Week 3, Day 1 - Chapter 7: Reading Comprehension

• Around 5 passages with 10 questions per Verbal section
• Passages may be one paragraph up to six
• Questions per passage may be one to six
• Three answer types: 
• single-answer multiple-choice
• select all that apply
• select a sentence
• Types of questions:
• general
• details
• vocabulary in context
• argument 

The Kaplan Method:

1. Read the passage strategically (TAKE NOTES)

2. Analyze the question

3. Research the relevant text in the passage

4. Make a prediction

5. Evaluate the answer choices

(NOTE: If there is a single paragraph with a single question, read the question first, then the passage)

1. Reading Strategically - find topic, scope, purpose, key words, opinion(s), definition(s), example(s)
1. Topic - broad subject (history, science, literature, etc.)
2. Scope - specific subject (WWII's impact on children, e.g.)
3. Purposes: explain, describe, analyze, compare & contrast, evaluate or critique, argue for an opinion, argue against someone else's opinion
4. Key words - these are words emphasized (using words like "very" and "critical") or repeated using synonyms throughout the passage (e.g.: financial, currency, money, etc.); however, indicator words can tell us about what else the author is doing in a passage structurally: 
1. Opinion(s) - look for opinion key words that indicate a positive or negative attitude from the author. There is no single list, but a few are: good, bad, beneficial, harmful, etc. Be careful about whether the author or someone else is giving these opinions in the text.
2. Contrast - look at your list of opposite direction words for these changes in reasoning or disagreements the author indicates (e.g., but, however, nevertheless, on the other hand)
3. Continuation - these are our same direction words showing a continuation of the same line of reasoning and agreement indicated by the author (e.g., furthermore, moreover, also, in addition, etc.)
4. Logic - the premise and conclusion indicator words tell us about the structure of the author's argument (e.g., conclusion: therefore, so, thus; evidence/premise: because, for, since)
5. Definition(s) and example(s) - look for illustration key words (e.g.: for instance, for example, e.g., i.e., etc.)
6. Sequence/grouping - any words giving you order (first, second, third) or time (17th century, yesterday and today, in the future), or other organization (higher versus lower temperatures, in the west and the east, or even beginning, middle, and end)
2. Analyzing Questions (global/general, detail, inference, logic, vocab-in-context, reasoning)
1. Global (general) - about the passage as a whole (main idea, primary purpose, overall structure
2. Detail - find a specific detail in the passage (according to the passage, as mentioned in the passage)
3. Inference - something directly logically implied by the text (suggests, infers, implies, most likely agrees)
4. Logic (why author did x) - describe or explain why the author included a word/phrase/statement (in order to, primarily serves to)
5. Vocab-in-context - identify the meaning of the word in the specific way the passage uses it (most nearly means, most closely corresponds to)
6. Reasoning - analyze the author's argument (assumption, flaw, strengthen/weaken)
7. Practice: identify question types
3. Research
1. Global: use topic, scope, purpose; eliminate half-right answers and answers counter to or different from the main idea
2. Detail: use a specific piece of evidence closely paraphrased; eliminate half-right answers and distortions of the author's ideas
3. Inference: use your notes and evidence from the passage; eliminate half-right answers, answers with extreme language, and answers beyond the scope of the passage
4. Logic: use your notes and evidence from the passage, especially five lines up and down from the key phrase; eliminate answers counter to author purpose and outside the scope of the passage
5. Vocab: look three lines up and down from the key word to establish context and make a prediction; eliminate answers not matching your prediction
6. Reasoning: analyze the structure of the structure of the argument (premises, conclusion, assumptions) - see end of chapter for specific elimination strategies
4. Predictions - this is the key to being a good GRE Verbal test-taker!
1. Don't use the answer choices to guide you - come up with your own answer in your own words!
2. Paraphrase information in the passage to make your prediction
3. It is rare for the prediction to perfectly match any answer choice - but look for matching concepts
4. Eliminate answers that disagree with your prediction conceptually
5. COVER UP the answer choices with paper while you try to make your prediction
5. Evaluating Choices
1. Primary Eliminations:
1. Outside the scope of the passage
2. Extreme language - e.g. always, never, mostly, rarely, impossible, necessary, definite, certain, every time, all people, everyone - we prefer "wishy-washy" language that is easier to prove (sometimes, some people, kind of, possibly, potentially)
3. Distortion - garbled quotes, badly re-arranged words and phrases from the passage
4. 180 (contradiction) - a complete or partial reversal or opposite statement of what the author actually says
5. Half-right = ALL WRONG
6. Also: No such comparison - when the answer makes a comparison the author never made (but perhaps the author mentioned the two things without comparing them)
6. Reasoning Questions:
1. Anatomy of an argument
1. Conclusion - the author's point, the thing they want to convince you to believe, usually an opinion or other bold claim, recommendation, prediction, or rejection of another person's opinion (e.g., therefore, thus, so, hence...)
2. Premises/Evidence - the reasons the author offers for you to accept the conclusion, the proof (e.g., because, for, since, in that...)
3. Assumptions - NEVER STATED but necessary for the premises to lead to the conclusion. In a strengthen/weaken question, correct answers will support/undermine the unstated assumptions.
2. Common types of (inductive) arguments
1. Scope-shift (analogy) - the conclusion changes what the argument concerns to B, while the premises are about something else - A, usually based on an assumption that the two things are connected or similar (A is connected to B or A is similar to B). The problem: A and B are not always connected the way the author intends, or may not be connected at all; alternatively, A and B are not similar in some important way.
2. Representativeness (sampling) - the conclusion says that based on the small sample group, the larger group represented by the sample must want/do/think the same thing as the sample. The problem: the small sample may not be representative - it could be biased, too small, etc.
3. Causal (causation) - the conclusion either claims what the cause or the effect of some event must be based on the evidence in the premises. The problem is that there could be alternative causes, that this could be mere coincidence, or that the cause is more complicated than first noticed.