You might think that reading more carefully would slow you down in GRE Verbal rather than speed you up. However, the truth is that reading more carefully can really help you complete the Verbal section on time. Careful reading sets you up to answer Verbal questions faster by giving you a clearer picture of the sentence, passage, question, or answer choice you’re dealing with.

For instance, people often quickly glance over the sentences in a Text Completion question, and then go to the answer choices without having a clear picture of what the sentences say. Such an approach can end up wasting time rather than saving time because it leaves you operating on incomplete information. So, rather than quickly narrowing down the choices and selecting the correct answer, you may end up circling through the choices wondering what makes one better than the others. Simply put, you spend time doing something you would not have to do if you read carefully in the first place.

On the other hand, if you read sentences, passages, questions, and answer choices carefully, you set yourself up with all the information you need to evaluate answer choices. Thus, the correct answers may practically jump out at you.

So, to answer GRE Verbal questions faster, read more carefully.

Warmest regards,

Scott Woodbury-Stewart
Founder & CEO, Target Test Prep