Slow Reader - Need Advice For Verbal Section

[dnfroes]

Hello everyone,

 

I recently completed my undergraduate studies and I am currently assiduously preparing for the GRE. I have never had a high affinity for standardized testing and so I have reluctantly allotted a relatively large portion of time for my preparation. Thus far I have been preparing for about a month (averaging about 6-8 hours a day) and I am planning to take the exam somewhere around July. One major issue I have with standardized testing, both historically and extantly, is that I tend to run out of time, most notably on the verbal portion(s) which requie a copious amount of reading.

 

I have always been a slow reader. The best way I can describe it is that I read about the speed that an average reader would read out aloud, but in my head (assuming most people read faster in their head than aloud). In addition, I have never been exceptional at retaining information I've read, especially without reading it multiple times, underlining key information, and taking notes, etc. Consequently, the verbal section, and more specifically the reading comprehension portions, are extremely onerous for me. I have taken a couple of timed practice tests and I can never finish on time becuase of the lengthy passages. As a result of this hinderance, I usually end up rushing through the questions, often even neglecting the readthrough entirely and simply skimming the passages for the answers, ultimately resulting in a fair degree of inaccuracy. This issue has been a major source of my antipathy for and hibitual aversion of standarized testing such as the GRE.

 

Does anyone have any advice that could possibly help me do better on these questions, or at the very least provide me with some tips for time management on the test? I feel as though I would be a lot better off if the test was paper-pencil, so that way I would at least be able to underline key information in the passages so that I could ignore the irrelevant info. People have always said that I will get faster as I read more, but I read every day and this is just not the case for me. In reality, I do have the ability to read faster than my standad speed, but of course this presents a reduction in comprehension and retention which is already not one of my strong suits.

 

I apologize for the long post, but I could really use all the advice I can get as I am under a rather significant amount of pressure to perform well on the GRE so that I am able to get my grad school application completed by the deadline in October.

 

Thanks.

 

[ginagirl]

I would suggest the Manhattan GRE Reading Comp and Essays prep book. It gives tips for exactly the kind of assistance you need, and also gives you access to 6 full online tests (which I found helpful for more timed practice in these sections). Also, while taking the exam, I personally found it helpful to do the short passages and the vocabulary first, because I knew those were the quickest for me, and would give me the most chances to get correct answers. Then I would do the longer passages.

[Cass]

I'm a slow reader, too. I've actually gotten pretty good at strategic skimming, over the years. I usually read the beginning and end of everything and then skim the middle for key words and sentences that look like they might be important and then go for the questions. Once I've read the questions I'll sometimes go back and skim once more just to be safe, especially if I'm confused. It's not entirely fool-proof but I've never done poorly on reading comprehension exams and I got into grad school so that's something. 

I agree with ginagirl, too. A good GRE prep book is always a good idea. 

Good luck!

[dnfroes]

Thanks for the swift responses, I really appreciate it.

 

I probably should have mentioned my GRE-prep aresnal. As of now, I have all 8 of the Manhattan prep guides, Princeton Review's Cracking the GRE, a 6 month subscription to Magoosh, Barron's 500 essential GRE vocab flash cards, and the Manhattan 5lb book of practice questions. As you can see I have more than enough prep material to last me a lifetime lol. I guess I figured it was best to take an ecclectic aproach to studying rather than utilize resources from a single publisher. I guess I just need to practice more. Up until now I have been spending most of my time on the quant stuff because I had forgotten almost everything.

Edited March 3, 2014 by dnfroes

[ginagirl]

Sure sounds like a lot! Yes, don't forget to practice timed. I would say work on getting the right answers at first, and then increasingly try to get through the passages faster and faster, until you get up to the speed you need to finished timed passages accurately.

[Macrina]

I just read an article on apps designed to help with reading speed. Maybe try one of these?

http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2014/03/03/spritz_spreeder_rsvp_technology_speed_reading_apps_are_amazing.html

[lavendar]

How do you approach science passages...they are the hardest for me. I did very poorly on the GRE because everything was a science passage.