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Re: How to improve your verbal score
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03 Mar 2017, 08:16
This was a great post...thnx a ton Sent from my SM-G600FY using GMAT Club Forum mobile app
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18 Mar 2017, 09:50
sayantanc2k wrote: Updated the post with some additional tips on CR and RC sections. Nice tips. Just one question..how do we maintain time log ? I mean currently I am doing groups of questions. eg: I set a goal of completing 30 questions in 1 hour for Quant. I dont note the time taken for each question. Some questions may require less than a minute and others more than 2 mins. So how do I keep a time log for each question without wasting time in tracking time taken for individual question ?
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Re: How to improve your verbal score
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24 Mar 2017, 07:35
Thanks a lot. I've been struggling with verbal for a while. I still have the same problem - comprehension of the sentence/argument/passage. I'm non-native speaker. I had really good progress in SC after I learned grammar rules of English. Mostly, I'm doing good at CR. But my RC is still poor, and I don't know why. Kind of a demoralized.
When I clearly understand what the question asks and what are answer choices telling you, I have more than 90% of accuracy. I always had very good Critical Reasoning and Reading Comprehension scores in my native language. My grammar was 24 out of 25. And that is why I didn't give up yet. I believe that I have good critical thinking. My problem is that - sometimes I simply don't clearly understand both question and answer choices. I'm trying to read every day, but still don't have significant progress. I'm sure that after I will improve my comprehension, I'll be able to score 700+
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Re: How to improve your verbal score
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23 Apr 2017, 07:36
great resource..thanks a lot
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27 Apr 2017, 12:26
Hello! I am having trouble with CR. Any tips on how to improve this section? Where can I find more questions? Have already covered The official guide and Manhattan. Thanks! Posted from my mobile device
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Re: How to improve your verbal score
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07 May 2017, 20:58
sayantanc2k wrote: How to improve your Verbal GMAT Score. This post is designed to compliment this one: http://gmatclub.com/forum/how-to-improv ... 42361.htmlThere are 2 aspects of preparing for the GMAT test, the academic preparation and the psychological preparation. I shall discuss each of these aspects separately. A. ACADEMIC PREPARATIONStage 1. Make a MENTAL MAP of the basic rules Make yourself well-conversant with any one good strategy guide and make a mental map of all the rules therein. What is a mental map? Well, first prepare a summary of all the rules, handwritten or typed in, in one place. Refer to those pages (if handwritten) or that word document (if typed in) so many times that you have a clear mental image of the rules. Hand-written maps seem to work better: writing by hand allows the brain to receive feedback from a person’s motor actions, and this specific feedback leaves a motor memory in the sensori-motor part of the brain, helping the person retain information better. Whichever method you adopt, ensure that your familiarity should be to such level that you are able to instantly recollect, on which page and in which part of the page any particular rule is available. This ability is important for instant retrieval of information when you are taking the test. Keep the map as simple as you can. Simpler the map, better you can retain it in your brain, and faster you can retrieve information when you need during the test. I prepared from the Manhattan strategy guides and my mental map from one of the Sentence Correction chapters (Modifiers) looked somewhat like the sample below: Sample mental mapsSC sample mental map ( MGMAT SC strategy guide - Chapter 6: Modifiers) - Adjectives and Adverbs:
- Linking verbs are often followed by adjectives, which modify the noun, not the verb.
- Difference between: adj + adj + noun (both adjectives modify the noun) vs adv+adj+noun ( the adv modifies adj, which in turn modifies the noun)
- Types of Noun Modifiers:
- Adjective
- Prep
- Past participle
- Present participle
- Relative pronoun
- Another noun
- Position of a modifier:
- Touch rule
- Dangling modifiers
- Possessive:
- A noun modifier cannot modify a possessive ( as a pronoun cannot have a possessive antecedent):
- Abstract nouns….touch rules apply to them as well
- Noun modifier with relative pronoun:
- Who (subject), whom (object) for people…. Which for things. That cannot be used for people.
- Whose: people or thing.
- Which and whom may follow preposition.
- That or whom may be dropped when the modified noun is the object of the modifying clause.
- Where for place…for metaphorical place..use ‘in which’
- When or ‘in which’ for time.
- Essential and non-essential modifiers:
- Put COMMAS between NON-ESSENTIAL modifiers and their nouns.
- Put NO COMMAS between ESSENTIAL modifiers and their nouns.
