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RC books

by marijose » Tue Jan 04, 2011 7:55 am
Hey guys,

what books or strategies do you recommend I get for RC? I have bought the RC MGMAT book.. I havent started it.. also I am reading good posts on th RC99 book...

Should I be fine with just the RC from MGMAT and the verbal revew and OG12?

Ive read that taking notes has helped a lot of people as well as reading novels... do you guys recomend this??


I am a non native speaker and RC is really hard for me.

regards
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by David@VeritasPrep » Tue Jan 04, 2011 6:59 pm
You have several sources there...you can try what you have and see how you are doing and then maybe check back if you need other sources.

The two other sources that I would recommend if you find that you have time for more - you may not - are the Veritas Reading Comp book and LSAT questions. I mention these two sources because I know that each of them has questions that are more difficult than what is in the Official Guide and at least as tough as anything you will see on test day.

Students have been coming back lately saying that the actual GMAT has tougher reading comp and critical reasoning than what is in the Official Guide. So it is good to have some difficulty that is beyond the Official Guide. I would say that of the passage in the OG 12th edition only 3 or 4 of the passages both long and difficult. There are some tough questions but not enough length and vocabulary.

see the following post for one student's take on the difficulty. https://www.beatthegmat.com/need-expert- ... 72482.html

As for reading novels...well that is a great thing to do years and months before studying for the GMAT, but it may not be the most efficient use of your time if you have to take the test within a few months or even weeks from now.
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by marijose » Wed Jan 05, 2011 7:27 am
Thanks a lot!, I will start with what I have and see how it goes from there.

I took the gmat a few weeks ago , got a 520, 40q and 22v.

I have to say that I spent about 80 % of my time studing math and 20 % on verbal. It wasnt strange that I got such a low grade on verbal becuase of the lack ot study time I dedicated to it.

I have to agree with you and the other students that the verbal on the gmat was complete out of this world! much more difficult, the CR were strange not your tipicall strenght or weaken... strange and extremly hard. I am not from the US, Im actually from mexico but ive been in amercian schools all my life, and I thought that the verbal part would not be as hard...

I got a big suprize! I never got below a 33 on the gmat prep in verbal section... I really got disappointed when I saw the 22..

I am planning in getting deep into CR , SC and RC. This time arround.

regards
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by shovit_dhar » Thu Jan 06, 2011 12:18 am
marijose wrote:Hey guys,

what books or strategies do you recommend I get for RC? I have bought the RC MGMAT book.. I havent started it.. also I am reading good posts on th RC99 book...

Should I be fine with just the RC from MGMAT and the verbal revew and OG12?

I am a non native speaker and RC is really hard for me.

regards
I had prepared for CR by doing passages from RC 99 and it immensely helped me improve my RC accuracy and confidence. Don't waste too much time on strategies since it won't be of much use. Also keep in mind that the passages in the OG12 ask you a lot of questions while the GMAT won't ask you more tha 3-4 from each passage.
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by David@VeritasPrep » Thu Jan 06, 2011 2:02 pm
Shovit, you should keep in mind that you can have up to six questions with a reading comprehension passage and getting five questions on a passage is common. It is true that the Official Guide presents more questions for a particular passage than would be presented on the actual exam - what you will notice is that there are usually pairs of questions that ask nearly the same thing. One of the two is considered more difficult and this is one way that the test writers can control the difficulty level of a reading comprehension passage. This is something that helps a student to practice - they see the different ways something can be asked. I certainly do not agree with the idea that having several questions on a single passage somehow makes the OG less valuable.

And if someone has no need of any strategy, but just wants to practice passages. I would recommend LSAT passages as opposed to any other source. LSAT passages and questions are well-written and edited and are of the same quality as those on the GMAT. And a used copy of one of the 10 Official LSAT books can be had for less than $10.

Remember that the questions on the GMAT cost $2500 each to write (according to Business Week Magazine) and the ones that are selected for the OG 12 have been official questions that are now retired. Unofficial sources are simply not as well edited, that is the plain and simple fact. The reason that I recommend a RC strategy book such as MGMAT or our own Veritas book is not because I claim that the passages are better than those in the OG, but so that students can develop strategies. Otherwise, a student who only needs to practice should go straight to the source with official GMAT material. And then as I mentioned in the post above to get the long difficult passages that might appear on the GMAT, LSAT questions are the toughest, cheapest, best source.

Bottom Line: Most people are likely to need some help developing their approach to the GMAT Reading Comprehension. Even someone who gets 9 out of every 10 right still have some room for improvement!
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