Before I tried using their grid system I was consistently around the 80% correct in study material. After practicing with the grid system or a few days I am around 60%.

Why do I always change things that work!
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4/28 GMATPrep 42Q 36V 640

Sure can. I am about to take an errand study break, but when I get back I will get right on it.
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4/28 GMATPrep 42Q 36V 640

The grid system helped me a lot in deconstructing the critical reasoning argument..

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Hi there,

I'm not at all surprised at your result, and it should not be cause for worry! You're right that you shouldn't change things that work *if* you're satisfied with how well they are working. If you do try something new like this, you can expect an awkward transition period while you work to implement the new technique. I recently started taking singing lessons after years of performing as an untrained "natural" singer. I sounded terrible for a few weeks until I learned to integrate what my teacher was asking me to do with what I had been doing successfully for decades.

Our CR diagram, which is certainly optional, is designed to get you comfortable breaking the argument down into its constituent parts before delving into the answer choices. Many students complain that it is too time-consuming to create the diagram and solve a CR problem in 2 minutes. However, the diagram itself should only take a few seconds to write up. The time-consuming part is analyzing the argument, and that part is not dispensable! Anyone who does well on CR, regardless of their training and/or their written work, is identifying and analyzing these same elements. If you can do all that and maintain consistent accuracy without diagramming, then don't diagram. I don't! However, I do spend most of my time up-front, working to understand the argument. That's the point of the diagram, and most people find that getting their thoughts on paper aids in the process. Unless you're taking the real test right away, I'd recommend that you stick with it for a few weeks and fine-tune, and then decide if diagramming is a keeper.

I hope that helps!
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Dmitry Farber | Manhattan GMAT Instructor | New York


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I too do not use the grid. Honestly, my CR hit rate was 60% pre MGMAT course and about 90% post. The reason for the improvement was not the grid. My brain retains the information read well as is. I improved due to what the instructor called "anticipate the answer". So I read the Q, read the little passage, answer it in my mind and then look for something similar in the answer choices.
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Yea, I was to the point where I can pretty much answer a majority of the questions in a timely manner without writing stuff down. I seem to reason better when I do not put stuff down on paper.
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4/28 GMATPrep 42Q 36V 640

OG, and Critical Reasoning questions on the new GMAT Prep Software. I am still going through the last few topics in the bible so have not gone through hard topics on the GMAT Prep Software V2 with the question pack. I highly recommend purchasing it by the way.
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4/28 GMATPrep 42Q 36V 640