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Note taking for Reading comprehension questions

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Note taking for Reading comprehension questions

by edson » Sun Mar 20, 2016 5:09 am
Hi there,

I've studied RC questions for a while now and I did not really find a good strategy to approach the questions.

Gmatprepnow and Magoosh recommend that we should take notes. Actually, they claim that note taking is essential.
Veritas, however, says it's not very useful since we do not need notes for general question (like main purpose questions) and for inference and details questions we need to look into the text anyway.

I have to say that I agree with Veritas. When I take notes, I never look at my notes to answer the questions.
Therefore, I have decided to only note transitional words down and the main idea/purpose of the passage if it is not the first question. Nothing else!

I am actually really successful with this strategy...

What do you think about my strategy? Does it work for really hard questions as well?
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by Brent@GMATPrepNow » Sun Mar 20, 2016 7:34 am
Taking notes does not mean taking TONS of notes.
We (at GMAT Prep Now) believe you should identify and summarize:
- the theme of each paragraph (4 to 8 words)
- conflicting points of view (4 to 8 words)
- main idea (4 to 8 words)

So, we're talking about 20 to 30 words altogether (and you can use shorthand and acronyms to use fewer words).

If you take good notes, you won't have to go back and re-read the passage. More importantly, when you're looking for specific pieces of information to summarize, you will better engage with the passage (which is a HUGE factor in RC success).

If others are interested, we have a free set of videos that cover all sorts of Reading Comprehension strategies: https://www.gmatprepnow.com/module/gmat- ... prehension

Cheers,
Brent
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by edson » Sun Mar 20, 2016 7:41 am
Thanks for your answer!!!
Brent@GMATPrepNow wrote: If you take good notes, you won't have to go back and re-read the passage.
Not even for detail questions?
Do you personally take notes?
Is it a universal strategy?

Could anyone from Veritas comment on my question too?
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by Brent@GMATPrepNow » Sun Mar 20, 2016 8:21 am
For some detail questions, you may have to return to the passage. However, if you take notes, you may have a good idea where the required information is located.

Yes, I take notes.

I can't say that it's a universal strategy. I've heard that test-takers in other galaxies sometimes don't take notes :-)

Having said all of that, when it comes to Reading Comprehension, I don't believe that there's one specific approach that works best for everyone. I always recommend that students spend some time experimenting with different strategies to see which one best suits their memory, reading speed and English proficiency.

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by [email protected] » Sun Mar 20, 2016 9:44 am
Hi edson,

Some Test Takers are naturally strong in the Verbal section, so they take fewer notes (much in the same way that some Test Takers are really strong in the Quant and don't take notes either). If your goal is score at the highest possible level though, you really have to think about the logic behind note-taking. Have you EVER gotten an RC question wrong because of a silly/little mistake? If you have, then note-taking might have kept that mistake from happening.

The process of note-taking serves several purposes. Beyond summarizing the passage (in each paragraph and overall), you also engage your thinking at a higher level (since you have to process what you've read and note the ideas). The note-taking also forces you to look away from the screen, which is beneficial (physiologically and psychologically).

Ultimately, you can choose to approach this process and the GMAT in whatever manner you choose. If you hit your goal score, then your plan will have worked. As a gauge though, I'd like to know a few things about your studies:

1) Have you taken the Official GMAT yet? If so, then how did you score?
2) How have you scored on each of your practice CATs (including the Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores)?
3) What is your goal score?

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich
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by edson » Sun Mar 20, 2016 10:21 am
Thanks for your help guys!
1) Have you taken the Official GMAT yet? If so, then how did you score?
2) How have you scored on each of your practice CATs (including the Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores)?
3) What is your goal score?
1) No.
2) Quant: 49 (80%), Verbal: 29 (50%) -> most of the errors were SC errors
3) My goal is 700. I will take the test in 14 days.

One more information: I am German -> not a native English speaker

I have actually used the note-taking approach and the result was the following: It took me more time and I actually made a lot of mistakes. Maybe it was just bad luck...


Thanks for your help again!
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by ceilidh.erickson » Sat Apr 02, 2016 2:02 pm
I think it's almost impossible to give universal advice on note-taking; this is why you'll find so much contradictory advice from prep companies. I think that some students benefit from note-taking, abut my suspicion is that for a majority of students, note-taking does not add value.

The problem is that we were trained to take notes back in high school and college. When we took notes back then, we tended to focus on 2 things:
- remember details
- prepare for a test weeks or months in the future

On the GMAT, those objectives are useless. You should only take notes on the GMAT if:
- writing helps you to stay focused / organized in your thinking
- 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.
Ceilidh Erickson
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Harvard Graduate School of Education
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by MartyMurray » Sat Apr 02, 2016 7:59 pm
In case this information helps, I can tell you that I have seen non native speakers achieve without taking any notes solid verbal section scores as high as the upper 40's.
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by diegocml » Tue Apr 12, 2016 12:40 am
ceilidh.erickson wrote:I think it's almost impossible to give universal advice on note-taking; this is why you'll find so much contradictory advice from prep companies. I think that some students benefit from note-taking, abut my suspicion is that for a majority of students, note-taking does not add value.

The problem is that we were trained to take notes back in high school and college. When we took notes back then, we tended to focus on 2 things:
- remember details
- prepare for a test weeks or months in the future

On the GMAT, those objectives are useless. You should only take notes on the GMAT if:
- writing helps you to stay focused / organized in your thinking
- 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.
Thank you for the tip, Ceilidh!

I have just started my RC studies and I am not quite sure note taking on RC passages is for me. I found my notes to be sometimes useless and have to refer back to my memory or re-read parts of the passage. However, paraphrasing each sentence and jotting down the tone/intent of each sentence does help.
Diego

1st GMAT attemp: 410 (Q18 V27)
2nd GMAT attemp: 490 (Q35 V23)
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