Hi all,

I recently took GMAT and scored a disappointing 650. Verbal took the biggest hit (scored 33) as I was running out of time for most part of verbal section.

Planning a retake and reworking on my verbal skills. Since time management is the biggest issue for me especially in SC, I want to understand what strategy does one take to solve SC fast?

Here is what I have come up with:

1. Read the question and understand what grammar rule is being tested. (This step takes time in case the sentence is a long one or sounds too complicated to make any sense out it )
2. Jump to the options and look for a 2-3 split. If a clear split is there, eliminate wrong options.
3. Among the options left, re-look again to hunt for more mistakes. If we are able to boil down to one correct answer, well and good.
4. In case the last few options are too close to cross out any one, OR if they all are grammatically correct but differ in sentence structure or conciseness, I usually try to plug them back into main sentence and see which one makes sense and is not changing the meaning. ( This step is where I take most of the time and can easily cross the 90 sec limit).

Can some share their strategies on how they attack SC within 60 sec? I read a post by bb where he mentioned that he practised to crack SC within 45 sec. Can you share your strategy on how you approach SC fast?

Thanks

Making up time on SC is key because you may lose some on tough CR or RC passages.

Really the only way that worked for me was by rote memorization of the rules such that you recognize the flaw almost immediately on your first read-through, and already know which answer choice you are looking for before you even see it. I haven't done real GMAT yet, but I score in the mid-40s on my prep tests and usually knock out SC questions in anywhere from 20-60 seconds. Rarely over a minute.

Good Advice! thanks

MGMAT is a real good resource for the SC.

Thanks Cclay for sharing the link.