Complexity of GRE Comprehension

Reading is natural phenomena to all literates .Reading comprehension or RC section in GRE exam is based on this ability, but just plain reading in not enough for achieving good score in this section .There are many factors that play a vital role in cracking this section for example Reading speed, how much you comprehend the content, good vocabulary, analyzing capacity etc.

In GRE’s reading comprehension you will generally be presented with three or more reading comprehension passage. Comprehension passages are drawn from different areas like science,humanites or may be from renowned university presses corpus .Format of RC section is very simple there are some 300-500 words containing paragraph that are taken from already publish material and series of question are asked from this content of passage.

How to brush up reading skills and comprehension answering skills
There is one very interesting observation that reading speed is not constant and it varies for example if you are from accounts background or may be from humanities then there are sheer chances that you will be slow in medicine. Generally it is said that your reading speed should be like 200-250 [words per min/wpm] for RC section.speed can be improve with regular reading practice .For example if your current speed is 100[wpm].set a target for yourself for 110 [wpm] for one week. read regularly to achieve it .You can also follow below mention tactics to score good in RC section of GRE.

Step 1: Read the small section of editorial(or any section which you generally like ) of any newspaper once (preferably a well-known English paper), you can also use magazine or some other printed material.

Step 2: Write down a two to three line summary on what you have understood from that one reading of the article. If you don’t get it then go through again. In beginning it will take time but eventually you’ll pick up speed.

Step 3: Check all words that are new to you.

Step4: jot down all the new words that you come across.lookout their dictionary meaning.

Step5: Now re-read passage and check how much you can comprehend now.

Some commonly asked questions upon RC section

Reading comprehension questions test your ability to understand a passage and answer question on the basis of what is stated and implied in the passage. Some probable question could be on following topics.

• Main idea of passage
• To choose title for passage
• Asked about specific detail in passage
• Asked to give meaning of an unfamiliar word
• Asked to make inferences
• Vocabulary questions
• Question on author’s style or mood

Some useful information to solve RC

o When you are not able to figure out the meaning of some unfamiliar word then don’t press panic button. There are chances that you won’t be necessarily require the meaning of that word to answer passage questions.

o Focus on general content of each paragraph.

o To choose the topic of paragraph just don’t focus on opening and ending sentences.

o Skim questions quickly before reading the passage. so when you will be reading passage you will have some idea what you have to look for in passage.

o At last read all questions that are still answered.

I hope that above mentioned information will be useful in cracking comprehension section of GRE. If have any other idea to crack GRE Reading Comprehension section then share with us.

Please feel free to ask your questions and post comments below.

Good luck for your GRE Exam.

Shipra Srivastava
Team LearnWordList.com

20 Responses to “Complexity of GRE Comprehension”

1. Sugam Agarwal on May 5th, 2010 1:04 pm

   nice,it will really help the students

2. shipra on May 6th, 2010 9:56 am

   hiii sugam

   Thanks

3. HUBERT LONTSI SOB on May 6th, 2010 11:18 am

   I don’t understand well how i can use this to really improve my level english.

   How can i do if i choose to learn first words beginning with the letter A

4. TomPier on May 6th, 2010 1:53 pm

   great post as usual!

5. shipra on May 7th, 2010 6:32 am

   hii Hubert

   sure you can start with letter A.hey there is other lot of GRE related stuff on learnwordlist.com.have you check that????

6. NuriRoocurl on May 22nd, 2010 3:29 pm

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   I’ve been around for quite a lot of time, but finally decided to show my appreciation of your work!

   Thumbs up, and keep it going!

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   Christian, iwspo.net

7. shipra on May 24th, 2010 4:54 am

   hii Christian

   Thanks!!!

8. punkaj on June 2nd, 2010 7:07 pm

   those were pretty helpful i guess…but still my speed is kind of slow ..i got low score just because of RC section so m afraid to it ..still giving another try …but i cant increase my speed as i required ..sometimes options in answers seems to similar . and sometimes cant even guess what they actually want ..m reading editorials since long ..yah it helps me a bit but still not satisfied .

9. shipra on June 10th, 2010 4:53 am

   Hii punkaj thanks for your comment.Please lot me know how much time you daily spend to increase reading skills. You doing every thing right but may be not routinely that’s why your are not getting desired result.Never forget ti skimming of question first before looking for answers. Make sure you understand the RC passage thoroughly,if you not getting it in first reading don’t hesitate to read it twice .Don’t forget to write us for further queries .

10. Genoveva on July 13th, 2010 12:07 pm

    ..as you know I am fan on your lessons.. received your letter exact time i needed.. thanks! you ARE SO GERGEOUS..

11. Nazia on July 13th, 2010 3:19 pm

    Its really tremendous to work out with such a good lesson plan as it helps me a lot to improve and to develop my skills
    Thanks

12. Hamest on July 13th, 2010 6:23 pm

    Thank you for the information.. It’s a great use for me..

13. shipra on July 14th, 2010 4:55 am

    Thanks for your comment nazia,we will love to hear from you in future as well..

14. Genoveva on July 14th, 2010 5:39 pm

    will you be pleased wishing me success in the exams i have to pass in next couple of days,..if all things are exactly i want, i will stay with you more frequently..love (me)…………..too..

15. kirubel on July 27th, 2010 7:26 am

    i realy appreciate your effert .

16. shipra on July 31st, 2010 5:52 am

    Thanks kirubel, keep visiting us.

17. rk on August 21st, 2010 4:17 pm

    thank you very , it is very much help full for me

18. shipra on August 23rd, 2010 4:20 am

    Thanks for your comment rk.keep visiting us.

19. Lahari on September 9th, 2010 2:34 pm

    Hello!! Can ya pls tell me till when can i postpone my date for GRE if i have to apply for Fall 2011.

20. shipra on September 10th, 2010 4:18 am

    Lahari, Fall Semester will start from Aug/Sep .You can Take GRE anywhere between in march and may ,visit ets for registering details.

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