No doubt that The Princeton Review’s strategies to approach GMAT Verbal section questions are the best and help students ace the GMAT Exam and achieve the 90th percentile with ease.

But when it comes to the GMAT Reading Comprehension strategies, students do get stumped, overwhelmed, sullen, depressed, anxious, and this attitude continues. There could be so many reasons for this, yet Reading Comprehension is a significant part of the GMAT Verbal section, with 13 or 14 questions to solve from 4 passages! That is almost sixty percent of the total number of questions. Keeping the above in mind, the attitude towards GMAT Reading Comprehension must change!

Let’s look at how you can improve your performance in passages:

The topic of a passage should not impact the way we read a passage-

You are bound to get topics such as physical sciences, social sciences, history, astronomy, business, etc. Not every such topic could be interesting, but that shouldn’t create any resistance or passivity towards passages. Every passage has a say in your score, so no discrimination.

Why are we reading the passage?

The purpose of reading the Reading Comprehension passage is certainly not to gain knowledge or test your knowledge on certain topics that you read a passage. You have to read the passage to get an answer to the question. What is the topic about? What was the takeaway from the reading of the passage?

These questions can be answered only if you are able to cull out the author’s statements in the passage that usually come in the form of conclusions, suggestions, objections, or just opinions made from facts, evidence, or data. There may be several such statements in the passage, but who matters most to us is THE AUTHOR of the passage.

The questions on the GMAT Exam revolve more around the author’s statements in the passage.

GMAT Reading Comprehension Practice by skimming and scanning:

When we have to get to the main point of the passage, skimming works best. Skimming helps us track information about the topic of the passage and get the relevant points faster. By skimming, you can get an outline of the passage, the flow of ideas in a passage, and the author’s stance on the topic.

Scanning on the other hand helps us in getting specific pieces of information from specific parts of the passage. Some lead words or phrases stand out while reading and help us get more details about that part of the passage.

So by this process of skimming and scanning, you will be able to answer the more general questions, which ask of the entire passage and even the specific questions that focus on particular sections of the passage. You learn the art of reading more efficiently during your GMAT Exam preparation

Active reading helps find the Main idea:

So when we skim, we look for the topic of the passage which is almost always the first thing a paragraph or passage begins with. Now it doesn’t stop there. What does the author want the reader to know?

Some reading passages may have just one paragraph, and others may have more paragraphs. Every paragraph will introduce a new topic or at least a new idea. That is what we need to look for first. Once we get that, we just need to check if the following information goes along with the same idea or contradicts the idea in any way. The direction of the flow of ideas gives us a way to understand what information the author wants to pass on through the introduced topic. Tracing that information is done via ACTIVE READING. Look for keywords such as thus, so, indeed, of course…these words support or take the idea in the same direction. Other marker words such as however, yet, but, although, and nevertheless…. take the opposite direction and change ideas. Our eyes need to search these keywords to keep track of the structure of the passage and get to the main idea of the passage finally.

So three points need to be kept in mind to get to the main idea:

1. What is the topic?
2. What is the main information about the topic by the author?
3. What else is added to support the main information?

If you see that the additional detail supports just one main statement or sentence in the passage, then you have spotted the main idea.

Do we need to read the passage again after getting the main idea?

Of course, we do! Once we get the main idea and the flow of the passage, we move to the questions. Going the questions doesn’t mandate knowing the answer without looking back. In fact, that is exactly what GMAC is waiting for – You falling for memory traps!

Never should you click on an answer that seems just apt or more likely or better….these types of answers are the laid traps for you. Always go back to the passage for PROOF. An answer MUST be supported by the passage-not halfway through but in full.

On the GMAT Verbal section, the passages remain along with each question till you answer all of the questions-3 or 4 in number under a passage. So get the information from the passage that will back up your answer and lead you to accuracy. Remember to use the elimination process to arrive at the right answer, and never choose an answer that seems like the passage or more appealing as an answer.

Do I really need to work on every passage and every question under a passage?

