RC: How can I improve my reading comprehension?

[isha]

Erin,

Unlike other students reading comprehension is my biggest weakness. I get nervous about Rcs. It because of Rcs that i have been avoiding GMAT for years. I was trying to read more and more books to improve my reading skills. I can see an improvement but still not enough.

I take much longer(almost double the time) to answer the questions. Currently i am using Arco, and it shatters my confidence when i cannot even get half the questions right, with double the time. And not only that, some questions i cannot understand even after reading explanation.

Can you suggest something.
Thanks

[Erin]

I'll tell you more later, but for now...

DON'T USE ARCO!!!!

Sorry for "shouting"... it's just really, really bad for reading, okay? I think it'll hurt you more than it'll help you...

More later, okay?

Erin

[Erin]

First, which Arco book are you using? The "Unofficial Guide" is not too bad, but I wonder why *anybody* would use anything other than official material--there's more RC available than anything else.

So, could you tell me what you're reading? And if you're not reading official material, could you tell me why?

Okay, now on to your "problem." First, you are NOT different from other students--you are LIKE other students. I can't say for sure about folks in this discussion group, but almost ALL of my students who are non-native speakers find the RC the MOST difficult part. I'd like to hear what people here have to say. It might be the case that many of the visitors here are from India, where English is extensively taught in schools from a very early age (if I understand correctly, English is actually the/an official language of India???).

You might think since most of the posts have to do with SC or CR that nobody find RC difficult. I don't think that's true. I think we tend to talk more about other parts of the test simply because RC is so time-consuming and because most people realize that RC is a matter of concentration and vocabuarly. But please, I'd like to hear everybody's comments.

There are really very few "secrets" that will help you to raise your RC quickly. The best thing to do is to sit down and simply read. Read, concentrate, think, use a dictionary. There's very little else involved. Really. A lot of books teach some (stupid) tricks like read the first sentences, last sentences, etc., but that will NOT work--ETS is not that stupid to make their tests that easy!!!

You might want to try some slightly easier material first. Scientific American, National Geographic, The Economist (more British English, but still useful for our tests), even Time or Newsweek can help.

What language do you speak? I saw your info that said you lived in Japan, but I've never hear "isha" as a Japanese name...

Please post back, isha!! And please don't think you're the only one!! Actually, by posting your doubts and weaknesses, you're showing others out there that they are not the only ones!!

Erin

[isha]

Thanks for the help Erin.

I am not sure what do you mean by the "Unofficial Guide", the book that i am using is Arco 2002. it says that "This book does not contain actual GMAT test items, nor is it endorsed or approved by GMAC", and by oficial material do you mean ETS material?

Tobe able to practice more I am using many guides not at the same time though. Somembody suggested me that i use the ets material close to the test. I am taking the test in second week of august.

I am from India, where english is official language. Although, i speak good english and i have been working on vocabulary, i take a long time to read a paragraph and then i take more time to comprehend it. Inspite of this i misundertsand some points.

[isha]

Erin can you suggest some good practice books other than ETS guide ?

[KT9595]

Princeton Review is pretty sagacious on RC and AWA. Kaplan, I think, goes too far in the verbal section.