How to Improve my CR accuracy (verbal score in overall)

Question

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

mikemcgarry · Answer

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 · Answer

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

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi Henry,

What were your scores on your last few practice CATs (including the Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores)? 
What fraction of the SC, RC and CR questions are you getting correct?

While it certainly sounds like there are certain practice resources that you have enjoyed using, if they don't provide you with enough insight and practice to improve, then you will almost certainly have to invest in other resources. There's also the possibility that your Verbal skills are relatively strong, but that you're not properly handling the physical and psychological challenges that come with taking FULL-LENGTH Tests.

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

mikemcgarry · Answer

Henry, I'm happy to respond. :-)

Unfortunately, I would not hold up modern American politicians as exemplars of logically sound expositors. When politicians are campaigning, everything out of their mouths is illogical drivel that should be avoided. In fact, anything that is so popular and so attention-getting that it is on the TV news is probably already so sensationalized as to be beyond all logic. The more buzz, the less substance. If you read business news, you will find folks in the business world making somewhat more grounded arguments---not always, but often. The Economist magazine and Bloomberg Businessweek and the WSJ and the Financial Times are all good places to look. I would also suggest: get an LSAT prep book. You can get one used: you don't need the most recent addition. Get one of those books, and find the section with arguments --- Logical Reasoning Questions. The LSAT LR questions are like very hard GMAT CR questions. Don't expect to get many right, but whether you get them right or wrong, study the explanations carefully. Leave to the lawyers to make super-solid arguments! I realize you don't have a whole lot of time left, but you might even consider looking at a textbook on logic, or reading a summary, say, of what Aristotle had to say on the subject of logic. If you want a challenge, read through some arguments of Thomas Aquinas . There are plenty of very sophisticated arguments out there, but you have to go to more sophisticated sources. Does all this make sense? Mike :-)

jz4analytics · Answer

Do you have any specific suggestions? Are there Logical Reasoning-specific LSAT books? Or banks of old (but relevant) official LSAT logic questions?

mikemcgarry · Answer

Dear jz4analytics , I'm happy to respond. :-)

My friend, I am no expert in LSAT prep materials, but to the best of my knowledge, the LSAT doesn't publish collections of individual questions. You have to buy books with full LSAT tests, and then just do the Logical Reasoning question. (The LSA T RC is also good practice for the GMAT RC.) I had in mind these books: 10 Actual, Official LSAT Prep Tests 10 More, Actual Official LSAT Prep Tests The Next 10 Actual Official LSAT Prep Test 10 New Actual, Official LSAT Prep Tests 10 Actual, Official LSAT Prep Tests, Volume V There are others in that series, but you get the idea. Any of those, new or used, would be fine for GMAT purposes. Does all this make sense? Mike :-)

jz4analytics · Answer

Mike, thanks! That is helpful.

I found a collection of 101 LSAT Logical Reasoning questions for GMAT practice, from Aristotle. Does anyone know whether these are good and still relevant? I have a little over a month before my retake and want to make the most of of the time.

mikemcgarry · Answer

Dear jz4analytics , I'm happy to respond. :-)

Once again, I'm no LSAT expert, but I would strongly recommend using only official material for the LSAT. The LSAT has released so much high quality official material that I would stick to that. We know that the official LSAT questions are of exceedingly high quality. Neither you or I knows whether the questions in that book are anywhere close to the quality of the LSAT questions. Stick with what you know is good. That's my recommendation. Mike :-)

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