Having difficulties with reading fast for Verbal specifically SC

Question

Hello I am current student graduating this year. And preparing for the GMAT at the same time and planning to took it within 3 months time.

I've studided for 2 weeks (mainly SC from Manhattan Prep). And took the Official Guide Prep Test 1. My score was Q49-V23 600.

I am confident about quant and with a little bit practice I think I can improve it. But I am having difficulties with Verbal especially my stamina with reading and understanding RC questions. I am a very slow reader and can't read anything without inner monologue. I find myself wandering rather than focusing the questions I read. Probably mainly they are very complicated and contain lot of unfamiliar words for me as a non-native.
I cannot seem to neither understand nor focus when I don't know specific words.
By the way, even though I am a slow reader I still am able to work throught texts generally. My IELTS reading 8 and for my universtity courses I obivously read lots of material. Its just GMAT.

What would you suggest me to improve my reading and verbal overall?

GmatKnightTutor · Answer

I am a very slow reader and can't read anything without inner monologue. I find myself wandering rather than focusing the questions I read.

Learning a reading method that promotes ABSORPTION can be helpful. I teach a method but there are probably many out there. See/find one that works for you.

All the best

Debrief from a Verbal student I tutored:  Official V31 to V40 ~30 days . There may be some helpful free insight you can take.

GMATWhizTeam · Answer

Hi keksomek, Let me share my insights here. A 600 with a Q49 is a solid score to start with. You clearly have a great command over Quant. Rightly said, a bit more methodical application of concepts would help to score Q50+. If you are struggling with any specific topic, you can share with me. However, your verbal score clearly indicates there are many conceptual gaps and you need to start from scratch, revisit the concepts and get a clear understanding of them before you solve the questions. Many students take too long to read a passage or go back and forth to the passage for every question. This happens when you don’t use the right reading strategies. Students often read the passage from a detail perspective and stuff themselves with the details. And once they come across an inferential question or a main point question, they cannot answer it and they read the passage again to find the answer. This would often lead to the wastage of time. Verbal questions on GMAT are very tricky. Let me help you with the right way to approach your Verbal Prep. How to Ace your Verbal Prep? For GMAT Verbal, it is very important that you follow the right methodology and the logical approach . Your focus has to be on eliminating four incorrect choices rather than choosing the right one . The key is to develop a solid understanding of the concepts that are typically tested on the GMAT and master the process skills that are required to solve GMAT questions. Only then, you will be able to smartly avoid the traps set by the test makers. Before you start learning, it's important to understand what is actually tested using the questions. Each module in Verbal (SC, CR and RC) has to be approached in a different way. For example, in RC, you need to have the right reading strategies to understand the inferences which are not directly stated in the passage. The trick to ace RC is not to understand WHAT is written, but to understand WHY it is written. It involves a three step process i.e. Involved Reading, Evolved Reading, and Answer choice elimination. You can go through the links below to understand the process in a better way: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQl95zpCLKI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjZUplucYeM Once you start solving RC questions using a systematic approach as detailed above, you will be able to avoid taking too much time in RC questions as there will be no confusion in your mind regarding the approach. Also, improving in RC alone won’t fetch you the desired score. You need to prepare for SC and CR as well in a structured and efficient manner. You have to follow a methodical and systematic approach while solving the questions in order to work on your accuracy and increase your score. For example, • In SC, you have to read the sentence from the meaning standpoint and then start looking at the grammatical errors. • In CR, you have to understand the argument, identify the premise and the conclusion and then pre-think the answer before looking at the solutions. I’d recommend you to follow this order for the verbal part - SC->CR-RC . The reason for this is very specific. Each question type on the GMAT is testing a specific skill. SC tests your comprehension skills. CR tests comprehension & analytical skills. Finally, RC builds on the previous two skills and also tests your ability to be able to grasp the central point of the passage i.e. Your inferential skills. Thus, when you learn in this order, it's much more effective. The importance of using a standard resource: The only method to make sure that you invest your time, money and effort in an effective way is to use a standard resource which teaches you the concepts, strategies and also helps you work on your weaker areas . Studying using OG or a few random resources might help you to solve GMAT like questions but I’m afraid that they won’t be able to help you much from a strategy perspective. I would suggest you to go for some standard course for your Verbal preparation at least which can help you prepare in a structured and efficient manner thereby increasing your productivity. It’s always better to spare some more time on your preparation until you are ready instead of missing out on your dream colleges/ b-schools in hurry. GMATWhiz helps you with all these things as we follow a structured and methodical way of teaching things , which makes the learning process simpler and efficient. It also helps you to develop an understanding of the test maker’s intention behind asking the question. It uses an AI powered learning platform to provide you with real time improvement modules after every practice quiz. It provides you with additional concept videos and practise quizzes which helps you overcome your weaker areas in a specific topic right away without having to put in additional effort to identify your weaker areas. You can check out GMATWhiz and go for its Verbal Prep Course. Here’s a link to our free trial – https://learn.gmatwhiz.com/?page=signup Hope this helped and feel free to contact if you have any further queries. You can always write back to me here or the better way would be to connect over a call and have a discussion. You can schedule a free consultation call using the below link. Click here to schedule a call

