<p>So I've read that it is a good idea to read GRE-level material (particularly those from the NY Times and The Wallstreet Journal).
I have about 2 months before I take the GRE and I would really like to substantially increase my reading comprehension.</p>
<p>Do you guys have any suggestions on how often I should read an article from the Times or The journal? I'm assuming an article/day would be sufficient?</p>
<p>Also, do the articles have to be new? I don't have a subscription. I think I can get older ones for free.</p>
<p>There’s no set frequency, try to read as much as you can in the beginning! Once you start seeing the benefits of it, you will yourself be drawn to reading as a habit. :)</p>
<p>+1 to “Read as much as you can”.</p>
<p>In addition, if you can read on a tablet or e-reader, you can attempt to figure out words you don’t know from context, then immediately tap-to-define and see the formal definition. On most readers, you can also highlight the words and have a vocabulary list to review later.</p>
<p>Personally, I don’t think just reading more and more would help that much. From my experience, reading texts, even just few, with more complex sentence structure, writing style,… than one normally reads could help significantly, though.</p>
<p>In my opinion, if you don’t have a history of reading complex material, then you will find a very hard time dramatically increasing your RC scores in a limited amount of time. To be an excellent reader is something that you must CONSISTENTLY do for EXTENDED periods of time. 2 months is really not sufficient. </p>
<p>The RC passages aren’t terribly complicated, but they do require you to dissect quite a bit.</p>
<p>Shrouded is spot on. Escalating complexity is key. NY Times and WSJ are decent starting points for baseline complexity, but to really improve you will want to step up the difficulty over time. </p>
<p>One tier up: The Economist and Scientific American. The Best American Essays 20XX.
Two tiers up: Dense literary fiction such as Joyce’s Ulysses, Pynchon’s Gravity’s Rainbow, David Foster Wallace’s Infinite Jest.
Three tiers up: Scholarly humanities journals such as Publications of the Modern Language Association, International Affairs, Business Ethics Quarterly. Primary texts by 20th century philosophers (Leo Strauss, Whitehead, Bertrand Russell, etc.) </p>
<p>These are merely suggestions to illustrate the fundamental principle of building strength, both in mind and in muscle: as soon as you become comfortable you have ceased to grow, so you must step up the intensity of your workout.</p>