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CR and RC - Notes?

Critical Reasoning, Reading Comprehension
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CR and RC - Notes?

by Bullzi » Thu Oct 22, 2015 8:13 am
Hello..

I was curious if anyone has tried comparing strategies that are for/against note taking for CR and RC sections. What worked for you and what didn't and why?

Though the note making strategy makes sense in general, I constantly find myself thinking that I may use up more time in taking notes than focusing on the question and nuances in the question. I am curious to know your thoughts..

Thanks,
Bullzi

Corrected a typo..
Last edited by Bullzi on Thu Oct 22, 2015 10:25 am, edited 1 time in total.
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by [email protected] » Thu Oct 22, 2015 10:20 am
Hi Bullzi,

Note-taking is beneficial for a number of reasons. By taking the proper notes, you won't have to reread and reread the prompt very often (except when a specific RC question requires that you go back and find a piece of information). You'll also find it easier to 'map out' the point of the prompt, what opinions (if any) are offered, the logical argument involved, etc. When done correctly, it's actually a BIG time-SAVER and it helps you to score higher.

From a big-picture standpoint, you also have to realize how having this skill will benefit you in Business School. When you're reading through a dense 'case study', you will NOT be able to memorize everything (and the questions that you're going to attempt to answer won't be multiple choice) - your notes (and note-taking skills) will be ESSENTIAL to succeeding in each of your Business School classes, group projects, etc.

Ultimately, you shouldn't be thinking about whether or not to take notes. You should be thinking about how efficiently you can go about building up those skills.

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Rich
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by Bullzi » Thu Oct 22, 2015 10:38 am
Thanks for your response Rich

I actually started realizing that the issue may be with my note-taking skills and not actually with the note-taking strategy itself. I guess I may have to get used to taking short meaningful notes without bothering too much about the clock ticking away
When done correctly, it's actually a BIG time-SAVER and it helps you to score higher.

That's a big motivation! Let me tweak my note-taking strategies, practice some and figure out if I get better. Let me post again if I have specific questions on note-taking

Thanks,
Bullzi
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by ceilidh.erickson » Tue Nov 03, 2015 5:29 pm
I'm going to go against the grain a bit and contradict standard advice (including what's offered in Mprep guides): I actually think that most students shouldn't take notes, or at least shouldn't take many notes.

That doesn't mean that I think that note-taking is useless. Quite the contrary - certain types of note-taking can be very helpful in decoding and understanding the structure of a passage. However, I find that a majority of my students take notes that don't help them in any way.

The problem is that we were trained to take notes in high school and college; those notes:
- focused on details
- were designed to help us remember facts

On the GMAT, those objectives are useless. You should only take notes on the GMAT if:
- writing helps you to stay focused / organized
- you focus on the STRUCTURE of the passage, not the details

I recommend performing your own experiment: try 3 RC passages taking notes, then try 3 with no notes at all. See if there is a difference in your accuracy. If notes improve accuracy, take them. If they don't - save time by skipping them.

For CR, most questions (strengthen, weaken, assumption, flaw, evaluate) will rely in some way on what's MISSING in an argument, not on what's there. For that reason, I don't recommend transcribing what's actually stated in the passage. I do recommend jotting down a note about the logical flaw / missing piece in the argument.

Hope this helps!
Ceilidh Erickson
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Harvard Graduate School of Education
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by Jim@StratusPrep » Tue Nov 03, 2015 5:35 pm
First off all, this is a case by case scenario. Some should take notes and others shouldn't; it all depends on how you can internalize information. However, I personally think that you should try to keep notes (if you take them at all) to a minimum. Do the least amount of work that you can to understand the subject and structure of the argument. If you can nail those 2 parts, then CR questions start to become much easier.
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