Reading Comprehension

It's Incomprehensble!!

com·pre·hen·sion (kmpr-hnshn)

n.

1.

a. The act or fact of grasping the meaning, nature, or importance of; understanding.

b. The knowledge that is acquired in this way.

2. Capacity to include.

3. Logic The sum of meanings and corresponding implications inherent in a term.

Okay...forget all that!! The GMAT guys are well aware that we cannot be astronomers, doctors, environmentalists, engineers, drama critics all at the same time...right?? So it's pretty lame to expect that we would understand every minor details out there in the passages they give us to read. So what does comprehension really mean here? It means how much you have "understood" what the author is trying to convey. Don't expect questions which will ask details beyond the scope of the passage. For that matter you should infact keep your general knowledge in a box! So if you know that pluto is now not a planet anymore....please don't use this bit of information if it's not stated i nthe passage.

There are three phases in your RC section....

1. When you are preparing for RC...like now.
2. When you are actually reading the passage...which you will.
3. And finally when you are solving the questions...which you will have to!!

So for preparing and I assume that you have plenty of time to do so...you should get into the habit of reading...random stuff...from good sources. A good reading speed and a good vocabulary, especially with lotsa jargon awareness is worth possessing.

But obviously you don't have much time and you are panicking already, becuase your accuracy leveles are not good. So try this:

1. Don't get bogged down by the details, especially examples cited....skip it!! Skim the passage.
2. While reading look for author's main idea.
3. Try to figure out the purpose of the passage...all GMAT passages have one.
4. Use the scratch paper to quickly write a very very very small summary of each passage. This can work wonders especially in specific details questions and help you locate the portion which can answer the particular question. But this needs practice.
5. Also Kaplan gives you a good technique. Roadmap....works like magic...basically you chart out the structure of the passage. Helps you spot the relevant info quickly and gives you command on the passage...you have bird's view of the passage this way.
6. Don't re'read until and unless you have to..,atleast don't re-read the pasage because you feel you haven't understood it!! NO!! Don't do it!!

That's pretty much what I can tell you...really there's nothing more I can do here!! Practice, practice and practice. If you could, time permitting, try to take the LSAT stuff...it really prepares you for the toughest questions.

Read all the explanations. You can re-read the explanations/passages any number of times you want to during the analysis session, and not while doing the passages!!

ATB

Suggested Books : Kaplan 800, Kaplan Verbal Workbook, Official Guide

Data Sufficiency

Am I Thinking Sufficiently!!

No approach - Low accuracy.
Right approach - 100% accuracy!!

Pointers:

1. DS is not PS. (Most of the times you won't need to get a numerical answer)
   
2. Get rid of your biases/assumptions. (What's given is what's given and what's not given is not given!!)
3. Memorise the answer options...it's going to be the same on the actual GMAT.
4. When you can't get a definite answer...make an intelligent guess with the help of this:
If 1 is sufficient...answer can be A or D. If 2 is sufficient, then answer can be B or D If none is sufficient (alone) then answer can be C or E.
5. Focus on the question stem : Don't loose track of what is being asked.
   
6. Look at each statement separately. I would suggest you to look at statement 2 first and then statement 1. The reason is that the sequence of the two statements tricks the reader into assuming the info given in 1 and applying it while reading 2. That's wrong!! Most careless errors on DS come when you subconsciously carry over some info from statement 1 to statement 2 (i.e. you're not actually looking at statement 2 on its own).
7. Look at both statements in combination.
8. Use lots of scratch paper. Do it neatly. It'll help.

Given that you follow all the pointers given above...you will start getting most of the DS right now. But I think the most important thing to keep in mind is that tough DS questions will have traps. And you have to be wary if them. Look out for some of these :

1. For example, most people know that if you can set up two linear equations with two unknowns, you can solve for both variables. So the natural instinct when each of the statements can be translated into an equation is to assume that the answer must be C. However, sometimes the two equations may not be independent of each other (e.g. x + 2y = 3 and 2x + 4y = 6, which are just two versions of the same equation).
   
