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This week’s practice question is based on a Reading Comprehension passage– choose the option that best answers the question. Good luck, we’ll post the answer and explanation video tomorrow!

An application for (Department of Housing and Urban Development) HUD funding requires review at every stage of the process. Evaluation by a community-based local board whose charge is to rank proposals based on their likelihood of achieving agreed-upon community goals is the first stage of the application process. Since there are rarely adequate federal resources to fund all proposals submitted, it follows that those proposals that do not receive a high ranking from the local board are unlikely to be funded. Applicants who decide to proceed after receiving and assessing their ranking at the community level submit a formal application to the HUD office in Washington, D.C. Because requirements for formal applications are strict, some applications are disqualified for technical reasons by the national HUD office. Those applicants who are successful at the national level must make it over yet another hurdle: they must tender a technical submission to their regional HUD office. The technical submission emphasizes programmatic and fiscal accountability. Clearly, only those who are able to make their way through the application process and to meet programmatic, technical, and fiscal demands at the community, national, and regional level will receive and retain funding.

In the argument given, the two portions in boldface play which of the following roles?

1. The first states the conclusion of the argument as a whole; the second provides support for that conclusion.
2. The first serves as an intermediate conclusion that supports a further conclusion stated in the argument; the second states the position that the argument as a whole opposes.
3. The first provides support for an intermediate conclusion that supports a further conclusion stated in the argument; the second states that intermediate conclusion.
4. The first provides support for the conclusion of the argument as a whole; the second provides evidence that supports an objection to that conclusion.
5. The first is an intermediate conclusion that supports a further conclusion stated in the passage; the second supports the conclusion of the argument.

The first sentence in boldface is an intermediate conclusion that summarizes the outcome of the ranking of HUD applications by a community- based board. The final sentence of the passage is the conclusion of the argument as a whole. The second sentence in boldface is an intermediate conclusion that supports the conclusion as a whole by making clear that programmatic and fiscal accountability must be demonstrated by HUD funding applicants at the technical submission phase. Language from the second sentence in boldface is repeated in the concluding sentence that speaks of programmatic, technical, and fiscal requirements of the application process.

(A) is incorrect.
Readers should be able to quickly eliminate (A) because the first sentence in boldface does not state the conclusion of the argument
as a whole. Instead, the first sentence is an intermediate conclusion that deals only with the first stage of the HUD funding application
process. The passage as a whole describes three stages of this funding process. The second sentence in bold does not provide support for the first bold sentence.

(B) is incorrect. One of the statements in (B) is correct. The first sentence in bold does serve as an intermediate conclusion that supports a further conclusion stated in the argument. [See explanation for (E) above.] However, the second clause in (B) is incorrect. The second boldfaced sentence is supportive information, not in opposition to any argument.

Incidentally, students who have a tendency to overanalyze may be challenged by the fact that (B) reads, “The first serves as an intermediate conclusion… and (E) reads “The first is an intermediate conclusion…”

For the purpose of this question “serves” and “is” mean the same thing.

(C) is incorrect. Readers who have difficulty distinguishing between an intermediate conclusion and a further conclusion in the argument may be challenged by this question. The first sentence in boldface is an intermediate conclusion; the second sentence in boldface is an intermediate conclusion that supports the conclusion of the argument as a whole. (C) suggests a link between the first bolded sentence and the second bolded sentence. Not so; the bolded sentences are independent statements.

(D) is incorrect. Readers should be able to quickly eliminate (D) because the second sentence in boldface does not provide evidence that supports an objection to the conclusion as a whole. The first sentence in boldface is an intermediate conclusion that some readers may view as supporting the conclusion of the argument as a whole. But, in reality, no objection exists in the passage.

(E) is the credited response.

Watch the video explanation for this question.

I’m sorry for so much of time gap between my posts. I was kept extremely busy with some other activities and couldn’t find time. I’ve finally made my mind to conclude today as it is exactly 1 month since I’ve given my GRE:

• New GRE : A Pleasant Nightmare – Part 1
• New GRE : A Pleasant Nightmare – Part 2

I left my last post at the point when I sat before my computer to take the test. I’d continue from there. T

he first section was AWA as usual. As I previously mentioned, I didn’t prepare for AWA at all and hence had a tough time writing issue in 30 minutes. I was unable to organise my views properly on the topic and present them.

