Unknown Word Definition in LR/RC Questions

LilKorgi

So I was practicing some LR and RC questions and came across a few words where I didn't know the definition. I did try to figure out what their meaning could be following context clues in the sentences, but still couldn't understand them.
An example of one of these words was "pedagogical". In the context of the sentence I couldn't figure how it related to the conclusion, which then threw off my whole understanding of the paragraph. I ended up just guessing an answer and moving on. I then looked up the definition later when doing the Blind Review and got the correct answer.
Does anyone have any tricks on what they do during a situation like this, or do you also just say "whatever" and move on to possibly come back later?

melsathope

English is not my first language. Although I went to college and I am now a graduate student in the U.S., I often come across words that I didn't know the meaning of in LR and RC passages. My solution to this problem is to learn that it doesn't really matter what the meaning of the word is. What you do need, however, is to know when there is a consistency with this word and when there is not.
For example:
"Maria is obgt and she is patw. Ana is not patw therefore is not obgt."
Let's say I don't know the meaning of "obgt" and "patw" (literally these "words" don't exist). You could still understand the reasoning here.
I know this is oversimplifying it but what I keep in mind when I come across a word I don't know the meaning of is that it doesn't matter. All I need to do is keep the word consistent in my head or even replace it for "A" and "B", if the word is conjugated (such as "conjugating") I even think of it as "A-ing" or B-ing" lol.

ledkarly

I used to make this mistake too. When I didnt understand a word, but I didnt like any of the other answers (because there was something wrong with them), I still wouldnt pick the one with the weird word.

Then I decided to pick it, even if I didnt know what it meant becuase it had to be right (given that I didnt like the other ones). Always be super critical of the answers. The writers want to throw you off, which is why they pick weird language.