How to improve CR & RC

Question

I took GMAT in September and I got 680 (Q50 + V30). I applied to an E-MBA program and got rejected. Now, I decided to take the exam by the end of April.
I took the official GMAT practice tests and I got 670 (Q49 + V30) and 690 (Q50 + V31)

In verbal section, I have very little problem in SC. My biggest problem is in CR and RC. Out 27/28 questions combined in a practice test, I usually get no more than 15 questions correct. I have no timing issues in verbal. Now, with 3 months of time, I want to improve my verbal score to 40+ by concentrating more on CR & RC. Somebody on this forum suggested LSAT guides for RC.
What is the best way to achieve this? Please advise.

navy01 · Answer

For CR I find that the most important thing is identifying the conclusion for the strengthen/weaken/assume questions. Once you get this then you have to "dump it down" and pick the only answer which directly relates to the conclusion. I find that a lot of errors are because I assume too much. Same idea for inferrence questions, find the conclusion which doesn't go beyond the given premises. And then for the mimic the reasoning, sometimes I will make a few quick notes to understand the logic structure.

For RC, there are so many ways out there from readuing the entire passage while taking notes to skimming the first and last sentence, etc. I like to read the entire passage pretty carefully (but this takes me about 2.5-2.75 minutes which is pretty good timing IMO). Then when I get the general questions, I usually can pick out the right answer and if I can't, I go to the first and last sentence of each paragraph and skim quickly to get the overall gist. And for the specific question, you need to go back to the passage and eliminate each answer choice. Look a little above and a little below the answer choice to make sure it follow the same tone.

For RC's author's tone, MGMAT says that all these articles are published so the author will never be too far on one side (overly supportive/critical) and will be somewhere in the middle. So you normally can eliminate the extreme answers and then pick between the slightly optimisitc, cautiously optimistic, valuable but problematic, etc.

Other than that, practice practice practice. Good luck!

finance423 · Answer

to which emba program did you apply? 680 is a pretty solid score.

Travel09 · Answer

By when do you need to take GMAT again? If you have couple of months you can really improve your verbal scores. Try reading articles in science (areas is which you are not comforable also), arts, history , economy, political issues e.t.c in NY times or WSJ or Economist and try to summarize what author is conveying. Go over typical questions, what's the most important issues e.t.c. This will take time but will help with RC. As a added bonus your SC will also improve. More importantly you will be a better reader for rest of your life. If you do not have time go through RC1000. For CR I would suggest CR1000.

rafiaiqbal · Answer

i want to improve my verbal too...want to apply in a good B-School in USA for MS(Finnace) or MBA...gort 590 in my first attempt wid 25 in verbal and 46 in Quanittaive...find verbal tooo boring and difficult...by the time i reached the verbal portion in my final gmat, i was too exhausted...

don2007 · Answer

Please, I also want to improve my verbal. Can someone help me with the CR1000??

Thanks,

Don.

walker · Answer

https://www.gmatclub.com/forum/t57462

faraji13 · Answer

I got a 680 too, but I did much better on the verbal than the Q. I think Travel09's idea is spot on. I read some books on innovative architecture before the test and since it's an unfamiliar subject with an argumentative bent, I got into the habit of paying close attention to the argument, determining the main points, weaknesses in the argument, etc. All things that will help you on the GMAT. good luck.

don2007 · Answer

Hi Walker,

Can you please help?? When i open the downloaded file for SC1000 and CR1000, it gets corrupted. What is wrong??

Don.

lumone · Answer

I have heard of these on several occasions.

Does anyone know who wrote these questions? Are they really like REAL gmat questions?

walker · Answer

Many of them are from OG. I went through 700SC, read forum threads, and found only two real OA mistakes (both questions were from OG). Moreover, my performance in SC1000 was very close to performance in OG.

ryguy904 · Answer

Can you please upload the SC file in zip format? When I clicked on the link, the SC document seems to be one blank page.

Cheers,
RG

vinviper · Answer

winrar works well.

walker · Answer

Hm..You are right. I uploaded SC-file.

don2007 · Answer

Hi Walker,

Thanks! I have downloaded the attached zip folders for RC1000,SC1000 and CR1000.They are all okay. But the answer is beside the question in all three. Is that the way it is or something is wrong or there is a way i can make the answer disappear??

Thanks,

Don.

walker · Answer

Tools --> Options--> View--> Hidden text: checked/unchecked

don2007 · Answer

Thanks walker! I am very grateful.

Don.

bobinabob2 · Answer

Any other detailed strategies out there for CR?

giorgosram · Answer

Is the key for 1000 SC available?

mankhu8 · Answer

I downloaded the files, they are opening correctly..let me start the practise and see where we go from here. Thanks for the very valuable post.

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