then yes - make that guess and move on.
If you really feel that you need to "sacrifice" one RC passage to some extent, I would do this: first, figure out which topic areas are the slowest for you. Do you hate the business ones? The science ones? Only the really-long-science ones? Then, when you get that one, do try to grasp the major points but basically ignore the detail. Your goals now are to (a) answer the main idea question correctly, and (b) narrow down the answers on at least some of the specific detail questions. You can do the latter by eliminating any answer choices that don't "go along" with the main points.
You've got less than a week so, if you're going to change your pacing strategy at this point, you definitely have to practice this every day. First practice with individual passages (maybe going back to ones you did a while ago that you know drove you crazy). Then put together "mini-sets" of a mix of CR, RC, and SC (maybe 20 questions total). Then do one or two "full sets" using whatever practice tests you have - NOT the whole test, just the verbal section.
Note: I'm telling you not to do the whole test because, with the schedule, you aren't going to be doing the "full sets" until maybe the end of this week. You DO NOT want to take a full practice test that close to the real test. (In fact, I wouldn't even do the "full set" I'm describing within 2 days of the real test.)
Finally, if you do look at the clock in the middle of your section and realize you're more than 2 minutes behind, the next time you see a hard-for-you question of ANY type, immediately make a random guess and move on. DO NOT try to speed up on ALL (or even most) of the remaining questions. Sacrifice a few completely so that you still have a decent shot at the rest.
Good luck!
CCCMom on April 27th, 2010 at 3:10 pm
Stacey,
Thank you so very much for the guidance. I will work on this new strategy. I think you bring up an insightful point about not speeding up on the remaining questions. This has been a downfall for me and I really need to get this pacing under control, so I can nail it on Monday! You have been my GMAT mentor through all of your articles and posts! We are so fortunate to have you on this forum! Thank you!!! CCCMom
CCCMom on April 27th, 2010 at 5:49 pm
Stacey,
I re-read your advice and I do have 1 question. On the verbal, I use the timing guide that you suggest in your timing article which has benchmarks at 60, 45, 30, and 15 minutes remaining. When you suggest that I guess if I am more than 2 minutes behind, is there a better way to gauge my timing on a per question basis? How can I train myself to automatically feel out my timing on the whole verbal section? For example, sometimes I look at the clock and I might at 74 minutes remaining and since this is not on the benchmark chart, I try to figure out how I am doing with my time management (and don't really know how). On the math, it is a little easier, because I figure on 2 minutes per question, but the verbal guidelines are so different. When I try to figure it out, I'm sure this distracts me from the question at hand and hurts my time further. Can you please give me a more concrete example of how to manage this and what I can do before Monday to better master this issue? I appreciate you! CCCMom
Stacey Koprince on April 28th, 2010 at 10:09 am
I would still use the timing benchmarks for this - you don't need to adjust your timing every few questions, as the per-question timing reflects averages over multiple questions. (And it does take too long to figure out for a random time or question number, so just don't worry about it at those points.)
You can do your benchmarks based upon the time on the clock or the question number. So, for example, you might know you should be around question 8-10 at the 60-min mark. If you're on Q6, then you're behind and need to guess on some upcoming question to get back on track.
Alternatively, if you are using question number, then you might know that, after finishing Q10, you should have around 56m left. If you only have 53m left, then you're more than 2m behind and you need to guess on some upcoming question to get back on track.
If you glance at the clock or the question number "between times" don't worry about this issue - just keep going until your next "check point."
A. Kiran on May 21st, 2010 at 3:14 am
About the timing.
I have problem with the timing.
When i read the short passage i am taking about 3.0 Minutes and when i read the long passage i am taking about 4.5 Minutes.
Is it normal ?
Is it only the practice that makes to complete on time ? ( short = 2 and long =3 minutes ) ??
or is there any other way to make complete on time ??
Stacey Koprince on May 21st, 2010 at 8:01 am
As you note, short passages should be closer to 2 min and longer ones closer to 3 min max. Practice and *analysis* of your practice both allow you to bring your times down. So, let's say you read a short passage. You spent 3 min. You do 3 questions. Now, you go back to the passage and analyze your work. Did I write down too much? Did I get too caught up in trying to understand some detail? Did I not write down enough?
If I wrote down too much, how could I have written less? I could have chopped this piece of info out entirely (it's too detailed) and I could have abbreviated everything more. Okay, *re-write* your notes in the way that you should have done them in the first place.
If I got too caught up in trying to understand some detail, how should I have recognized that this was too detailed immediately, so that I could just move on? And so on. Practice, but also figure out how you could have done things better. After that, then go try whatever those things are on a new passage.
