Tips on dealing with UNFAMILIAR articles

[alixjung]

This is not funny but I find myself like this in front of science (ESPECIALLY biology) RC articles: By the time I finish reading biology articles which have endless unfamiliar + lengthy + similar-looking-therefore-confusing nouns, I've already successfully developed a headache and lost track of what I just read. Problem 2, I often ended up reading the whole article again and scratching notes/drawings so that I am ABLE to answer questions like "which of the following is NOT supported by the article." Problem 3: it takes me 25 minutes for me to comfortably finish ONE biology RC article "achieving" a 70% score... The funnest? The right answers alway make perfect sense AFTER I see the keys!! Now, I am getting to a point of feeling allergic to biology articles and ready to see my doctor.

Please share suggestions/tips/strategies on dealing with an article that you are not familiar with.

[eagle]

Originally posted by alixjung

This is not funny but I find myself like this in front of science (ESPECIALLY biology) RC articles: By the time I finish reading biology articles which have endless unfamiliar + lengthy + similar-looking-therefore-confusing nouns, I've already successfully developed a headache and lost track of what I just read. Problem 2, I often ended up reading the whole article again and scratching notes/drawings so that I am ABLE to answer questions like "which of the following is NOT supported by the article." Problem 3: it takes me 25 minutes for me to comfortably finish ONE biology RC article "achieving" a 70% score... The funnest? The right answers alway make perfect sense AFTER I see the keys!! Now, I am getting to a point of feeling allergic to biology articles and ready to see my doctor.

Please share suggestions/tips/strategies on dealing with an article that you are not familiar with.

Hey Alixjung, its all in the mind - Im a biology student- and used to feel the same way after reading techie articles- I just keep telling myself not to get psyched out and that ETS is not testing our general knowledge (G.K.);in fact G.K. can be detrimental- like if you try answering acc. to your knowledge than acc. to the passage.
my tips- for all they are worth-
1. Approach any passage with an open mind- by open, I mean- unprejudiced and receptive.
2.Try to get the general idea of the para- rather than reading it all word to word. That gives you confidence in your understanding. Again- concentrate on the whole, not on words.
Thats it - I guess,all that I can say abt tackling unfamiliar/familiar passages. Hope it helps.

[alixjung]

Thanks, eagle.

A study partner gave me this advice...

My strategy is simple for all essays. It will never get you a perfect score
though. Only read the first para, last para and first sentence of the paragraphs
in between. Prepare a map of what the passage says. Figure out the tone of the
article (whether the author agrees/disagrees/recommends additional research/none
of those) and the possible context/scope (e.g. in a report, in a science paper
to prove something, in a proposal, in an argument) After that, never go back to
the passage. Spend 5 minutes on the passage and 1 min each on the question. More
than that is simply waste of time and will ruin other areas of GMAT. Try this on
some sample tests and see if this strategy works for you.

[anita678910]

Originally posted by alixjung

Thanks, eagle.

A study partner gave me this advice...

My strategy is simple for all essays. It will never get you a perfect score
though. Only read the first para, last para and first sentence of the paragraphs
in between. Prepare a map of what the passage says. Figure out the tone of the
article (whether the author agrees/disagrees/recommends additional research/none
of those) and the possible context/scope (e.g. in a report, in a science paper
to prove something, in a proposal, in an argument) After that, never go back to
the passage. Spend 5 minutes on the passage and 1 min each on the question. More
than that is simply waste of time and will ruin other areas of GMAT. Try this on
some sample tests and see if this strategy works for you.

Hi alixjung,
I think this strategy works for those whose first language is English.For someone like me, a non-native speaker, seems unlikely. I feel lost after reading the whole passage let alone skiping parts of it.
Anita

[pamrs]

Originally posted by anita678910

Hi alixjung,
I think this strategy works for those whose first language is English.For someone like me, a non-native speaker, seems unlikely. I feel lost after reading the whole passage let alone skiping parts of it.
Anita

My only language is English (except for some Spanglish), and I am the same way about some science articles using a bunch of technical terms. I go into recursive thinking. By the time I finish a sentence I've forgotten what the previous one said. Important not to go into panic mode at that point, though.

I disagree with the advice given, unless you have trouble finishing the test. I have missed some easy ones just because I was apparently too lazy to go back and find the answer clearly stated in the passage, no thinking necessary. But in experimenting w/ the CAT, I've found that if you get most items right, even if you miss (or presumably don't get to) the last couple of questions, it doesn't count against you much, if any.

[testtaker821]

ya hrd to get gist that way