Abysmal Verbal GRE Score

[deconstructing]

Here's my situation: I still have to take GRE so none of this is official, but practice tests are not promising. (<- An understatement). My quant score is more or less ok (not stellar, but not horrible either), but Verbal is abysmal.

I am not a native English speaker, but I don't think it's the main problem here (I don't struggle with AW). Of course I have to learn more words and improve my vocabulary, but I'm struggling with reading comprehension, too. Ouch.

It's a completely new situation for me. I am usually good at reading comprehension and understanding what's written, even when it comes to more complex language than the one used for GRE. I'm also fairly good at standardized tests. So this is very frustrating not just because I have a problem but also because it's the first time I'm in this situation.

So, in short, are there some good tips for improving my score? Especially when it comes to reading comprehension? I mean on some strategic advice for GRE, not for generally improving my reading comprehension - I know my reading comprehension is fine. I just don't seem to understand the logic behind GRE. (Perhaps I focus too much on what I know about the subject to focus on the actual text?)

[toby42]

For Vocab, I highly recommend you download a vocab app on some device if you have the capability. I studied word lists for a while - and wrote them onto separate paper; a great memorization trick - but when downloaded a couple GRE vocab apps, my Vocab increased dramatically. Of the ones available, I recommend the ones from superflashcard.com (I think that's what they were called). Very effective.

Since 'conquering' vocab, Reading Comp has been my next challenge as well. I have no real good advice here other than recommending Kaplan's book in this regard. They have a TON of good advice - more than I can relay here. There's also good advice online, but Kaplan's is pretty good. Also, there are better ways of doing this than buying the new $40 book (which I did; wanna buy my copy!?). Buy some old ones for cheaper at your local Goodwill or other thrift store - or on eBay/Amazon/etc. Old advice is just as good as 'new' advice, imo.

Oh, I do have ONE tip that helped me in my recent practice test that Kaplan or Princeton Review didn't cover. I had a particularly hard time understanding a passage about brain functions and development, so after reading it (and realizing I didn't understand a THING), I drew it out on paper. I drew a brain, sectioned it off, and drew lines to an area where I wrote what the area was called, what its purpose was, and how it developed. After it was all said and done, I got all three questions right. So take notes on the passage (probably during a second reading) and draw pictures if necessary. Whatever it takes to help you in the way that you learn.

Hope that helps!

[amlobo]

I had a very hard time on reading comp, too. I think my problem was that I could eliminate answers but then would narrow it down to two "plausible" answers and had a hard time distinguishing which was "correct." I seriously just went over my wrong answers on the practice tests in great detail to see what had thrown me off and caused me to pick that answer and to understand why I should not have picked that answer. Usually it was something stupid like I misread a word... or had "inferred" something that wasn't in the passage. For instance, sometimes I would have trouble keeping straight *who* the answer was talking about... in some answers it would say "the author" and in some "the [subject character]", so I would choose the wrong answer based on simply not paying close enough attention.

I think it comes down to training your brain to look for the things that consistently trip you up and making sure that you pay close attention to them. And, know that these are "traps" that the GRE deliberately places there... and a book like Kaplan can help you see the common traps (apart from knowing yourself what "traps" you fall for). I can happily say that I ended up raising my Verbal six percentile points from my first practice test to the real thing. It was just a lot of analyzing my tests/practice sets and trying to learn from them.

[deconstructing]

I have Kaplan's book and yes, it helps a little, but I guess I should take some time to actually analyze my bad choices more than trying to figure out how to answer correctly. I'm usually pretty close most of the time - for example, I eliminate 3 answers and I pick the wrong one out of the remaining two. That's so frustrating: most of my wrong answers are picking the wrong one out of two. So I guess I'm doing something right, but it's not enough.

I think at this point I should focus more on my wrong answers and finding my own formula for answering correctly. For example, Kaplan (or was it Princeton?) suggests that we should read the question only, try to figure the answer on our own and only then find the matching one. This isn't working for me AT ALL, because I'm influenced by my own understanding of the text even before I look at the answers.

Oh, I do have ONE tip that helped me in my recent practice test that Kaplan or Princeton Review didn't cover. I had a particularly hard time understanding a passage about brain functions and development, so after reading it (and realizing I didn't understand a THING), I drew it out on paper.

This is good advice, especially for difficult passages about a subject you know nothing about.

Strangely (?) enough, I'm usually better with texts outside my field. The less I know about the actual subject, the better.

Edited August 30, 2012 by deconstructing

[anushaworks]

Apologies. I may not be of any help, but would like to let you know, that I find Reading comprehension in GRE excruciatingly hard as well. I have never really had trouble reading comprehensions prior to this. The test-makers are just making it hard I guess.

The only advice I can give is that, concentrate really hard, really very hard and take down notes if possible and come back to the passage with each question.

[deconstructing]

It's also important to take your time. Yes, we're running against the clock, but it is important to read a passage carefully and with full understanding. Skimming won't help. You will get a general picture but it's simply not enough since the answers are all similar to each other. So you'll have to go back and lose time anyway. I suppose this is even more true for non-native speakers.

I do think taking a few extra minutes to read passages carefully is a time well spent.

[toby42]

I had a very hard time on reading comp, too. I think my problem was that I could eliminate answers but then would narrow it down to two "plausible" answers and had a hard time distinguishing which was "correct."

Yes!! Exactly!

I seriously just went over my wrong answers on the practice tests in great detail to see what had thrown me off and caused me to pick that answer and to understand why I should not have picked that answer.

Here's what I hate: when I see the right answers and it seems like it was totally obvious to everyone but me! I picked one that I think is still arguable and 85% of people chose the RIGHT answer. Ugh.

You offer some good tips on getting through this. I have two to add... The first is to remember the SCOPE of the passage and to FORCE yourself to stay within those boundaries. It's pretty much guaranteed that if an answer depends on - or brings in - outside information, it is incorrect. Stay within the scope of the passage. Once you narrow it down to one or two, this is usually the tipping point that can make you lean in one direction.

My second tip is not too scientific, but it seems to work. And that is to gravitate toward the more scholarly sounding answers. Avoid extremes like "all" or "every time". Avoid 'emotional' answers. Give a good look at answers that use GRE vocabulary (serruptitious, salacious, etc). And really... trust your gut. The answer usually sounds right.

[toby42]

Strangely (?) enough, I'm usually better with texts outside my field. The less I know about the actual subject, the better.

Good point... and one that brings to mind one tip that I learned nowhere else other than my own personality. I discovered that I was actually naturally and honestly interested in the passages I was reading! I was taking notes on some of these for my own future reading! I learned about Jackson Pollock's method of painting and even relayed that information in a pertinent conversation the other day!

So even if you're not interested - I was just b/c it's my nature - make yourself become interested. Also, the human mind is funny - we can actually trick ourselves and convince ourselves that we do enjoy something. I did this with doing the dishes at home. I convinced myself that I like doing them b/c I get some time to just be by myself and think for a while or look out the window at a beautiful day. So even if you're not like me and naturally interested in things that you don't know about, you can pull a fast one on yourself and tell yourself that you are, in fact, interested in the passage. When you do this, all of this new information is fascinating and you get it stuck in your brain and can relay it in a cogent manner.

Oh, and yet another tip: reading comprehension is actually sometimes (if not always) augmented by a fast, cursory reading rather than an in-depth one. When I read, I often times find myself reading an important sentence two or three times to make sure I comprehend it and get it 'locked and loaded' into my brain. But there's been many times where - no matter the material - a quick, cursory reading gives me a very important broad overview of the passage. Make sure you do that, too. I'd say to start with a very quick cursory reading. Then either go for a more detailed reading or simply look at the question and revisit the passage.

Ok... that's all for now. Really.