Slavi on July 23rd, 2010 at 2:28 am
Stacey, you're a great teacher
thank you for your articles
Abhi on December 24th, 2010 at 12:21 pm
Hi Stracey,
Thanks for the nice article. I am more into "Analyzing Your Work" section & really working hard from learning from my own mistakes.
I do have few questions/ queries.
1. When to start analysis? After looking into answer( only) or answer n explanations( if available) or just after I completed my reading n associated questions?
2. Should i re-read the passage during my analysis? If I have to re-read, what is the best method / time during analysis to do so, because re-reading the passage always made me understand passage better.
Other problem I am facing is, during skimming. When i try to skim facts / example in passage, it more or less like skipping it and by the time i reach to end of passage, I have no idea what was discussed in those facts/examples. So when i get some specific details questions, I have to search ( cause not able to locate directly) & re-read complete details including couple of previous lines.
Regards
Abhi
Stacey Koprince on December 28th, 2010 at 9:26 am
Good questions, Abhi.
I usually look at the answer right after trying a question for two reasons: (1) I just really want to know whether I got it right
and (2) because that might change the way that I review a bit.
For instance, if I got it right, the first thing I check is whether I really knew what I was doing - I make sure that I didn't just get lucky. If I got it wrong but thought I was getting it right, I look to see where I went astray and why - was there something I thought I knew but I was wrong? Did I make a careless mistake? Then, of course, there are the times that I don't feel confident or had to guess - and, there, my first task is just to understand what was going on from the official explanation (or alternate explanations if I don't think the official explanation is that great).
I definitely take a look at both the passage and my notes again during my analysis. I usually go through the individual questions first (looking at whatever parts of the passage are necessary in order to "get" each question). Then I ask myself: okay, with the understanding that I have of the passage *now*, what did I miss on the first read-through that would have been helpful at a high level? (NOT specific details - just high level.) Or maybe I did read something but didn't write it down in my notes because I didn't think it was that important, but now I realize it was important. (Again at a high level, not details.) Is there a way that I could have figured out that it was more important on my first read-through? Were there any clues that I missed? And finally, is there a better way that I could have written my notes? How could I have known that during my first read-through, before I'd seen the questions etc?
Abhi, you wrote "When i try to skim facts / example in passage, it more or less like skipping it and by the time i reach to end of passage, I have no idea what was discussed in those facts/examples. So when i get some specific details questions, I have to search ( cause not able to locate directly) & re-read complete details including couple of previous lines."
This is not a problem, actually! This is exactly what you're supposed to do. You should NOT remember all the specific details when you're done with your first read-through; you should just have an idea of where the different kinds of things are. So if the overall topic is two different theories about something, and paragraph 2 is all about the first theory and paragraph 3 is about the second one, that's all I need to have in my notes. I need to know WHERE to find the information quickly, not WHAT it is. I only bother to learn it AFTER I've been given a question about it - because I'm not going to be given questions about every specific detail in there. I'm only going to learn the ones I have to learn.
You saved time by not learning all of the details on your first read-through, so you can afford to take the time at the point that you do get a question - the trick is just to be able to find the relevant lines quickly, and you do that from your notes. Then, re-read, learn what you can, and answer as best you can.
kavya on March 28th, 2011 at 10:33 pm
Hi Stacy,
The article is very very helpful.
I do skimming and everything well but I do take a lot of time while taking notes. Can you please explain how to take notes, how to abbreviate and what kind of words to note down?
Thank you.
Stacey Koprince on March 29th, 2011 at 3:08 pm
I didn't get into a lot of detail on abbreviation, because that will be different for different people. To some extent, you have to develop your own shorthand. Here are some ideas though:
DO note each paragraph separately (I use P1, P2, etc)
DO write down (abbreviated) the main point of each paragraph
DON'T write down a bunch of dates or nitpicky little keywords; you don't know whether you'll get questions about those and you can't write everything down
DO abbreviate more heavily than you're used to doing for class notes. If the passage talks about Einstein, write down E. You'll remember for the next 5 minutes that E = Einstein. You only need to remember what your abbreviations mean for 5 or 6 minutes.
In general, what you write down should be more about "big" or main ideas and not so much about details.
Then, when you get a question about a specific detail, ask yourself, "In which paragraph would I find the answer to that?" Use your notes to help you decide which paragraph, but then actually go back to that paragraph and skim for any keywords that were contained in the question.
Again: keywords go from the question to the passage, not the other way around. Don't try to write down everything that COULD be a keyword while reading the passage. Instead, decide which paragraph you need based upon the question and use any keywords from the question to find the relevant sentence(s) in the passage quickly.
It's going to take you a few weeks of regular practice and adjustment to find a note-taking / abbreviation style that works best for you.
