Transcript Learning tough English words for GRE & CAT

Don’t read: Revolutionary technique
for solving RC for GRE, GMAT & CAT
By: Satyadhar Joshi
[email protected]
http://www.freegregmatclass.com/
http://onlineclasses.nanotechbiz.org/
Contents of Plan
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Introduction
General areas of RCs
Predefined strategy
Pre knowledge
Skim to find author’s tone
Get to the question, read it carefully and
eliminate options. Never select always remove
• Diplomatic: Author is always diplomatic and so is
the answer i.e. Never are things in extreme
direction
http://www.ets.org/Media/Tests/GRE/pdf/011499.GRE.pdf
Time strategy with the RCs
• In GRE there are 30 questions in 30 minutes, if
someone do the antonyms fast enough we have
around 10 min for 7 RC question. Thus we have
around 1.5 minutes for one RC questions.
• But, we cannot go back to questions in GRE and
GMAT therefore the first question must be done
carefully in more than 1.5 minutes, hence I
suggest that you practice to read the paragraph in
around 2.5 minutes before moving the questions
• Statistically 3 question in 5 min, 4 question RC
may be done in 7 minutes & 5 question in 8 min
ETS says:
• Reading comprehension questions measure your
ability to read with understanding, insight and
discrimination. This type of question explores
your ability to analyze a written passage from
several perspectives. These include your ability to
recognize both explicitly stated elements in the
passage and assumptions underlying statements
or arguments in the passage as well as the
implications of those statements or arguments.
http://www.ets.org/gre/general/prepare/sample_questions/verbal/reading_comprehension
ETS says:
Pay attention to the following as you review the passage:
• the function of a word in relation to a larger segment of the
passage
• the relationships among the various ideas in the passage
• the relationship of the author to the topic or to the audience.
You will find five types of reading comprehension questions to answer:
• the main point of the passage
• information explicitly stated in the passage
• information or ideas implied or suggested by the author
• possible applications of the author's ideas to other situations,
including the identification of situations or processes analogous to
those described in the passage
• the author's logic, reasoning, or persuasive techniques
http://www.ets.org/gre/general/prepare/sample_questions/verbal/reading_comprehension
ETS says:
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You should analyze each passage carefully before answering the accompanying
questions. As with any kind of close and thoughtful reading, look for clues that will
help you understand less explicit aspects of the passage. Try to separate main
ideas from supporting ideas or evidence. Try also to separate the author's own
ideas or attitudes from information he or she is presenting.
Note transitions from one idea to the next, and examine the relationships among
the different ideas or parts of the passage. For example, are they contrasting? Are
they complementary? Consider the points the author makes, the conclusions
drawn, and how and why those points are made or conclusions are drawn.
The best answer is the one that most accurately and most completely answers the
questions being posed. Be careful not to pick an answer choice simply because it is
a true statement. Be careful also not to be misled by answer choices that are only
partially true or only partially satisfy the problem posed in the question.
Answer the questions on the basis of the information provided in the passage. Do
not rely on outside knowledge. Your own views or opinions may sometimes
conflict with the views expressed or the information provided in the passage. Be
sure that you work within the context of the passage. You should not expect to
agree with everything you encounter in reading passages.
http://www.ets.org/gre/general/prepare/sample_questions/verbal/reading_comprehension
RCs in GMAT
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What Is Measured
Reading Comprehension questions measure your ability to understand,
analyze, and apply information and concepts presented in written form.
This section evaluates the following abilities:
Understanding words and statements in reading passages: Questions of
this type test your understanding of and ability to comprehend terms used
in the passage and your understanding of the English language.
Understanding the logical relationships between significant points and
concepts in the reading passages: Questions of this type ask you to
determine the strong and weak points of an argument or to evaluate the
importance of arguments and ideas in a passage.
Drawing inferences from facts and statements in the reading
passages: Questions of this type ask you to consider factual statements or
information and, on the basis of that information, reach a general
conclusion.
