Reading Speed

eccentric · Posted: Sat Aug 23, 2008 2:29 am Post subject: Reading Speed

I have tested on my reading speed that comes out to be 200 words per minute. How can i improve upon the reading speed, as i believe this impacts a lot as far as comprehension of a passage is concerned.

My progress so far has been good on quant which has always been my strong point but i have not been able to improve my verbal scores significantly. Journey has been good on quant from 25 - 50 where as on verbal section i have snailed from 19 - 25 and RC has been the weakest link in all.

I have started to believe now after this analysis on RC speed that i can work on this area and still significant improve my score!!!!!!

Expert comments please

Regards,

pepeprepa · Posted: Sat Aug 23, 2008 2:53 am Post subject:

What I think, is that concentration and stamina are much more important than to read 10 or 20 more words per minute. The gain is low. Gmat is a time management test that's true but you have the time to read completely the texts if you spend a little less time on SC for example.

VP_Jim · Posted: Sat Aug 23, 2008 10:12 am Post subject:

Remember that your goal in RC should just be to have a general idea about the purpose, structure, and tone of the passage. Don't read for details - you can always refer back to the passage for detail questions.

My theory is that you SHOULD be able to answer broad questions about purpose and tone etc. without looking back to the passage. You SHOULD NOT be able to answer specific detail questions without looking back - if you can, you're spending too much time reading. Remember that there are hundreds of details in every passage but you're only going to be asked about 3 or 4 of them - don't bother trying to get every little piece of information on the first read.

eccentric · Posted: Tue Aug 26, 2008 3:23 am Post subject:

Thanks!!!

I guess you have made a great point, getting gist is important while assimilation of entire text is n't..

Regards

Stacey Koprince · Posted: Tue Aug 26, 2008 8:28 pm Post subject:

I received a PM asking me to comment on this question. I completely agree with what Jim said - he makes a great point. Remember this too: they typically write 6 to 8 questions for a passage, but they only give one person 3 to 4 of those questions. So that means there are some details you're definitely NOT going to be asked - you won't get those questions. Just another incentive to get the "big picture" ideas on your first read-through and leave the detailed stuff for later (and only IF you get a question about that detail).

Here's a link to another post that gives you some more ideas for RC:
http://www.beatthegmat.com/verbal-strategy-t14035.html

hidhairya · Posted: Sun Sep 21, 2008 9:23 pm Post subject: Slow Reading Speed haunts

Jim and Stacey I am agree with you but I am even more slow reader then the guy who asked this question.

My reading speed is just 88 WPM. I know that is really horrible especially when you try to finish RC.

Could you guys suggest me another strategy to crack RC even with my speed or should I seriously consider some speed reading courses? Also if speed reading is answer please suggest some courses for that.

Vignesh.4384 · Posted: Mon Sep 22, 2008 1:33 am Post subject: Re: Slow Reading Speed haunts

stop@800 · Posted: Tue Sep 23, 2008 2:27 pm Post subject:

200 WPM is a very good speed for GMAT.

You just need 2.5 minutes to read 500 words, its excellent.

yes 88, I think needs a bit of improvement.
My personal opinion is to take speed to 100 and focus on accuracy.

100 WPM with 90% accuracy is very good, atleast for me.
I am also currently around 90 WPM.

Can you please give some examples as to what strategies does Norman Lewis contains?

I want to evaluate that is it worth reading the book at this stage?

Stacey Koprince · Posted: Tue Sep 23, 2008 3:11 pm Post subject:

I haven't heard of that book before but, in addition, to this student's comments, you could also look the book up on Amazon and see what other people have said about it. The Amazon entry should also provide some kind of synopsis of the contents.

One thing to remember in reading a GMAT passage: you don't need to learn all of the nit-picky detail that a passage contains. In fact, you actively do not want to learn that detail on your first read-through.

It's important to learn to become comfortable skimming over some of the detail - seeing that it's there and maybe knowing at a high level "oh, this is about the effect of chemical fertilizers on birds' eggs" but don't actually get into HOW the chemicals affect the eggs unless and until you get a question about that detail.

In general, about twice as many questions are written for a passage as you'll be given yourself, so you know you're NOT going to get asked about all of the detail in the passage. Only learn what you need to learn. Smile

Vignesh.4384 · Posted: Tue Sep 23, 2008 7:49 pm Post subject: