Knowing how to crack the reading comprehension passage is just half the battle. Having the right strategy in approaching the questions can be just as important.
Beware
Anyone who tells you that a good strategy is to avoid reading the passage should not be trusted. With the risk of sounding dogmatic—always read the passage first. The key, of course, is to actively read.
Control the Context
In reading comprehension, the answer choice is your enemy. To answer a question, you want to talk through and reason out the response. Only then should you go to the answers. If you dive straight into the answer choices, they are apt to influence your interpretation of the passage.
If we rely on this strategy, we can become victims of confirmation bias. When this happens, we are attracted to an answer choice because it “sounds good”. Then we go back to the reading passage and try to validate or confirm the answer choice based on information in the passage. In doing so, we end up looking for words or phrases instead trying to understand the big picture. or the actual meaning of the passage. Of course understanding how any particular part of the passage relates to the entire passage is a lot easier once you’ve actively read the entire passage first — always a winning strategy.
With reading comprehension, the test writers know that students are apt to look for words/phrases vs. overall meaning. When they write the questions, they take words that are in the relevant part of the passage. We tend to be attracted to those words because we have just read them. The test writers, however, twist the meaning of the answer choices so those “attractive” words are used to convey a meaning that the author of the passage did not intend.
Recap
The best strategy for reading comprehension passages is to always answer a question in your own words. To do so, go back to the passage, find the relevant part and then frame a response. Finally, match your answer with the answer choice that works best.
Follow this winning strategy and avoid falling for the traps that ETS has laid.
thank you. yet there is some rc question in which you are obligated to read all the answer choices specially the inference question type, that is my weak spot, I really get lost, and sometime inference question are to specific, even if Im aware of what the gist is about, I still do bad 🙁
i took gre before a month and scored 141 in verbal .That was very bad because of rc portion. Are there any ways to crack the rc or steps improve the score in verbal?
Hi Ravinder,
If you’re really looking into diving into the Verbal section, I would highly recommend that you check out using a test prep resource. If you’re interested and want to get a better sense of what we have to offer, I would suggest signing up for our free 1-week GRE trial. This will allow you to see how the site works and try out a selection of lesson videos and practice questions.
In addition, let me redirect you to some great resources on Magoosh related to RC:
Introduction to Reading Comprehension (Strategies and Pacing)
How to Approach Questions
Example of How a Passage is Outlined
Identifying Patterns in Passages
Pacing Strategies
Active Reading Strategies for the GRE
Best of luck! We hope you do decide to try out Magoosh and join the Magoosh family! 😀
Hi,
Chris! What’s about old GRE big book? Is solving RC and TC/SC from big book a good approach? does it fulfill the revised GRE standard or tougher or below standard? Please give a review on Big Book’s RC.
Thanks.
Jabir Rahman
I can get this for you, Chris. 🙂
Jabir, the old Big Book is outdated in many ways, since the GRE test format has changed a lot since 2012. Fortunately, RC has not changed that much since the Big Book was made– so go ahead and practice GRE Reading Comprehension with the Big Book! It’s a great extra source of practice.
Hi Chris,
I am really delighted knowing about some tips from your tactics, but the problems is to me that although I am going through by reading comprehension for last few months for improving my reading skills but I actually can’t do it effectively. The prime barrier is to me not remembering the gist of the passage I have just read. If you show me the right path for improving my reading skills i will be grateful to you.
Hey Chris,we know that we hardly get 5 minutes to read a passage.Butwe encounter atleast one big long passage with highly complicated language.For encountering those passages do u have any good tip.
Hi Chris,
I am a non native English speaker. I have my GRE in a month. I have been giving Manhattan mock series and scoring around 155 in verbal.
1. When I review the wrong answers, I realise that most of the RC questions which are wrong are of non – science passages(Humanities/social sciences). I studied science through out my life and find it really hard to understand this kind of prose. Also, I dont think I have enough time to start from the scratch by reading arts and letters daily. So is there any other way I can improve on these kind of passages.
2. Also, I am targeting for an over all 160 in verbal.Do you think it is possible at this point of time? And if yes, how?
Any help would be really appreciated. 🙂
Thanks,
Vijju
Hi Vijju,
While it doesn’t seem like a month can make up for a lifetime of humanities neglect, reading articles from aldaily.com during your free time will make you better.
I also recommend reading GRE humanities passages without actually trying to answer the questions. You may even do this after actually finishing them, allowing your brain to soak in the information at a leisurely pace. Try get the “big picture” of what the passage is talking about. Unlike science-based passages, the humanities-based tend to be less about the details and more about the gist. Then go back later and go back to the questions.
The point is you are not just encountering the passages in a stress-fueled context, but are actually allowing your brain to wrap itself around the kind of languages and thoughts expressed in these passages.
Hope that helps!
Thank You Chris 🙂 I have already practiced a lot. I am able to get most of the answers correctly but it takes me a lot of time. Can you give any tip to read the passage faster. Like some books say to read only the 1st sentence of each body paragraph and the 1st and last sentence for each of the introduction and conclusion paragraphs to get the big picture in a short time. But I didn’t find it useful.
Thanks in advance
Hi Gulu,
Reading the first line of each paragraph is terrible advice (as your own experience shows). Definitely read the entire passage. in terms of reading the passage faster, make mental notes of each paragraph. These mental notes should be short sentences that sum up each paragraph.
You should also make a mental note as to the transitions between each paragraph. By the end of the passage you will have the big picture, and be able to answer questions faster.
Hi Chris,
In the mock tests I am facing problem in RC in case of long passages(having 3 or more paragraphs). I take too much time to read the passage for the 1st time and run out time to attempt other questions. How to read the passage fast without losing the big picture especially in case of long passages (they are scary 🙁 )?
Hi Gulu,
I’d say practice, practice, practice. For now, don’t worry so much about time. I know that sounds counterintuitive but in order for you to really hone your approach to reading comp. you need to do so without the clock bothering you. With a lot of practice you will naturally get faster. Then bring the clock back in :).