二战 329 V159+Q170+3 （SE TC经验) (全英文，慎入)

1: Dec. X, 2014     323 = 153 + 170 + 3
2: Oct. 2, 2015     329 = 159 + 170 + 3.5  

I took about 40 days to prepare for the second test, mainly focusing on RC. I just to share some thoughts in SE and TC. If you don't like to read this in English, I am sorry.

Summary:1. Book used：Manhattan RC guide/长难句
2. RC：Manhattan RC guide is a must-read /Love what you read
3. SE and TC：learn to recognize structures from 长难句/ active reading: read slowly enough to process information but not to read word by word/one bird in you hand is better than two birds in the woods. / Find your patterns in making mistakes, and use them against ETS
4. Understand your weakness early.

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Caution: Switching strategy before exam might be dangerous！！！But if you are stuck around a score and still have a month or two-three weeks or so, this might worth trying. (Most of this might sound similar to Manhattan RC, which is indeed what you need!!!!!!)

The strategy for reading and SE or SC are the same:
Have a “brief" understanding of problems first.(for reading comprehension, have a brief understanding of passages first.)

For RC, I would recommend you find the summary that Manhattan provides with you if you are running out of time. If time permits, read it thoroughly. I am totally agree with Manhattan that love what you read. How can you understand anything you don't like？ 米Trick your brain, I am serious. Along with Manhattan RC, you should get 长难句, which would apprise (inform) you of how to read correctly as an exam taker as well as a life time reader.

To start answering question in SE and SC, first is to ask "can you recognize structures of sentences？" By structure, I mean, the organization of sentences. If you don't understand structures, it would be hard to collect information from ill-written, verbose GRE sentences. You can check your understanding of structures from 长难句; just see how it analyze sentences. If you can understand 长难句, I believe it would be no trouble for you to understand the sentences in exams. If you don't get it, fine; then practice. 米But remember, the goal of 长难句 is for you to forget the structures.

The hard part come to SE and SC is that some information is missing, so my recommendation is that you understand fragments that have no blank first. If you cannot understand it at first shot, do it twice. In SE and SC, 米I read slowly but not word by word. Here "slowly" means try to translate a fragment into what you are familiar with, and do so fragment by fragment. Converting what you read into what you know is really important. I would call this "active reading in SE and SC". If you cannot say it out briefly yourself, you don't understand it. This is true elsewhere. 米 How to read actively in RC is different and should be referred to Manhattan RC.

米I believe a few problems fully understood is more worthy than all questions partially understood, especially in GRE... (Guess this is true for RC as well: understanding a RC problem set well is better than understanding all RC problem sets partially.) I cannot finish all problem sets in V actually, don't be afraid if you are guessing a few(2 or 3 maybe). The exam is about how many you get them correct, not about how many you answer. Also, you can always guess in the end. So if you really don't have time, focus on only a few questions that you are most likely to solve, and guess the remaining. In guessing or answering questions, see if you make systematic mistakes, mistakes that you make often. If you find your pattern, great! Just reverse them to help you get correct answers.

My pattern is that I prefer to select familiar words after eliminating irrelavent choices. Hope this is not the problem with you. Just like our high school or College entrance exam, ETS purposely put appealing candidates in problems. Sometimes, when you can tell or feel they are doing something nasty, it worths a shot to choose the one or a pair you don't even know about. (game involved...) But first to ask, what are your patterns in making mistakes.

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Other thoughts:

After the first test in last December, I know RC is my weakest part. Knowing your weakness is important. "If one does not know to which port one is sailing, no wind is favorable," said Lucius Annaeus Seneca. Make the time worthy by focusing on your weakness. You can diagnose yourself from taking a practice set, no matter it is from ETS, Magoosh, or even Manhattan.

I guess buying Manhattan RC is worthy, since it provides you with great strategy and 6 sets to practice. I see myself improving from the practice sets Manhattant provides, which enhances my confidence. It only costs 10$ but save you 200$ to take GRE again. (Again??? What!!?) That is my sincere recommmendation.

Thanks for reading. Let me know if you like it.

Sorry for being messy and for any grammaticall mistakes I leave. I would polish the paragraphs later (probably after January...)

Hope you get my message and Good Luck. Love the exam and the passages within and score would be with you.