Improve SC

Question

Hi everybody, in two weeks i will do my second attempt for the gmat, in first i scored 620 but i would like to have a 650. i reviewed all my simulation and i figure out that in the SC i do 5-7 mistakes. I'm not a native speaker but i have an IELTS of level 7, i would like to know how to improve because i need a good performance in the verbal part. Thanks a lot!

ccooley · Answer

I've written a bit about approaching SC as a non-native speaker here: https://www.manhattanprep.com/gre/blog/ ... h-speaker/ https://www.manhattanprep.com/gre/blog/ ... er-part-2/ That may be a good starting point! It would also be interesting to know what types of mistakes you're making, and what SC problems you tend to miss: do you not know the rules, or do you know the rules but not know how to apply them, or are you just not noticing opportunities to apply the rules? If you don't have the MPrep Sentence Correction Strategy Guide I'd recommend picking that up as well.

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi gl7,

With a 620, you're actually closer to a 650+ than you probably realize. In another post, you stated that you Official Score was 620/Q44/V31, so you can actually pick up the extra 30+ points you're after in either the Quant section or Verbal section (or a combination of both). By extension, you don't necessarily have to focus on SCs to pick up those points.

1) How have you scored on EACH of your CATs (including the Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores for EACH)?
2) When is your next Official Test Date?

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

gl7 · Answer

Hi, thanks for your answer. I have problem with the hard one like 700-level, the easy ones are not a problem.

gl7 · Answer

Hi Rich, yesterday i did the CAT of the mba site and i scored 650 Q46V34 and i have the exam on the 12. 660 or more would be perfect for me. Thank you and have a nice day!

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi gl7,

Assuming that you've taken these CATs in a realistic fashion, you appear to have the necessary skills to hit your Score goal right now. As such, you should 'nitpick' this recent performance a bit to determine the areas in which you can pick up a few points.

"Review" is an exceptionally important part of the GMAT training process; your ability to define WHY you're getting questions wrong is essential to defining the areas that you need to work on (and the specific things that you need to 'fix'). As such, I'd like to know a bit more about your last CAT. While a full Mistake Tracker would provide a lot more information, there are some basic questions that you should be able to answer (and the more EXACT you can be with your answers, the better):

After reviewing each section of this recent CAT, how many questions did you get wrong....
1) Because of a silly/little mistake?
2) Because there was some math/verbal that you just could not remember how to do?
3) Because the question was too hard?
4) Because you were low on time and had to guess?
5) How many Verbal questions did you 'narrow down to 2 choices' but still get wrong?

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

ScottTargetTestPrep · Answer

Hi gl7,

I’m glad you reached out, and I’m happy to help. So, two weeks is not a ton of study time. Although you need only a 30-point improvement, you may need more than just 2 weeks to achieve that. If necessary, would you be able to take the GMAT a later date? In any case, here is some advice you can follow to improve your GMAT Sentence Correction skills. 
 
There are three aspects to getting correct answers to GMAT Sentence Correction questions: what you know, such as grammar rules, what you see, such as violations of grammar rules and the logic of sentence structure, and what you do, such as carefully considering each answer choice in the context of the non-underlined portion of the sentence. To drive up your Sentence Correction score, it is likely that you will have to work on all three of those aspects.
 
Regarding what you know, first and foremost, you MUST know your grammar rules. Let's be clear, though: GMAT Sentence Correction is not just a test of knowledge of grammar rules. The reason for learning grammar rules is so that you can determine what sentences convey and whether sentences are well-constructed. In fact, in many cases, incorrect answers to Sentence Correction questions are grammatically flawless. Thus, often your task is to use your knowledge of grammar rules to determine which answer choice creates the most logical sentence meaning and structure.
 
This determination of whether sentences are well-constructed and logical is the second aspect of finding correct answers to Sentence Correction questions, what you see. To develop this skill, you probably have to slow way down. You won't develop this skill by spending under two minutes per question. For a while, anyway, you have to spend time with each question, maybe even ten or fifteen minutes on one question sometimes, analyzing every answer choice until you see the details that you have to see in order to choose the correct answer. As you go through the answer choices, consider the meaning conveyed by each version of the sentence. Does the meaning make sense? Even if you can tell what the version is SUPPOSED to convey, does the version really convey that meaning? Is there a verb to go with the subject? Do all pronouns clearly refer to nouns? By slowing way down and looking for these details, you learn to see what you have to see in order to clearly understand which answer to a Sentence Correction question is correct.
 
