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GRE Reading Comprehension


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Reading Comprehension (RC) questions test your ability to understand the passage, to infer what is stated, and to draw conclusions from the passage.

The passages are drawn from different sources including magazines, journals, and biographies covering different subjects like humanities, biological sciences, physical sciences, and natural sciences. The test will have around 3 passages, each with 2 or more questions.

These passages form around 25% of the questions asked in the verbal section.



Reading Strategy
  1. Read the passage  faster than your normal speed to get the general idea, without trying to memorize the details. The first and the last lines of each paragraph are the most critical ones.
  2. Look for the main idea of the passage, what each paragraph is about, and find the author's tone.
  3. Carefully note the use of transitional words (but, yet, although, despite etc) as one question is most likely to be asked from that sentence. These questions exist to check if you made the turn with the author or not.
  4. Tackle the questions.
  5. As you read the passage again, look for the reasons why author has introduced a specific detail or conclusion. If you cannot understand some part of the passage, don't dwell on it and move further along in your work.


Seven Types of RC questions

I Primary Purpose

This type of question will ask about the main purpose of the passage or the possible title for the passage.

  e.g What is the main idea of the passage?
       Which of the following would be suitable title for the passage?
       The author is primarily concerned with..........

Reading first and last line of each paragraph will help you answering this question.


II Implied Meaning

This type of question asks about the information that can be inferred from the passage.

For example: If the passage states that  "X is true only if Y is false." Then the implied question may  ask "If Y is true what can be inferred?"

This type of question may look like
     It can be inferred from the passage that ............
      The passage implies that .............


III Specific Detail

e.g  According to the passage, ............
      The passage states that ................

Find the line number which contains content similar to the question text.
Reading several lines above and below that line will provide you with the answer to the question.


IV Structure/Organization

To answer this type of question, read the first line of every paragraph as well as the last line of the  opening and closing paragraphs of the passage.

This type of question might look like:
     
       Which of the following best describes the structure of the passage?
      Which of the following best describes the structure of the first paragraph of the
      passage?

If the question asks about the structure of a specific paragraph read the first and last line of that specific paragraph.


V Application Questions

These questions require you to understand the connotation of the passage and apply that knowledge to a new situation. These questions are the most difficult as they require you to go beyond is directly stated the passage.

   e.g  With which of the following statements would  the author most likely agree ?
           Which one of the following is the most likely source of the passage?


VI Tone Questions

These questions require you to identify the author's tone or attitude towards the information presented.

e.g The author's attitude towards ........ could best be described as of:
     The tone of the passage can best be described as:

Figure out whether the author's tone is positive, negative or neutral. The answer choices expressing  tone as extremely positive or extremely negative can often be eliminated as the author is not likely to be extreme in presenting  his views.


VII Except/Least/Not

For the except/least/not questions you are looking for the untrue answer among five answer choices.

e.g  With which of the following statements would  the author least likely agree ?
      It can be inferred from the passage that the author would agree with all the following         except


RC Traps
  1. The answer choice may restate part of the passage nearly verbatim. Such answer choices may seem to be tempting, but they may not be the correct answer to the question asked.
  2. The choices may contain statements that are true. But remember you are not looking merely for a  true statement,  but the one that is an answer to the question asked.
  3. The choices that are too negative or too extreme will never be the correct choice. Eliminate such choices.


 Important Tip:
  
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Regularly practice reading articles from New York Times,  US News, or Wall Street Journal to help improve your reading comprehension.

Many artciles are also available online at following links:

     http://www.usnews.com/

     http://www.nytimes.com/

     http://online.wsj.com/public/us

These newspapers and magazines contain GRE level material and thus can be  helpful in increasing your reading speed and improve your ability to comprehend the passages.
roopangi
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roopangi said:

very helpful article!!!!! thanks!

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rohitgupta
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rohitgupta said:

this article gone to be a one more steps to achieve my goal thank you

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Shravan
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Shravan said:

thank u very much

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yuvraj singh
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yuvraj singh said:

really nice

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mograviteja
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mograviteja said:

thank u veryyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy much

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niveditaash
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niveditaash said:

very well explained and very helpful to analyse and performing good at RC..thnx a lot for such laconic and minute details..!!

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