Help with RC Strategy

[rohitowe99]

Hi Stacey,

I am posting this just after reading your article on how and how not to read a RC passage. The strategies you mentioned about saving time makes full sense to me, specially after going through the OG once.

My RC Preparation:
I am preparing for GMAT for 3 weeks. I started by reading the Manhattan RC guide(1.5 weeks) and after that I moved on to the Official Guide. I did 3 passages from OG every day and now I am done with all the OG passages.

MY RC-OG analysis:

Accuracy: Above 80 %(I was able to maintain this accuracy even in the later passages, which were more difficult)

Timings:(for later passages)
Short passages : 1st reading 3 min; total 6-6.5 min (for 3 Qs)
Long passages : 1st reading 4.5-5 min; total 9-10 min(for 4 Qs)

I have realized that I tried too hard to understand the passage, sometimes without significant gain in the comprehension level, and lost a lot of time as I had to refer to the passage again and again for the specific questions.

MY AIM FOR RC:
Short Passages: 1st reading: 2 min; Total 5 min (for 3 Q)
Long Passages: 1st reading: 3 min; Total 7 min (for 4 Q)

I have 2.5 months left before my GMAT.
I have planned to go through the OG passages again and analyse each question in more detail to improve my accuracy. I am also reading articles from selected sites on Sciences, Social Sciences, Humanities, and Marketing to get a flavor of different genres.

But more importantly, I want to attempt quality new passages regularly so that I practice the great strategies that you mentioned in the articles and improve my time management.

Thus Please briefly suggest me a decent plan that will help me to achieve my targets. Also, please tell me the resource(s) apart from OG that I can follow to practice RC passages.

Thank you in advance!!

[StaceyKoprince]

Good, yes - your planned timing looks better. I will just say, for myself, I don't think of my time in terms of how long I spend on the whole passage. I aim to spend 2-3 minutes reading (which means I definitely have to skip stuff on long / convoluted passages), and I aim to spend around 1 minute on main idea / general questions and about 1.5 to 2 minutes on specific questions.

If you've developed your 1 minute time sense... (have you read this?
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... nt-part-1/

...then you can use it (the 1m time sense) to handle the timing on RC. If you get the "1 min" feeling 3 times on an RC passage, you're done. You should be finishing up general Qs the first time you get the 1 min feeling, and you shouldn't get the feeling more than twice on specific questions.

Before you start to use new passages, a word of caution: learn as much as you can from what you've already used. Otherwise, you're wasting the new passages! I love your plan to analyze the stuff that you've already done - keep that up.

Have you seen this already?
http://www.manhattangmat.com/articles/a ... roblem.cfm

And this:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/articles/a ... estion.cfm

I have a ton more articles on RC on our blog - search for them. :) And if you have access to our OG Archer program, I've posted video solutions for most of the questions in the last two OG13 passages (as well as videos discussing how to read the passages themselves). I think I have one more video to complete for one question in the 2nd-to-last passage.

In addition to OG13, there's the OG Verbal Supplement, several free passages in GMATPrep, and the GMATPrep Pack #1, which contains a bunch of practice problems across all categories, including RC.

When doing passages that have >4 questions, only do 3 or 4 at a time. Then you can save and reuse that passage at a later date (use the remaining questions the 2nd time around).

You've got a plan - go for it!

[rohitowe99]

Thanks Stacey !!
So for the coming 2 weeks I will focus on: (a)Developing the 1 min time sense(which I think is so so beneficial) (b) Revising the OG and Manhattan-RC passages in detail.

Then I will move on to OG Verbal supplement and GMATPrep.(2 weeks)

And after a month from now I will begin with my Manhattan and GMATPrep online tests.

Thanks again for the great help!!

Deepak

[StaceyKoprince]

Don't save the tests for later and then use them close together (if that's what you meant to do). Don't plow through tons and tons of material without any direction about whether you're doing the right things or whether you're working effectively.

The tests are really good for telling you what progress you've made and giving you an idea of where to concentrate next. Take one about every 2 to 4 weeks (depending on how much progress you feel you're making).

After you take a test, expect to spend several days analyzing the overall results and reviewing the questions. Your study plan for the next several weeks should be built primarily off of this analysis!

Here's the process to use for test analysis:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... ice-tests/

You can also come back here and tell us the results of your analysis and what you think you should do based on that analysis. We'll tell you whether we agree and advise you further. (Note: do share an analysis with us, not just the raw data. Part of getting better is developing your ability to analyze your results - figure out what they mean and what you think you should do about them!)