Reading Comprehension: Structure Before Detail
Reading Comprehension on the GMAT rewards readers who map a passage before they mine it. Treat every passage as an argument with a job to do: identify the main point, the author's attitude, the structure (does the author describe, compare, or evaluate?), and the function of each paragraph. Detail questions are answerable only after you know why a detail was included.
Concepts to master
- Main idea vs. scope: the correct answer covers the whole passage at the right level of generality-not one paragraph, not the entire universe.
- Function words: "however," "for example," "critics contend" signal shifts in logic. Track them.
- Inference limits: a valid inference is a small, forced step from the text-never outside knowledge.
Common traps
- True but not the point: a statement accurate to the passage but answering a different question.
- Extreme language: "always," "never," "proves"-usually wrong unless the passage is equally absolute.
- Half-right answers: correct first clause, distorted second clause. Read every word.
Rule of thumb
Before reading the questions, write a one-sentence summary in your head: "The author argues X because Y, despite Z." If an answer choice can't be plugged into that frame, eliminate it.
Worked example
A passage notes that a historian "reinterprets" a treaty, then lists three consequences. A question asks the purpose of the list. The answer is not "to prove the treaty was flawed" (extreme, unsupported) but "to illustrate the implications of the reinterpretation"-it serves the main claim.