How to improve SC

Question

Hi All,

I have been preparing on & off from the past 6 months (around 2/2.5 months of serious prep). I felt that I am not able to grasp the concepts of SC that well to be able to tell why second last option was wrong vs why the correct answer was correct. In general, I am able to narrow down all the big topics across other concepts like CR ,RC to the 2nd last option and that's when I make a wrong decision on half of the questions.

This might sound very silly question to most of you, but any help/suggestions would be really useful to me.Thanks

GmatKnightTutor · Answer

Have suggested Manhattan-Prep's 6th Edition for SC to students. Consider cutting out the fluff in a sentence so you can more easily check whether the core structure works. Memorizing commonly tested idioms could be helpful as well.

itsmeprasoonrai · Answer

Thank you. I completed Manhattan sc book in December and I certainly got better ( I am non native speaker). However, my ‘better’ is not where I want to end.
Would you please recommend practising from certain source or redoing sc book again is a better way forward?

Posted from my mobile device

GmatKnightTutor · Answer

If you feel your fundamentals are strong, consider working on your solving approach. Perhaps work with a study buddy who is strong on SC to see how they approach these questions. May bring some fresh insight into how to view/tackle them. You could also bring up what specifically concerns you between the two you narrow down to. Checking the gmatclub links of the questions you find tough could also shed some light.

Sentence Correction tips

Sentence Correction tips

EducationAisle · Answer

Hi Prasoon, 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 .

MartyTargetTestPrep · Answer

Hi Prasoon.

You may just need to spend more time on each SC question to give yourself more time to see exactly what's going on in the sentence versions before you select a choice. There's no harm in doing your SC practice untimed for now until you're achieving high accuracy.

For details on how to master SC, see this post.

GMAT Sentence Correction: 15 Essential Tips

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi itsmeprasoonrai,

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). If you frequently approach Verbal questions by "narrowing the answers down to 2 choices", then THAT is part of the overall issue that you are facing. From a probabilty-standpoint, you're likely only going to get half of those questions correct - and on a 'bad day', it will be far fewer questions than that. This is all meant to say that you will likely need to learn new Tactics for dealing with the overall Verbal section; thankfully, that training isn't actually all that difficult.

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 and your goals:

Studies:
1) How long have you studied? How many hours do you typically study each week?
2) What study materials have you used so far? 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)?

Goals:
4) What is your overall goal score?
5) When are you planning to apply to Business School and what Schools are you planning to apply to?

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

Contact Rich at: Rich.C@empowergmat.com

itsmeprasoonrai · Answer

My fundamentals are not great and tricky part is that I am not sure which are my bad areas.I am looking to work with study buddy to get there. Appreciate your help!

itsmeprasoonrai · Answer

Thank you! I will definitely tru to take a sample from the book and see if that helps me in that particular area. I will look to write back once I experiment this .

itsmeprasoonrai · Answer

Thank you Marty! I will definitely try. I had an opportunity to read the 15 essential tips and that is really good point for me to begin.

itsmeprasoonrai · Answer

Thank you Rich, this is such a confidence booster statement 'This is all meant to say that you will likely need to learn new Tactics for dealing with the overall Verbal section; thankfully, that training isn't actually all that difficult.'.

Below are my details/answers to your questions -

Studies:
1) How long have you studied? How many hours do you typically study each week? - I started in September. Worked through OG questions, did a bit of learning through Kaplan SC. And my prep stagnated there. Then I had a series of 5 days,7 days and 2 days of 'reenergized' trips of having a go at GMAT. Off course, none of this helped. To quantify -around 2/2.5 months of prep.
2) What study materials have you used so far? What “brands” of CATs/mocks have you used? - I started with OG,then picked a very old kaplan grammar book and the started with Manhattan Prep books. Currently using GMAT club practice questions of 600-700 difficulty from the chapters I am finishing.I took an official CAT in december, scored 610 and then took Manhattan Prep in Jan -650 there and then again in Feb with little prep scoring 600.
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)? Scores were ranging from Q43-Q45 and V29- V32.

Goals:
4) What is your overall goal score? Around 720
5) When are you planning to apply to Business School and what Schools are you planning to apply to? R1 - So July end can be a convenient time for me to write the exam.My target schools are European B Schools primarily because they mostly have 12-15 months of duration. I am a 13Year + experienced Agile coach/Project management professional. A shorter MBA duration will help me to re-integrate back to work.

Again, Appreciate your help here!

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi itsmeprasoonrai,

If you have a specific list of Schools in mind that you plan to apply to, then you would likely find it beneficial to speak with an Admissions Expert about your overall profile and plans. Those Experts should be able to answer your Admissions questions and help define the specific areas of your profile that could use some improvement (and the more time that you have to act on that advice, the better). There's a Forum full of those Experts here:

https://gmatclub.com/forum/ask-admissio ... tants-124/

I've also sent you a PM with some notes and additional questions.

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

Contact Rich at: Rich.C@empowergmat.com

bb · Answer

this means you forgot some of the things you’ve learned in the beginning. To be able to accurately identify the correct answer, you need your ear practice. These are small nuance things that you learn overtime. It’s also key factors that sometime is Luke minor buttoned up being significant such a certain words and so on and so forth.

Most likely this is as the result of stretching your prep over six months. I would recommend printing out every single question that you could not tell a difference between the answers and starting to accumulate a stack of papers and then reviewing them every week. By reviewing I mean explaining out loud to your cat or your window or your imaginary friend why this Institute is correct and how you know that for sure. If you can do it twice in a row, you can throw away that piece of paper. Continue to do that and over the next month, You should significantly reduce the number of times that you cannot tell the right answer.

In my prep, I finally got to the point where 70% of the time I would pick the wrong answer. So on the test, if I was torn, I would choose the one that I didn’t think it was the right one 😂. That’s because I knew I would always lean to the incorrect answer and so the opposite was true and correct

Posted from my mobile device

itsmeprasoonrai · Answer

' Hi Rich, Sure, I will do that. Based on few discussions I had with with of the adcom from couple of colleges, I could sense a happy GMAT score. I will take a look. Thanks for your continued help!

itsmeprasoonrai · Answer

Hi BB, Good to hear from you. And your advice is great.I am just worried that I am going to be not so eco friendly as I have made so many mistakes that I would need so many papers

. I will work on the advice. Thank you!

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