We’ve already highlighted why studying with official practice questions is one of the best ways to prepare for the GRE. Still, even if you come up with the correct answer to an official problem, you may not understand the key underlying principles used by the Educational Testing Service (ETS) to craft that particular question, leaving yourself open to traps and pitfalls that you could once again fall for on future questions.
In the explanations below, expert GRE tutor, David Baird, will review some of the core tenets of the Menlo Coaching GRE curriculum to analyze two official GRE argument-based reading comprehension questions and provide you with a number of best practice study principles for effectively attacking this important GRE Verbal question type in the future.
About half of the Verbal section of the GRE is composed of Reading Comprehension questions.
Argument-Based Reading Comprehension Questions on the GRE
About half of the Verbal section is composed of Reading Comprehension questions. Reading Comprehension questions are multiple-choice questions with no partially correct answers. They involve answering questions based on a reading passage, which can be from one paragraph to several paragraphs long, and choosing the best answer that the reading passage supports from five answer choices.
For most students, effectively deconstructing GRE argument-based questions is a completely new exercise—something never before seen nor practiced. Although argument-based questions on the GRE are categorized as “Reading Comprehension” questions, on the GMAT, they are technically called “Critical Reasoning” questions.
To this end, the official instructions for GMAT Critical Reasoning questions state that: “Answering critical reasoning questions requires no specialized knowledge.” While technically this may be true, it is still extremely beneficial to have a formal understanding of basic argument theory and core argument components, as well as a comprehensive understanding of the main GRE argument-based question types.
For example, the most common GRE argument question types are Strengthen and Weaken questions. Let’s take a look at one of these two question types now and examine some of the common traps students fall into when analyzing them.
GRE Reading Comprehension Practice Question #1
Recently an unusually high number of dolphins have been found dead of infectious diseases, and most of these had abnormally high tissue concentrations of certain compounds that, even in low concentrations, reduce dolphins’ resistance to infection. The only source of these compounds in the dolphins’ environment is boat paint. Therefore, since dolphins rid their bodies of the compounds rapidly once exposure ceases, their mortality rate should decline rapidly if such boat paints are banned.
Which of the following, if true, most strengthens the argument?
A. The levels of the compounds typically used in boat paints today are lower than they were in boat paints manufactured a decade ago.
B. In high concentrations, the compounds are toxic to many types of marine animals.
C. The compounds break down into harmless substances after a few months of exposure to water or air.
D. High tissue levels of the compounds have recently been found in some marine animals, but there is no record of any of those animals dying in usually large numbers recently.
E. The compounds do not leach out of the boat paint if the paint is applied exactly in accordance with the manufacturer’s directions.
Answer & Explanation
Correct Answer is (C).
When attacking a “strengthen” question like this, you should always start by deconstructing the argument and understanding exactly the line of reasoning. To summarize this argument:
Premise One: Recently an unusually high number of dolphins have been found dead of infectious diseases, and most of these had abnormally high tissue concentrations of certain compounds that, even in low concentrations, reduce dolphins’ resistance to infection.
Premise Two: The only source of these compounds in the dolphins’ environment is boat paint.
Conclusion: Since dolphins rid their bodies of the compounds rapidly once exposure ceases, their mortality rate should decline rapidly if such boat paints are banned.
This somewhat tricky GRE argument-based reading comprehension question presents a great example of one of the most common tricks in the GRE test writers’ playbook: a subtle, but extremely important use of “timing.” It is a fairly common trick for GRE test writers to try to get the test taker to skim over the seemingly innocuous use of the “time” element contained within the question without them even noticing it.
Did you happen to notice the time-related words that were repeated multiple times in the conclusion sentence (in bold)? If you did, you’ll probably find this problem relatively straightforward to solve; if you did not, you can easily waste a lot of time and potentially get it wrong.
Because the main point here seems to be about saving dolphins from dying from various infectious diseases caused by certain compounds found in boat paint, many people overlook the repeated use of the word “rapidly” in the conclusion of the argument.
If you notice this fact upfront, then you might start to wonder if the repeated use of the word “rapidly” is just a coincidence (or not). GRE Argument Tip: the repeated use of any keywords in GRE argument-based questions, especially in the conclusion of the argument, is likely not a coincidence, but incredibly intentional.
The number one task when deconstructing any GRE Strengthen question is to find an answer choice that identifies one of the argument’s key assumptions and proves it to be true. If you notice the repeated use of the “rapidly” word in the question, then you can very likely anticipate what the correct answer will need to do: it will need to connect back to some type of relatively short time frame.
Answer choice (C) is the only answer choice that does this, as it mentions that compounds break down into harmless substances after a few months of exposure to water or air.
When analyzed carefully, you can see that none of the other answers show why the dolphins’ mortality rate would decline rapidly once such boat paints are banned.
