GMAT Prep – Reading Comprehension

Generally there will be two to four unique reading passages on the GMAT. There will be four questions about each passage. These questions usually show up a bit later into the exam and rarely appear before question eight.

Reading comprehension problems will be displayed so that you can view the passage and the question simultaneously. The passage will display on the left and you will be shown one question at a time on the right. Practicing on the computer is important for every kind of question on the GMAT, but its especially important for RC questions because many people rely on written reading techniques such as underlining, bracketing, etc. Additionally, I find it much more difficult to read on a computer screen than on paper. Therefore during practice even if you’re using a paper based practice exam avoid writing on the actual passage.

There are three types of GMAT reading passages:

General science passages can be thought of as liberal arts based approach to science. They generally focus on historical development of discoveries or principals, adequacy of science as an explanation and other “soft” scientific ideas. They display a much stronger point of view and may be persuasive rather than objective in nature.

Social-science passages cover social studies or humanities related topics specifically including art, literature, history, sociology, or culture. Despite the dense language often used in these types of passages your best bet is to stick to what the text actually says and avoid excessive interpretation or analysis.

Business passages involve very difficult structures, and present questions that require you to infer information and even to determine the authors’ moods and opinions. They need to be read slowly and carefully.

Frequently, business passages also include compound words that few people have ever heard before, and that even fewer people use in ordinary conversation. Don’t feel bad when you run into such terms. They are not very difficult to decipher if you break them down and examine each of their parts.

There are generally four common types of Reading Comprehension questions:

Main Idea questions ask the test taker to identify broad trends and themes from the passage.

Discreet factual questions ask the test taker to identify specific pieces of information spelled out in the passage.

Inference questions ask the test taker to draw conclusions based on the information presented in the passage. This might include making a judgment about the other’s opinions or extending the authors “logic” to predict additional conclusions. These are often considered to be the most difficult type of question.

Tone questions ask the reader to identify the general color of the author’s “voice” or the tone of the passage. For instance is it positive, negative, or neutral?

Use the following tips to help guide you to the correct answer choice.

• Extreme statements are usually incorrect. In part because extreme statements are more difficult to defend as being indubitably correct. The GMAC is not interested in constantly disputing the validity of their answers.
• Do not pull outside knowledge into your answer. GMAC will never ask you a question that requires information that is not directly present in the reading passage.
• Answers may require information from different parts of the passage. Be careful not to rely on your memory to answer just because you remember something sort of related from the passage.
• Remember that an answer must be completely right. There can be no part that is incorrect. If there is then the answer is wrong.

Here are some other great tips from our friends over at AdmissionsConsultants! Check them out if you’re looking for an extra edge when applying to business school! They have admissions committee experience from top business schools and are an excellent resource to help you better your business school application.

Reading Comprehension Tips and Strategies

Tip 1: Use your scrap paper. Since these passages can be rather long and present difficult sentence and paragraph structures, you may want to use your scrap paper to take very brief notes on the main ideas of each paragraph. Because the GMAT is now computer adaptive, you will not be able to mark up the passages on your monitor.

Taking brief notes is particularly useful for remembering where to find factual information in the science passages. When we say very brief notes, what we have in mind is something along the lines of “Paragraph 1: The different types of butterflies, Paragraph 2: How their nervous systems work, Paragraph 3: Why pesticide A is killing too many of them,” etc. Use abbreviations liberally. Using scrap paper in this fashion can also help you outline passages and identify their main arguments for main idea questions.

Of course, you can also use your scrap paper as you go along, to keep track of the answer choices you are able to eliminate as incorrect.

Tip 2: Read the first question before the you read the passage. As we stated earlier, the new CAT structure of the GMAT prevents you from seeing all of the questions about a reading passage at the same time. Nonetheless, you will gain a slight advantage by reading the first question before you read the passage for the first time. This will give you a better idea of what you should be focusing on as you read, in order to answer that question.

Tip 3: Identify the type of passage you are reading. Memorize the 3 common passages types that we outlined above and remember that each one should be treated differently in order to optimize your score on this section.

Tip 4: When answering a fact question, read both the passage providing the data – and several lines before it – carefully. When a fact question directs you to look at a particular line of text for information, you will often find that one of the answer choices is a deceptive one, taken directly from that line number. More likely than not, there will be something in the sentence or two before the referenced line number that will give you the proper frame for interpreting the data – and hence direct you to the right answer to the fact question.

Tip 5: Don’t jump to conclusions with fact questions using Roman numerals to identify answer choices. You will recognize this style of question as soon as you see it:

1. I only
2. II only
3. III only
4. I and II only
5. II and III only

The catch is that, oftentimes, facts I and II will be presented very close to each other in the passage, but fact III will be buried much further in the text. Take the time to review and consider each fact on its own merits.

Tip 6: Eliminate the “oohs and ahhs” answer choices. When consultants refer to “oohs and aahs,” they are talking about interesting factoids that spice up presentations without adding anything of real value to the analysis. The GMAT also contains these types of answer choices. An ‘ooh and ahh’ choice will refer to a fact in the passage … but just not to one that answers the question being asked.

Tip 7: Practice, practice, practice. We just want to say this one last time. You can’t expect to become a scratch golfer just by reading a few magazine articles and watching a few golf tournaments on TV. Likewise, you can’t expect to become an expert at taking the GMAT just by reading some tips and advice. You also need to work through many practice questions and learn to put tips and strategies like the ones we have presented to use.