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►How to Crack The Central Theme of RC Passages: bit.ly/2mWSeN5
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Hello Everyone and welcome to another installment from GREedge! Today we will be looking at a thorn in most GRE test takers’ sides- the RC Questions!
Now, if you have already started your GRE preparations then you will be well aware of these types of questions. Reading Comprehension questions form the most significant part of your GRE Verbal Reasoning section. There are 5-7 RC passages and 10-11 RC questions in each of the 2 Verbal sections on the exam, which means that RC questions will always make up for roughly half of all Verbal questions on the GRE. Thus, getting this just right is imperative if you want a high score!
Well. we at GREedge have realized that the trick to solve RCs lies not in online ‘shortcuts’ but in a more scientific and tested method. We have narrowed it down to two major aspects:
Understanding the RC Passages
Answering the Questions
These are the two broad steps in accurately decoding this type of questions.
Let’s start with Understanding RC passages.
It’s obvious that to be able to solve something you must first grasp what it really is. For example, you cannot solve Geometry questions without learning about different shapes.
Ideas in the passage
First up we need to understand that there are two types of ideas; namely explicit and implicit.
Explicit Ideas, as the name suggests, are straightforward ideas that are directly discussed by the author. They are usually easy to understand however the only roadblock a student can face while understanding these statements is if they are long and complex.
Next up is: Implicit main ideas as ones which are more subtle in nature, hiding their true meaning behind layered language and indirect statements. The definition of implicit is, “implied or understood though not plainly or directly expressed.”
Types of Statements
Having understood Ideas, let’s move on to the different kind of statements that you are likely to encounter in RC passages. There are two primary types- thesis statements and support statements.
Much like with Ideas, the thesis statements lay down the groundwork for the purpose of the passage.
Conversely, the support statements will lend evidence or follow up the thesis statements with facts to validate the claim made.
Key Concept of the Passage
This brings us to the last aspect of Understanding RC type questions. To understand the key concept of the passage, you need to have executed Points 1 and 2 firmly. The Main Ideas along with the Thesis statement reveal the purpose of the passage. A common misconception is that the longer the passage the more number of concepts it contains, but that couldn’t be farther from the truth!
More often than not, RC passage that are apparently long only contain a handful of concepts, with the rest being details or supporting sentences.
This brings us to the second half of how to tackle RCs- Answering Questions!
To accurately answer RC questions, it is important to polish your reading skills. A vital tool in your RC arsenal, there are 4 major reading styles that a competent test taker should be well-versed with: Skimming, Scanning, Specific and Detailed.
►We hope this has helped you and make sure you check out www.greedge.com for more info.