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi keksomek,

A 600 is a solid initial CAT score (the Average Score on the Official GMAT hovers around 550 most years). I'm also glad to hear that you've extended your study timeframe to 3 months (from your earlier post in which you were thinking about just 1.5 months). That additional study time could be quite valuable. The Verbal section is as consistent and predictable as the Quant section is, but Verbal questions have no 'safety net' - meaning that if you make a little mistake or miss a vital piece of information, then you will convince yourself that one of the wrong answers is correct (and not realize it). You do NOT need to be a 'fast' reader - and you do not need to understand every word that you read in an RC or CR prompt, but you do have to take responsibility for staying focused, being an 'active' reader and taking the proper notes. If you can commit to that process, then you will come to find that the Verbal section of the GMAT is not that difficult.

1) What is your goal score?
2) When are you planning to apply to Business School and what Schools are you planning to apply to?

760+: What GMAT Assassins Do To Score at the Highest Levels

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich

Contact Rich at: [email protected]

ScottTargetTestPrep · Answer

Hi keksomek,

To improve in Reading Comprehension, you need to focus on understanding what you are reading. When you incorrectly answer Reading Comprehension questions, it’s partly because you didn’t truly understand what you read, right? Thus, you likely have to slow down in order to (eventually) speed up. At this point, your best bet is to focus on getting the correct answers to questions, taking as much time as you need to see key details and understand the logic of what you are reading. You have to learn to comprehend what you read, keep it all straight, and use what you are reading to arrive at correct answers. If you don't understand something, go back and read it one sentence at a time, even one word at a time, not moving on until you understand what you have just read. There is no way around this work. Your goal should be to take all the time you need to understand exactly what is being said and arrive at the correct answer. If you can learn to get answers taking your time, you can learn to speed up. Answering questions is like any task: The more times you do it carefully and successfully, the faster you become at doing it carefully and successfully.

Another component of understanding what you are reading is being “present” when reading. Don’t worry about how things are going at work, or what you will eat for dinner, or even how long you are taking to read through the passage. Just focus on what is in front of you, word by word, line by line. Furthermore, try to make reading fun. For example, even if you are reading about a topic that bores you, pretend that you are the person making the argument. By doing so, you will make the passage more relatable to YOU, and ultimately you should be able to read with greater focus.

One final component of Reading Comprehension that may be tripping you up is that RC questions contain one or more trap answers that seem to answer the question but don't really. So, a key part of training to correctly answer RC questions is learning to notice the differences between trap answers and correct answers. You have to learn to see how trap answers seem to follow from what the passages say, but don't really, while correct answers fit what the passages say exactly.

Also, since you need advice on how to improve your overall GMAT verbal skills, here is a great article that you can check out:

How to Score High on GMAT Verbal

vv65 · Answer

Two weeks is not enough time for you to be disheartened by GMAT reading, and an initial score of 23 is not bad at all.

Three months may or may not be long enough to prepare. You may need to give yourself more time.

Congratulations on the 8 in IELTS Reading. There's no reason why you will not do well in GMAT RC too.

You must learn a standard approach or process for GMAT RC. 
As all the experts have said, GMAT reading requires us to step back and look at the big picture rather than getting lost in the details. We must constantly separate main points from supporting points: this is an essential skill or habit for the GMAT.

Once you start doing the RC in this way, passages will not seem so complex anymore. Once you learn a new process and apply it regularly, speed will gradually improve.

About Unfamiliar Words:
The GMAT does not expect us to know technical or specialised words. All such words are explained in the passages.
If a word is not explained in the passage, or if a word is used in a question or in an answer choice, then the GMAC obviously expects us to understand the word.

Note such words when you encounter them. Use a dictionary, write down the word, its meanings, and a few sample sentences. Go through the word list regularly. (The list will not be long.)

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Having difficulties with reading fast for Verbal specifically SC

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