Hello GMATNinja
I am quite confused with comparison.
As everybody before you, you're going to die and thanks to modern medicine and health practices, you'll probably live much longer as your ancestors did.

A. As everybody before you, you're going to die and thanks to modern medicine and health practices, you'll probably live much longer as your ancestors did.
B. Like everybody before you, you're going to die but thanks to modern medicine and health practices, you'll probably live much longer than your ancestors.
C. As everybody before you has done, you're going to die and despite modern medicine and health practices, you'll probably live much longer than your ancestors did.
D. Like everybody before you, you're going to die for thanks to modern medicine and health practices, you'll probably live much longer than your ancestors do.
E. Like everybody before you, you're going to die but thanks to modern medicine and health practices, you'll probably live much longer than your ancestors did.

For this question Option B you will live much longer than your ancestor, for me there is no meaning issue. Why we need verbs after ancestor? Live longer than ancestor perfectly illustrates the idea

I'm glad that the videos have been helpful!

Unfortunately, there isn't a really satisfying way to answer your question, because I can't tell you what particular issues are causing you to be stuck at a V34. There are any number of things that cause underperformance on the verbal section, and sadly there's no "one-size-fits-all" solution that works equally for every student.

It does sound like you've identified three key areas of concern -- inconsistent results on homework, time management issues, and test-day pressure.

Inconsistency in homework results

Inconsistency is usually caused by a couple of things: either your process itself is inconsistent (you do something different on different days when solving the same kinds of problems), or other external factors are impacting your results (inconsistent sleep, diet, exercise, stress, etc).

To nail down any inconsistencies in process, we recommend starting with these articles about SC, CR, and RC basics. These aren't substantially different from what is discussed in the videos, but can help you refocus on the nuts and bolts of a solid, consistent process.

Then, get some LSAT books -- this one is a decent place to start. Complete the Reading Comprehension and Logical Reasoning (very similar to GMAT CR) sections, really thinking about your process. Are you completing each step outlined in the Beginner's Guide articles? (Side note: ignore the LSAT's ridiculous 35 minute time limit. Just complete the section with test-like intensity, and note down how long it took you. You're just trying to achieve consistency as you hone your process).

To deal with external factors, keep a log of anything that might be impacting your results. Are you doing well after a good night's sleep, and poorly when you only catch a few hours of sleep? Do you skip meals and crash in the middle of homework sets? Try to isolate any particular habits that help you perform well.

Time Management

It's pretty common to struggle with time management on the verbal section, but I can't tell you how to fix it until you know why it's happening in the first place. It could be that you're a fundamentally slow reader. Or, it could be that you rush through the passage and then spend a ton of time struggling with the answer choices. Or, it could be that you waste time re-reading things over and over again. Or maybe you move at a good pace through most questions, but get extremely stubborn on one or two questions that have you stumped.

Each of these different underlying issues will require different solutions. Again, your best bet to improve on time management will be to use LSAT sets for RC and CR. If you times are fluctuating up and down from set to set, think about exactly what is changing to cause this variation.

Once you find the root cause(s) of your time management issues, think through some ways to prevent them from happening (e.g., letting go of questions that are a waste of time, or slowing down when you read the passage so that you can efficiently eliminate answer choices). Add these changes to your process, and see whether your times start to come down.

Test-Day Pressure

If you're noticing different results when you amp up pressure, then you could be experiencing some level of test anxiety that is negatively impacting your score.

To learn more about test anxiety and some tools that might help you perform well under pressure, check out our beginner's guide to test anxiety.

Hopefully some of this will help you get to the bottom of the issue. Best of luck with your studies!
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When an -ed modifier comes after the thing it modifies with a comma in between, it usually modifies the closest noun. For an official example, check out this question. If the -ed modifier comes before the thing it's modifying, on the other hand, then it usually modifies the subject. This article discusses this construction in depth.

So, is it a hard-and-fast rule that an "-ed" modifier that follows the thing it's modifying can never modify an entire clause? Nope -- like many GMAT SC "rules," there are exceptions. For example, the non-underlined portion of this official question is constructed that way. So, the construction of the non-official question above might be just fine (although again, it's really not worth your time to worry about the specifics of non-official questions).

Overall, it's best not to stress over a "rule" that the GMAT may or may not violate at some point. Instead, ask yourself, "What does the "-ed" modifier seem to modify here? Does that make sense?" If so, leave it in the running and look for other decision points.

I hope that helps a bit!
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Hi! Thanks for your response. So, basically, an ed modifier after a comma cannot modify the subject of the sentence if we have a noun in between them (which in most cases we will). So, This novel is a great source of entertainment, published in 1979. this sentence is incorrect. However, This novel, published in 1979, is a great source of entertainment. is correct. Is this all correct?

Hi GMATNinja

Please confirm Can appositives contain a clause?

In my understanding, the structure of appositive is noun + noun modifier (mostly phrase), but there is an example, in GMAT book SC Grail 2018 (Chapter- Fragments and run-on sentences), in which the author has confirmed that "a movie he had always wanted to see" is an appositive.

The complete sentence is "I offered him a ticket to Spielberg’s new movie, a movie he had always wanted to see."

"He had always wanted to see" is a clause, right? So can it be a part of the appositive?
Please confirm.

This doesn't appear to be an official question (if it is, please share the source!), so I wouldn't worry about it too much.

That said, "with the wealth and buying power..." is a modifier (describing the "women"). "Whose needs for relevant information..." is also a modifier (again, describing the "women"), so you could argue that (E) gives us a parallel list of modifiers, even though the first is a prepositional phrase and the second is a noun modifier. I don't recall ever seeing something like that in an official answer, but I guess it's okay?

More importantly, notice the verb "go (largely) ignored" at the end. That verb needs a subject, and we don't one in (A). If that's not clear, take a look at this stripped down version of (A), using only the second half of the parallel list:

"There are more and more women with needs for information still go largely ignored."

Notice that the object of the preposition ("with") is a noun ("needs"). What kind of needs? Needs for information ("for information" simply modifies the "needs"). Stripping out a few additional modifiers from (A), we're left with:

"There are more and more women with needs go ignored." - What is it that the women are with? (In order words, what do the women have?) The women have "needs go ignored" -- huh? What's a "needs go ignored"?? I don't think that's something you can have or be with.

In order for this to work, we'd need something like:

"There are more and more women with needs that go ignored." - Now, what is it that the women have? The women have "needs" -- what kind of "needs"? Needs that go ignored -- this makes perfect sense. Notice that "that" is a relative pronoun (referring to the "needs"), and this relative pronoun serves as the subject for the ensuing verb ("go ignored").

(E) solves the "missing subject" problem in a slightly different way:

"There are more and more women whose needs go ignored." - "whose" is also a relative pronoun, but here it just modifies "needs" (Which needs? The women's needs.). In this case, "needs" is the subject of the ensuing verb ("go ignored").

(A) doesn't work because we are missing a subject for the final verb ("go ignored"). And (E) is arguably parallel, so I guess it's our best choice.

Again, this doesn't seem to be an official question, so don't spend too much time on it. As discussed in our SC Guide for Beginners, it's best to stick to the official stuff for verbal.
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There is a subtle meaning difference between (A) and (B). In (A), "the apparent disappearance of matter in flames" is the illusion. In (B), "the matter that apparently disappears in flames" is the illusion.

But it's not the matter itself that is the illusion -- it's the apparent disappearance of that matter (it only seems like the matter disappears, but it really doesn't -- the disappearance is an illusion).

Grammatically, (B) doesn't look bad, but it has a glaring meaning issue. That makes (A) the better choice.

If you have any follow-up questions about this one, please post them in the thread for this specific question.
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The cheetah seems to be headed for extinction because, resulting from intensive inbreeding generations ago, the species has so little genetic variation that it is extremely vulnerable to environmental change.

(A) because, resulting from intensive inbreeding generations ago,
(B) because, as a result of intensive inbreeding generations ago,
(C) because they inbred intensively generations ago so that
(D) because there was intensive inbreeding generations ago and
(E) as a result of their intensive inbreeding generations ago, and

Can you explain how the OA is B? The clause "as a result of intensive inbreeding generations go" would make sense if it was after "little genetic variation" I really thought that answer should be D.