I find the GRE Reading Comprehension section (RC) way too difficult and even after practice I am doing them wrong. How can I crack them?
I can understand the problem that you are facing, since I went through the same thing when I was preparing for GRE. I mostly relied on Manhattan Prep since it has a very comprehensive RC section, in which the passages are quite difficult and confusing. However, if you focus properly on the the techniques given in the book and learn to apply them, you should be able to answer RC questions with good accuracy. I had a problem with RC as well but through the strategies given in the book, I could score a 166 on the Verbal Section.First thing to do: Improve your reading speed. Although your current speed is not too bad, you should ideally try to reduce it my at least a minute.Step 2: Don’t spend too long on reading and understanding the long passage. Due to its length, it is quite possible that you will forget what you have read by the time you reach to the questions. Instead, try to categorize each passage according to its theme and mood (this method is explained in Manhattan Prep) and come back to the relevant passage after reading the question.Step 3: Practice figuring out the main idea and theme of the passage. Once you get this, other questions will seem relatively easy. Again, Manhattan Prep gives several strategies for how to approach the main idea of the passage.Step 4: Use the process of elimination. This is a very useful and important strategy for answering RC questions. Except for the correct option, the rest of them have a minor or a major deviation such as extrapolating the idea of the passage, information not mentioned in the passage, direct contrast to the main idea of the passage etc. Approach most of the questions by eliminating the wrong choices, even the ones that you think you can answer straightaway.All of these strategies are from Manhattan Prep. If you follow it more thoroughly, I am sure you will begin to see some improvement.Hope this helps. Let me know if you need further help.
What makes 'The Alchemist' by Paulo Coelho a must read?
I have read The Alchemist thrice so far and each time proved different in the inferences it gave me. I read the book first in college when I was just an undergraduate student full of energy and dreams. The book reinforced my faith to go after my dreams and identify my soul's calling. It helped me pursue some major decisions in life confidently, one among which being to become an entrepreneur. After college, I started my own business with a few co-founders and proceeded to do business. Entrepreneurship was difficult and challenging but equally rewarding. Our patience and efforts bore fruit when we were recognized as one of India's top 10 most promising startups by IIT-Guwahati and we were invited to come to Guwahati. Chennai to Guwahati was a long long journey and I chose to reread The Alchemist in that journey. I had underlined a few lines in my first read and it felt good to read them again. Some of those lines had actually gone too deep in my mind to alter my thought completely and I could tell in the second reading. However I was at a a different point in life then with different questions. I was going through internal debates over my career choices and was having relationship related concerns as well. These questions made me underline a lot of new lines which gave completely new meanings then. This read gave me strength to pursue my thoughts with clarity. My third reading was a couple of years further when my company was well established but I was looking at other passions in life. I had still not found an answer to my soulmate search though several people came and went, some taking a big piece of me along with them. I was a different man then and the book talked a different language to me then. Yet again, it gave me calm and clarity to continue life positively. To me, that is why The Alchemist is a must read. It has different messages to different people and no two people can experience it the same way. I have now sold off my company and have moved on to follow my next passion to work for the cause of education in an NGO. I have found my soulmate now. I have different questions now in the internal debate. Perhaps, I should go on a long trip again with The Alchemist once again now.
What does Thomas Paine mean by "summer soldier and the sunshine patriot?"?
I'm looking at the text right now and studying Thomas Paine for school. He says "The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman." In this quote, he is talking about his favorite topic of the American Revolution. He wrote it with the intention of persuading American soldiers who were losing morale to keep steadfast to the cause of independence. When he says "summer soldier and the sunshine patriot," he is talking about men who would serve their country when the war is easy and the odds look good. He is attacking these men, since he believes that a soldier should focus on the goal no matter how hard it is to reach. The summer soldier and sunshine patriot is a man who would fight for his country as long as what they are trying to achieve is easy, and can be done without loss.
I really need help with my World History, please answer.?
1st question: China (though they are working on it) I hope it doesn't happen as there are enough communist and facist nations on it already. 2nd question: All of the above (though the UN is naieve if they really believe that the countries who claim to be reducing their weapons and military budgets really are. All they do is hide their weapons and other military tech better. 3rd question: Third statement is correct. (Kicking countries that constantly violate basic human rights out of the UN like China, Iran and South Korea would be a good start). Also, nothing the UN does is legally binding in any country as that would threaten the soverignty of that country. 4th question: 4th answer is right. NATO is the organization that was formed as a direct result of the alliances during WWII. 5th question: The second answer is correct. 6th question: Each nation still has it's own currency, but a lot of trade between member countries is now done is Euros. Your teacher won't tell you this, but the E.U. is the precursor to a one world government which may well happen in your lifetime. 7th question: Consensus is officially a unanimous agreement by all parties (nations in this case) involved. In practice, many parties who say they agree do so with secret reservations and regrets and only agree with the rest out of fear. 8th question: Anti-globalization movement (and with very good reasons too) 9th question: All of the above. It also keeps countries with huge debts afloat, though for how much longer, who knows? 10th question: I'm not about to write a long paragraph on this one, but if I were you, I'd pick something I'm familiar with like the Internet or Hollywood movies. How "Cultural diversity" is contributing to internationalization is beyond me as the two terms are opposites of each other.
Analysis and deeper meaning of great gatsby?
I would love it if somone could help me analyze and close read this passage. any phrase or key words that stand out or have an important significance thanks. We walked through a high hallway into a bright rosy-colored space, fragilely bound into the house by French windows at either end. The windows were ajar and gleaming white against the fresh grass outside that seemed to grow a little way into the house. A breeze blew through the room, blew curtains in at one end and out the other like pale flags, twisting them up toward the frosted wedding cake of the ceiling--and then rippled over the wine-colored rug, making a shadow on it as wind does on the sea. The only completely stationary object in the room was an enormous couch on which two young women were buoyed up as though upon an anchored balloon. They were both in white and their dresses were rippling and fluttering as if they had just been blown back in after a short flight around the house. I must have stood for a few moments listening to the whip and snap of the curtains and the groan of a picture on the wall. Then there was a boom as Tom Buchanan shut the rear windows and the caught wind died out about the room and the curtains and the rugs and the two young women ballooned slowly to the floor. The younger of the two was a stranger to me. She was extended full length at her end of the divan, completely motionless and with her chin raised a little as if she were balancing something on it which was quite likely to fall. If she saw me out of the corner of her eyes she gave no hint of it--indeed, I was almost surprised into murmuring an apology for having disturbed her by coming in. The other girl, Daisy, made an attempt to rise--she leaned slightly forward with a conscientious expression--then she laughed, an absurd, charming little laugh, and I laughed too and came forward into the room. "I'm p-paralyzed with happiness."