CR strategy

[shreerajp99]

Hi,

I will be appearing for the gmat on 10th december and havent been following the strategy of reading questions 1st on CR questions and then reading the argument.Should i switch my strategy to the one that involves reading the question 1st?

Thanks,
Shreeraj

[j.essary2010]

CR is my least favorite topic in the Verbal section. I definitely think that reading the question first helps me begin to form what kind of information I need to look for in the paragraph. I haven't followed the 4-step process (ID the question, deconstruct the argument, eyc.) that the strategy guide suggests. With that being said, I'm going to try it since my scores have been low on CR.

[StaceyKoprince]

Are already happy with your CR performance? Or do you want it to get better? If you're already happy, don't switch anything. If not, you need to switch SOMEthing, and one possible candidate is reading the Q stem first. :)

As j.essary notes, reading the question stem first is really useful in a couple of different ways. First, if you know what kind of question you have, then you know what kind of information to expect and focus on in the passage. For instance, a Find the Assumption question will contain a conclusion, while an inference question will not. Any questions in the Assumption Family (Find Assump, Strengthen, Weaken, Evaluate, Flaw) will contain conclusions and will also have at least one unstated assumption - and the correct answer will hinge around an unstated assumption.

If I can brainstorm that assumption while reading the argument, that will really help me when it comes time to address the answer choices. And I can do that brainstorming more easily if I already know that I need to do it before I start reading the argument. I also don't want to waste time trying to brainstorm assumptions if I have, say, an inference question - because those questions don't hinge on assumptions.

Finally, some question stems actually contain the conclusion or a hint about the conclusion in the question stem. When arguments do have conclusions, that's the most important thing to find / figure out, so if I can know what that is before I even start reading the argument, that's a huge advantage.

Have I convinced you yet? :) As I said, if you're already happy with your performance in this area, that's fine. But, it not, you've got to change something, and there's a lot of value in reading the Q stem first on CR.

[shreerajp99]

Thanks Stacey!I agree with ur strategy.In general ive seen that in gmatprep u get 11 CR questions.I usually get 6/7 correct.I dont think that's a good hit rate and will try ur strategy.

Thanks,
Shreeraj

[StaceyKoprince]

good luck!