How to improve RC ?

[The Apollo]

I have GMAT exam on May 23rd, still I am struggling with RC.
If I get a passage with easy vocabulary and sentence framing, I get almost all questions right (i.e, accuracy is in between 90 & 100%).
But, if I get a passage with hard vocabulary or sentences,which are long and tough, I can't understand it in 6-7 min. Even, if i understand the passage to some extent, I won't be confident enough to attack questions. So,I become nervous and inorder to complete RC in target time(6-8 min), I answer all questions without comprehending passage completely and I get almost all answers wrong.
So Briefly,
1. How to improve vocabulary in 1 month?
2. What should I do if I don't understand the passage in time of 3-5 min? (If i extend time, I would face problem with the later questions and I ll loose my whole exam by answering all questions hastily).
3. Please explain various strategies to attack RC.(except the method of taking quick notes ).
4. My Quant score is good. I improved a lot in SC and CR, I can complete them in 1-1:30 min & 1:30- 2 min respectively with 70- 90% accuracy. Still I am practicing to get 100 % in both of them. So, because of RC, I am loosing confidence,now I am planning to postpone exam for 20 days, so that I can improve my RC and attack the exam. Please let me know if I am making a good decision?

[StaceyKoprince]

First, you don't need to get 100%, or even close to it, correct in the whole section - overall, you should expect to answer about 60% correctly. So it's okay to get a lot of questions wrong.

Second, you also don't need to understand everything in a passage in order to answer some (or even all) of the questions. Part of your task is going to be to learn what NOT to read. You're literally going to ignore some things and not even worry about the fact that you don't understand some details.

There are two levels to the vocab thing.

If they give you technical terms or really obscure vocab words, then they're going to define those words for you or give you examples that let you still understand what they're talking about - when that happens, you can ignore the actual hard / technical terms and "read around them."

If, on the other hand, you don't know words that they're expecting you to know, then you do have a vocab problem. (How do you know whether you're expected to know that word? They don't give you any other way of understanding what's going on - they don't say almost the same thing but in different words in the next sentence or give you an example or anything like that.)

If that's the case, then yes, you probably need to postpone your test - you're not going to make a significant difference in your vocab in 1 month. Start going through old passages and CR and pulling out any words you didn't know. Make flashcards and start drilling. (Note: MAKE SURE that these are really words they expect you to know and not just words that they're throwing at you to mess you up. If it's the latter, then you can still answer the questions without knowing the words, and so you don't need to learn those words.)

Do you have access to our OG Archer system? If so, do the second-to-last passage in OG13, then go into the system and watch the video for that passage. I go through both what to read and what not to read, as well as how to know what you can ignore / gloss over.

Here are some additional written resources:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... p-passage/
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... -passages/
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... -passages/

You can search our blog for more when you're done with those.

What you read will help you with your question #2, but here's the overall strategy: you are NOT trying to understand everything, nor are you expecting to answer everything correctly. Understand what you can and answer whichever questions you can based on that - even if there's a bunch of other stuff you don't understand. Guess on the others and move on. That really is okay!

[The Apollo]

Thank you Stacey for replying :) I decided to postpone exam. I'll practice RC, later will give the exam.
I have few more doubts:

1. I can solve problems of <700 level with 90 -100% accuracy in Manhattan Quant books & tests, but when it comes to 700-800 level problems, my accuracy level drops to 60-80%. I just want to know If I solve MGmat Advanced Quant book thoroughly, will I cover almost all 700-800 level problems easily in Main GMAT exam? ( I have to get 50 in Quant )

2. I am practicing questions from many online resources: Manhattan, Kaplan, other PDFs- 1000SC etc. How can i know whether the questions from these sources will repeat in Gmat Prep exam ? Can you list me what materials should I practice and what not, so that I wont get practiced questions while solving Gmat prep exam ? (Since, already practiced questions would tamper my GmatPrep score & I wont be able to know my exact level of performance)

3. Is TOEFL required for Under Graduates from IIT ( Indian Institute of Technology), when applying for admissions in Top 20 US MBA Universities?!

Please do reply Stacey. Thank you :)

[StaceyKoprince]

See my answers to your first two questions in the other post in which you also asked those questions.

For your third question, I have no idea. :) You'll have to ask an admissions consultant or look on the schools' websites.