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mystic87 · 07-12-2008, 10:52 PM

i was doing well in RC a few weeks ago, but i just took another test today and man did i get smoked...

I just started to realize that you never know how many questions you'll get on a particular passage or how many passages you'll get. So now i'm at a loss of just how much i should read the first time i see the passage.

I've tried just reading first and last sentence of each paragraph for "big picture" questions, and that only works on really obvious ones. This technique just confuses me even more for the subtler passages.

My weakness is the historical/political/arts essays...

Suggestions are greatly appreciated!!!

tamsel · 07-20-2008, 03:20 PM

you missed only one science essay . That is the total number of types .

one of the member in the forum told the book ( Break-Through Rapid Reading ) I am not able to get in the Indian market .

Went through some sites . speed learning technique was fruitful .

I suppose its comes through practise of finding your own strategy .

I myself finding difficult . check out threads of Oink,Janette and latest who got 800V .

Cheers ,
Tam

mystic87 · 07-21-2008, 05:20 PM

Thanks tam! Yes you're right, speed reading is quite useful. I just got that book a few days ago and it's very useful. I'm still working through different passages trying to identify exactly what works for me best.

If you can't find the book in Indian market, i'd suggest you order from Amazon or something. It's a really amazing book, probably won't get tips like this one from most sites. It makes you look at reading from a completely different perspective.

KW&BT · 07-23-2008, 06:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mystic87

Thanks tam! Yes you're right, speed reading is quite useful. I just got that book a few days ago and it's very useful. I'm still working through different passages trying to identify exactly what works for me best.

If you can't find the book in Indian market, i'd suggest you order from Amazon or something. It's a really amazing book, probably won't get tips like this one from most sites. It makes you look at reading from a completely different perspective.

Hey mystic - Could you brief or show some examples what you meant by "completely different perspective"?

mystic87 · 07-23-2008, 08:47 PM

Basically what Kump does is try to increase your speed AND increase your comprehension level. The two are actually contradictory at first because if you want comprehention you need to slow down. But you also need higher speed, so you might sacrifice comprehension. So what Kump does is separate the two as totally distinct exercises: first get your speed up, then work your comprehension up to match it. Also, another point that was stressed was that you should always identify the purpose of every reading you do. Whether it's to get the gist of things or to look for certain key words, you should always identify that before reading.

So all the above things sound pretty normal right? well here's where Kump starts to make you see things in totally different ways. When you look at a picture, do you actually look at it horizontally "line by line" as if you're reading words? No right? Additionally, when you read do you usualy hear an inner voice reading everything you see in your head? These two are actually related. When we see a picture, we translate directly what we SEE to meaning/emotions/etc. But what we normally do when we read is we SEE, then we HEAR, and finally we UNDERSTAND. So Kump's exercises train you to forgo the HEAR TO UNDERSTAND step and jump right from SEEING TO UNDERSTANDING. Sounds kinda weird right? After awhile, you start to hear less and less of your inner voice, and start to understand the words a connection to sound. Which increases your comprehension and reading speed tremendously.

One more thing, you learn to read more than one word at once. The scope of your sight is actually in a circle and we see that all at the same time. Say if you wanted to see just ONE word in a whole paragraph, impossible right? Cuz you see words above, below, left and right. So the exercises helps you to see "blobs" of words at the same time. ANNNDDD as you're reading, you can skip over the structure words (the, a, and, etc) and pay more attention to content words (the meat of the material.)

I haven't had enough time to master all of these techniques but in the past 5 days i'd have to say my RC has improved A LOT!!! This is really a skill that you'll keep for life, it goes beyond GRE.

(now i kinda sounds like a sales representative for Peter Kump....

)

Meggieski · 07-23-2008, 10:18 PM

Mystic,

Where do you find Peter Kump teachings? I really would like to up my verbal. I did horribly on the real GMAT but for some reason thought I was aceing it!

Meggieski · 07-23-2008, 10:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Meggieski

Mystic,

Where do you find Peter Kump teachings? I really would like to up my verbal. I did horribly on the real GMAT but for some reason thought I was aceing it!

Never mind my library has it!

mystic87 · 07-24-2008, 02:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Meggieski

Mystic,

Where do you find Peter Kump teachings? I really would like to up my verbal. I did horribly on the real GMAT but for some reason thought I was aceing it!

Glad to hear you found it. You can even purchase it via amazon or Barnes and Nobles. Just practice a lot and read a lot. That'll really help with verbal. Also here are sources that are useful and have often been thrown around on the forum:

NY Times The New York Times - Breaking News, World News & Multimedia
Scientific American Science News, Articles and Information | Scientific American <even better if you can get hold of the paper issue>
Arts& Letters Daily Arts & Letters Daily - ideas, criticism, debate
The Economist
The New Yorker
...etc.

