HOW TO TRAIN THE TIME ASPECT OF THE GMAT READING COMPREHENSION SECTION?

Do you find it difficult to finish the Verbal section in the available time? Are you spending too much time on the Reading Comprehension section and do you lose time that you could use for an other section of the test? Most likely it could help you to train yourself in reading and understanding an English written text faster. In this blog we will give you some tips on how you can practice best with this time aspect of the Reading Comprehension section!

1. Reading 

A lot of GMAT participants struggle with the Verbal section of the exam where reading comprehension is important. It can be quite hard to read a long text in just a short amount of time and filter all the important information out of it to answer the questions right. By practicing with reading English text that are comparable with the GMAT texts, you will notice that your reading speed will improve quickly. Read a GMAT- or non-fiction text everyday for half an hour!

2. Zoom out 

When reading a new text on your exam, first read it ‘zoomed out’ and scan the information to understand what the text is about. The details of a passage are not important yet so when you scan the text and find a detail, try to understand what it means and remember where to find it back in the text later. In this way, you will save time when the questions are not so much about all the details.

3. Finding important information 

The information that is given in the reading comprehension part of the GMAT test, is repeated in the text quite often. The author often makes a statement and an explanation and then substantiates why this explanation supports the statement. For this reason it is important to remember that when you understand what a passage of the text is about, you don’t have to look for specific new information in that part of the text. Zoom out and read the text until you find new information and you can focus on that.

4. Practice 

Is it still hard for you to read faster, even after practicing with the time aspect? Then accept that this is probably something you will keep struggling with. Don’t worry, most of the participants have trouble with at least one of  the GMAT sections. You just have to find a way to handle this struggle. Keep practicing with reading comprehension but try to train your speed for the Sentence Correction section as well. In this way you will save time that you can use for the Reading Comprehension section.

By following these tips you will see that the speed of your reading comprehension will get better. Would you like to get help with training this time aspect of the GMAT Verbal section? Then read about our GMAT Verbal course, Verbal Bootcamp or apply for a free introductory lesson!