RC Difficulty on the GMAT

[radbuz]

Hi GMAT Experts,

I'm interested in knowing how the GMAT adaptive algorithm decides the difficulty of RC questions.In the case of quant and for that matter, SC and CR, the algorithm can easily pick a question corresponding to a particular ability level and throw that on the screen. However, in the case of an RC question,what is the measure of ability - the passage itself or the questions associated with it ? . To make my point clearer, suppose that I answer a series of questions correctly and the algorithm assesses me as a 680 level person at this point. Now, the algorithm wants to throw up an RC question. What will be the question be like - will it be a relatively hard passage or will it be an average passage with each question associated with the passage being harder than the previous one?

I'm asking because if at this point I get a passage which is hard in terms of content , there is a likelihood that I could answer all 4-5 questions associated with the passage wrong, which could hurt my score tremendously. However, in the other scenario, I might get the 1st 2 questions correct and the next 2 wrong and the probability of a reduction in score would be lower in this scenario.

[DavidG@VeritasPrep]

The questions associated with a given passage are pre-determined, so how well you do on the earlier questions within a passage will have no impact on what the later questions for that same passage will be. However, I would strongly advise against trying to game the algorithm in an attempt to elicit an easier passage.

There's a good discussion here:
https://www.beatthegmat.com/reading-comp ... 75096.html

[radbuz]

The questions associated with a given passage are pre-determined, so how well you do on the earlier questions within a passage will have no impact on what the later questions for that same passage will be. However, I would strongly advise against trying to game the algorithm in an attempt to elicit an easier passage.

There's a good discussion here:
https://www.beatthegmat.com/reading-comp ... 75096.html

Thanks David! The above discussion aptly answered my question. I'm not planning to game the system as such. Till now, I restricted my prep to the OG. However, i could find only 3-4 passages there which really challenged me in terms of content. I'm aiming for a 740+ score. Do you suggest practicing "harder content" passages and from which source?

[DavidG@VeritasPrep]

My advice would depend on how your practice tests have gone thus far. If, for example, Reading Comp is a strength for you, and you're getting 90+% of those questions correct, doing more practice passages beyond your exams probably shouldn't be a priority. But if you find that you struggle on exam passages in a way that you didn't on OG passages, the best advice I can give is to consistently read material that challenges you. That material can be anything: technical journals, novels, etc. If you want more official passages, you could always pick up the OG verbal supplement: https://www.mba.com/us/store/store-catal ... -2015.aspx; And there are more passages included in this question pack, which encompasses all GMAT question categories: https://www.mba.com/us/store/store-catal ... ack-1.aspx; But again, the best preparation for this section is simply reading voraciously and reviewing what you miss on your practice tests.

(You've probably seen that doing Reading Comp during an exam has a different feel than when you practice these types of questions in isolation. The reason is that by the time you see a passage on a test, you've been working for several hours, so your stamina and focus are strained in a way that they wouldn't be during a lighter review session.)