- Use WHICH (and commas) if the modifier is non-essential.
- Use THAT (and no commas) if the modifier is essential.
- Verb Modifiers:
- Adverb
- Preposition
- Subordinator
Modifiers that can refer to the subject or the verb:
- Present participle ( comma before and after)
- Preposition + gerund (comma if before)
- Infinitive (comma if before) – infinitives of purpose can be used without a subject in passive voice.
Verb modifiers can be used more freely but it should be clear which verb it modifies.
- ‘Which ‘ vs ‘-ing’
- Use WHICH only to refer to the noun immediately preceding it—never to refer to an entire clause.
- -ing is very flexible…may modify noun, or verb or an entire clause.
CR sample mental map (Random mixed notes from Kaplan GMAT 800 and Manhattan CR strategy guide) - A General Structure: A and B happens together. Conclusion - A causes B
Type a. Weakening type problems: statement B causes A weakens the above structure
Example of type a: verbal review 2nd Ed. Q#46 (A =unhappy marriage, B = mismatched sleeping cycle)
Type b. Assumption type problems: statement B does not cause A is an assumption in the above structure.
Example 1 of type b: A= I go to play B= I am happy Conclude: I go to play, therefore I am happy.; i.e., My playing has made me happy is concluded. Assumption: I am happy , therefore I go to play.. is NOT true; i.e. My happiness has not caused me to go to play is assumed.
Example 2 of type b: OG verbal review 2nd Ed. Q#6 A = low immune system B = mental illness Conclude: low immune system, therefore mental illness Assumed: mental illness, therefore low immune system....is NOT true; i.e. mental illness does not cause low immune system is the correct option.
- Weakening: Statement A causes B weakens conclusion C causes B (something else causes B)
Example: verbal review 2nd Ed. Q#16 (A = bad weather, B = delay, C =fewer landing slot)
- Inference: Given: A implies B. Cannot conclude: B implies A. Can conclude: NOT B implies NOT A.
- Describe Role: Steps to solve any DR problem:
Step a. Mark each sentence with letters P (premise), C (conclusion), XP (counter-premise), XC (counter conclusion) or B (background). Step b. Determine the letter combination of the bold-lettered sentences Step c. Take each answer choice at a time and determine combination letters Step d. The combinations in b and correct option in c above should match.
Example: OG 13th Ed. Q#116 Step a. Age ↑, creativity ↓….. XC Creative work < 40……… XP Scientists late entry ,creative work >40 ….. P ( 1st bold-faced sentence) Scientists early entry, long time,so burned up new ideas…. C (2nd bold-faced sentence) Step b. Letter combo for bold-faced sentence: P,C Step c. Answer choices: Option(A): XP,XC Option (B): XC, C Option (C): XP, XC Option (D): XP, P Option (E): P,C Step d. Correct answer E RC sample mental map ( MGMAT RC strategy guide - Chapter 5: The seven strategies) - General questions: main idea, organization etc….. do not re-read the passage..dive straight into answer choices and start eliminating….use your skeletal notes and keep ‘the point’ in mind…… If stuck between 2 close answers, use numbering system (2 points if the choice relates to first para, 1 for subsequent)
- Specific questions: do not read the answer choices, go to the passage directly…identify key words and search for it or its synonym in the passage…bring back a few lines from the passage as ‘mantra’ and eliminate the wring choices using the ‘mantra’.
- Strategies:
a. Justify every word in the answer choice. (a single word not relevant to the passage is a wrong choice) b. Avoid extreme word in general. ( all, never) c. Infer as little as possible…. “the passage suggests” = “ the passage says a little differently” ..….avoid long logical steps to infer, the inferences are very simple in general.
- Preview the first question.
End of sample mental maps. Stage 2. Practice OG problems and monitor your progress After you finish developing the mental maps chapter-wise for all the three sections, SC, CR and RC, start working out problems from OG and Verbal review. I tried to solve 30-40 problems daily from the 3 sections altogether. You should maintain a performance log and an error log during this stage. Performance log:Maintain a performance log to monitor your daily progress. You may refer to a sample performance log in the file attached to this post below. Attachment: 2016-02-10_1908.png ErrorLog: Apart from maintaining a performance log, maintain an error log. Keep track of all the errors you make while solving the OG problems. A sample error log may look somewhat like below: Sample Error Log:Diagnostic test (13th review): - 44. (note): seldom more than 40 feet deep OR 12 feet wide…… “not A OR B” is generally correct.. “not A and B means”…any condition which is not A and B simultaneously….
