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Adam3249
Joined: 21 Feb 2014
Last visit: 02 Feb 2021
Posts: 10
Given Kudos: 1
Location: United Kingdom
Schools: Oxford"18 (D) Judge"18 (D)
GMAT 1: 680 Q48 V35
GPA: 3.48
Products:
17 Nov 2015, 08:07
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Hi All,
I just finished study CR, did some exercises from OG Verbal Review and reviewed all of them
and I found a couple of interesting things about CR..
I study CR from Powerscore book (quite simple and the best out there), then I try Manhattan but decide to stop (the diagram, symbol are not my type, basically confusing to read)
I do all exercises from OG verbal review and from 83 questions, I only got 68% accuracy or I got 26 wrong answers... From my review through all the explanations, I find these :
1. CR can not really be learned like SC or Quant
--> I learn from Powerscore book how to find conclusion, how to determine the question type and how to deal with it, but on the exercise, I feel I dont have any confidence to say that I know how to deal with certain questions.. I might know the type of the questions, the conclusion, but when I try to answer it.. I got blank... Mostly because my logic thinking is not really sharpened yet, most of the time, I got wrong because I look in the wrong direction, or wrong part (esp for strengthen, weaken type)... Those types are easy when you know how the author come up with the conclusion, but when you dont know how the author come up with the conclusion, you might end up look at the wrong perspective, hence wrong answer.
2. Wording/ Idiom problems for non native
As a non native I am quite confident with my english, but sometimes when I read CR problems, and answer choices I got stucked because of wordings or idioms
ex:
an airport is restricted to A and B --> to my knowledge, this means A and B are not allowed into the airport
But on contrary, the real meaning is anything else except A and B are not allowed...
another example is : to allow means giving permission, but "to allow for" meaning is completely different
Hence I choose wrong answer
Conclusion:
My verbal score is as low as 25 in GMAT prep.. and for SC and CR my accuracy are still on 60-70%
I want to ask for suggestions on how to increase my accuracy hence my verbal score
thank you
Henry
I just finished study CR, did some exercises from OG Verbal Review and reviewed all of them
and I found a couple of interesting things about CR..
I study CR from Powerscore book (quite simple and the best out there), then I try Manhattan but decide to stop (the diagram, symbol are not my type, basically confusing to read)
I do all exercises from OG verbal review and from 83 questions, I only got 68% accuracy or I got 26 wrong answers... From my review through all the explanations, I find these :
1. CR can not really be learned like SC or Quant
--> I learn from Powerscore book how to find conclusion, how to determine the question type and how to deal with it, but on the exercise, I feel I dont have any confidence to say that I know how to deal with certain questions.. I might know the type of the questions, the conclusion, but when I try to answer it.. I got blank... Mostly because my logic thinking is not really sharpened yet, most of the time, I got wrong because I look in the wrong direction, or wrong part (esp for strengthen, weaken type)... Those types are easy when you know how the author come up with the conclusion, but when you dont know how the author come up with the conclusion, you might end up look at the wrong perspective, hence wrong answer.
2. Wording/ Idiom problems for non native
As a non native I am quite confident with my english, but sometimes when I read CR problems, and answer choices I got stucked because of wordings or idioms
ex:
an airport is restricted to A and B --> to my knowledge, this means A and B are not allowed into the airport
But on contrary, the real meaning is anything else except A and B are not allowed...
another example is : to allow means giving permission, but "to allow for" meaning is completely different
Hence I choose wrong answer
Conclusion:
My verbal score is as low as 25 in GMAT prep.. and for SC and CR my accuracy are still on 60-70%
I want to ask for suggestions on how to increase my accuracy hence my verbal score
thank you
Henry
17 Nov 2015, 12:28
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Bookmarks
henry12345
Dear Henry,
I'm happy to respond.
First, I will recommend this blog article for overall verbal improvement:
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2014/how-to-imp ... bal-score/
For CR in particular, I will say: think about why the GMAT asks CR in the first place. Why do business schools care about your ability to do the GMAT CR? The reason is because so much in the business world depends on arguments. Imagine your life 10-25 years from now. You will have your MBA and will be a manager at some level in some company. Throughout your day, you will hear arguments about why you should or shouldn't do things --- arguments from folks you are managing, arguments from superiors, from customers, from suppliers, from partners, etc. etc. Fundamentally, every sales pitch is an argument. For success in the modern business world, it is absolutely essential that you be able to tell a sound argument from a faulty one.
Toward this end, it is very important to get familiar with real-world arguments. Read the business news every day. Read about world politics. Pay attention to the arguments made by businessmen, environmentalist, consumers, politicians, etc. etc. What motivates each person making each argument? What are the assumptions of each argument? What additional facts would strengthen or weaken the argument? What information would you have to have to evaluate the argument? Pay attention to real world arguments in all their messiness and complexity. If you can become a pro at interpreting those, the GMAT CR arguments will seem neat and tidy by comparison. Another important aspect of this is that the GMAT CR arguments deeply reflect the priorities in the business world. The CEO making an argument in a GMAT CR question will have the same basic motivations and concerns as any real world CEO. The more you understand this background, what motivates what kind of people in the business world, the more intuitive insight you will have. See this blog article:
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2014/gmat-criti ... knowledge/
Finally, for help on the idioms, here are some free GMAT Idiom flashcards:
https://gmat.magoosh.com/flashcards/idioms
Please let me know if you have any further questions.
Mike
Adam3249
Joined: 21 Feb 2014
Last visit: 02 Feb 2021
Posts: 10
Own Kudos:
Given Kudos: 1
Location: United Kingdom
Schools: Oxford"18 (D) Judge"18 (D)
GMAT 1: 680 Q48 V35
GPA: 3.48
Products:
17 Nov 2015, 18:56
Kudos
Bookmarks
Thank you Mike for responding,
I absolutely agree with what you said about CR.
GMAT clearly wants us to be able to make a sound argument which is really needed in business world
But it might become a disadvantage for since I might get used to make silly arguments in daily life (something like : A is the best footballer, since He has the most goals --> the argument clearly flawed, since most goals doesnt necessarily mean best footballer)
How can I then get used to more proper argument making in quite a short time? I read quite a bit, I enjoy reading and watching up to date news regarding many aspects but I think that still is not enough.
The tips you mention about trying to find the motivation of business leaders, political leaders when they are making arguments, is quite good. I watched the Democratic Presidential Debate the other day and already tried to find the motive behind their argument... Sometimes it is quite funny because most of the time, their arguments are not really air-tight, their arguments can be weaken considerably..
But in the end, this tip need a lot of training and exercises, Hence much time is needed, isnt it?
anyway, thank you for the tips and great articles
henry
I absolutely agree with what you said about CR.
GMAT clearly wants us to be able to make a sound argument which is really needed in business world
But it might become a disadvantage for since I might get used to make silly arguments in daily life (something like : A is the best footballer, since He has the most goals --> the argument clearly flawed, since most goals doesnt necessarily mean best footballer)
How can I then get used to more proper argument making in quite a short time? I read quite a bit, I enjoy reading and watching up to date news regarding many aspects but I think that still is not enough.
The tips you mention about trying to find the motivation of business leaders, political leaders when they are making arguments, is quite good. I watched the Democratic Presidential Debate the other day and already tried to find the motive behind their argument... Sometimes it is quite funny because most of the time, their arguments are not really air-tight, their arguments can be weaken considerably..
But in the end, this tip need a lot of training and exercises, Hence much time is needed, isnt it?
anyway, thank you for the tips and great articles
henry
