HELP with reading comprehension!!

[prehsilla]

Hi guys!

 

I took my GRE last friday and it was horrible.  I have been studying for a month and half and i felt like it did not prepare me at all.  I used the Princeton Reviews "Cracking the GRE" and used Mcgraw-Hill's 6 practice test (DO NOT BUY THIS BOOK, IT SUCKS AND DOES NOT PREPARE YOU AT ALL!!!!!) anyways.  During my test, the hardest part for me was the reading comprehension.  It was really hard for me to understand the passages and the questions.  I needed at least a 153 to get into my program, but i only got 149. Not only do i want to reach 153, i want to go beyond that since the ELM program i want is competitive.  

 

How can i raise my verbal reasoning scores?

 

What books should i buy to help me prepare ( I am reading that Kaplan is pretty good)?

 

Thanks!

[uromastyx]

I bought a stack of GRE prep books, maybe 5 separate books. Work with the reading sections and get a feeling for the types of questions asked and, more importantly, the types of answers they are looking for. You aren't alone. Plenty of people ace the vocab stuff and slip up on the reading.

Of course, note cards are great for vocab.

For most people 1.5 months doesn't cut it.

I consider myself to be a poor test taker (although most people say that). I studied for about 8 months, almost every day.

I will say that if you feel like you've studied hard then adding at least 4 points isn't going to be easy.

[midnight]

I bought a stack of GRE prep books, maybe 5 separate books. Work with the reading sections and get a feeling for the types of questions asked and, more importantly, the types of answers they are looking for. You aren't alone. Plenty of people ace the vocab stuff and slip up on the reading.

Of course, note cards are great for vocab.

For most people 1.5 months doesn't cut it.

I consider myself to be a poor test taker (although most people say that). I studied for about 8 months, almost every day.

I will say that if you feel like you've studied hard then adding at least 4 points isn't going to be easy.

 

That would be me! I only missed one highest-difficulty vocab-related question; everything else I missed was RC.

 

Unfortunately I didn't really find any of the prep books to be very helpful for RC strategy-wise, so I just practiced a lot (Barron's Six Practice Tests has RC passages and questions that are comparable to the actual GRE).

 

A few tips I've seen again and again for the RC:

 

-Don't skim.

-Avoid extreme or disputable answers.

-Don't make assumptions.

-Be wary of answers that use exactly the same wording as the passage.

 

Also be sure to check this out to see what types of questions you missed; it should be available once you receive your AW score--

 

https://grediagnostic.ets.org/GREDWeb/gred/signIn.jsp

Edited February 11, 2013 by midnight streetlight

[midnight]

Prep books, practice tests, and various strategies are all helpful, but none of these will be a magic bullet.

 

The best way to improve your performance on the reading comprehension questions of the verbal section is to improve your reading comprehension skills. Read as many dense non-fiction books and publications as possible. Read them actively, trying not only to digest and understand and summarize what you're reading but also trying to make connections between points that are raised and keeping an eye out for things like tone, style, author bias, and thinking about the consequences of what the author is saying.

 

I'd highly recommend The Economist. There's a bunch of free content on their website, but preferably try to get ahold of print copies if you can. Any library should carry it.

 

The New York Times is a good resource, too--at least two of my vocab questions were taken directly from NYT book reviews, and the GRE may source them for reading passages as well.

[Sealove00]

Look into Magoosh.com!! They have video explanation with each question, and they're so easy to follow. Also, it is much cheaper than a lot of other test prep companies.

 

All the best.

[TheWB]

Prep books, practice tests, and various strategies are all helpful, but none of these will be a magic bullet.

 

The best way to improve your performance on the reading comprehension questions of the verbal section is to improve your reading comprehension skills. Read as many dense non-fiction books and publications as possible. Read them actively, trying not only to digest and understand and summarize what you're reading but also trying to make connections between points that are raised and keeping an eye out for things like tone, style, author bias, and thinking about the consequences of what the author is saying.

 

I'd highly recommend The Economist. There's a bunch of free content on their website, but preferably try to get ahold of print copies if you can. Any library should carry it.

 

This is the best advice. You're probably slipping up on the passages because the style (or perhaps vocab) is not what you're used to, so you're trying to tease out and/or guess the meaning while standing on an uncertain foundation. Take it back to basics and underline and diagram some of these outside sources - find the thesis statement, underline it; find and circle each sentence of supporting evidence; look for words or cues to tone and bias, and box them; do this a lot. You will get better.

[Christie_F]

Hi Prehsilla,

 

Just wondered if you would be interested in checking out this new study aide for GRE Vocab. It's based off of mnemonics (audio and visual learning). It's currently in beta mode and is being tested by my friends to see if it would be a relevant market!

 

Definitely check out the app if you have some free time, and maybe it will help you with your GRE studies (or not). Either way, it would be cool to have your feedback if you could take maybe 10 minutes of your time for this survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/PicmGRE

 

It asks some general info about your background as a GRE test taker, and asks you to try some GRE study cards that were made specifically for the GRE vocab.

 

Hope you'll look into it. Your feedback would be greatly appreciated!

[prehsilla]

That would be me! I only missed one highest-difficulty vocab-related question; everything else I missed was RC.

 

Unfortunately I didn't really find any of the prep books to be very helpful for RC strategy-wise, so I just practiced a lot (Barron's Six Practice Tests has RC passages and questions that are comparable to the actual GRE).

 

A few tips I've seen again and again for the RC:

 

-Don't skim.

-Avoid extreme or disputable answers.

-Don't make assumptions.

-Be wary of answers that use exactly the same wording as the passage.

 

Also be sure to check this out to see what types of questions you missed; it should be available once you receive your AW score--

 

https://grediagnostic.ets.org/GREDWeb/gred/signIn.jsp

Thank you!! This is very helpful. I think my problem was that the books I used were not representative of the actual GRE. I shall check out the Barron's book.

 

If you don't mind sharing, how many vocab words would you say you memorized for the GRE?

[prehsilla]

Hi Prehsilla,

 

Just wondered if you would be interested in checking out this new study aide for GRE Vocab. It's based off of mnemonics (audio and visual learning). It's currently in beta mode and is being tested by my friends to see if it would be a relevant market!

 

Definitely check out the app if you have some free time, and maybe it will help you with your GRE studies (or not). Either way, it would be cool to have your feedback if you could take maybe 10 minutes of your time for this survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/PicmGRE

 

It asks some general info about your background as a GRE test taker, and asks you to try some GRE study cards that were made specifically for the GRE vocab.

 

Hope you'll look into it. Your feedback would be greatly appreciated!

sure thing. I will take the survey! 

[unpretentious username]

Read more. Practice with LSAT RC sections. They're much harder but will help develop your focus and ability to read difficult material. Throw all those junk prep books away and develop your skills.

[midnight]

Thank you!! This is very helpful. I think my problem was that the books I used were not representative of the actual GRE. I shall check out the Barron's book.

 

If you don't mind sharing, how many vocab words would you say you memorized for the GRE?

 

I didn't sit down and memorize vocabulary per se, but if I ran across a word in practice that I didn't recognize or couldn't comfortably guess the meaning of, I would write it down and remember it--and if I came across a word more than once, I made sure that I saved it in my brain for test day. Vocabulary is my strong suit, though.

 

Given the new GRE format, whenever you see a word in practice that you don't know or are unsure of, I really recommend memorizing it along with its synonyms.