Not (A or B) = not A and not B.. (AU B)’ = A’ ∩ B’ Not (A and B) = not A or not B.. (A∩B)’ = A’U B’ Seldom more than 40 feet deep OR 12 feet wide = mostly less than 40 feet deep and 12 feet wide. Seldom more than 40 feet deep AND 12 feet wide = mostly less than 40 feet deep (but could be more than 12 feet wide) or less than 12 feet wide ( but could be more than 40 feet deep)…this meaning is not the intended one.
- 49. Chose B..the mistake is the verb ‘include’ is in present tense and should be in past, verb tense mix-up…..also modifiers on both sides of the noun is awkward.
C is the correct answer….the participial phrase ’training…’ correctly modifies the subject of the preceding clause.
- 50. Chose C… “way for” is wrong, antecedent of ‘it’ is not clear..…..eliminated A because judged “ that protect copyright…” wrongly modifies “internet”….however considering that all other choices are wrong..it is accepted since a modifier may sometimes modify a noun slightly far from them separated by another essential modifier. ( “way” separated by “ of distributing songs on the internet”)…correct answer is A. will protect and (will) foil…will not required in the second item for parallelism.
Stage 3. Solve the GMATprep question pack, solve the problems from OG error log again and simultaneously take full length mock tests. At this stage of your preparation, you will need to maintain a cycle of practicing problems, solving the problems of your error log again and taking full-length tests. Following could be a cycle that you will follow: Day 1: GMATprep question pack 30 verbal problems (maintain error log) Day 2: GMATprep question pack 20 verbal problems (maintain error log), 10 problems from your OG error log (prepared in stage 2 above). Day 3: Take full-length test The distribution of the GMATprep question pack and OG error log problems depends on the number of problems available on the pack and on your error log. For full-length mock tests, I would recommend that you select the following: a. GMATprep exam pack 4 tests ( 2 free + 2 paid): difficulty level similar to GMAT test. b. GMATclub tests: higher difficulty than GMAT. Attempting higher difficulty tests is mandatory to keep the string tight! c. Manhattan tests: higher difficulty than GMAT. d. Veritas prep tests: difficulty level similar to GMAT test. The more number of times you repeat the above cycle, the better you are ready for a V40 (or even higher). I would suggest that you take at least 10 cycles (i.e. 10 full-length tests in a span of 30 days). Stage 4. The last 3 days before the final GMAT test are critical. DO NOT stress your brain during these 3 days. Casually scan through your GMATprep error log (prepared in stage 3 above). Sleep plenty. B. PSYCHOLOGICAL PREPARATIONEqually (YES, EQUALLY) important is preparing yourself psychologically. Following are a few preparations / practices that will help in getting ready psychologically for the highly stressful final day. - Set fire to your heart and feel the heat in your stomach: Yes, you need to feel the heat almost continuously. Prepare as though your life depends on GMAT (yes, it actually does). Clench your teeth and determine that 7xx is what you are destined for; do not hope, decide. “I hope to get 7xx”: no, this thought is weak. “I decide to get 7xx”: yes, this though will take you to 7xx.
- Stick to your plan: If you have planned your study schedule, stick to the plan. You may have an important meeting to attend at the office or may have to put in extra hours of work to complete a presentation or to meet a tender submission deadline, or you may have to take your wife for weekly shopping or drop your daughter for the dance class – come what may, do not deviate from your study plan. Make broader plans, weekly or even monthly plans, plans those are easier to stick to than to daily plans; but once your plan is frozen, you must not deviate.
- Eat brain food, live healthy: Ban junk food, eat a lot of salt-water fish and a variety of nuts and seeds, and drink a couple of cups of coffee every day. Exercise vigorously at least 4 days a week and sleep at least seven and a half hour daily. Maintain this routine throughout your preparation stage.
- Breath right: Conscious breathing helps improve concentration – practice paced breathing whenever you become conscious that you are not practicing and continue practicing till you are no longer conscious that you are practicing. Determine a pace suitable for yourself – I used to practice on ‘Inhale 4 second – Hold 2 second – Exhale 6 second – Hold 2 second’ cycle, about 4.3 breaths per minute. I was using an android app by the name ‘paced breathing’ to help me with the timing: whenever possible I had my earphones on with the paced breathing app running on my phone.
