GMAT Hacks: Book Reviews for GMAT Reading Comprehension
Most test-prep resources tell you that, in order to get better at handling GMAT Reading Comprehension passages, you should do lots of reading. Preferably, you should read things that are similar to GMAT passages.
That’s easier said than done. However, if you’ve practiced much Reading Comp, you know that many passages fit into the same patterns:
- A theory is described and criticized;
- Competing ideas are offered and compared;
- A discovery or scientific phenomenon is explained.
You’ll consistently find reading material that follows those patterns (without requiring too much of your time!) in the book review section of a newspaper or serious magazine such as The New Yorker or The New York Review of Books.
Book reviews are great practice for this, because the reviewer will often differ from the author of the book under consideration in a general way. The argument may hinge on details, but you’ll want to read for the more general differences in arguments. No matter how many details and technical definitions you see, the focus should always be on the overall structure of the piece.
This is an excerpt from a longer article by Jeff Sackmann, originally published at GMAT Hacks. Jeff has created several valuable GMAT-preparation resources, including Total GMAT Math and Total GMAT Verbal.
