👋 Hello, my friends at GRE Prep Club!

Some GRE Reading Comprehension passages, especially longer ones, present many details. For instance, a passage may discuss two different authors and various details of their approaches to writing. Or a passage might delve into the ins and outs of how a particular natural phenomenon arises. In reading such passages, it’s easy to get bogged down in the details of the discussion.

The issue is that fully understanding and keeping straight all those details takes time, and the questions about the passage likely won’t ask about all those details. Furthermore, you can always go back to the passage to find the information you need to answer specific questions. So, if you spend time trying to fully process every last detail on your first read-through, you’ll unnecessarily use up some of the precious time you have to complete the Verbal section.

Accordingly, a time-saving move to make when reading a detail-heavy RC passage is to focus on understanding what the passage says overall, rather than seek to fully process or memorize every detail. That’s not to say that you should skim the passage or use a gimmicky strategy such as reading only the first sentence of each paragraph. You do need to comprehend what the passage says.

What’s helpful is to keep in mind that the GRE isn’t testing your ability to recall everything you read—it’s testing your ability to read with purpose. As you read, try to stay attuned to the author’s main ideas, the structure of the passage, and the relationships between the different parts of the discussion. In doing so, you’ll be able to quickly return to the right part of the passage when a question does require a detail, rather than waste time trying to remember everything upfront.

The point is that you can save time—and reduce cognitive overload—by reading for structure and purpose, not memorization.

Reach out to me with any questions about your GRE prep. Happy studying!

Warmest regards,

Scott Woodbury-Stewart
Founder & CEO, Target Test Prep