- Eat a lot of energy food on the test day: I had 8 Granola bars, 2 bananas and a 500 ml bottle of Gatorade for breakfast. During each break, I had 2 granola bars and half a bottle Gatorade, even though I did not feel hungry. I do not know how caffeine works since I did not have caffeine on the test day.
- Don’t let your nerves take over during the test: Into the 30th question in the quantitative section, my computer screen went blank!!! There was utter darkness, on the screen, and in my mind!!! I realized that I inadvertently touched the power button of the monitor while carrying out calculations on the scratchpad. I lost about 20 seconds, perhaps costing me one additional error in the quant section. However, now I have a valid consolation that I could not break the 51 threshold in quant section because of that 20-second black-out, even though my success rate in reaching Q51 in the mock tests was only 1 to 3.
Good luck ! Hi, Can you share similar link for quant too. I searched the qaunt forum but may be I missed finding it. WR, Arpit
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It's the journey that brings us happiness not the destination. Feeling stressed, you are not alone!!
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Re: How to improve your verbal score
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13 Jun 2017, 14:44
Thanks a lot, such compilations are very helpful during time crunch
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Re: How to improve your verbal score
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14 Jun 2017, 16:35
When you begin to read the question, you have to do all of these steps, and keep in minds all of details that you detect and deduct from the passage in the head under the time pressure. Then, you move on to interpret all of the options without worrying that you may have missed sth and made a mistake. To come up with the answer, I bet you do try to find the answer with no pre-knowledge or no curiosity about the topic. After you already choose one option, you might get rid of any thought of the question before getting to the next one. This sounds impossible, right?
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Re: How to improve your verbal score
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Updated on: 21 Jun 2017, 12:25
chesstitans wrote: When you begin to read the question, you have to do all of these steps, and keep in minds all of the details that you detect and deduct from the passage in the head under the time pressure. Then, you move on to interpret all of the options without worrying that you may have missed sth and made a mistake. To come up with the answer, I bet you do try to find the answer with no pre-knowledge or no curiosity about the topic. After you already choose one option, you might get rid of any thought of the question before getting to the next one. This sounds impossible, right? Hi, I think concentrating, reading and understanding a passage is what differentiate high scorers in verbal from the low scorer. This would also enable good pre-thinking. In my opinion, the best way to achieve this is severe practice and it also helps if you have read widely, including on current affairs. From my experience, all of the passages and questions (RC,CR and SC) in GMAT actually reflect reality, in fact, some of them might just be culled from research papers and journals. Trying to attack the GMAT verbal in a formulaic way, will only carry you so far, just as trying to memorize formulae for quant. Those who do well in quant, do so because the concepts are second nature to them, it's virtually the same in the verbal. Hence, doing very well (>90 percentile) in verbal requires you to be able to read, comprehend, pre-think effectively.
Originally posted by rulingbear on 17 Jun 2017, 12:54.
Last edited by rulingbear on 21 Jun 2017, 12:25, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: How to improve your verbal score
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17 Jun 2017, 19:06
rulingbear wrote: chesstitans wrote: When you begin to read the question, you have to do all of these steps, and keep in minds all of the details that you detect and deduct from the passage in the head under the time pressure. Then, you move on to interpret all of the options without worrying that you may have missed sth and made a mistake. To come up with the answer, I bet you do try to find the answer with no pre-knowledge or no curiosity about the topic. After you already choose one option, you might get rid of any thought of the question before getting to the next one. This sounds impossible, right? Hi, I think concentrating, reading and understanding a passage is what differentiate high scorers in verbal from the low scorer. This would also enable good pre-thinking. In my opinion, the best way to achieve this is severe practice and it also helps if you have read widely, including on current affairs. From my experience, all of the passages and questions (RC,CR and SC) in GMAT actually reflect reality, in fact, some of them might just be culled from research papers and journals. Trying to attack the GMAT verbal in a formulaic way, will only carry you so far, just as trying to memorize formulae for quant. Those who do well in quant, do so because the concepts are second nature to them, it's virtually the same in the verbal. Hence, doing very well (>90 percentile)l in verbal requires you to be able to read, comprehend, pre-think effectively. as you say, international students will be more difficult in verbal section. Also, it may take years to achieve a high score in verbal. The only reason why many Asian students do so well in Maths is because they are forced to study extensively at their early ages. Certainly, although only a few good students participate in special classes in Maths, most of Asian students come to extra classes to study science subject, and the total hours for studying is approximately 17 hours per day for 5-8 years. As a result, in my country, many secondary and high school students can solve most of quantitative advanced questions in GMAT by using different advanced methods. If there are unsolved GMAT questions in quantitative, students will LEARN THE SOLUTION BY HEART. I have no idea how the guideline for the verbal section actually works. At the same time, in gmat, you really have to engage in dealing with arguments. In real life, you become get involved in arguments only in political discussions. Asian students do not care much about politics.
