You may remember from the Critical Reasoning chapter the definition of an “inference” on the GMAT: an inference is something that must be true, based on the information provided. There are two important parts to this definition:
(1) A valid GMAT inference must be true. This sets a high standard for what you consider a valid inference. It is sometimes difficult to determine whether a statement in an answer choice must always be true, but you can also approach these questions by eliminating the four answer choices that could be false. Keep both of these tactics in mind for questions that ask for an inference.
(2) A valid GMAT inference is based on the passage. By definition, an inference won’t be explicitly stated in the passage; you will have to understand the passage well enough to read between the lines. But just because it isn’t directly stated doesn’t mean an inference could be anything under the sun. On the GMAT, any inference you draw will be unambiguously supported by something that is stated in the passage. It may take some Critical Thinking to figure out, but you will always be able to pinpoint exactly why a valid inference must be true.
Familiarity with the subject matter is not required. GMAT passages contain everything you need to answer GMAT questions. In fact, many Reading Comp questions contain wrong answer choices based on information that is actually true but not mentioned in the passage. So if you know the subject, be careful not to let your prior knowledge influence your answer. And if you don’t know the subject, be happy—some wrong answer traps won’t be tempting to you!
Reading Comprehension is designed to test not your prior knowledge but your critical reading skills. Among other things, it tests whether you can do the following:
Note that none of these objectives relies on anything other than your ability to understand and apply ideas found in the passage. This should be a comforting thought: everything you need is right there in front of you. In this chapter, you will learn strategic approaches to help you make the best use of the information the test makers provide.
Because the GMAT cannot ask you purely factual questions that might reward or punish you for your outside knowledge, it tends to focus its questions on the opinions or analyses contained in the passages. Since this question asks you what Alvarez’s and Courtillot’s theories have in common, this means that they must agree on at least one thing. You can anticipate, however, that the two theories are largely not in agreement with each other.
This is a common structure for a GMAT passage: the author discusses more than one explanation of the same phenomenon, describing each in turn or perhaps comparing them directly, usually summarizing the relevant evidence and explaining why disagreement exists among the explanations’ proponents. When a passage contains multiple opinions, keep track of who is making each assertion and how the assertion relates to the other opinions in the passage: does it contradict, agree with, or expand upon what came before? Another important thing to note is whether the author takes a side—does the author prefer one viewpoint to another? Does he offer his own competing argument?
Since the GMAT constructs Reading Comprehension passages in similar ways and asks questions that conform to predictable “types,” you can learn to anticipate how an author will express her ideas and what the GMAT test makers will ask you about a passage. The more you practice and the more you focus on structure as you read, the stronger your Pattern Recognition skills will become.
Critical Thinking is also essential. As you read, you should ask yourself why the author is including certain details and what the author’s choice of transitional keywords implies about how the ideas in the passage are related.
The best test takers learn how to pay Attention to the Right Detail. Reading Comp passages are typically filled with more details than you could reasonably memorize—and more, in fact, than you will ever need to answer the questions. Since time is limited, you must prioritize the information you assimilate from the passage, focusing on the big picture but allowing yourself to return to the passage to research details as needed.
Practice Paraphrasing constantly as you read, both to keep yourself engaged and to make sure you understand what’s being discussed. Developing this habit will make taking notes much easier, since you’ve already distilled and summarized the most important information in your head. You’ll learn later in this chapter how to take concise and well-organized notes in the form of a passage map.
Here are the main topics we’ll cover in this chapter: