How To Read A Reading Comp Passage
How to read? Surely, we all know how to read already! Right?
It turns out that the best way to read a passage on a standardized test is not the best way to read in the real world. So before I say anything else, I want to say this: use what we’re about to discuss for the GRE only. Don’t read this way once you actually get to grad school!
We’re going to split RC passages into two broad categories: long and short. Short passages are usually one or two paragraphs. Long passages tend to be three to four paragraphs and are typically both much longer and much more complex than short passages.
Timing
First, we have some timing goals. We aim to complete an initial read-through of an RC passage in about 1.5minutes for shorter passages and about 3 minutes for longer passages. We should try to answer General questions (e.g., main idea) in about 30 seconds and Specific questions in about 1 minute.
I take short notes while I read through the passage; not everyone does, but I would argue that everyone should jot down at least a couple of words per paragraph. Notes will be heavily abbreviated; see the Taking Notes section below for more on this topic.
The Point
Every passage has a topic and what we call The Point. The topic is what you would probably expect: the basic topic under discussion in the passage. The Point is the main reason why the author is writing this specific passage (you can also think of The Point as the thesis statement). For instance, a passage topic might be the curious decline of bees in recent years (entire hives have been dying, losing the ability to find their way back to the hive, and so on). The Point might be that, out of three possible causes (all mentioned in the passage), a certain pesticide is the most likely cause (according to the author). When we read the passage, we need to make sure we understand The Point, not just the topic.
Twists
All passages contain twists, or changes of direction. These changes, or contrasts, make for great test questions, so we need to identify all of the twists. Short passages tend to have only one major twist, while longer passages tend to have two or more.
Keep an eye out for contrast language such as: but, however, although, yet, despite. Any such language indicates a change of direction, and we want to make sure we keep track of these twists in our notes.
Structure
For any passages with more than 1 paragraph, we also need to make sure we understand the purpose of each paragraph. These passages generally follow the same rules we’re supposed to use when we write an essay: each paragraph should have one distinct purpose or message (though there can be twists). Often “ but not always “ that message is delivered via a topic sentence, usually the first or second sentence of the paragraph.
Finally, we also need to make sure that we do NOT fully understand or remember all of the detail in each paragraph for the longer or more complex passages. That NOT was not a typo. We only have a few minutes; we don’t have time to try to fully understand, let alone remember, all of the detail. Our goal is to know where the different kinds of detail reside “ that’s all.
Wait “ How Can We Get Away With NOT Understanding the Detail?
This is where we can take advantage of the fact that the GRE is a standardized test. We are not going to be asked about every last detail in the passage, nor are we going to have to provide a written answer that would require us to have synthesized everything “ in other words, this isn’t a school test. That little piece of knowledge has major implications for how we conduct the initial read-through.
We know that we’re going to have to understand The Point, because that permeates the entire passage and even, to some extent, every question. We also know that we will not get asked about every detail on the screen, because we’reonly going to see up to 4 questions (fewer, for shorter passages!). So why learn all of that annoying detail unless weknow that we’re going to get a question about it?
Instead, as we discussed above, our goal for the detail is to know where it resides. For one-paragraph passages, we want to have an idea of beginning, middle, or end of the paragraph. For longer passages, we want to know in which paragraph we can find these different details.
That way, if we do get a question about the chemical mechanism by which the pesticide affects a bee’s nervous system, we’ll immediately know that we can find that detail in paragraph 2. We won’t have any idea how to answer the question yet; we’ll have to go to paragraph two and read that detail now to see whether we can figure it out.
Note: did you hit a word you don’t know? Skip it. Is some sentence really convoluted? If it’s the first sentence of a paragraph, try to find the subject and verb, just to get a basic understanding of what it says. If it’s a detail sentence, skip it.
How to Read (on the GRE)
So, a new passage pops up on the screen and we, naturally, start reading. Read the first sentence, then stop. Rephrase it in your mind (put it into words that you can understand very easily), and jot down a few words. Then do the same with the second sentence. If the passage has only that one paragraph, continue sentence by sentence.
If there are multiple paragraphs, you can start skimming the remainder of a paragraph once you understand the purpose of that paragraph. While you skim, try to make this distinction: is this information just detail that goes along with whatever I decided was the purpose of this paragraph? Or is this information something new: does it represent a new idea or a change of direction? If it’s just detail, skip it or jot down a very short note (bees dying). If it represents a new idea or change of direction, then pay a little more attention and take some short notes.
When you’re done, take a moment to articulate The Point to yourself. Is that already in your notes? Put a star next to it. If it isn’t in your notes, jot it down.
Taking Notes
Your notes should be heavily abbreviated “ much more aggressively abbreviated than notes you would typically take at work or school. In fact, if you look at your notes for a passage a few days later, you should have a lot of trouble figuring out what they say (without using the passage as a reference).
How can we get away with abbreviating this heavily? Again, we’re taking advantage of the nature of this test. You’re going to spend perhaps 3 to 6 minutes with this passage and then you can forget about it forever. You don’t need to commit anything to long-term memory, nor do you need to take notes from which you can study in a week. (Of course, if you’re just practicing, you are going to review your work later, but you should still practice as though it’s the real thing.)
Analyzing Your Work
Everyone already knows that it’s important to review your work on the problems you do, but did you know that it’s also important to review how you read and take your notes? When you’re done with a passage and the associated questions, start your review with the passage itself. When you were done reading (but before you answered questions), what did you think The Point was? What did you think the purpose of each paragraph was? Did that knowledge or understanding change as you worked your way through the questions? If you misunderstood something after the first read-through, why do you think you misunderstood it? Did you read too quickly and overlook something? Did you not take the time to rephrase what you read? How could you do this better next time?
Next, match your initial notes to your current knowledge of what information is contained in the passage. Were you able to find the right paragraph easily when answering a specific question? If not, why not? What should you have jotted down on the initial read-through to make that easier? Conversely, did you have too much information jotted down? Maybe you were able to answer a specific question just from your notes, or maybe you had a lot of detail written down that you never had to use. If so, you wrote down too much information and you spent too much time on the initial read-through.
Could you have abbreviated even more? Write down what the notes might have looked like, from the beginning. (In general, if you feel your notes were fairly far from your ideal for any reason, then re-write the notes the way you should have written them the first time.)
Takeaways
(1) You do NOT want to learn or memorize every single thing that the passage says.
(2) Know your goals:
- Find The Point
- Find the purpose of each paragraph
- Know where (in which paragraph) to find different kinds of detail
(3) Practice sticking to your timing and practice abbreviating heavily.
(4) When you review your work, also review how you read and took notes on the passage.