Game-Changing Verbal Tip: Understand the Game
While it is true that you need to know a number of English grammar rules and understand some other verbal concepts in order to perform well in GMAT Verbal — particularly in Sentence Correction — it would be a flawed strategy to assume that everything will simply fall into place if you memorize a ton of rules and concepts. Why is that the case? Because
GMAT Verbal is a content game and a logic game.
Just as you shouldn’t expect to earn a top GMAT Quant score by simply memorizing math concepts, you shouldn’t expect to earn a high Verbal score by doing nothing but, for instance, drilling grammar rules. Furthermore, GMAT Verbal is a bit different from GMAT Quant in that, in many cases, you can generate a Quant score increase by simply learning some new concepts, but your Verbal score may not go up just because you learned, for instance, how a participial phrase functions or how a Weaken question works. While concept knowledge is certainly an essential aspect of earning
a good GMAT Verbal score, to master the Verbal section of the GMAT, you have to not only learn concepts but also develop skill in
noticing what is going on in questions and
using logic to arrive at correct answers.
So, learning the rules of the GMAT Verbal game is just the first step. Once you have learned the rules, you then must hone your skills at actually playing the game.
If you are curious to know how I scored a perfect 800 on the GMAT, please
read the debrief of my GMAT preparation experience.