Gist for different types of RC Questions | Verbal for GMAT PDF Download

PURPOSE QUESTIONS
 30% of GMAT RC Questions

Goal of the Question

What does a Purpose Question ask for?

Purpose questions ask you to identify the PURPOSE of all or part of the passage. With these questions, we’re trying to get inside the author’s head---why did you add this to the passage. What on Earth did you think adding this to the passage would do?

Example:
 A 1998 German study published in the journal Risk Analysis analyzed the effect of all emissions from a given source of electricity on life expectancy. For the same amount of electricity generated, the years of life lost from the different major fuel sources compared with nuclear powerare: coal power, about five times as much; oil, 14 times as much; and natural gas, about 1.7 times as much.

Which of the following best describes the function of the first paragraph?

A correct answer: To introduce the findings of a study

An incorrect answer: To highlight the difference in the loss of life expectancy from nuclear power, and
natural gas.
This option is too narrow in focus because it only states that the goal is to discuss the distinction between
nuclear power, and natural gas, when in reality the passage did so much more.

Identify Purpose Questions

How are Purpose Questions typically asked? They will usually ask for any of the following:

“primary purpose”
“role”
“function”
The example in paragraph two was most likely mentioned “in order to”

Or any question that asks for the PURPOSE of the entire passage, or the purpose of a piece of the passage.
 

INFERENCE QUESTIONS 

Inference Questions: 40-45% of RC Questions

Goal of the Question

What does an Inference Question ask for?

To distinguish fact from possibilities. In other words, you're looking for the one, and ONLY ONE answer choice that MUST BE TRUE from the information provided.

These questions are very similar to data sufficiency in the sense that they reward those who can distinguish between when something is likely true and when it has to be true for a fact.

Example:
Company A introduced a new product last year that is selling better than any of its other currently produced products, and perhaps it may continue to sell better than any of the products its currently developing.

The passage suggests which of the following?

A wrong answer: The new product is Company A's most profitable product. Just because the product is the company’s best selling product doesn’t automatically make it the most profitable.

A correct answer: The new product could be Company A's most profitable product. We don’t that the new product is the company’s most profitable, but we do know that it could be.

Identify Inference Questions

Inference questions will typically involve the following language:

“passage suggests”
"passage supports"
“inferred”
“author implies”
“author most likely agree with”
"most similar to"

DETAIL QUESTIONS 

Detail Questions: 30% of RC Questions

Goal of the Question

What does a Detail Question ask for?

To rapidly find details specifically mentioned in the passage.

You can think of detail questions as "find it" questions. With detail questions its simply a matter of finding a specific detail mentioned in the passage.

Example:
Company A introduced a new product last year that is selling better than any of its other current products, and perhaps it may continue to sell better than any of the new products its currently developing.

According to the passage, which of the following is true of Company A?

A wrong answer: Sales of its products are up.
The passage doesn’t state that sales of the company’s products are up, nor could we infer that they are.

A correct answer: Sales of its new product exceed that of any of its other products.
Yes, the passage states that the sales of its new product exceed that of any of its other products: “a new
product last year that is selling better than any of its other current products”.

Identify Detail Questions

Detail questions almost always involve the following language:
“according to the passage”
"states"
“mentions”
Or any question that asks you to retrieve data specifically stated in the passage.