Why You Should Stop Trying to Memorize Every Detail in GMAT Reading Comprehension

GMAT students sometimes make the mistake of trying to remember or understand every detail in GMAT Verbal passages. This strategy is unproductive because you cannot predict which details the questions about the passage will focus on and which details will prove irrelevant.

Furthermore, while RC questions may ask about specific details mentioned in the passage, your overall understanding of what is being discussed, and why, and how, is the essential foundation on which your knowledge of the passage rests.

So, when you first read an RC passage, you’re far better off reading to gain a basic understanding of what the author says. After all, you can always refer back to the passage to locate a particular fact, idea, or detail. However, your understanding of how those relate to other facts, ideas, and details in the passage, or relate to the author’s overall argument or motivation, won’t be sitting there on line 6 of paragraph two.

Remember, GMAT Reading Comprehension is not testing whether you have a photographic memory for detail. If it were, then a passage wouldn’t remain on the screen when it came time to answer the questions. What GMAT RC really tests is whether you understand what you read and can recognize how different aspects of what you read relate to each other.

Note also that GMAT RC passages sometimes attempt to distract you with jargon or dense, complicated detail. Do you need to precisely comprehend every bit of jargon the author uses to explain a particular theory, or be able to repeat each step in a process? No. Your job is to understand why and how the author presents that information.

Warmest regards,

Scott Woodbury-Stewart
Founder & CEO, Target Test Prep