I ended messing up the issue section, I felt. Writing the argument part was easy for me as I had to just critique the paragraph presented and was saved from the taxing task of organizing ideas.

Then the real test started.

First Verbal Section

My first section was verbal. When I started doing it, I realized that I didn’t have any idea of the meaning of most of the words I was seeing in TC questions.

Added to it, most of the TC questions were having 3 fill-ups. I immediately saw myself in a trouble as I began losing control of all my faculties. I was not able to concentrate on the RC passages as well and I felt my performance was going to be bad.

I finished that section somehow and decided to keep myself collected.

First Math Section

Then came 1 quants section, which had easier questions than the one’s I practiced. I did it well and was confident that I’m going to score well in Quants. I didn’t take the 10 min. break and the next section was verbal.

Second Verbal

I felt the difficulty level of this section was almost the same as the previous one, which meant alien words and disturbed mind once again. By the time I finished this section I was convinced that my verbal scores would be very low.

I decided to keep this out of my mind as I didn’t want my Quants performance to be affected. which was obviously the next section.

Second Quant Section

This quants section had some questions which were really tricky and required careful calculations. In both the quants sections, I solved all the questions in the same order they appeared, albeit I could skip and come back.

The reason- once I start skipping, I feel like skipping every question and come back later, ending up with a pile of unsolved questions when the time is running out. I

only skipped the DI questions without solving in the 1st go and came back to them after I finished all others. This strategy worked wonders for me.

Last Verbal Section

I was almost in tears when I saw one more verbal section at the end. I was already exhausted and my mind was not at all ready to cooperate.

However I had to do it and started doing that.

Once I did, I realised that this section was a bit easier compared to the other 2, a harbinger that my verbal scores would be less. I attribute the disturbed condition of my mind while doing verbal sections partly to my test timings.

Its my advice to everyone not to schedule your test for 18:00 as it gets very irritating by the time you reach the end of your test. I finished this section somehow and few clicks later got my score ranges.
I’m diffident to tell my score ranges as almost everyone who posted their experience had a score range of 1400+. My Quants score range was 750-800 and Verbal was 490-590 giving a total score range of 1240-1390.

I was completely stolid when I saw my score ranges. I didn’t understand how to react and just finished the test and came out.
As for the verbal section, although it may sound cliched, I’d ask everyone to practice RC’s as much as you can. They can be your saviour when you are in troubled waters. Also, do not neglect the vocab and read as many words as you can before giving the actual exam.

About Verbal Questions

The verbal sections invariably followed more or less the same pattern given in Princeton review’s book- 6 TC+ 5/6 RC+ 4 SE+ 5/6 RC.

1 or 2 of the TC questions were of 1 blank, 1 question was of 2 blanks and 3 questions were of 3 blanks, i.e., 50% of the TC questions had 3 blanks, which are very confusing and take up much time.

Even SE questions are tough nuts to crack given the options presented are so close that you require the ability to differentiate subtly between the words with almost the same meanings.

• At Last, The Ultimate Revised GRE Verbal Strategy to Score 660

The 1st RC you encounter in each section would be a big one with 3 questions and the next one would be a medium sized one with 2 or 3 questions. The RC’s you see towards the end of a section are normally small one’s, mostly having 1 question each.

And my experience says that answering the questions with multiple answers and the one’s which require you to select a sentence from a passage is easier compared to answering the single answer questions, which present so close choices that you often get caught in a tug-of-war between you brain and heart.

• Revised GRE: Old Wine in New Bottle; Scored 1380 -1530

Nevertheless, TC and SE questions are highly vocab intensive and you can’t expect good scores without having a good knowledge of words. For the quants part, I think we don’t have to worry much.
Finally, I thank all of you for reading all my 3 posts patiently. I also thank HSB for having allowed me to share my experiences in 3 lengthy posts. I’d be obliged if HSB or any of you could advice me if I should be content and go ahead with this score or should I give GRE again as I always aimed for 1400+ in GRE.
THANK YOU AND ALL THE BEST TO ALL:-)

What to Do Next?

Your Score range is 1240 to 1390.

Even if your end up scoring 1240, I would strongly recommend you to start your application process.

Just think about the folks who scores in the range of 900 to 1000.

There are universities that admit students in any given score range.

The challenge is to find the best fit universities that suit your profile.

Thanks for sharing your Revised GRE experience.