How to Solve GRE Reading Comprehension ? (General Rules)

How to Solve GRE Reading Comprehension ?

This section is the hardest part in the GRE verbal, requires you to understand the passage very well and then answer the questions with the help of evidence and your reasoning. Unfortunately, if your English background is not excellent, understanding hard passages in the GRE is not easy at all, and you are not supposed to improve this part sharply over a period of one or two months. But wait a moment, do not get discouraged. If you can’t ace GRE passage understanding, you can learn a tons of tips and tricks, telling you which choices are more likely to be wrong. As a result, you have more chances to choose right answer even if you do not understand the passage very well.

General Rules: 

Please study the following rules step by step to learn how to demystify questions and find the best answer.

#1. It is too easy to be true: If you find the answer easily without attempt and reasoning, you are more likely to be wrong. Please remember, it is not TOEFL or IELTS exam, it is GRE and it wants to test both your English understanding and more importantly your critical reasoning. Indeed if you find an answer immediately, it is the result of your fast thinking that you have to avoid not only in the GRE exam but in your life.

#2. It is correct, but it is not mentioned in the passage: Please be careful, when you are answering a question, everything is wrong but the information and evidence in the passage. All your background knowledge and other stuff that make clearly sense are WRONG. So, if you face a choice that makes sense based on your knowledge, but it is not mentioned in the passage or can’t be inferred from the passage, that choice is wrong.

#3. A correct choice means 100% correct choice: Please pay attention, if only 1% of a choice is incorrect, the whole choice is incorrect. Let’s consider there is a choice, half of that is supported by the evidence in the passage, and the rest of the choice is a fact that makes sense but is not supported from the passage. What do you guess? Yes, this choice is incorrect, because according to the rule 2, half of the choice is incorrect, and based on rule 3, the whole choice is incorrect.

#4. Do not confuse author’s view with someone else’s view: Sometimes, in some parts of the passage, there are some quotations or someone else’s position other than the author. You have to be careful and distinguish these positions. Otherwise, you may find a wrong answer. For example, let’s consider there is a passage in which the author says “Some critics oppose this point of view”. However, if you study the passage entirely, you understand that the author supports that point of view indirectly. So, if you do not distinguish between critics’ position and author’s position, you are more likely to be wrong.

#5. If it is a partial copy-paste of the passage, it is less likely to be true: If you face an option that contains exactly some parts of the passage, it can’t be the correct one. Why? Because to reach the answer you need to use your reasoning. In some cases, GRE test makers try to use some words and phrases exactly from the passage to the choice, to make you convinced that it is a true answer. But be careful, it is a trap.

#6. Extreme options are not good candidates: Extreme options, for example options which contains all, never, no one, everyone, only, must, always,……..are not good options, because they can be eliminated easily. On the other hand, options with wishywashy words such as might, can, probably and so on are good options.

#7. Very broad options of a specific passage are not good candidates: Let’s consider that the passage is specifically about application of AC generator in wind turbines. Every option about application of AC generator (without emphasis on turbine) is less likely to be correct, because it is very broad and not mentioned in the passage. To me, this is very tricky trap and GRE test makers love that.

#8. Pay more attention in the end: When you start reading a passage, your brain tends to pay more attention in the beginning and less attention in the end. In some cases, when students get tired during exam, they even do not study the end and try to guess the end based on the beginning. This is really a big danger and you have to inverse that. Most of the turning points or conclusions happens at the end. So, I suggest you pay attention in the end of the passage twice as much as in the beginning. It really helps.

#9. Pay attention to the positive or the negative connotation: Let’s consider the author has a negative view toward an idea, hence, if you face a question asking about author’s view about that idea, you can eliminate all choices with positive or neutral connotation.

#10. Pay more attention to the adjectives and connectors: In the GRE passage, the tendency of the author toward a fact, another author, a book or a movie is very important. In some cases, to understand this tendency you need to study till the end. Paying attention to the adjectives and connectors help you to understand the author’s position easier. In addition, by looking at connectors, you can make yourself prepared and make some predictions about following sentences in the passage. This helps you to be an active reader rather than passive one. For example, by seeing although, you get ready for a change in direction.

#11. You do not need to know every detail to answer the questions: Unlike sentence completion where every part helps you to get closer to the answer, there are some details and even sentences that their only mission is to get you bogged. That is why it is suggested not to get stuck in the details and complex structures, because you might not need that parts to answer all the questions. And if you need to know more about that part, when you face a corresponding question, you can come back and read that part again. It is suggested that by skimming (no skipping) try to answer main questions. Why this passage is written? Is there a turning point or not? What are the most important evidence in the passage? Are there some quotation or not, if so, the author support or oppose that? Then refer to the questions and for every question, get back to the appropriate part of the passage and answer the question. Never ever answer a question just by skimming.

#12= A hard passage does not mean hard questions and an easy passage does not mean easy questions: Typically, questions regarding hard passages are easier than the passages. So, never get discouraged when you encounter a hard passage. On the other hand, questions regarding easy passages tend to be harder. Never answer those hastily without enough thinking.