(A) the direction the compound levels have been trending in boat paint for the past 10 years does nothing to strengthen the original argument as you have no idea to what extent or degree the actual compound levels have gone down (i.e. 90% or 0.001%).
(B) other types of marine animals here are simply out-of-scope. We care about how dolphins are being affected by the boat paint and other marine animals (i.e., sea turtles) are not at all relevant to the core conclusion of the argument.
(D) again, the connection back to “some marine animals” is out-of-scope here. You simply don’t know whether the lack of deaths of these marine animals after being exposed to high levels of these compounds is a conclusion that can be validly applied to any or all other species of marine animals, such as dolphins.
(E) the manufacturer’s directions are irrelevant and thus this answer choice does not connect back to a core assumption found in the original argument.
To become highly successful on GRE argument-based reading comprehension questions, you will need to develop the “soft skill” of being able to consistently recognize key repeated language like the use of “rapidly” here in this question. This, as well as the use of time-related language, is extremely common on the GRE and becomes easier to spot when you are actively trained to look for it.
A Word to the Wise: Repeated Words in Argument-Based GRE Questions
The repeated use of any keywords in GRE argument-based questions, especially in the conclusion of the argument, is likely not a coincidence, but incredibly intentional.
The number one task when deconstructing any GRE Strengthen question is to find an answer choice that identifies one of the argument’s key assumptions and proves it to be true. If you notice the repeated use of a word in the question, then you can very likely anticipate that the correct answer will relate to the repeated word.
Observations of the Arctic reveal that the Arctic Ocean is covered by less ice each summer than the previous summer. If this warming trend continues, within 50 years the Arctic Ocean will be ice free during the summer months. This occurrence would in itself have little or no effect on global sea levels, since the melting of ice floating in water does not affect the water level. However, serious consequences to sea levels would eventually result, because _____.
Which of the following most logically completes the passage?
A. large masses of floating sea ice would continue to form in the wintertime
B. significant changes in Arctic sea temperatures would be accompanied by changes in sea temperatures in more temperate parts of the world
C. such a warm Arctic Ocean would trigger the melting of massive landbased glaciers in the Arctic
D. an ice-free Arctic Ocean would support a very different ecosystem than it does presently
E. in the spring, melting sea ice would cause more icebergs to be created and to drift south into shipping routes
Answer & Explanation
Correct Answer is (C).
This similarly challenging GRE argument-based question presents a great example of one of the oldest tricks in the GRE playbook: the “word shift” con. It is very common for GRE test writers to develop a highly elaborate set of initial premises that then involves a subtle shift in wording or scope later on, usually at the end of the argument.
Did you notice that shift in wording and scope from what was stated in the initial premises of the argument to the slightly more specific language used at the end of the argument? If you did, you will likely be able to identify the correct answer to this question fairly quickly.
Because the central argument is about ice levels in the Arctic Ocean, many people overlook the subtle change in shift and wording from “less ice” and “ice free” at the beginning of the argument to the melting of “ice floating in water” at the end of the argument.
Although ultimately similar, they are not the same thing. If you spot this key shift in language, then you will recognize that the correct answer has to have something to do with “ice floating in water” vs. ice not floating in water.
Only answer choice (C), the correct answer, manages to do this, by mentioning that this warming trend would ultimately trigger the melting of massive landbased glaciers in the Arctic.
When analyzing the other answer choices, we can see that none of the other answers connect back to “ice floating in water” vs. ice not floating in water. Nor do any of the other answers in the following statements ultimately show how serious consequences to sea levels would eventually result if the warming trend were to continue.
(A) what would happen to the sea ice levels in the wintertime is definitely an out-of-scope issue and doesn’t connect back to the conclusion of the argument in any meaningful way.
(B) the degree of sea temperature changes in more temperate parts of the world is a second out-of-scope issue. Simply put, other geographic (i.e. non-Artic) regions of the world are irrelevant in this argument. As a result, this answer can also be eliminated.
(D) the type of ‘ecosystem’ supported by the Arctic is a third irrelevant / out-of-scope issue and can also be eliminated.
(E) lastly, icebergs encroaching on shipping routes is a final out-of-scope issue that doesn’t connect back to the core conclusion of the argument. Eliminating this fourth and final answer is another way for us to see that (C) must be the single correct answer for this question.
Final Thoughts: Reading Comprehension Argument-Based Questions in GRE Prep
To succeed on the other commonly tested GRE argument question types, it is essential that you learn defined strategies and best practices. However, most people who study on their own do not. They simply try to use their smarts and common sense logic to answer these questions, an approach that breaks down on harder examples in the time-pressured exam environment.
As you can see with both the sample Strengthen and Completion questions we went through, it is incredibly helpful to learn how different GRE argument-based questions are structured and what mindsets and strategies allow you to efficiently tackle and solve these questions.
Menlo Coaching’s GRE tutors teach GRE students how to accurately and efficiently approach all of the major GRE argument question types so they can maximize their score on the Verbal section of the GRE exam.
