MY VERBAL PREP STRATEGY
Background Info: I was good at Quant, but weak at Verbal, as is case with a lot of test takers. So I devoted a lot of time to improve my Verbal skills.
Contrary to popular belief, my gmat experience proved that one can improve one’s verbal skills, even RC skills, significantly in a relatively short time through proper approach and prep strategy. Guys, Believe me, at the beginning of my prep, my RC, CR and SC skills were in the 50% s or in the 20s out of 51 scale. At the end, they were in 45-47 s or in 95 % (my actual verbal score is the proof)
Guys, I am so sorry for the delay. I was very busy and could not update my post.
Here comes my Verbal Strategy:
Reading Comprehension
I would like to mention this section first, because it is the most important and the most influential on your overall verbal score. During the actual test, a RC mistake much more weighs than a SC or CR mistake and decreases the score significantly. However, a lot of guys neglect this section during their prep.(This can be proved from the very passiveness of the RC section on the forum) Many believe that RC skills can not be improved in a short time. But this is not necessarily true. My case totally proves this.
General Strategy
(I have learned this strategy from different test experiences and found very useful)
A key point about RC is that you need to understand the text.
Do NOT skim and scan. You are being tested for your understanding and comprehension of the text, not for your ability to pick details out of paragraphs without really knowing what the full story is. Questions like "what do you think that author would most agree with" can NOT be answered without REALLY understanding what the story is about. With time pressure it will be very tempting to rush to the questions and think you'll read the relevant passage when they ask about it, but I believe this is exactly the trap you want to keep out of.
What I do is I read the first paragraph twice, maybe three times, because it often sets the tone (which you'll be asked about) very quickly. Summarize the first passage -- out loud but quietly -- in very simple laymen terms, if necessary in your own language, as if you're explaining it to a child. The GMAT tests your ability to filter the wordy mumbo-jumbo, awkward sentence constructions, and understand in
Sesame Streetterms what is being said.
If you come across an important paragraph that gives a new side to a story, read it and make absolutely sure you understand what is being said. Read it twice. Read it three times if necessary. Your body will scream no because that clock is ticking, but if you understand the text well, the questions will mostly be a walk in the park. If you don't, you'll be spending a lot of time trying to get the pieces of the puzzle to fit, and doing what you should have done in the first place -- trying to understand the text.
Do not try to bluff your way through the questions by scanning text fragments for clues or words that correspond to an answer item. Those answers are often traps, and the real answers are often hidden in overly simplistic or overly complicated answers that, if you're bluffing, look like unlikely answers, but, only if you really understand the gist of the story, you can recognize as being correct.
Timing, of course, is still key here. Practice a text and its questions in e.g. OG11 and time how long you took on average for each question. If it's more than 1 3/4 minute per question, you need more practice. But first and foremost, make sure you understand the text. Do not skip to the questions if you don't understand the text, you will be punished for that.
In addition to the above mentioned, I developed my own approach :
From the beginning of the passage, I, as a detective, carefully follow author, determine her or his position (agree or disagree, tone) on the given theories or phenomena and find out her or his main conclusion (usually this will be expressed at the end of first paragraph or at the end of the last paragraph). Fully aware of main idea and author’s position, I rarely miss main idea, main purpose questions or inference or tone questions. I developed this approach, following Kaplan’s explanations and instructions
Sources:
1) The best RC prep source I have ever had (even far better than OG) : LSAT sets(or tests) and Kaplan’s explanations to them ( around 30 sets, each with 4 passages).
Why:
? Long and tough passages in a variety of topics. Very useful for time management.
? A lot of inference and other question types(the role of a detail or a sentence; tone qs; author agree ,disagree qs) which are being tested more frequently in Gmat.
? Awesome explanations which will teach you how to approach each question type.
