How to improve SC if alredy burned questions

Question

Hi, I would like to know how could I improve my SC if I have alredy burned all OG 2018-2020, including Verbal Review. I have also finished e-gmat Verbal SC, Magoosh, GmatPrep Question Bank #1 and #2 and the Hard GMATPrep Question Bank.

Where else can I study SC? Is there any similar exam that I could use to practice SC, such as there is LSAT for CR and RC?

Thanks

Where else can I study SC? Is there any similar exam that I could use to practice SC, such as there is LSAT for CR and RC?

Thanks

Mizar18 · Answer

What do you mean by "burned"? did you actually analyze each question thoroughly? - "thoroughly" means that you need to know why EACH answer choice is either right or wrong.

In addition, it seems that you have solved a lot of questions from a variety of sources, but have you focus on improving your SC ability?

Best.

GMATinsight · Answer

Hi renzofig I can see that you have used all the good sources of SC practice and yet you are looking for more. Which gives me a tickle as to why do you need more??? More practice is a way when you have absorbed all concepts but even then the practice you have done is exhaustive. At this stage if you still think your accuracy is not as good as you think you can get then I am afraid the problem is probably less about the quantity of practice and more about your approach towards SC. I won't suggest any unworthy source of practice as quality of verbal questions is not as good in other sources as Official books have so introspect and identify the problem rather than just practicing more questions. All the best!!!

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EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi renzofig,

From what you've described, you have clearly worked through LOTS of practice SC prompts, but it's not clear HOW you worked through them. By extension, continuing to work through many additional SCs in the same ways that you did before will likely not lead to the improvement that you are looking for. If you are under-performing on your SCs during your CATs, then you have to first change how you 'see' (and respond to) those prompts before you can reasonably expect to perform at a much higher level.

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?
3) On what 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 take the GMAT?
6) 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

egmat · Answer

Mizar18  - great answer.

renzofig  - As Rich and GMAT insight had mentioned, practice is not the best way (actually not even a good way to improve) if you are below are certain ability level. What is your average score in concept files and practice files in e-GMAT course?

-Rajat

renzofig · Answer

Hi  Mizar18 ,  EMPOWERgmatRichC ,  GMATinsight ,  egmat ,

Thanks for your replies.

What I mean by burned is that I have already done the questions several times, so I actually remember some answers. The problem is that this boosts my accuracy, and therefore I believe I'm actually better than I really am in SC.

My approach to SC is the following in OG material: Solve 10 SC questions in 15 minutes. Then review again each question and try to find more errors in each answer choice than I did during the 15minutes. Since OG explanations are not really good, I would then look for the question in Gmat Club. I then make notes in a book with my new learnings.

By now, I have been studying for over a year.
My scores in MBA GMAT Prep have been the following:

Mock 1: Oct 04 2019 - 710 - Q49 V37
Mock 2: Oct 25 2019 - 640 - Q48 V29
Mock 3: Oct 26 2019 - 710 - Q49 V38
Mock 4: Jun 06 2020 - 740 - Q49 V42
Mock 5: Jul 05 2020 - 710 - Q50 V35
Mock 6: Aug 24 2020 - 750 Q50 V40

My goal is a GMAT Score of 720+ so that I can apply with a competitive gmat score to NYU Stern, UC Berkeley, INSEAD, and maybe Columbia or Wharton.

As you can see, I believe that my verbal score has plateau for a while and I haven't been able to increase it, even though I have been studying hard for several months. My study schedule is: from monday to friday about 3 hours per day and saturday and sunday about 5 hours per day for over a year.

In egmat, I have already gone through the SC module twice, so I have scores in: Concept Quizzes (98%), Practice Quizzes (97%) and Scholarium (80% with 336 questions).

I truly believe that I know most, if not all, the grammar tested in SC. However, where I feel i struggly the most is with the answer choices that have this "akward" or "doesn´t sound as good or conscience as the answer choice" or some questions that slightly change the meaning of the original answer choice. I believe is called Rhetorical Construction.

I don't really know how to keep improving my SC.

I have attached my last 2 verbal scores.

Mock 4: Jun 06 2020 - 740 - Q49 V42
SC 4 errors, CR 0 errors, RC 3 errors
Time management: SC: 2:02, CR: 2:35 and RC: 1:34 (I guessed the last passage)

Mock 5: Jul 05 2020 - 710 - Q50 V35
SC 6 errores, CR 3 errors, RC 1 error
Time management: SC: 1:25, CR: 2:09 (guessed 2 CR questions) and RC: 1:58

Mock 6: Aug 24 2020 - 750 - Q50 V40 - Guessed last 5)
SC 11/14; CR 9/9; RC 9/13 
Without guessing:
SC 11/12; CR 9/9; RC 8/10

Sorry for the long passage, I wanted to provide you with the most detailed information, since i really want to improve my score.

I am open for any suggestions on how to improve my scores.

Right now, I have been solving the SC Buttler in GmatClub. Is this the right choice, or maybe i should go back to OG questions?

Please consider that I am not an english native speaker.

Best regards,
Renzo

GMATWhizTeam · Answer

Hi,

Before telling you the solution, let me tell what the actual problem is. There is a common misconception among students that practicing ‘N’ number of questions from various resources will help them master a particular topic. I see the same scenario here. The trick here is to understand that GMAT is a test of application of concepts and to ace that you need to use the right methodology to solve questions. To do that, you need to understand what is actually tested on GMAT SC because there is no point starting your journey without knowing the destination.

What is tested on GMAT SC? 
If you are in a misconception that GMAT SC tests the grammatical rules, let me enlighten you a little here. The primary focus of GMAT SC questions is on meaning. SC module tests your ability to convey a proper meaning effectively and unambiguously. You will often come across a few answer choices which are grammatically correct and convey a logical meaning. But at the end, there is only one correct answer. So, it is important to understand the intended meaning that the original sentence is trying to convey and then eliminate answer choices which are grammatically incorrect or which do not convey the intended meaning.

How to approach SC questions? 
Now as you understood the real intention of SC module, it is important to understand how to approach them. There is a specific methodology using which you can solve SC questions in the right way.

The first step should be to carefully read the sentence by breaking it at regular intervals and to understand the intended meaning. 
 Identify if there are any obvious errors in the original sentence 
 Start eliminating answer choices which do not convey the intended meaning or which are grammatically incorrect.

You can understand the gist of the methodology by watching the following video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SGA8bwFNJM

I recommend you to learn this methodology and use the same while solving SC questions from now on. You might take a little more than the optimum time during initial stages, but once you master the skill, the time will automatically fall into place. You can check out the SC module of GMATWhiz course. The free trial offers you a few concept boosters and practice quizzes using which you can solve a few questions.

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