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reading comprehension mastery request

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reading comprehension mastery request

by madu410 » Sun Sep 29, 2013 6:31 am
Hello,

I've been struggling with verbal section for quite a while and i just wanted to ask if there are some special articles or sources to use to read daily in the metro or something to be able to understand the hard paragraphs and articles on the test. Im not a native speaker so some of the text are really confusing and almost impossible to follow, therefore, i lose a lot of time rereading but at the end still guessing the answer.

My target is 700 and i dont have enough time to study because i work full time so something i could spend like an hour reading a day to master the reading comprehension would be highly appreciated.

thanks a lot!
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by [email protected] » Sun Sep 29, 2013 10:30 am
Hi madu410,

In RC passages, you don't have to understand everything to answer the questions. In fact, you can essentially ignore all of the "big words", scientific vocabulary, etc. and still get all of the accompanying questions corrects. Unfortunately, you're not necessarily going to gain this skill by reading articles (since articles won't necessarily follow the patterns/style/intent of GMAT RC passages). RC requires proper note-taking, an understanding of "what matters and what doesn't", knowledge of the question types and the patterns behind the wrong answers.

It sounds like the bigger issue is one that you've identified: you don't have enough time to study. The good news is that the GMAT is standardized, so you can learn the proper tactics, practice and then beat the test. If you can't do the necessary work though, then you're not likely to "shortcut" your way to a 700.

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich
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by madu410 » Sun Sep 29, 2013 11:09 am
Thank you Rich!

i understand that but just sometimes there are passages where i really dont get the point of whats going on and neither notes can help me.
In fact i remember when i took a class on site with Kaplan we were covering one exercise where noone in the whole group understood what the passage was about and even with note taking nothing made sense. Thats why i thought there might be some articles or sources i could read to be more familiar with difficult areas of science that can appear on GMAT.

Anyway, thank you for your reply!
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by [email protected] » Sun Sep 29, 2013 3:44 pm
Hi madu410,

"Nothing" made sense? None of the words? NONE? The GMAT can throw you a crazy passage or two on Test Day (maybe it's the content, the style or the length), but if you think that nothing makes sense, then you're not trying very hard. In those situations, you're rarely required to understand the details, so put your energy into figuring out the purpose behind each paragraph and the purpose of the prompt as a whole.

Try this: Take a "tough" passage and draw a line through every word that you don't understand. Next, read the words that are left. I'll bet that you can still understand a big chunk of the passage and you'll be able to get at least half of the questions correct.

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich
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by Brent@GMATPrepNow » Mon Sep 30, 2013 8:56 am
I agree with Rich in that GMAT RC is not a test of your vocabulary. That said, if you're looking for interesting, GMAT-like content, here some suggestions.

For Science passages, try:
- New Scientist
- Nature
- National Geographic
- Popular Mechanics
- Scientific American

For Humanities/Social Sciences, try:
- Washington Post
- New York Times
- Guardian
- Atlantic Monthly
- The New Yorker

And for Business, try:
- Fast Company
- Newsweek Business
- The Harvard Business Review
- BusinessWeek
- Economist
- Financial Times

Cheers,
Brent
Brent Hanneson - Creator of GMATPrepNow.com
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