Applying the stratergies in SC

Question

Hi,
 I had recently gone through various strategies and theories for solving the SC more appropriately. However, after learning a strategy or theory say Verbs, I am unable to apply them to the SC questions. Instead, I still go with my intuitive knowledge that I have had imbibed through my years of reading, writing and speaking.

I need help here in understanding how to apply these strategies ?

Rainman91 · Answer

I have noticed that you joined in 18th October. Do not worry because I too had the same inclination when I first started SC. Did you go over any prep books or programs?

Chapter 1 of Manhattan Prep guide actually provides a very simple step by step process to finding the real answer. They make use of the split technique to eliminate 2 or more answer choices. They create several splits. Beginning of underlined portion, end of underlined portion and middle. Then start eliminating the wrong answer choices.

But there are more programs that teaches you different strategies.

EmpowergmatVerbal's solution:
https://gmatclub.com/forum/emily-dickin ... 10142.html

E-GMAT's solution:
https://gmatclub.com/forum/to-help-pres ... 54397.html

Take these sample question for example. In the answer choices there are 2 prep companies that provide their different way of eliminating 4 answer choices. (E-GMAT and EmpowergmatVerbal). Both use relatively different strategies.

If you have studied all the concepts tested in SC questions: Sub Verb agreement, Verb tenses, modifiers, parallelism, comparison, idioms, meaning, pronouns, etc. you will need to apply ALL the rules into a single sentence. If you are a native English speaker or have advanced English language skills then you already ahead. But never use "what sounds right" strategy on SC questions.

Hope I could help.

AndrewN · Answer

Hello,  mnajay . The first thing you ought to focus on with SC questions (or any questions, for that matter) is accuracy. Take the time to understand how to disqualify incorrect or suboptimal answer choices. Do not chase correct answers. I like the suggestions that  Rainman91  has offered above. I also like  this SC Flowchart  that another member put together last year. It helps sometimes to see various considerations listed out in a simple input-output manner. Not every question tests, parallelism, for instance, but if you are keeping the topic in mind, as well as modifiers, subject-verb agreement, and so on, and you work at following a method to tackle SC questions, you will get better and better, and over time, your confidence will grow and your time spent per question will decrease. Just do not think that there are shortcuts that will automatically lift your accuracy to, say, 95 percent while dropping your average time spent to 30 seconds or so. There are far too many twists and turns in language to create a tidy set of rules, but with persistence, you can learn most of the patterns and get to where you want to be fairly quickly. One final consideration: Many members of the community rave about the  GMATNinja  video series on YouTube. You can find an index of topics  here .

Good luck with your studies.

- Andrew

EducationAisle · Answer

Entire books have been written on how SC works

. So, it is obviously not possible to share all rules in a single post. Hope you appreciate.

GmatKnightTutor · Answer

Solving approach can be helpful on Verbal (it's one of the things I get approached for most) but it's more of a point booster. 
 
Instead, I still go with my intuitive knowledge that I have had imbibed through my years of reading, writing and speaking.

Pattern recognizing the type of English the GMAT likes can be helpful.

Applying the stratergies in SC

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