The Best GMAT Reading Comprehension Strategy

Learn the Approach

On a GMAT Verbal Section, you will typically have four Reading
Comprehension passages, each with associated questions. The danger of
Reading Comprehension is that it becomes a major time-sink, stealing
valuable time away from Sentence Correction and Critical Reasoning.

First of all, I will point out: no one strategy will be perfect for
everyone. You will need to tweak these suggestions to find what works
best for you and your own study plan. This post will give you a clear
starting point for that process of exploration.

Read, Don't Skim

First of all, the point of this question is to read. Some GMAT prep
sources will recommend skimming the passage, or reading only the first
paragraph, then skimming the rest. In my view, this is a mistaken
approach. Read carefully, so that you only have to read once.

What does it mean to read carefully? First of all, it means to take
notes, summarizing each paragraph briefly on scrap paper or on your
notepad (on the real GMAT). Students resist the process of taking
written notes, but if you practice it and become good at it, it will
always be a time-saver. Even if you never again look at your notes,
just the fact that you invested the mental effort in deciding how to
summarize means that you thereby were understanding that part of the
passage.

Reading carefully means summarizing paragraphs and identifying the
main idea of the passage. It DOES NOT mean reading every single
stinking word. For example, if an author makes a point and then
follows it with a detailed example ("for instance"), you can skim that
example.

This careful reading should take about 3.5 minutes for a short passage
and about 4.5 for a long passage. Then, spend about 1 minute per
question, and that will leave you ample time for SC and CR questions.
You should time yourself, to verify to yourself that you can keep this
pace.

Understand, Don't Memorize

Your goal in reading the passage should be to understand. It will
help to feign interest in the material, to generate a genuine sense of
curiosity about what's being discussed. If you are a visual person,
it will help considerably to form a mental picture of what the author
is describing.

Your goal is not to memorize obscure details: dates, complicated
scientific terms, names of theories or processes. It's enough to note
where that detail is in the passage, so if a detail question addresses
it, you can find it quickly.

Remember: GMAT Reading Comprehension is not a speed-reading test. It
is not a memory test. GMAT Reading Comprehension is about developing
your own understanding of a passage in order to identify the correct
answers in the questions that follow.

- See more at: http://www.stacyblackman.com/2012/02/23/the-best-gmat-reading-comprehension-strategy/#sthash.hqixPuvH.dpuf