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kunal555
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kunal555
Hi
I'm a non native english speaker. I want to go through verbal basics to understand the concepts in other verbal strategy books better.
I will be attempting gmat in a month. I'm done with my quant preparation and can devote the remaining time to verbal.
I'm going to use Manhattan SC and Powerscore CR bible for SC and CR strategies. I'm considering Manhattan RC for RC strategies although i'm not sure about it after reading it's reviews.

I have following questions:
1) How does MGMAT verbal foundation book differ from GMAT club's ultimate grammar book ?
Both are good for fundamentals but GMAT SC is a lot more than grammar rules.

2) Would i be wasting my time if i read both foundation and grammar books considering i have just a month left for my test ? If yes, which one should i read ?
As mentioned in 1, verbal for non natives calls for particular strategies alongwith certain level of comfort with grammar rules. Going by just grammar rules and that too in only a month might be a bit difficult to apply to the best level possible. Try one of the online courses that focus on the strategies for solving SC questions based on grammar rules. Its a lot more important to know how to apply a grammar rule than to just know that rule!

3) Is Manhattan RC good enough ? If not, which is the best book for RC strategies ?
GMAT RC is a lot more than mere application of certain strategies. You need to understand what you read to the extent that you are able to answer questions correctly in average time frames. Try with this book but do also check out the other sources , including online to see what strategies suit you. Personally, I did not find MGMAT RC useful but some people have provided very good reviews of the same.

Look at : best-gmat-verbal-books-168383.html?fl=menu

Online courses with free trials: free-trials-master-list-of-all-free-gmat-course-trials-196374.html?fl=menu

Try the above 2 links for books and/or online courses. For some non natives, it is difficult to score well only with book based preparation. Try out both, test out the free trials offered by various companies and see what approach(es) suit your style. It might be that a combination of strategies might work for you.

For answers to your questions, look above for highlighted text.

Thanks for replying.
I'm comfortable with grammar rules. I just need a quick revision of basics. Each of those grammar books has more than 250 pages. So,i can only read 1.
I have decided to read Manhattan verbal foundation as it also covers CR and RC basics along with SC.
Should i read RC strategies or make my own strategies based on practice ? Which book do you suggest for RC ?
Which one is better, Manhattan Sc or Aristotle SC grail 3rd edition ?

I would say Aristotle as it a bit more condensed. Also, as mentioned before, do make sure to learn how to apply those concepts than just learning the concepts.

RC is tough to suggest a one size fits all kind of approach. You need to work with different strategies and see which one or a combination of strategies work for you. Some suggest create notes as you read along, while some suggest not to take notes, some suggest reading only the first and the last few lines of every paragraph while I had to read the entire paragraphs to be confident of my answers. So it all comes down to what strategy are you most comfortable with. At the end of day, whatever you choose, it should give you repeatable results with a high level of accuracy and taking average amount of time (6-8 minutes per passage!).

Hope this helps.
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which is the best book for RC strategies ?
It's highly unlikely that reading a book on RC will help you get significantly better at RC. To the extent that a book on RC involves general reading, yes. But not any special strategies. Reading comprehension relies on very basic skills that usually respond best to practice. You have a passage in front of you, one question (at a time!), and a noteboard/booklet & marker. There's only so much that you can do with that. Check whether you want to minimize the amount of time spent on an RC book so that you can maximize the amount of time spent actually working through passages.
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kunal555
which is the best book for RC strategies ?
It's highly unlikely that reading a book on RC will help you get significantly better at RC. To the extent that a book on RC involves general reading, yes. But not any special strategies. Reading comprehension relies on very basic skills that usually respond best to practice. You have a passage in front of you, one question (at a time!), and a noteboard/booklet & marker. There's only so much that you can do with that. Check whether you want to minimize the amount of time spent on an RC book so that you can maximize the amount of time spent actually working through passages.

That's exactly what i thought. I'm just going to practice RC and not read any RC books.
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That's exactly what i thought. I'm just going to practice RC and not read any RC books.
All the best. A lot of people ignore RC, but every question type is important. Good to see that you're willing to put in the effort that a lot of people aren't.
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Hi,
I have just finished studying MGMAT verbal foundation book. It took me nearly 8 days and It covers almost every basic thing you need for GMAT. Also the book has a huge list of Idioms and Vocabulary words which should be studies over time. I have basically strengthened by verbal skills by reading this book.

Now, My goal is to target each section in detail. I have purchased e-gmat and started with SC. Feeling comfortable since the basic is strong. I just need to understand the concept and study the way to apply it. Hope it helps.

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