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Re: How to improve your verbal score
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21 Jun 2017, 11:51
Hi, Can someone give their opinion on GMAT Club Grammar book vs. Manhattan Foundations of Verbal book for 1st/beginner book? Thank you.
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Re: How to improve your verbal score
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28 Jun 2017, 08:33
thanks mate. thats great
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Re: How to improve your verbal score
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30 Jul 2017, 10:12
sayantanc2k wrote: How to improve your Verbal GMAT Score. This post is designed to compliment this one: http://gmatclub.com/forum/how-to-improv ... 42361.htmlThere are 2 aspects of preparing for the GMAT test, the academic preparation and the psychological preparation. I shall discuss each of these aspects separately. A. ACADEMIC PREPARATIONStage 1. Make a MENTAL MAP of the basic rules Make yourself well-conversant with any one good strategy guide and make a mental map of all the rules therein. What is a mental map? Well, first prepare a summary of all the rules, handwritten or typed in, in one place. Refer to those pages (if handwritten) or that word document (if typed in) so many times that you have a clear mental image of the rules. Hand-written maps seem to work better: writing by hand allows the brain to receive feedback from a person’s motor actions, and this specific feedback leaves a motor memory in the sensori-motor part of the brain, helping the person retain information better. Whichever method you adopt, ensure that your familiarity should be to such level that you are able to instantly recollect, on which page and in which part of the page any particular rule is available. This ability is important for instant retrieval of information when you are taking the test. Keep the map as simple as you can. Simpler the map, better you can retain it in your brain, and faster you can retrieve information when you need during the test. I prepared from the Manhattan strategy guides and my mental map from one of the Sentence Correction chapters (Modifiers) looked somewhat like the sample below: Sample mental mapsSC sample mental map ( MGMAT SC strategy guide - Chapter 6: Modifiers) - Adjectives and Adverbs:
- Linking verbs are often followed by adjectives, which modify the noun, not the verb.
- Difference between: adj + adj + noun (both adjectives modify the noun) vs adv+adj+noun ( the adv modifies adj, which in turn modifies the noun)
- Types of Noun Modifiers:
- Adjective
- Prep
- Past participle
- Present participle
- Relative pronoun
- Another noun
- Position of a modifier:
- Touch rule
- Dangling modifiers
- Possessive:
- A noun modifier cannot modify a possessive ( as a pronoun cannot have a possessive antecedent):
- Abstract nouns….touch rules apply to them as well
- Noun modifier with relative pronoun:
- Who (subject), whom (object) for people…. Which for things. That cannot be used for people.
- Whose: people or thing.
- Which and whom may follow preposition.
- That or whom may be dropped when the modified noun is the object of the modifying clause.
- Where for place…for metaphorical place..use ‘in which’
- When or ‘in which’ for time.
- Essential and non-essential modifiers:
- Put COMMAS between NON-ESSENTIAL modifiers and their nouns.
- Put NO COMMAS between ESSENTIAL modifiers and their nouns.
- Use WHICH (and commas) if the modifier is non-essential.
- Use THAT (and no commas) if the modifier is essential.
- Verb Modifiers:
- Adverb
- Preposition
- Subordinator
Modifiers that can refer to the subject or the verb:
- Present participle ( comma before and after)
- Preposition + gerund (comma if before)
- Infinitive (comma if before) – infinitives of purpose can be used without a subject in passive voice.
Verb modifiers can be used more freely but it should be clear which verb it modifies.
- ‘Which ‘ vs ‘-ing’
- Use WHICH only to refer to the noun immediately preceding it—never to refer to an entire clause.
- -ing is very flexible…may modify noun, or verb or an entire clause.