Ra'ed on April 28th, 2011 at 12:19 pm
Stacey Koprince, I LOVE U. (Just don't tell my wife)
Thank you sooooooooo much for your generous guidance and detailed explanations.
Stacey Koprince on April 28th, 2011 at 12:58 pm
lol
Gaurav on May 19th, 2011 at 2:48 am
Awesome Article Stacy!! Love it.
Jayanth Kashyap on June 11th, 2011 at 11:44 pm
Great article once again! If the first question of the passage is "All of the following are cited in the passage EXCEPT"
How should one grasp the passage to answer these type of questions? and moreover, how should one make notes of a change in direction of the author's thought flow? Should we use your method of abbreviating ideas or is there an alternate route to this?
Stacey Koprince on June 13th, 2011 at 5:25 pm
Ah, yes. The "except" questions are annoying.
First of all, know that you are likely to spend longer on these than on other RC questions. These are kind of like "Roman Numeral" questions - they're going to take longer just because of the format of the question. At the same time, we do want to make sure we don't get SO caught up in these that we waste too much time. (If you're already behind on time and need to catch up - you'd want to make an immediate guess if this question type pops up!)
The specific wording of the question you quoted indicates that it's a specific detail question. There will be support in the passage for 4 of the answer choices (the four wrong answers), and no support for one (the right answer). Your task is basically to find the support for each of the 4 wrong answers so that you can cross them off - concentrate on finding the WRONG answers, not the right one.
Start with answer A, but be pretty ready to move on to the next answer if you don't find the support relatively soon. Read that answer, then ask yourself whether you have a pretty good idea of where that was (or might be) in the passage; your notes may help. Go and check the passage and see whether you can match the language to this choice (remember that they may use synonyms - you don't necessarily need EXACT word matches - but it should still be pretty close). If you can match the language and there is NOTHING in the answer that you can't find in the passage, then cross that one off.
If you can't match the language, leave that one in for now (it might be that you're just looking in the wrong place in the passage). Move on to answer B and repeat the process. If you can't figure out where to look for a particular answer, just leave that one in and move on to the next - again, your goal is to cross off as many wrong answers as possible as quickly as possible.
Then, see what you have left. If you only have one left, you're done! If you have more than one, then you'll have to make a judgment call - which one do you think was farthest from a match?
In terms of noting a change in direction in the passage, if there's a really big one, I will use either a "delta" symbol (the "change" symbol for my fellow chemistry geeks out there) or I will use the word BUT (even if that isn't exactly the meaning they're conveying) - the idea is, something very short that is my visual cue that there's a change of direction halfway through the 2nd paragraph, or whatever.
Mandar Deshpande on November 22nd, 2011 at 12:20 am
Hi Stacey,
Very nice article, i followed tips from this article and it helped a lot, however i could never get all the answer to the RC correct.This happens in literature based RC's.
I have request, if you could just show us how to skim and take notes while reading a literature and factual RC would be a great help.
Thanks,
Mandar.
Stacey Koprince on December 21st, 2011 at 6:51 am
Thanks for the suggestion, Mandar - I'll add your article idea to my list!
edwin on February 13th, 2012 at 10:34 am
Stacey, do you recommend taking notes while you read a paragraph or after you read it. Also, do you recommend making small one word notes of examples, or do you think that could lead to spending too much time reading details.
Stacey Koprince on February 13th, 2012 at 11:02 am
Hi, Edwin, good question. Personally, I take notes as I come up with some big idea, which is usually after reading the first sentence or two of a new paragraph.
I think this can vary from person to person, but it should generally be tied to big ideas, not facts - most of the questions will hinge on big ideas and changes of direction. That doesn't necessarily tie to a certain number of sentences. If you have to read the whole paragraph sometimes to get that, that's fine.
I will sometimes make a very quick note about an example, yes, but it will usually come in one of two forms and it will be seriously abbreviated. Either there's only one example of something, in which case I'll write down one word or abbreviation that will remind me that this example exists (though I may not read very carefully yet what the example is all about), or there will be multiple examples - 2, 3, 4. In that case, I'll usually note that there are x examples for the big idea.
eg:
P2. pest --> bees dying [note: pest = short for pesticides]
MTC [I'm making that up - pretend it's an abbreviation for a specific pesticide]
(do I know what MTC is or how it works? No, beyond that it's a pesticide hurting bees. If I need to know because I get a question later, I'll figure it out.)
or:
P1. bees dying, why?
P2. hyp: pest [stands for hypothesis: pesticides]
3 ex.
(do I know what all three examples are and how they work? No, but I know exactly where to go if I get a question later about pesticides!)