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 four official GRE reading comprehension questions (two passage-based and two argument-based) 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.
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.
Generally speaking, many students start off feeling reasonably comfortable with traditional GRE reading comprehension passages and questions (at least up to a certain point). This is most likely because they have done some prior work on similar question types on other standardized tests (i.e. GMAT, SAT, ACT, etc) or other similar Verbal exams at some point in the past.
Success on GRE reading comprehension relies on mastering three key concepts: learning to apply the correct strategy for reading the given passage, becoming familiar with the various question types unique to GRE reading comprehension (i.e. Select-in-Passage, Choose All, etc.) and how to approach them, as well as ensuring a deep understanding of how the various GRE reading comprehension questions are typically made more difficult and then using this knowledge to learn how to spot those cons / tricks on future questions.
Once you have succeeded in mastering these fundamental concepts, you will then want to work on developing some of the softer reading comprehension skills, such as learning how to dig deeply into the passage to find relevant hidden details as well as noticing when the GRE uses clever but subtle wording tricks to try to trap you.
GRE Reading Comprehension Sample Question #1
In the 1980s, neuroscientists studying the brain processes underlying our sense of conscious will compared subjects’ judgments regarding their subjective will to move (W) and actual movement (M) with objective electroencephalographic activity called readiness potential, or RP. As expected, W preceded M: subjects consciously perceived the intention to move as preceding a conscious experience of actually moving. This might seem to suggest an appropriate correspondence between the sequence of subjective experiences and the sequence of the underlying events in the brain. But researchers actually found a surprising temporal relation between subjective experience and objectively measured neural events: in direct contradiction of the classical conception of free will, neural preparation to move (RP) preceded conscious awareness of the intention to move (W) by hundreds of milliseconds.
Based on information contained in the passage, which of the following chains of events would most closely conform to the classical conception of free will?
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Let’s take this question as an initial example. This is a well-crafted high-level reading comprehension question that, at first glance, looks relatively straightforward to many students. After reading the question, it is generally a good idea to try to identify the most important “key words” in the question that we feel we could locate fairly quickly and fairly easily in the passage.
In this question, most students focus in on the “classical conception of free will” language fairly quickly. If we take a look at the passage, we can see this language mentioned in the last sentence. It is at this point, however, that students tend to make one or more potentially faulty assumptions about what they need to do to solve this type of GRE reading comprehension question.
One assumption students often make is that they believe the information to answer the question will be located after the key words they identified in the passage. This may or may not be true. Applying that logic to this passage, the information immediately following the “classical conception of free will” language states that “neural preparation to move (RP) preceded conscious awareness of the intention to move (W) by hundreds of milliseconds”.
Since the passage explicitly states that RP preceded W, this leads many students to select the incorrect answer choice (B) as it matches this passage text almost verbatim. So why is this wrong?
Well, first off, the key language we identified in the passage is in the middle of a sentence not at the beginning of a sentence. And this is one of the most common cons the GRE uses to trick students into selecting incorrect answers on GRE reading comprehension questions.
At Menlo, we train our students to always read the full sentence that contains the key words they have identified, not just the sentence fragment following it. If we do that here and begin reading from earlier colon, we can see the passage states: “in direct contradiction of the classical conception of free will”. And this is how we have been (potentially) trapped!
If RP preceding W is in direct contradiction with the classical conception of free will and if the question is asking us to find that answer that most closely conforms to the classical conception of free will, this means we have to pick an answer choice that has W preceding RP. Luckily, this allows us to narrow things down to answer choices (A) or (C).
Furthermore, since earlier in the passage, it states that W precedes M, this also allows us to eliminate answer choice (C) as this answer says that M precedes W. This means that we can now select answer choice (A) as the right answer to the question.
Remember: When focusing in on key words in the passage, always ensure you read the full sentence, not just a part of the sentence that contains the relevant language.
GRE Reading Comprehension Sample Question #2
Historians frequently employ probate inventories–lists of possessions compiled after a person’s death-to estimate standard of living. Because these inventories were taken by amateur assessors according to unwritten rules, they are sometimes unreliable. One way to check their accuracy is to compare them to archaeological records. A study of records from the state of Delaware in the eighteenth century found that while very few inventories listed earthenware, every excavation contained earthenware. Earthenware may have gone unlisted simply because it was inexpensive. But if it was so commonplace, why was it listed more often for wealthy households? Perhaps the more earthenware people had, the more likely appraisers were to note it. A few bowls could easily be absorbed into another category, but a roomful of earthenware could not.
Select the sentence that provides support for an answer to a question in the passage.
Answer & Explanation
Answer: A few bowls could easily be absorbed into another category, but a roomful of earthenware could not.
This is an example of a reading comprehension question type that is unique to the GRE. These questions, known as “Select in Passage” questions, are questions that ask you to select the specific sentence in the passage that matches whatever the question is asking you to highlight.
At first glance, these questions may not look like traditional GRE multiple choice questions. However, in reality they absolutely are. When the GRE offers a “Select in Passage” question, they only do so when the passages are relatively short and contain only a small number of sentences (i.e. 4-6 total sentences).
The GRE can ask you to identify anything. They could say select the sentence that best summarizes the main idea of the passage. Or select the sentence that provides evidence to support the main conclusion of the passage. Or it could be more specific.
They could ask you to identify a certain example, highlight a specific analogy, or select the sentence that contains the causal reasoning. One slightly more specific type of “Select-in-Sentence” question is one that asks you to highlight the sentence that answers a question that’s asked somewhere in the passage.
Once again, at first glance, this may seem like a fairly straightforward question type. The first thing that most students do, and rightly so, is to look for a question mark in the passage. Then, once they find the question mark, which sentence do you think they select?
That’s right. The sentence immediately following the question mark. In this passage, that would be: Perhaps the more earthenware people had, the more likely appraisers were to note it.
So why is this wrong?
Well, for two reasons…
First off, if someone is running out of time and doesn’t have sufficient time to properly read the sentences contained in the passage, but they do happen to notice where the question mark is, which sentence are they likely to select? You got it. The one immediately following that question mark.
Let’s take that logic a little further now…
If the sentence immediately following the question mark turns out to actually be the correct answer, doesn’t that mean the GRE has just now chosen to reward students who just guessed on the question or those who didn’t really have time to do full proper analysis on the other sentences in the passage?
Does that really sound like how the GRE exam should operate? By rewarding students with full marks on questions for simply quickly guessing? Not likely.
What does this mean then? Well, this means that one can almost guarantee that the sentence immediately following the question mark is not going to be right.
Now, a second reason why that sentence is wrong here has to do with how the GRE uses clever but subtle wording tricks to try to trap you.
Let’s take a look back at the original question…
Does this question really ask you to select the sentence that provides an answer to a question in the passage? Actually, no. It does not.
If you read the question carefully, you will see that it asks you to select the sentence that provides support for an answer to a question in the passage!
So, yes it’s true that the sentence immediately following the question mark does actually answer the question. But that’s not what they asked you to identify.
Either way, the sentence immediately following the question mark is a huge “red herring” on this type of question and is very likely a trap answer. So be wary!
Remember: On any GRE reading comprehension “Select-in-Passage” question that asks you to find the answer to a question in the passage, it is highly likely that the right answer is NOT the sentence immediately following the question mark.
GRE Reading Comprehension Practice Question #3
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.
