Help improve GMAT SC

Question

My performance on SC took down my verbal score to 33

ESR says:
Your performance on Sentence Correction questions was equivalent to a score of 28, which is better than 49% of GMAT Exam scores recorded in the past three years. The mean score for this sub-section is 27.51.
Your performance of 42% on Grammar questions is considered Weak.
Your performance of 60% on Communication questions is considered Average.

GMATNinja  Any advice on improving verbal

P.S. - For RC, Construction/Plan questions is considered Weak while Analysis/Critique questions were above above average, any advice on RC improvement would be appreciated too..CR is my strong suit

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi Akimbo,

We last discussed your studies approximately 2 months ago - and from what you describe in this post, you took the GMAT as planned. Back in July, you had taken just 1 CAT/mock, so before I can offer you the specific advice that you're looking for, it would help if you could provide a bit more information on how you've been studying since then:

1) What type of study routine have you been following over the last 2 months? How many hours did you typically study each week?
2) What study materials were you using? What “brands” of CATs/mocks have you used? 
3) On what dates (or approximate dates) did you take EACH of your CATs/mocks and how did you score on EACH (including the Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores for EACH)?

It sounds as though you purchased the Enhanced Score Report. While the ESR doesn’t provide a lot of information, there are usually a few data points that we can use to define what went wrong on Test Day (and what you should work on to score higher). If you have your ESR, I'll be happy to analyze it for you. Before you can include attachments with your posts/PMs, you need to have at least 5 posts in the forums (right now, you have 4 posts). If you post just once more, then you should be able to include your ESR (and you can feel free to PM it to me directly if you would rather not post it publicly).

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

ScottTargetTestPrep · Answer

Hi Akimbo,

Since you are looking for help in SC, give this article a read:

GMAT Sentence Correction: 8 Essential Tips

Feel free to reach out with any questions.

EducationAisle · Answer

Since you mention SC as your specific area of concern, thought I would mention that our sentence correction book  Sentence Correction Nirvana  is perhaps the  only  book that offers a score improvement  guarantee , and is especially designed for  non-native  speakers.

After reading the book  twice  (yes! it's an  academic  book, and so must be read twice in all seriousness, to  reinforce  the concepts), you will start looking forward to solving SC questions!

The book is available on  Flipkart  and  Amazon.in . You might want to refer to these sites, to also read testimonials of how readers have benefited.

You can als go thru  this post  on how  Soubhik ,  who scored  V51  (overall score 780) , vouches for our book.

If you want to  sample  a chapter before deciding to go ahead with our book, please PM me your mail-id (along with the chapter that you would like to sample) and I will be happy to send that chapter to you by mail. In addition, the entire Grammar section of the book is also available for free preview at  pothi .

GMATWhizTeam · Answer

Hi Akimbo, Let me share my insights. 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, before you start learning the concepts of SC, you need to understand that SC questions on GMAT test your ability to convey the right meaning without any ambiguity. So, it's important to approach them from a meaning stand-point. You might have often come across answer choices which are both grammatically correct and convey a logical meaning but are indeed incorrect because they do not convey the intended meaning. So, the process to approach SC questions is to: • Comprehend the original meaning of the sentence • Identify errors if any (both grammatical and meaning wise) • Eliminate answer choices which either are grammatically incorrect or do not convey the intended meaning You can go through the link below to understand the process in a better way: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SGA8bwFNJM How to read a passage? Mastering RC is a challenge many students face. There is one fundamental mistake that most students do, that is trying to read the passage fast. The trick to ace RC is not to understand WHAT is written, but to understand WHY it is written . Let me take you through the 3 step process that helped me master RC. STEP 1: INVOLVED READING While reading the passage, focus on the role played by each sentence and understand what purpose does it serve? Simple questions that you can ask could be - does it support an argument, weaken it, oppose a viewpoint, provide more data, or bring in a different perspective and so on. The idea is to understand the transition in thoughts and which side is the author taking. STEP 2: EVOLVED READING Once you’ve understood the intent of each line, you can then choose to ignore the detail and focus on summarising the paragraphs in a line. Then, focus on the intent of each para and think about the structure of the passage. I even believe in identifying (at a high level) what is the main point of the passage even if there is no main point question attached. It helps in having more confidence in marking Inference or Organization based questions. STEP 3: ANSWER CHOICE ELIMINATION If the above two steps are done properly, this step is the easiest. All you need to do is, look at each question one-by-one and eliminate the answer choices from your evolved understanding of the passage. Involved and Evolved Reading will help you eliminate 4 choices in most of the questions. In few tough ones, you might be confused between 2 choices, but those can be easily eliminated by focusing on the following aspects: Scope of the choice – shouldn’t be out of scope or too limited in scope Minute details – shouldn’t have half-truths and rest distortion Confusing words – shouldn’t have words which seem similar but are different. Opposite – is opposite of what you should be looking for These 3 steps are simple and you need to ensure that you practice using this method and perfect it to get high accuracy. 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. Hope this helps. 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 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 You can check out the reviews here- https://gmatclub.com/reviews/gmatwhiz-345345722?fl=menu You can also check out how Kushagra scored a 760 (Q50, V42) on GMAT: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kBjmy7ig7I 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

Akimbo · Answer

I already studied the PowerScore SC Bible but may have done that one in a rush..

Posted from my mobile device

EducationAisle · Answer

Great, but not all bibles are the same

. As discussed, if you want to sample a chapter before deciding to go ahead with our book, please PM me your mail-id (along with the chapter that you would like to sample) and I will be happy to send that chapter to you by mail.

Akimbo · Answer

I read through the tips mentioned here. And I have mastered most of them except the tip #7 / #6. I understand this is a foundational one which throws me off everytime

I need a plan to work on:
Tip #7: Clearly Articulate What the Errors Are in Wrong Choices.

Posted from my mobile device

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