GRE & GMAT "Active vs. Passive Reading in Reading Comprehension Questions" Webinar: December 9th, 2020

One of MyGuru's top online GRE & GMAT instructors demonstrates the difference between active and passive reading in reading comprehension questions on both the GRE & GMAT. 

READING COMPREHENSION

  • Is about a third of the test on both exams
  • GMAT: 3 short/1 long, occasionally 2 short and 2 long
  • GRE: Usually 1 long passage per Verbal section
  • People tend to take reading comprehension for granted 
  • Read actively: treat it like a puzzle or math problem
  • Most reading comprehension questions are quite similar

General Strategy

  • Read the entire passage first (usually)
  • ACTIVE READING: What are we looking for?
    • Structure > Details
      • 1) Structure is the logical flow of a passage (how is it organized)
      • 2) Main content (what's it about?)
    • Tone 
      • Author's voice - Pro? Con? Neutral? Strong/mild advocate? etc. 
    • Scope (scale broad/narrow)
      • Scope of the question and the correct answer and the corresponding part of the passage all need to match up
    • Point of View - author/narrator but also other POVs
      • 3-5 points of view in a passage are common

KNOW WHERE DETAILS ARE, BUT NOT NECESSARY TO RETAIN ALL OF THEM. 

Which sentences tend to be important? 

  • Introduction - Topic sentence and thesis
  • Conclusion
  • Opening and closing sentences in each paragraph 
  • LOUD words

General rule: Keep your passage reading under 4 minutes.

Reference the video located above to watch the entire webinar with specific examples. 

If you have additional questions regarding the information in this webinar or GRE/GMAT prep, please reach out to us at info@myguruedge.com. 

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