Introduction

Of course, on any GMAT question, eliminating wrong answers is always to our adva
ntage. There are myriad methods of eliminating answers in the Quant section: be
cause of the constraints specified in the question, the answer must be negative,
or greater than 7, or divisible by 5, or etc. On Sentence Correction, one elim
inates by identifying splits among the answer choices. On CR, there are fewer c
lear cut rules for eliminating answers, and some students may feel there are ess
entially no clear cut rules or procedures for eliminating answers on RC.

Patterns among incorrect Reading Comprehension answer choices

Despite this perception, there are some discernible patterns that RC incorrect a
nswer choices follow. Learning these patterns and mastering them can be a huge
boon on test day!

1) Emotional tone
The tone of virtually everything on the GMAT verbal section is balanced, measure
d, and reserved. This is the tone of most professional business writing. Think
, for example, if a business executive described a colleague or competitor in fl
amboyantly emotional language: that executive would probably be risking a law su
it! Even strong praise and strong criticism has to be couched in subtle, unders
tated language. Everything in the RC passages will reflect this balanced tone,
and all the correct answers will have this balanced tone. Any answer choice tha
t has any emotional charge to it must be incorrect. Examples of answer choices
with this flaw:
that the sponsor of the new bill despises people who exploit the poor.
that the factory workers

union was elated by the new retirement package.

Without even knowing the passage or the question, we can tell these would be wro
ng answers. The words despises and elated connote very strong emotions, and this is
far too strong for the tone of GMAT RC.

2) Unrealistic scope
Philosophers and religions throughout history have regularly made universal clai
ms about life, the universe, and everything. Even natural scientist make univer
sal claims within their subject area: every electron in the universe has a spin o
f 1/2. The claims in the business world are far more modest. The modern global
economy is an extremely complicated system: no one thing is ever the only cause of
a vast system of changes. No economic rule holds in every case without excepti
on. The claims in economic discussion tend to avoid universal or universalizing
claims. Therefore, any answer choice which extends an argument to an unreasona
ble extent is quite likely to be an incorrect answer. Examples:
as the price of an item rises, the demand always decreases.
the President s policy is responsible for all the economic problems of American cit
ies.
every employee in the factory is opposed to management s surveillance plan.

Again, we need neither the passage nor the specific question to recognize these
as incorrect choices. The first seems to invoke a law of economics, but fails t
o account for its exceptions. The second discusses something that account for al
l the economic problems
any modern post-industrial economy is far too complex for
any one factor to account for all the economic problems of anything. The third o
ne is particularly interesting: it s easy to imagine that a surveillance plan woul
d be unpopular, that perhaps the majority of employees didn t like it, but we alwa
ys have to be careful when talking about everyone.
There are often folks who are
completely clueless: eight months after the surveillance plan has been in operat
ion, they still may be totally unaware of it. There are also folks who are deli
berately contrary, and enjoy disagreeing with everyone else. Unless the passage
indicated explicitly that 100% of the employees, every last one, responded in t
he same way, it s a vastly unwarranted assumption that all the members of any grou
p would agree unanimously on anything.

3) Very fancy language

Sometimes, the GMAT will try to intimate you with fancy language. One pattern o
f incorrect choice involves high-level vocabulary and specialized terminology.
The answer will not be correct, but it will be a potent distractor, because folk
s think: gee, I don t even know what those words mean, but they certainly sound cle
ver! That must be right. This one is less universal, but when you see an answer
choice loaded with difficult words, that should certainly send up red flags. F
or example:
the author inveighed against the hermeneutical underpinnings of the CEO s assertion
.
Regardless of the passage, regardless of the question, I can guarantee this choi
ce would never be a possible correct answer in any conceivable GMAT RC context.
But, gosh, doesn t it sound fancy? That is precisely what will tempt many GMAT t
akers to choose it. The word inveigh is not only difficult but also fails accordi
ng to the first criterion discussed: it is emotionally too strong. The word herm
eneutical is incredibly obscure, relevant in only certain abstruse academic field
s, and does not pertain to anything discussed in the modern business world. If
you see an answer choice loaded with words you don t know, in your mind, mark it
tentatively as wrong, and return to it only if every other answer choice fails m
iserably.

4) New idea
This can be a tricky one. Sometimes, a RC answer choice will mention or discuss
something that wasn t mentioned at all in the text. This new idea will be clearl
y related, in some way, to what was discussed, but never explicitly mentioned.
For example, suppose the passage is about the difficulties related to the Civil
War that Lincoln faced during his presidency. Then, a brand new idea, not discu
ssed in the passage, could concern: the challenges of any other wartime presiden
t, or the challenges Lincoln faced concerning domestic issues only tangentially
related to the war. The new idea has to be close to what was discussed in the pas
sage that s what makes it tempting
but technically, it was never explicitly mentio
ned.
Ideally, you will read the RC passage thoroughly once, summarizing in brief note

s, and thereby be familiar enough with the content to recognize immediately such
an answer. Assuming you are in the habit of reading thorough the first time, t
hen if you read an answer it triggers a Gee, I don t remember that being mentioned
eeling, don t doubt yourself and immediately accuse yourself of overlooking it. R
ather, know this is a pattern for incorrect answer choices.

5) Doesn t answer the question

This can be the most devious type of wrong answer. This will be a statement tha
t is 100% consistent with the passage, completely supported by the author s discus
sion. The trouble is: it doesn t actually answer the question posed.
Suppose, once again, the passage is about the difficulties related to the Civil
War that Lincoln faced during his presidency. Suppose the passage explicitly di
scusses General Burnside s inadequacy as a Union general, for example, at the Batt
le of Fredericksburg. Now, if the individual question concerns, say, the challe
nges resulting from disagreements among members of Lincoln s cabinet concerning ma
tters of the war, then an answer choice along the lines of Lincoln was highly cri
tical of General Burnside s performance at the Battle of Fredericksburg.
Well, tha
t issue was certainly explicitly discussed in the passage, it is a completely su
pported assertion, but it has absolutely nothing to do with disagreements among
Lincoln s cabinet. That is a hypothetical example of this very tricky type of GMA
T RC wrong answer.

Summary
The more familiar you become with these patterns among the incorrect answer choi
ces, the more efficient you will be in dispatching one GMAT RC question after an
other. Here s a practice question.
http://gmat.magoosh.com/questions/738