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RC Strategy Recommendations - I'm too slow!

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RC Strategy Recommendations - I'm too slow!

by anniev2 » Fri Feb 20, 2009 10:51 am
I have been using Kaplan's RC strategy of creating a passage road map and details, etc but I have not been finishing in time. Realizing that time on RC questions should be different that time on CR questions (i'm not sure if Kaplan counts them the same or not on their CD tests) what other strategies can I use to speed up my performance?

Is there and adjusted time limit for RC passages or should I add in some other question types with RC to make it more realistic since reading passages takes up a lot of time.

Hope this makes sense. Let me know if I need a further explanation.
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by iwant700plus » Fri Feb 20, 2009 12:21 pm
I was using the same strategy of taking down notes, but I found out that I was spending too much time writing the notes, and when it came time to answer the questions, I was panicking because of lack of time. As a result, I was rushing through the questions, was not looking at the notes at all and my scoring was very inconsistent. I could score 40% is one passage and score 90% in the next. When this happened on about 8 passages, it was time to review my strategy.

I have adjusted this by ditching the notes all together. I zoom through the passage, and get a good sense of the tone and purpose. This I do in less than 2 mins. I then move to questions and spend as much time as I can to locate the material being asked in the passage to come up with an answer. My scoring has improved a lot; I now consistently score 95% or more on the OG passages.

But this is all about what works for you. I am taking a class with one of these companies, and their recommended strategy is taking down notes. I had to realize it wasn't working for me, and thus tried my own which works.

BTW, I am a non-native speaker and thought I was doomed at this Verbal stuff. There is always hope, just try several strategies and figure out what works best for you.

Good luck.
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by Uri » Fri Feb 20, 2009 8:32 pm
iwant700plus wrote:I was using the same strategy of taking down notes, but I found out that I was spending too much time writing the notes, and when it came time to answer the questions, I was panicking because of lack of time. As a result, I was rushing through the questions, was not looking at the notes at all and my scoring was very inconsistent. I could score 40% is one passage and score 90% in the next. When this happened on about 8 passages, it was time to review my strategy.

I have adjusted this by ditching the notes all together. I zoom through the passage, and get a good sense of the tone and purpose. This I do in less than 2 mins. I then move to questions and spend as much time as I can to locate the material being asked in the passage to come up with an answer. My scoring has improved a lot; I now consistently score 95% or more on the OG passages.

But this is all about what works for you. I am taking a class with one of these companies, and their recommended strategy is taking down notes. I had to realize it wasn't working for me, and thus tried my own which works.

BTW, I am a non-native speaker and thought I was doomed at this Verbal stuff. There is always hope, just try several strategies and figure out what works best for you.

Good luck.

iwant700plus, it's really heartening to know that you have improved a lot with your own strategy. i tried to note down the topic, scope and few key-words from the passage. but it was taking a lot of time. so, i too have dumped that technique. in stead i paraphrase mentally and move on. i give special emphasis on the first and last paragraphs. although it works in many of the cases, i am not yet confident of scoring 95% consistently. i am really interested to know what you meant by "scoring 95%"? is it getting 95% correct or is it attempting 95% questions in the stipulated time frame? if you are getting 95% correct, then that is really wonderful and that will mean i've to try harder!

anniev2, i've also attempted kaplan CD tests. i did not find any option to adjust the time limit. and i could not think of a way to mix up the RC questions with other types. but from those tests i try to find out the average time i take to answer RC questions. many times in this forum kaplan has been referred as the equivalent of "high altitude training" for Olympic runners. so, don't get scared even if you don't perform as well as you expect.
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by iwant700plus » Sat Feb 21, 2009 10:22 am
95% as in 95% accurate. I give myself 2 minutes per question. So if a passage has 3 questions, I give myself 6 minutes to read and answer the 3 questions. The key is to PRACTICE, PRACTICE. The only way you can perfect your strategy is through constant Practice. I try to do at least 3 passages/day from OG 10. Once I am done with OG 10, I plan to move onto OG11.
Uri wrote:
iwant700plus wrote:I was using the same strategy of taking down notes, but I found out that I was spending too much time writing the notes, and when it came time to answer the questions, I was panicking because of lack of time. As a result, I was rushing through the questions, was not looking at the notes at all and my scoring was very inconsistent. I could score 40% is one passage and score 90% in the next. When this happened on about 8 passages, it was time to review my strategy.

I have adjusted this by ditching the notes all together. I zoom through the passage, and get a good sense of the tone and purpose. This I do in less than 2 mins. I then move to questions and spend as much time as I can to locate the material being asked in the passage to come up with an answer. My scoring has improved a lot; I now consistently score 95% or more on the OG passages.

But this is all about what works for you. I am taking a class with one of these companies, and their recommended strategy is taking down notes. I had to realize it wasn't working for me, and thus tried my own which works.

BTW, I am a non-native speaker and thought I was doomed at this Verbal stuff. There is always hope, just try several strategies and figure out what works best for you.

Good luck.

iwant700plus, it's really heartening to know that you have improved a lot with your own strategy. i tried to note down the topic, scope and few key-words from the passage. but it was taking a lot of time. so, i too have dumped that technique. in stead i paraphrase mentally and move on. i give special emphasis on the first and last paragraphs. although it works in many of the cases, i am not yet confident of scoring 95% consistently. i am really interested to know what you meant by "scoring 95%"? is it getting 95% correct or is it attempting 95% questions in the stipulated time frame? if you are getting 95% correct, then that is really wonderful and that will mean i've to try harder!

anniev2, i've also attempted kaplan CD tests. i did not find any option to adjust the time limit. and i could not think of a way to mix up the RC questions with other types. but from those tests i try to find out the average time i take to answer RC questions. many times in this forum kaplan has been referred as the equivalent of "high altitude training" for Olympic runners. so, don't get scared even if you don't perform as well as you expect.
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by Uri » Sun Feb 22, 2009 1:03 am
iwant700plus wrote:95% as in 95% accurate. I give myself 2 minutes per question. So if a passage has 3 questions, I give myself 6 minutes to read and answer the 3 questions. The key is to PRACTICE, PRACTICE. The only way you can perfect your strategy is through constant Practice. I try to do at least 3 passages/day from OG 10. Once I am done with OG 10, I plan to move onto OG11.
that's great to know. it means i have a lot of scope for improvement! i spend 2 minutes per RC qn, and this includes the reading time as well. so, in effect, i get approx. 1 min to find the answer to each of the questions. well, i understand, i have to try a lot harder.
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by bourne3 » Sun Feb 22, 2009 8:38 am
I had the same problem with general strategy of Kaplan.
In fact most of the prep materials discuss similar strategies.

But the following worked for me:
1. https://www.beatthegmat.com/general-stra ... n-t76.html
There are strategies here that let you answer specific questions different ways.
2. Really understanding answer patterns that GMAT RC uses
The work I put into working power score CR bible helped me here.
The patterns generally followed for incorrect answers are: out of scope, half right half wrong, extreme language, reverse answer etc....
The final elimination between two or three choices can be done only if you are well aware of these patterns

In fact in my prep my RC improved without having to spend too much time on practice. The key was not spending too much time on the passage but I did make notes about what each paragraph did (not more than 2 to 3 words ex: Intro to theory 1, opinion expressed etc...)

Hope this helps.
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by Uri » Sun Feb 22, 2009 4:21 pm
thanks bourne3 for sharing your experience. although i have read the "general strategies for RC" earlier, after reading your post i have gone through it once again and will follow it for the parts where i am lacking. thanks once again, mate!
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by anniev2 » Mon Feb 23, 2009 4:37 pm
Thanks all!
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