Improve of more than 100points in one month? HELP!!!

Hello!

As the rare GMAT instructor with a verbal-focused background (M.S. Journalism - Northwestern U.) I do think there are several things that you can do to improve on the Verbal side of the exam and because of the curve of the exam it can actually be easier to do so!

First some background - according to the GMAC the mean raw score out of 60 on the Verbal section is ~27, while on the Quant it is ~39. This means that the average GMAT student is significantly stronger in quantitative skills as opposed to verbal skills. This can present an opportunity for the savvy test taker. For instance a score of 32 on the Verbal puts the test taker in the top third of all test takers, while a score of 32 on the Quant puts the test taker in the bottom third of all test takers. This means that improvement on the Verbal side can result in more marked overall score improvement simply because of the grading curve.

Now, in terms of how to improve on the specific question types in Verbal you are most likely to be able to make the most improvements in Sentence Corrections and Critical Reasoning. Reading Comprehension represents a lesser opportunity due to the challenges you face as a non-native English speaker. However, there are obviously opportunities there too. First, you will need to understand that like the Quantitative section the Verbal section follows strict rules and logic that can be exploited through process and identification.

Sentence Corrections for one are about meaning and intent more than grammar. Grammar informs meaning and intent, not the other way around and if you focus on just six common errors the GMAT repeats over and over again (Subject-Verb Agreement, Verb Tense, Pronouns, Modifiers, Parallelism, Comparison) you can get better at identifying the errors that confuse intent and meaning irrespective of arcane and complex English grammar rules. This makes idiom significantly less important and renders punctuation a non-issue except in the most extreme exceptions!

As for Critical Reasoning, 85% of the questions boil down to a simple logical equation: grounds + assumption = conclusion. The grounds and the conclusion will be literally stated in every prompt and it is simply up to you to identify one of only a handful logical argument types which informs the assumption that lies between the evidence and the claim. Once again by focusing on the common argument types and errors, rather than the specifics of an individual problem will speed up your process and increase accuracy. There are standard assumptions within arguments such as causality, analogy, plan, data, and representation that will allow you to work through the majority of the prompts without getting bogged down in details.

Manhattan Prep's books are pretty good at illustrating these CR and SC techniques and there are a ton of other resources available online as well. However, it can be difficult to find as many resources online for Verbal as there are for Quant. That said, the opportunity to improve does exist provided you streamline your approach and rather than preparing for every potential CR or SC question focus on the common types so that you can attack the most frequently asked questions.

Hopefully this helps!