Understanding and following the development of quantitative concepts
as they are presented in verbal material: Questions of this type involve
the interpretation of numerical data or the use of simple arithmetic to
reach conclusions about material in a passage.
http://www.mba.com/mba/TheGMAT/TestStructureAndOverview/VerbalSection/
Areas of RCs
• Science: Medicine, botany, zoology, chemistry,
physics, geology, astronomy
• Humanities: Art, literature, music, philosophy,
folk, philosophy
• Social Science: History, economics, sociology,
government
• Tone is trying to convince or share his opinion
Pre knowledge of the areas for GRE Reading comprehension
1. Biology and Biochemistry, Cell and Molecular Biology
2. Psychology and basics of mind and behavior, how and where signals go and their effect on working on brain, child psychology
3. History of US and World: Civil War, African American, Slavery, Wars (Eng vs. France)
4. Communism and Capitalism with their important meanings
5. Literature: Poems, scriptures, plays, mythology etc… Example Milton’s work
6. Feminism and situation of women in world and US, esp Black female character
7. Philosophy and basics, Greek, Persian and other older mythology
8. Global warming, Recession, Job loss, Economics etc
9. Formation of us and immigration from England
10. Female poets
11. Critics and implications from historical prospective
12. US history from 1650-1700, 1700-1800 and 1800-1900 and issues
13. Sociology
14. All genre of novels and also novels and style of various writers
15. Sound and related folks old things , folk arts , what is jazz and different type of music
16. Bronze age, iron age
17. Marxist Ideology and old and new labor laws for economics also, also industrialism
18. Anthropology
19. US civil wars, African Americans, Indian Americans, Mexican American artists
20. Human relations
21. Spanish Language and its evolutions or in fact all languages
22. Biographies
23. Photography and sculptures
24. Public Administration of power distribution between kings and other men
25. Renaissance
26. Russia vs. America
27. Movies how they started in USA
Outline the passage
• Read the first sentence and last sentence of each
paragraph.
• On your scrap paper, jot down a few notes for each
paragraph, then write down the main idea. This is
what we call outlining. Be sure to number the
paragraphs in your notes. For example:
1. "1st paragraph: greenhouse gases and greenhouse
effect introduced"
2. "2nd paragraph: greenhouse gases affected by
humans, and CFC/ozone example"
3. "3rd paragraph: 2 possible results of greenhouse
effect"
Political Answers
• Correct answers will always be politically correct.
Authors of passages will never say negative things
about other people, groups of people or ideas. If the
answer choice says that the purpose of a passage is "to
demonstrate the intellectual dishonesty of our
founding fathers," you can safely eliminate it without
even reading the passage.
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• Correct answers will never be too negative, too
extreme, irresponsible or irrational. Eliminate any
answers that fit this category.
Words in the options
• Certain words make choices highly specific and
therefore easy to dispute--must, each, every, all, will
totally, always, no.
• Certain words make choices very general and therefore
difficult to dispute--may, can, some, most, sometimes.
• Vague, general choices won't always be ETS's answer,
but ETS's answer will always be indisputable. If a
statement says that something is sometimes true, you
only need to find one example to prove it correct.
• Many, many students make careless mistakes on
LEAST/EXCEPT/NOT questions. Be careful! Remember,
you are looking for the one dumb answer among the
choices.
Communism and Capitalism with their
important meanings
• Communism says that the property should not be
owned by any individual
• It is because they think that human greed is unending
which makes them exploit others to satisfy their needs.
• So they think that one party rule would be best for a
country which can own all the land.
• On the other hand Capitalism says that all the property
should be privatized(market forces) which is mature
enough to standardized production & prices.
• Communism is also of various forms: Marxist, Maoist,
Leninist, etc.
USSR vs. USA
• USSR was ahead of US in the early 1950s &
60s in cold war (Space race, military race,
nuclear race , etc.)
• US caught up & move ahead of USSR post
moon landing of Apollo 7.
• Stalin was one of the most important ruler in
the cold war with many atrocities committed
under his rule.
Renaissance (14-17th century)
• Rebirth of arts, culture, science after a state of
dormancy
• Da Vinci
• Columbus
• Newton
• Michel Angelo
Photography and Sculptures
• Micheal Angelo
• David (statue made by him)
Global warming, Recession, Job loss,
Economics etc
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Contemporary topics
Conspiracy topics
Both aspects of the game
A lot of depth and reasoning is used to
support and contradict
History of US and World
• Important events in US History
Evolution
Feminism
Native Americans
• European exploration and colonization
• Foundations for freedom
• Indian Appropriations Act
Picasso
Shakespeare
CAT RCs
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Economy
Psychology
Financial
Jobs
Biology
Technology
Keen Keen Interest
• Develop Interest in the area
• It is high imp and condensed area
• High motivational Level
Ability to concentrate.
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Yoga and meditation
Spacing out, drifting off, falling asleep, etc
Keeping your mind stable
Working on nerves
Focused
Confident
Diplomatic Language
• Diplomatics is the "science of diplomas, or of ancient writings,
literary and public documents, letters, decrees, charters, codicils,
etc., which has for its object to decipher old writings, to ascertain
their authenticity, their date, signatures, etc."
