Strategies To Crack Short Passages In Reading Comprehension Of GRE
1. SKIMMING FOR AN OVERALL IDEA
The majority of the passages you will encounter on the reading comprehension questions of the GRE will be short. So, save time by skimming through the passages for an overview.
2. UNDERSTANDING THE CONTEXT
If a question asks for a specific detail, don’t go back into the passage and read just that line. The proper strategy is to read at least 2 sentences before and after the line mentioned in the question. This gives you an idea of the actual context and the author’s purpose in mentioning it.
3. DELAY ANSWERING UNFAMILIAR PASSAGES TILL THE END
The GRE passages cover a wide variety of subjects, from science to social studies to literature. Try answering questions for passages related to your interesting topic. Then, try answering questions for the other passages. This will prove to be useful as all the questions in a section carry equal weightage
4. UNDERSTAND WHAT THE QUESTION REQUIRES AS AN ANSWER
A lot of unnecessary information is cluttered around the actual question in the GRE Reading Comprehension questions. So, it is important that you simplify of breakdown the question to understand what the question requires as an answer.
5. DO NOT LET YOUR PRIOR KNOWLEDGE OF A TOPIC DECIDE YOUR ANSWER FOR A QUESTION
The GRE does not require you to have any prior knowledge on the topic that you are reading as part of the reading comprehension. So, it is important that you don’t allow your subjective opinions on any topic to decide your answer for a question.
6. IDENTIFY HOW PASSIVE VOCABULARY IS USED IN THE SENTENCE
In “vocabulary in context” questions, unplug the word from the passage and try to predict your word in that space based on the context. Then, try to look for an answer choice that is equivalent in meaning to your predicted word. Your knowledge of passive vocabulary plays a vital role in your performance in such questions.
7. FOR MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTIONS WITH MULTIPLE ANSWERS, EVALUATE EACH ANSWER CHOICE INDIVIDUALLY
In multiple-choice questions with multiple answers, there will be three answer choices given and you are required to select whichever answer is applicable. Hence, at times, all three options can be correct answers. So, it is important to validate each answer choice by comparing the information presented in the passage
8. EFFECTIVE NOTE MAKING IS IMPORTANT
As you read the passage actively, focus on the main idea, and make proper notes in the scratch paper will be provided to you. Focus on the transitions to identify the most important details in the passage. Make notes using keywords, symbols or abbreviations.
9. AVOID ANSWER CHOICES WHICH ARE TOO BROAD OR TOO SPECIFIC
If the author in the passage has generalized something and the option tends to be too specific or vice versa, it is mostly a trap answer choice. Be careful with answer choices that use words like only, never, always, hardly, completely, etc. There’s usually an exception to the rule.
10. DON’T ASSUME THINGS WITHOUT A PROPER BASE
An inference is different from an assumption. An inference is a deduction that is made using the information that has been explicitly stated in the passage, but an assumption might involve bringing in information not related to the passage or information related to your subjective opinions. If your assumption does not have a concrete base from the passage, it is better not to go by it.
