What is the best approach to answering primary purpose questions on the READING COMP. portion of the exam?
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- StaceyKoprince
- ManhattanGMAT Staff
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- Joined: Wed Oct 19, 2005 9:05 am
- Location: Montreal
Sorry it has taken us so long to get back to you.
When you read through the passage for the first time, you should be looking for two primary things:
1) the point or purpose (often found in the first sentence or two) of each individual paragraph
2) the "big picture" point of the entire passage - the one sentence answer to the question "Why did this author bother to sit down and write this passage?"
#1 helps you to determine #2. And #2 helps you answer the "primary purpose" question (though note that the answers to primary purpose-type questions tend to be written in the abstract - eg, to compare and contrast an historical controversy with a contemporary one).
When you read through the passage for the first time, you should be looking for two primary things:
1) the point or purpose (often found in the first sentence or two) of each individual paragraph
2) the "big picture" point of the entire passage - the one sentence answer to the question "Why did this author bother to sit down and write this passage?"
#1 helps you to determine #2. And #2 helps you answer the "primary purpose" question (though note that the answers to primary purpose-type questions tend to be written in the abstract - eg, to compare and contrast an historical controversy with a contemporary one).
Stacey Koprince
Instructor
Director, Content & Curriculum
ManhattanPrep
Instructor
Director, Content & Curriculum
ManhattanPrep
2 posts Page 1 of 1