2. At other times, the question stem may actually ask for a sum (e.g. a+b), and even though there are two variables, a single equation (e.g. 4a + 4b = 20) may be sufficient, since you're only asked to find the sum, not the individual values of a and b.
   
3. Finally, another common DS trap occurs with Yes/No questions, for example "Is x divisible by 2?". The trick here is that in DS, you are supposed to determine whether the question can be definitively answered based on the given info. So if statement 1 says "X is odd", we can in fact answer the question (in this case, the answer is "no"). So in a Yes/No question, it doesn't matter whether the answer turns out to be Yes or No - all that matters is whether the given info is sufficient to allow you to find the answer.

In addition you would like to pay more attention to the following concepts. These are the toughest concepts, asked on the GMAT.

1. Inequalities...
   watch out for points where equality doesnt holds... x > 3 doesnt means x can be 3...
   watch out for fractions....higher denominator means lower values....but in negaticve fractions...higher denominator means higher values...
2. Powers...
   squaring a fraction devaluates it...cubing..even more..
   but a negative fraction on squaring gets bigger....but on cubing lowers....things like that
3. Modulus...
   Learn how mod values are dealt with..
   How negative cross multiplications are done with inequalities.
4. Logarithms...
   Learn properties of bases...fractional bases, negative values of logs.
   I do it with help of graphs.
5. Composite and Prime nos...
   clubbed with even and odd concepts..
   e.g. 2 is the only no. prime and even, etc.
   

Cheers!!
P.S. I will put up a flowchart too!!

Suggested Books : Kaplan 800, Kaplan Math Workbook, Official Guide, Manhattan Math

Subscribe for receiving latest additions.

Critical Reasoning

Let's have an Argument!!

Hurraah!! Another post :-)

Before starting off...lock your prejudices and biases in a box and open it up only when you've reached the apping stage. CR has no room for prejudices. It's all about what's written in the argument. (Okay now...before starting the CR...make yourself comfy with the jargon...go through the doc which has definitions for bold face CR's). If you are not comfy with the jargon and you confuse between inference and conclusion, you shouldn't be reading this post. I am not going to tell you that!!

Okay so you've done your homework then!! Let's start with the pointers:

1. Familiarize yourself with the concepts tested. Make yourself aware of all the question stems.
2. One very good way to learn about the logical patterns is to go through the AWA guide. Download it and go through the list of fallacies. It's very very helpful. It opened my eyes to new fallacies which earlier went past by unnoticed.
3. Keep your eye out for assumptions, evidences on which the author relies for his conclusion. Don't just buy his words...ask him...hey mister!! How could you say that??
4. Substitue long confusing proper nouns for good old X's and Y's. It's better to counter the quesn this way.
5. Always always make sure you have understood the explanation and content with the logic behind. Kaplan has good CR.

There are many categories in CR. Those are given in Kaplan...I am not going to tell you that. I would like to use this space to tell you something important!! If there's any concept which will help you crack most of the questions, then that has to be SCOPE SHIFTS. You can easily eliminate most of the choices becoz they are outside the "scope". If I say: there are no buyers for these yellow pencils. And you counter me by saying : That's bizarre!! Everyone's buying pencils these days...there are hardly any pencils left in the stores!!

Then you've gone beyond the scope!! Why?? It's easy to miss "yellow" there!! You've shifted the scope. You broadened the scope...shifted it...that's a logical error. The yellow pencils might still be not selling.

Also most of the times the choices sound correct and convincing and are mostly the popular choices as in they wud have something like an universal truth...like Shakespeare was good in prose and poetry both....but this may not be concluded from the argument...don't be tempted...see whether it follows from the argument.

Then there's this causation thingy. Which is basically when you muddle up the cause and effect. Master this!!

Finally I used something which might sound rude but it helped...picking out the logical errors in your friends' arguments....you'll be surprised how many we commit.

Suggested Books : Kaplan 800, Kaplan Verbal Workbook, Official Guide