CR sample mental map (Random mixed notes from Kaplan GMAT 800 and Manhattan CR strategy guide) - A General Structure: A and B happens together. Conclusion - A causes B
Type a. Weakening type problems: statement B causes A weakens the above structure
Example of type a: verbal review 2nd Ed. Q#46 (A =unhappy marriage, B = mismatched sleeping cycle)
Type b. Assumption type problems: statement B does not cause A is an assumption in the above structure.
Example 1 of type b: A= I go to play B= I am happy Conclude: I go to play, therefore I am happy.; i.e., My playing has made me happy is concluded. Assumption: I am happy , therefore I go to play.. is NOT true; i.e. My happiness has not caused me to go to play is assumed.
Example 2 of type b: OG verbal review 2nd Ed. Q#6 A = low immune system B = mental illness Conclude: low immune system, therefore mental illness Assumed: mental illness, therefore low immune system....is NOT true; i.e. mental illness does not cause low immune system is the correct option.
- Weakening: Statement A causes B weakens conclusion C causes B (something else causes B)
Example: verbal review 2nd Ed. Q#16 (A = bad weather, B = delay, C =fewer landing slot)
- Inference: Given: A implies B. Cannot conclude: B implies A. Can conclude: NOT B implies NOT A.
- Describe Role: Steps to solve any DR problem:
Step a. Mark each sentence with letters P (premise), C (conclusion), XP (counter-premise), XC (counter conclusion) or B (background). Step b. Determine the letter combination of the bold-lettered sentences Step c. Take each answer choice at a time and determine combination letters Step d. The combinations in b and correct option in c above should match.
Example: OG 13th Ed. Q#116 Step a. Age ↑, creativity ↓….. XC Creative work < 40……… XP Scientists late entry ,creative work >40 ….. P ( 1st bold-faced sentence) Scientists early entry, long time,so burned up new ideas…. C (2nd bold-faced sentence) Step b. Letter combo for bold-faced sentence: P,C Step c. Answer choices: Option(A): XP,XC Option (B): XC, C Option (C): XP, XC Option (D): XP, P Option (E): P,C Step d. Correct answer E RC sample mental map ( MGMAT RC strategy guide - Chapter 5: The seven strategies) - General questions: main idea, organization etc….. do not re-read the passage..dive straight into answer choices and start eliminating….use your skeletal notes and keep ‘the point’ in mind…… If stuck between 2 close answers, use numbering system (2 points if the choice relates to first para, 1 for subsequent)
- Specific questions: do not read the answer choices, go to the passage directly…identify key words and search for it or its synonym in the passage…bring back a few lines from the passage as ‘mantra’ and eliminate the wring choices using the ‘mantra’.
- Strategies:
a. Justify every word in the answer choice. (a single word not relevant to the passage is a wrong choice) b. Avoid extreme word in general. ( all, never) c. Infer as little as possible…. “the passage suggests” = “ the passage says a little differently” ..….avoid long logical steps to infer, the inferences are very simple in general.
- Preview the first question.
End of sample mental maps. Stage 2. Practice OG problems and monitor your progress After you finish developing the mental maps chapter-wise for all the three sections, SC, CR and RC, start working out problems from OG and Verbal review. I tried to solve 30-40 problems daily from the 3 sections altogether. You should maintain a performance log and an error log during this stage. Performance log:Maintain a performance log to monitor your daily progress. You may refer to a sample performance log in the file attached to this post below. Attachment: 2016-02-10_1908.png ErrorLog: Apart from maintaining a performance log, maintain an error log. Keep track of all the errors you make while solving the OG problems. A sample error log may look somewhat like below: Sample Error Log:Diagnostic test (13th review): - 44. (note): seldom more than 40 feet deep OR 12 feet wide…… “not A OR B” is generally correct.. “not A and B means”…any condition which is not A and B simultaneously….
Not (A or B) = not A and not B.. (AU B)’ = A’ ∩ B’ Not (A and B) = not A or not B.. (A∩B)’ = A’U B’ Seldom more than 40 feet deep OR 12 feet wide = mostly less than 40 feet deep and 12 feet wide. Seldom more than 40 feet deep AND 12 feet wide = mostly less than 40 feet deep (but could be more than 12 feet wide) or less than 12 feet wide ( but could be more than 40 feet deep)…this meaning is not the intended one.