Just read consistently every day and you'll be building your vocab and RC without even knowing it. It's hard to improve verbal but it can be done. Get exposed to LOTS of questions and visit this forum often. That's my experience with prepping for verbal. Hope that helps!

KW&BT · 07-24-2008, 06:11 AM

mystic - oh! very good brief.

It sounds really interesting then. I will buy for sure.

mystic87 · 07-24-2008, 10:57 PM

good good, definitely recommend it! Good luck!

07-12-2008, 10:52 PM	#1 (permalink)
mystic87 Gettin' Pumped! Join Date: Jul 2008 Posts: 119	RC is killing me softly... i was doing well in RC a few weeks ago, but i just took another test today and man did i get smoked... I just started to realize that you never know how many questions you'll get on a particular passage or how many passages you'll get. So now i'm at a loss of just how much i should read the first time i see the passage. I've tried just reading first and last sentence of each paragraph for "big picture" questions, and that only works on really obvious ones. This technique just confuses me even more for the subtler passages. My weakness is the historical/political/arts essays... Suggestions are greatly appreciated!!!

07-23-2008, 08:47 PM	#5 (permalink)
mystic87 Gettin' Pumped! Join Date: Jul 2008 Posts: 119	Basically what Kump does is try to increase your speed AND increase your comprehension level. The two are actually contradictory at first because if you want comprehention you need to slow down. But you also need higher speed, so you might sacrifice comprehension. So what Kump does is separate the two as totally distinct exercises: first get your speed up, then work your comprehension up to match it. Also, another point that was stressed was that you should always identify the purpose of every reading you do. Whether it's to get the gist of things or to look for certain key words, you should always identify that before reading. So all the above things sound pretty normal right? well here's where Kump starts to make you see things in totally different ways. When you look at a picture, do you actually look at it horizontally "line by line" as if you're reading words? No right? Additionally, when you read do you usualy hear an inner voice reading everything you see in your head? These two are actually related. When we see a picture, we translate directly what we SEE to meaning/emotions/etc. But what we normally do when we read is we SEE, then we HEAR, and finally we UNDERSTAND. So Kump's exercises train you to forgo the HEAR TO UNDERSTAND step and jump right from SEEING TO UNDERSTANDING. Sounds kinda weird right? After awhile, you start to hear less and less of your inner voice, and start to understand the words a connection to sound. Which increases your comprehension and reading speed tremendously. One more thing, you learn to read more than one word at once. The scope of your sight is actually in a circle and we see that all at the same time. Say if you wanted to see just ONE word in a whole paragraph, impossible right? Cuz you see words above, below, left and right. So the exercises helps you to see "blobs" of words at the same time. ANNNDDD as you're reading, you can skip over the structure words (the, a, and, etc) and pay more attention to content words (the meat of the material.) I haven't had enough time to master all of these techniques but in the past 5 days i'd have to say my RC has improved A LOT!!! This is really a skill that you'll keep for life, it goes beyond GRE. (now i kinda sounds like a sales representative for Peter Kump....)

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07-20-2008, 03:20 PM	#2 (permalink)
tamsel WeltoRealWorld Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 106	you missed only one science essay . That is the total number of types . one of the member in the forum told the book ( Break-Through Rapid Reading ) I am not able to get in the Indian market . Went through some sites . speed learning technique was fruitful . I suppose its comes through practise of finding your own strategy . I myself finding difficult . check out threads of Oink,Janette and latest who got 800V . Cheers , Tam

07-21-2008, 05:20 PM	#3 (permalink)
mystic87 Gettin' Pumped! Join Date: Jul 2008 Posts: 119	Thanks tam! Yes you're right, speed reading is quite useful. I just got that book a few days ago and it's very useful. I'm still working through different passages trying to identify exactly what works for me best. If you can't find the book in Indian market, i'd suggest you order from Amazon or something. It's a really amazing book, probably won't get tips like this one from most sites. It makes you look at reading from a completely different perspective.

07-23-2008, 10:18 PM	#6 (permalink)
Meggieski Desperately wanting 700+ Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Denver Posts: 54	Mystic, Where do you find Peter Kump teachings? I really would like to up my verbal. I did horribly on the real GMAT but for some reason thought I was aceing it!

07-24-2008, 06:11 AM	#9 (permalink)
KW&BT Trying to make mom and pop proud Join Date: Jul 2008 Posts: 17	mystic - oh! very good brief. It sounds really interesting then. I will buy for sure.

07-24-2008, 10:57 PM	#10 (permalink)
mystic87 Gettin' Pumped! Join Date: Jul 2008 Posts: 119	good good, definitely recommend it! Good luck!

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