Reading Speed

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eccentric: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 88; Joined: Tue Jul 15, 2008 1:43 am; Thanked: 3 times; Followed by:1 members; GMAT Score:590

Reading Speed

by eccentric » Sat Aug 23, 2008 2:29 am

I have tested on my reading speed that comes out to be 200 words per minute. How can i improve upon the reading speed, as i believe this impacts a lot as far as comprehension of a passage is concerned.

My progress so far has been good on quant which has always been my strong point but i have not been able to improve my verbal scores significantly. Journey has been good on quant from 25 - 50 where as on verbal section i have snailed from 19 - 25 and RC has been the weakest link in all.

I have started to believe now after this analysis on RC speed that i can work on this area and still significant improve my score!!!!!!

Expert comments please

Regards,

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Source: Beat The GMAT — Reading Comprehension | Sat Aug 23, 2008 2:29 am

pepeprepa: Legendary Member; Posts: 661; Joined: Tue Jul 08, 2008 12:58 pm; Location: France; Thanked: 48 times

by pepeprepa » Sat Aug 23, 2008 2:53 am

What I think, is that concentration and stamina are much more important than to read 10 or 20 more words per minute. The gain is low. Gmat is a time management test that's true but you have the time to read completely the texts if you spend a little less time on SC for example.

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VP_Jim: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 1223; Joined: Thu May 01, 2008 3:29 pm; Location: Los Angeles, CA; Thanked: 185 times; Followed by:15 members

by VP_Jim » Sat Aug 23, 2008 10:12 am

Remember that your goal in RC should just be to have a general idea about the purpose, structure, and tone of the passage. Don't read for details - you can always refer back to the passage for detail questions.

My theory is that you SHOULD be able to answer broad questions about purpose and tone etc. without looking back to the passage. You SHOULD NOT be able to answer specific detail questions without looking back - if you can, you're spending too much time reading. Remember that there are hundreds of details in every passage but you're only going to be asked about 3 or 4 of them - don't bother trying to get every little piece of information on the first read.

Jim S. | GMAT Instructor | Veritas Prep

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eccentric: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 88; Joined: Tue Jul 15, 2008 1:43 am; Thanked: 3 times; Followed by:1 members; GMAT Score:590

by eccentric » Tue Aug 26, 2008 3:23 am

Thanks!!!

I guess you have made a great point, getting gist is important while assimilation of entire text is n't..

Regards

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Stacey Koprince: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 2228; Joined: Wed Dec 27, 2006 3:28 pm; Location: Montreal, Canada; Thanked: 639 times; Followed by:694 members; GMAT Score:780

by Stacey Koprince » Tue Aug 26, 2008 8:28 pm

I received a PM asking me to comment on this question. I completely agree with what Jim said - he makes a great point. Remember this too: they typically write 6 to 8 questions for a passage, but they only give one person 3 to 4 of those questions. So that means there are some details you're definitely NOT going to be asked - you won't get those questions. Just another incentive to get the "big picture" ideas on your first read-through and leave the detailed stuff for later (and only IF you get a question about that detail).

Here's a link to another post that gives you some more ideas for RC:
https://www.beatthegmat.com/verbal-strategy-t14035.html

Please note: I do not use the Private Messaging system! I will not see any PMs that you send to me!!

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hidhairya: Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts; Posts: 4; Joined: Sun Sep 21, 2008 5:09 pm

Slow Reading Speed haunts

by hidhairya » Sun Sep 21, 2008 9:23 pm

Jim and Stacey I am agree with you but I am even more slow reader then the guy who asked this question.

My reading speed is just 88 WPM. I know that is really horrible especially when you try to finish RC.

Could you guys suggest me another strategy to crack RC even with my speed or should I seriously consider some speed reading courses? Also if speed reading is answer please suggest some courses for that.

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Vignesh.4384: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 443; Joined: Sat Jun 28, 2008 6:33 pm; Thanked: 5 times

Re: Slow Reading Speed haunts

by Vignesh.4384 » Mon Sep 22, 2008 1:33 am

hidhairya wrote:Jim and Stacey I am agree with you but I am even more slow reader then the guy who asked this question.

My reading speed is just 88 WPM. I know that is really horrible especially when you try to finish RC.

Could you guys suggest me another strategy to crack RC even with my speed or should I seriously consider some speed reading courses? Also if speed reading is answer please suggest some courses for that.

I had read this book called "How to read faster and better" bu Norman Lewis.
Helped me improve and obviously if u need to improve ur reading speed u should read a lot ..
Takes some time to read at a good pace ..

Last edited by Vignesh.4384 on Tue Sep 23, 2008 7:53 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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stop@800: Legendary Member; Posts: 871; Joined: Wed Aug 13, 2008 7:48 am; Thanked: 48 times

by stop@800 » Tue Sep 23, 2008 2:27 pm

200 WPM is a very good speed for GMAT.

You just need 2.5 minutes to read 500 words, its excellent.

yes 88, I think needs a bit of improvement.
My personal opinion is to take speed to 100 and focus on accuracy.

100 WPM with 90% accuracy is very good, atleast for me.
I am also currently around 90 WPM.

Can you please give some examples as to what strategies does Norman Lewis contains?

I want to evaluate that is it worth reading the book at this stage?

www.interrogationpoint.com

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GMAT/MBA Expert

Stacey Koprince: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 2228; Joined: Wed Dec 27, 2006 3:28 pm; Location: Montreal, Canada; Thanked: 639 times; Followed by:694 members; GMAT Score:780

by Stacey Koprince » Tue Sep 23, 2008 3:11 pm

I haven't heard of that book before but, in addition, to this student's comments, you could also look the book up on Amazon and see what other people have said about it. The Amazon entry should also provide some kind of synopsis of the contents.

One thing to remember in reading a GMAT passage: you don't need to learn all of the nit-picky detail that a passage contains. In fact, you actively do not want to learn that detail on your first read-through.

It's important to learn to become comfortable skimming over some of the detail - seeing that it's there and maybe knowing at a high level "oh, this is about the effect of chemical fertilizers on birds' eggs" but don't actually get into HOW the chemicals affect the eggs unless and until you get a question about that detail.

In general, about twice as many questions are written for a passage as you'll be given yourself, so you know you're NOT going to get asked about all of the detail in the passage. Only learn what you need to learn.

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Vignesh.4384: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 443; Joined: Sat Jun 28, 2008 6:33 pm; Thanked: 5 times

by Vignesh.4384 » Tue Sep 23, 2008 7:49 pm

stop@800 wrote:200 WPM is a very good speed for GMAT.

You just need 2.5 minutes to read 500 words, its excellent.

yes 88, I think needs a bit of improvement.
My personal opinion is to take speed to 100 and focus on accuracy.

100 WPM with 90% accuracy is very good, atleast for me.
I am also currently around 90 WPM.

Can you please give some examples as to what strategies does Norman Lewis contains?

I want to evaluate that is it worth reading the book at this stage?

I have not completed the book yet but i have noted a considerable improvement.
The book shows has a lot of ex that help u track ur speed . It shows u the diff between a novice reader and a seasoned reader. I think it wil help in a way cos the author constantly focuses on getting the main idea of the passage . This is what other experts on this forumn also recomend.

To improve speed the author of the book discusses strategies like fixing ur eyes ... I am not saying by reading the book u can improve but it just gives u a lot of tips.. It has taken me more than a month to increase my speed by about 100 words..