- 49. Chose B..the mistake is the verb ‘include’ is in present tense and should be in past, verb tense mix-up…..also modifiers on both sides of the noun is awkward.
C is the correct answer….the participial phrase ’training…’ correctly modifies the subject of the preceding clause.
- 50. Chose C… “way for” is wrong, antecedent of ‘it’ is not clear..…..eliminated A because judged “ that protect copyright…” wrongly modifies “internet”….however considering that all other choices are wrong..it is accepted since a modifier may sometimes modify a noun slightly far from them separated by another essential modifier. ( “way” separated by “ of distributing songs on the internet”)…correct answer is A. will protect and (will) foil…will not required in the second item for parallelism.
Stage 3. Solve the GMATprep question pack, solve the problems from OG error log again and simultaneously take full length mock tests. At this stage of your preparation, you will need to maintain a cycle of practicing problems, solving the problems of your error log again and taking full-length tests. Following could be a cycle that you will follow: Day 1: GMATprep question pack 30 verbal problems (maintain error log) Day 2: GMATprep question pack 20 verbal problems (maintain error log), 10 problems from your OG error log (prepared in stage 2 above). Day 3: Take full-length test The distribution of the GMATprep question pack and OG error log problems depends on the number of problems available on the pack and on your error log. For full-length mock tests, I would recommend that you select the following: a. GMATprep exam pack 4 tests ( 2 free + 2 paid): difficulty level similar to GMAT test. b. GMATclub tests: higher difficulty than GMAT. Attempting higher difficulty tests is mandatory to keep the string tight! c. Manhattan tests: higher difficulty than GMAT. d. Veritas prep tests: difficulty level similar to GMAT test. The more number of times you repeat the above cycle, the better you are ready for a V40 (or even higher). I would suggest that you take at least 10 cycles (i.e. 10 full-length tests in a span of 30 days). Stage 4. The last 3 days before the final GMAT test are critical. DO NOT stress your brain during these 3 days. Casually scan through your GMATprep error log (prepared in stage 3 above). Sleep plenty. B. PSYCHOLOGICAL PREPARATIONEqually (YES, EQUALLY) important is preparing yourself psychologically. Following are a few preparations / practices that will help in getting ready psychologically for the highly stressful final day. - Set fire to your heart and feel the heat in your stomach: Yes, you need to feel the heat almost continuously. Prepare as though your life depends on GMAT (yes, it actually does). Clench your teeth and determine that 7xx is what you are destined for; do not hope, decide. “I hope to get 7xx”: no, this thought is weak. “I decide to get 7xx”: yes, this though will take you to 7xx.
- Stick to your plan: If you have planned your study schedule, stick to the plan. You may have an important meeting to attend at the office or may have to put in extra hours of work to complete a presentation or to meet a tender submission deadline, or you may have to take your wife for weekly shopping or drop your daughter for the dance class – come what may, do not deviate from your study plan. Make broader plans, weekly or even monthly plans, plans those are easier to stick to than to daily plans; but once your plan is frozen, you must not deviate.
- Eat brain food, live healthy: Ban junk food, eat a lot of salt-water fish and a variety of nuts and seeds, and drink a couple of cups of coffee every day. Exercise vigorously at least 4 days a week and sleep at least seven and a half hour daily. Maintain this routine throughout your preparation stage.
- Breath right: Conscious breathing helps improve concentration – practice paced breathing whenever you become conscious that you are not practicing and continue practicing till you are no longer conscious that you are practicing. Determine a pace suitable for yourself – I used to practice on ‘Inhale 4 second – Hold 2 second – Exhale 6 second – Hold 2 second’ cycle, about 4.3 breaths per minute. I was using an android app by the name ‘paced breathing’ to help me with the timing: whenever possible I had my earphones on with the paced breathing app running on my phone.
- Eat a lot of energy food on the test day: I had 8 Granola bars, 2 bananas and a 500 ml bottle of Gatorade for breakfast. During each break, I had 2 granola bars and half a bottle Gatorade, even though I did not feel hungry. I do not know how caffeine works since I did not have caffeine on the test day.
- Don’t let your nerves take over during the test: Into the 30th question in the quantitative section, my computer screen went blank!!! There was utter darkness, on the screen, and in my mind!!! I realized that I inadvertently touched the power button of the monitor while carrying out calculations on the scratchpad. I lost about 20 seconds, perhaps costing me one additional error in the quant section. However, now I have a valid consolation that I could not break the 51 threshold in quant section because of that 20-second black-out, even though my success rate in reaching Q51 in the mock tests was only 1 to 3.