? Very good passage paraphrasing at the beginning of each passage ( very helpful for self paraphrasing building skills)
If you have sufficient time, start with Lsat RC passages( do not get discouraged if your accuracy rate is low, keep practicing). At the beginning, work to improve accuracy and comprehension of the passage. After you increase your accuracy rate, deal with time. Keep in mind that The quality ,not the quantity, is what matters the most in Gmatland.
2) OG-10 then OG-11 RC passages and explanations. After LSAT, OG passages will become easy. But practicing OG will adapt you to GMAT questions
3) 1000RC GMAT Part (there are a lot of good passages)
Here are some RC tips and advices :
Stop after each paragraph of the passage and recap its key points. That way you’re less likely to forget them.
When you run across a “primary purpose” question, always ask yourself whether the author’s purpose is descriptive or argumentative. Then do a “verb scan” to eliminate those choices that are inconsistent with the author’s purpose. Usually, you’ll be able to get rid of at least two or three wrong choices this way, which will make your job of finding the correct answer that much easier.
When you can pinpoint the exact part or ? of a passage where an answer is to be found, always skim or reread it before browsing among the choices. You’ll get distracted and misled less often. Base your answers on a review of the text, not on your memory of the text. Memories are faulty and can lead to wrong answers.
Always seek passage support for Inference and Detail questions. Never rely solely on your memory
Remember, when dealing with a question about the role of a detail, it's important to understand the context in which that detail appears. So instead of focusing on the micro issue of the detail itself, start with the macro issue of: Where is the author at that point in his argument?
When asked for the purpose or definition of a detail, stay as narrowly as possible to its use in the text.
The correct answer to an Inference question lives up to a very high standard: it must be true. So attack each choice boldly. Which one choice must be true based on the text? Which four choices either could or must be false?
Use the clues! Skim the passage for words used in the question stem key words) that hint at where the right answer is to be found.
Remember, the answer to Reading Comp. questions can always be found in the passage. Keep your personal opinions to yourself!
Your first step with a Reading Comp. question that asks about a portion of the passage should be to ask: Where in the passage is this to be found? Next, go back to the text and reread what’s relevant. Finally, prephrase an answer.
When the testmaker blatantly points you to a particular ?, it’s a gift horse you don’t want to look in the mouth. Don’t dally! Get back to it, skim it quickly for its essentials, and then proceed confidently to the choices.
A question that points you to a specific phrase or line reference is really testing your command of immediate context. Study it all.
When you believe that you’ve found the correct answer, by all means look at the other four, but not with respect. Check them quickly and boldly, making sure that they’re as bad as they need to be. If any choice doesn’t strike you as awful, analyze further: Maybe it’s right. In sum, then, be thorough, but don’t agonize over the other choices once you think you’ve found the right one.
In questions asking for a passage’s organization, summarize in your own words the major elements of the passage before looking at the choices. You’re not likely to guess every word of the correct choice, but a clear understanding of the basic building blocks should help you to eliminate the wrong choices and to latch onto the right one when you see it.
Questions that ask you to sum up the Main Purpose in a few abstract words may be more difficult than questions whose choices are lengthy. In situations like this one, you have much less to work with! One useful approach may be to ask: What would the passage have to look like if each choice were correct? Remember, only one will match up to the passage you actually get.
Though it says “The passage...[does] which of the following,” we know what that really means: “The author does.”
The correct answer to a Point-at-Issue question must satisfy two criteria: First, does each speaker have an opinion about the topic or issue in the choice? If so, are their opinions different? When you can answer yes to both questions, then you’ve found the winner.
? Conversely, the wrong choices in Point-at-Issue questions often involve points on which the speakers would or might agree, or issues about which we cannot determine how one or both would feel.
Keep holding the answer choices to the same high standard: For every given question, exactly one choice has been set up by the testmaker as correct, and exactly four are demonstrably faulty. As a rule, don’t compare the choices to each other; instead, compare each choice to the text, looking for the one and only one that the testmaker has deemed CORRECT.
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