Tactics: Strategy
1. Read questions and then read passage
2. Learn major question types and technical terms
3. Main ideas depends on first and last lines of each
paragraph
4. Don’t be too specific or too broad
5. Be careful to understand tone: Author is always
diplomatic and political
6. Inferences are tough, see what passage implies and
not what it states
7. Put yourself in author’s page: He generally tells the
story for a purpose
Addition to the strategy
1. Writing techniques are: Comparing vs
Contrasting
2. Show case effect
3. State a position and then examples
4. Extension
5. Tones: Positive, negative or neutral (mostly it is
neutral)
6. Focus on adjectives
7. Answer is not emotional, not extreme, and not
grammatically wrong
Track Words
• Example: but, since, therefore, etc
Importance of Pivotal / Triggering
Words
1. Loud and speak these words with care and
effort: but, however, although, except
2. While in pace reading you may forget these
words
3. They helps to find authors attitude,
complexity involved, significance points,
strong opinions, weak and unsupported
points
Fast reading concepts
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Eye movement
Non-lip and no-voice reading
Varying the pace here and there
Urgency
Same energy level
Developing interest and understand how they
squeezed all the information to one RC, it’s a
tough job to do that so enjoy your time
From the book “How to read better and faster”
Put yourself in authors position
• ETS revelations: Big book and Real 19
• Various Exams GRE vs GMAT vs TOEFL
• Distributions of areas
DIAGRAMMING
• Time, Details and Focus
Common Questions asked:
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Main idea
Attitude of writer
Author says
Author does not say
Implied meaning
Title of passage
Advanced concepts: changing seats
1. Outside knowledge always help but don’t apply it to
the RC
2. Inside knowledge is also helpful, means ETS ways of
writing RC
3. This is not business reading, not normal reading not
novel reading, this is ETS reading
4. Optimizing scratch paper usage if necessary
5. Learn to pick and detect the use of Yin Yang words
6. POE is a great weapon
7. Detect vague answers with the help of: Sometimes,
can, may, most, usually
Power of Elimination (POE)
• Author is mostly and careful in taking a
diplomatic stand while discussing his ideas, views
and contention.
• Extremism is rarely present in any part of the
discussion
• Author generally generalizes the answer
WWE Elimination Chamber
Basics of Business Judgment
This is the most important form of problems posed under the BJ section. You will be
given different conclusions / statements / assumptions / items and would be required
to classify each of these under one of the following categories viz.
1. MAJOR OBJECTIVE: An objective is a final result desired by someone. Hence a
major objective is the most important result desired. It is the aim or the major
purpose of some action.
2. MAJOR FACTOR: A factor is used to determine the decision. Thus a major factor
is a basic factor influencing a decision. It might affect the basic reason for some
action.
3. MINOR FACTOR: It is a secondary/less important factor affecting the decision
taking process.
4. MAJOR ASSUMPTION: It is the basic/primary assumption made by the decision
maker in order to make the decision.
5. UNIMPORTANT ISSUE: It is not significantly related to the decision making
Process.
Art of War (RC): Understand your
enemy
• What is his
constrains
• And
limitations
• War on with
ETS to get
the RCs
correct
Greek Mythology for RC
3 Step method
1. Read the first line of each paragraph 3 times
2. Deploy your mind to get the idea about passage
from the pre knowledge
3. Shout / focus / stress on the triggering words
• For questions: POE, DL, Not to Broad or specific,
use of scratch paper (use it during break)
• Read rc twice, read questions twice
Strategies
• In Princeton Review
Practice with me
• While the online classes get: scratch paper to
add one word for each paragraph, eliminating
options.
• Test and practice this all with me!!!!
• Join the next session for Practice
• Example RCs from big book
Examples
• Arts & History
• Business & Economy
• Science & Engineering
Arpit Guest Lecture on CAT IIM
• Pre knowledge:
• Politics (imp sub topics like democracy
communism monarchy )
• Economics (globalization, WTO, IMF)
• Sports (Hobbies effect)
Class Videos @ Youtube
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Introduction
Pre knowledge (3)
Triggering Words
Power of Elimination
Diplomatic Language
How to read faster and better (6 concepts)
3 step reading and 3 step solving
Solving the small ones (Online Live)
New GRE Questions & Issues
Three signs
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Video Packages for GRE
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GRE 500 Tough words in 5 hours
RC 27 areas in 10 hours
77 Toughest Sentence completion Videos
11 hours and 5 Areas of Pre-know for AWA
5 hours 111 tough Analogies for the GRE
Complete package
Practice
• 23,21,
References
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GRE Barrons
GRE Nova
Cracking the GMAT
How to read better and faster
ETS
http://gmatclub.com/forum/rc-throughvideos-99566.html