Good luck ! sayantanc2k thank you so much. Just one more thing: Can you tell me how should I analyze my mocks? Also, how to improve speed at RC?
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Re: How to improve your verbal score
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12 Aug 2017, 06:04
Hi sayantanc2kI need your help -> I am facing trouble in reducing the time in CR and RC... My accuracy is around 95% when I don't time myself during preparation. But as soon as I time myself, my accuracy drops to 65%... I have this problem for last 8+ months - I tried almost everything said by various experts - reading The Economist, skimming techniques(it drastically reduces the accuracy), making few blind guesses during the actual exam... etc... I am almost hopeless at this stage to improve my timings, but don't want to give-up so easily - please suggest me what to do?
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Re: How to improve your verbal score
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19 Aug 2017, 08:33
Honestly, I think the best way to prep for the GMAT Verbal (regardless, but especially if English is not your first language) is to read a ton every day, if you have a decent amount of time, ~4 months or more, to prep.
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GMAT 1: 570 Q50 V18 GMAT 2: 610 Q49 V24 GMAT 3: 640 Q48 V29
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Re: How to improve your verbal score
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29 Aug 2017, 23:01
blukorea wrote: Wow... this is really helpful. Thanks! Hi I see you have got a very good score. Can you please give some tips on improving verbal section.
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Re: How to improve your verbal score
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30 Aug 2017, 12:04
Jabjagotabhisavera wrote: blukorea wrote: Wow... this is really helpful. Thanks! Hi I see you have got a very good score. Can you please give some tips on improving verbal section. There are quite a few great threads already posted -- follow their advice and read as much tough literature (and academic papers) as you can!
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17 Jan 2018, 06:40
To throw in my 2 RC cents:
A.) Passage: The turning point of my RC score has been to understand how important it is to mentally stop reading after every 2-3 sentences. I can highly recommend to actually stop reading for 2-3 seconds and try to summarize in very simple terms what you just read and try to pre-think where the passage might go next. This habit alone will automatically push your attention level to the max. The necessary speed comes with practice.
B.) Answers: Be very well aware that the real enemy in RC is not your lack of understanding the passage, instead the little twists and turns in the answers are what will kill your score (you can disagree...). Learn to really eliminate each answer not only on a sentence level but on a word by word level. Even the last single letter of one specific word can make the answer incorrect. And it will not help you if all the other words are 100% in line with questions and passage.
Those two key points helped me to answer all RC questions correct in my last attempt (acc. to the ESR in an avg. of 2:03 min. per question - believe me I was surprised...). However, since I have many weak spots in other sections I am still hanging around here...
Keep A and B in mind - practice, practice, practice and you should see improvements pretty soon. Good Luck!
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Re: How to improve your verbal score
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16 Mar 2018, 17:36
sayantanc2kThis is one of the very practical verbal improvement plan I have seen in GMAT Club. I am currently following the last stage of the plan described in the post which emphasizes the importance of practice and i could see the improvement in the score already. I have started recommending this post to any one who look for the strategy to improve verbal score. Thanks for posting this.
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Re: How to improve your verbal score
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16 Apr 2018, 22:21
This thread has some of the most well thought out and well-constructed advice I have seen. Well done. Too often people focus just on the subject matter of GMAT preparation and not on habit forming. Much of where you get in the GMAT is determined by the grit you have in breaking through your old mental habits and forming the ones needed for the exam. When I prepared for the Verbal section I tried to make my practice as 'formulaic' as possible because it is easier to practice when there is structure in place. For SC for example, I created a mental checklist of 4 things to check for in EVERY problem I saw: 1. Parallel Structure 2. Pronoun & Antecedent Agreement 3. Placement of Modifiers 4. Subject - Verb Agreeement Then I studied each specifically in depth while building the consistent habit of scanning for these 4 things in each sentence correction question. In the end, after enough repetition, it becomes muscle memory. You can do it. I have an open (Free) pdf here along with links to the sites I used to prepare: https://mindovergmat.com/courses/verbal-mastery/lectures/4864930Sorry for the external link, it is easier for me than reformatting the whole thing. DM me if you want access to my broader courses.
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Re: How to improve your verbal score
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