Imagine What You’re Reading in Movie Form or Create Mental “Snapshots”

In many instances, it simply won’t be practical or feasible for GMAT material to include visual elements such as graphs and charts or videos and animations. Yet, you still need to be able to stay focused and assimilate text-based information.

For example, GMAT students often find it difficult to stay engaged with passages in Reading Comprehension or Critical Reasoning. Of course, engaging with what you’re reading in a passage is an essential part of mastering Critical Reasoning and Reading Comprehension.

Fortunately, you CAN make the experience of reading passages more visual, and thus more engaging, by picturing what you’re reading. Imagine what you’re reading unfolding as if it’s a movie you’re watching. This visualization process will help you be a more careful reader and better assimilate and connect the information.

Picturing described scenarios isn’t just for Verbal questions; it can also help you assimilate information in Quant word problems. Whatever you’re reading, whether it’s a practice question or lesson, try imagining it in movie form. You may be surprised at how much more easily you’re able to recall what you’ve read.

Alternatively, if you’re reading about something such as a formula, try to create a photograph of it in your mind. For example, say you just learned that rate = distance / time. Rather than merely reading that formula, look at it and create a mental “snapshot” of it. Later on, you can try to conjure up that snapshot in your mind.

Warmest regards,

Scott Woodbury-Stewart
Founder & CEO, Target Test Prep