Initially, I did say that Reading Comprehension questions cannot be compromised as they contribute to sixty percent of the 23 questions on the GMAT Verbal section.

Some passages matter more on the test than others, and we need to be cautious and calculative about approaching the important ones. GMAT Exam is a computer adaptive test. You need to remember that in the Reading Comprehension, the adaptiveness depends on your performance in all the questions under the passage. Depending on how many questions out of 3 or 4 you got right, the difficulty level of the next question after the passage will be determined. To keep a consistent difficulty level and prevent the scores from dropping, you must focus more on the initial passages. If you make more mistakes initially on the test, it becomes very difficult to reach a respectable difficulty level. So, it’s best to concentrate on at least the first two passages in the section to maintain or boost the level of difficulty and keep it at par. Care has to be taken though to see that in the bargain, you don’t spend too much time in the two passages. You are not married to the passages and you should know when to get out of it. Pacing the test is of significance too!

How do I identify bad answers?

Well, you know that options that do not have the support of the passage can be the wrong answer. Then how does GMAT Exam construct wrong answers? Not one but four of them?

GMAT Exam has to use only the information in the passage to do so. So how can an answer be wrong?

1. Deceptive language – the words may exactly look the same as used in the passage, but does it answer the question? Is it in the paragraph that it should be in? NO! Eliminate such answers.
2. Reversal – An answer choice may just reverse the main idea or say the opposite of a statement in the passage. Careful reading is a MUST. Eliminate such answers.
3. Extreme wording – Some options assert more than what the passage says by using strong, superlative constructions. The authors cannot have harsh views; hence, humiliating answers are usually wrong. Eliminate such answers.
4. Comparisons – The comparatives in options make way for traps very easily. You have to check whether the right things are compared in the passage too, or do you find a comparison? Eliminate such answers that make a bad comparison or a wrong comparison.
5. Outside information– Such answers that use information not discussed in the passage may be very appealing because they synch with your thought process! Beware of such answers. Eliminate!

Can I skip the long passage?

Skipping is not an option on the GMAT Exam. If you find the passage or a question difficult to handle, you can make a random guess and move on. Yes, if the long passages look threatening and very complex, it is a good idea to try doing a few specific questions, which don’t require the reading of the passage upfront. Try to get rid of answers that seem too strongly asserted by their use of words, or that use too many words of the passage literally. Then take a guess. This saved time should be spent on questions that you can work on and get right. After all, both getting the questions right and finishing the section matter decide your scores.

What do I do if a passage comes to the 21st question?

Fret not! Check out how much time you have at that moment. If you just have say 3 to 4 minutes left, your focus then should be on completing the test and not on performing well in every question. And we know passages take a lot more time than other question types.

At the 21st question, the difficulty level of a student is already gauged and will not vary significantly with mistakes. So if passages aren’t your forte, do not read the passage, work on maybe one or two questions that are paragraph specific, and guess the rest to move quickly to do justice to the completion of the test.

So, dear GMAT test-takers, I have given all the important GMAT Reading Comprehension tips you need to keep in mind and start doing the GMAT Reading Comprehension practice to help you perform better in the GMAT Reading Comprehension questions.

There will be a marked improvement in your reading skills. Correspondingly, your GMAT scores will soar high.

Wishing you the best!

FAQs:

1. Has the number of Reading Comprehension questions gone up in the Focus edition?

No. The number of RC questions is still 13 or 14. They come from 4 passages.

2. Can I skip questions and come back?

Skipping questions is not possible. However, you can mark them for review and edit the answers once you complete all the questions. You can edit the answers for up to 3 questions at the end of the section.

3. How many questions are there on the verbal?

There are 23 questions on the verbal with 45 minutes to complete them.

4. How does the scoring work on the GMAT Exam?

The Quantitative Reasoning, Verbal Reasoning, and Data Insights sections

have individual scores ranging from 60 – 90. The final score ranges from 205 to 805.

5. Do you still have the AWA section on the GMAT Exam?

No. GMAT has removed the essay.