There is only one correct answer to any Sentence Correction question, there are clear reasons why that choice is correct and the others are not, and those reasons are not that the correct version simply "sounds right." In fact, the correct version often sounds a little off at first. That correct answers may sound a little off is not surprising. If the correct answer were always the one that sounded right, then most people most of the time would get Sentence Correction questions correct, without really knowing why the wrong answers were wrong and the correct answers were correct. So, you have to go beyond choosing what "sounds right" and learn to clearly see the logical reasons why one choice is better than all of the others.
 
As for the third aspect of getting Sentence Correction questions correct, what you do, the main thing you have to do is be very careful. You have to make sure that you are truly considering the structures of sentences and the meanings conveyed rather than allowing yourself to be tricked into choosing trap answers that sound right but don't convey logical meanings. You also have to make sure that you put some real energy into finding the correct answers. Finding the correct answer to a Sentence Correction question may take bouncing from choice to choice repeatedly until you start to see the differences between the choices that make all choices wrong except for one. Often, when you first look at the choices, only one or two seem obviously incorrect. Getting the right answers takes a certain work ethic. You have to be determined to see the differences and figure out the precise reasons that one choice is correct.
 
To improve what you do when you answer Sentence Correction questions, seek to become aware of how you are going about answering them. Are you being careful and looking for logic and details, or are you quickly eliminating choices that sound a little off and then choosing the best of the rest? If you choose an incorrect answer, consider what you did that resulted in your arriving at that answer and what you could do differently in order to arrive at correct answers more consistently. Furthermore, see how many questions you can get correct in a row as you practice. If you break your streak by missing one, consider what you could have done differently to extend your streak.

As with your Critical Reasoning and Reading Comprehension regimens, after learning a particular Sentence Correction topic, engage in focused practice with 30 questions or more that involve that topic. As your skills improve, you will then want to practice with questions that test you on skills from multiple Sentence Correction topics.

Feel free to reach out with any questions.

Good luck!

egmat · Answer

Hi gl7 , You are very close to your target score. Your focus now should be on consistency more than building your ability. To ensure that you consistently score above 650 till and in your test, you must first identify the required scores (milestones) in each sub-section. Once you do this, you will have a fool-proof path to your target score. GMAT will no longer be a black box where you hope for a certain score. Identify clear milestones/targets The Personalised Study Planner tool will help you understand where the improvement will come from as it will define clear targets(or milestones) in each sub-section and a path to reach a 650, in line with your strengths and weaknesses. This Personalised Study Planner will help you: 1. Determine the milestones to achieve your target score 2. Identify where to spend time 3. Estimation of the amount of effort required The path from 620 to 650 takes around 2 weeks of effort. This is how your plan would look like. I have assumed your starting scores. As you have a more precise estimate you can refine the plan. Learn how you can refine the plan using your inputs . https://e-gmat.com/blogs/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Personalized-Stuy-Planner-Summary.png https://e-gmat.com/blogs/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Personalized-Study-Planner-Calendar.png How to improve? Once, you know which area will give you the required improvement find out the topics or question types that you are not comfortable with. To get a precise feedback on these topics you can use the Scholaranium platform. • Take a Quant Ability Quiz or Verbal Ability Quiz depending on the area you choose to focus • Analyse the Skill Data section to identify the weak areas. You will get insights regarding your timing, accuracy, topic faltered on etc. as shown below. • Improve upon the weak areas to hit your target score. https://e-gmat.com/blogs/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Scholaranium.png Since you have specifically mentioned focussing on SC, I am sharing a few free resources below to help you with the SC prep. You can get access to a lot more of these videos and practice questions once you sign up for the Free Trial . 1. Verb-ed Phrases - Verbs or Modifiers 2. Roles of Verb-ing Words 3. Verb-ing Modifiers - Part 1 4. Verb-ed Modifiers If you need further help with your preparation feel free to reach out to us at acethegmat@e-gmat.com. Regards, Zinnia

CAMANISHPARMAR · Answer

Hey  ccooley

You have shared links for "Conquering GRE Text Completion and Sentence Equivalence as a Non-Native English Speaker"

I thought you wanted to share links for GMAT "Sentence Correction"

Regards.

Improve SC

Prep Toolkit

Top 5 GMAT Debrief Videos

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards