Need help with GMAT Verbal

Hello Rich,

Answers to your questions:
a) GMAT Prep (Free) CAT 1 : 550 (Q35, V30)
b) GMAT Prep (Free) CAT 2 : 610 (Q43, V30)
c) MGMAT Free CAT : 570 (Q44,V29)
d) GMAT Prep Exam Pack 1 #1 : 620 (Q46 , V29)

2) I gave full tests in all the CATs except MGMAT, since it does not have an essay and an IR section.
3) Steps taken :
SC : a) Read through the question. Find any obvious flaws such as parallelism, sub-verb agreement, redundancy, pronoun errors, etc.
b) Zip past the answer choices and search for the flaws that I have already figured out.
c) If stuck between two answer choices, choose one and move on.
Issue on SC : Many a times, I end up thinking on the terms of whether "it sounds right", rather than focusing on the technical approach for finding grammatical mistakes. I am currently reading MGMAT SC book again, more carefully and trying to tune myself to focus on the technical approach.
CR : a) Read the question. Understand which category does it lie in. eg. Inference, Strengthen/Weaken, Evaluate. etc.
b) Read through the argument and retain as much as possible in my memory
c) Go through the answers and select the best choice.
d) If stuck between two answer choices, choose one and move on.
Issue on CR : Though I am able to understand the question category, there seems to be a gap in my logical reasoning capability. Though I have read MGMAT critical reasoning book, it has not helped me much in building up a critical reasoning attitude.
RC : a) Reach the first paragraph carefully and understand the main subject of the passage
b) Zip past the rest of the paragraphs, and pen down some short notes on each paragraph (main purpose)
c) Go through the questions and select best possible answers.
Issue on RC : Though I am a fairly good reader, but I find some passages a bit hard to understand. Even though I do take some short notes, I still end up missing out some key points, and hence end up answering the detail questions wrong.

General problems on verbal section : Low endurance, mind gets tired after essay, IR and quant and it proves to be hard to focus. Loss of focus costs me heavily CR questions specially.
I work on an offshore drilling platform. Currently I am trying to read some good articles from New York Times and Economic Times, specially the boring ones, in order to improve my endurance, vocabulary and critical assessment of the arguments.
I get about 3 hours max to study while I am on the platform, during which, I try to divide my time between math and English.

Looking forward to some useful insights to improve my verbal by a considerable margin.

Thanks

Hi Dkingdom,

Your Verbal Scores on your various CATs are remarkably similar to one another. The lack of improvement that you've described is not too surprising at this score level, since "your way" of dealing with the Verbal section is not really built around any particular Tactics (you're just doing what you think "is right" and trying to incorporate a bit of knowledge that you've gained from the various books that you've read). To score at a much higher level in the Verbal section, you need to use a more formal/Tactical approach to the entire Verbal section.

1) What is your overall score goal?
2) When are you planning to take the GMAT?

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

Hi guys,

could you please tell me which sentences are correct and why?
1. Firefighters should always secure one's safety gear before rushing into a fire.
2. Firefighters should always secure their safety gear before rushing into a fire.
3. Firefighters should always secure ones' safety gear before rushing into a fire.
4. Firefighters should always secure its safety gear before rushing into a fire.
5. Firefighters should always secure his/her safety gear before rushing into a fire.

You go by your ear only when you are confused and cannot figure out the imperfection in the option (Imperfection because sometimes the options are eliminated because of verbosity). Learning the grammar rules is the obvious first step. Secondly, I'd suggest you to start looking for change of meaning in the options because such questions are encountered more often at higher levels.

Finally, there is one thing that will help you tremendously in SC -> When you are revising the question after you have attempted it, Do Not just stop after finding 1 error in an option. Try to find every single error in all the 4 options before you look at the solution. Performing this exercise, you will gain a deeper understanding of the rules of grammar that you already know. OG and gmatclub are the perfect places to practice this strategy. You can also apply this method for CR and RC.

Endurance: That's why we take Full Length Tests. To develop endurance and delay fatigue. You can also try drinking Red Bull or other Energy Drink for instance Gatorade during the 8 minute break to provide your brain more "processing" power for difficult questions.

Hi Vahidkarimi,

I believe option 2 is correct.
Reason : Pronoun 'Their'(plural) correctly points to the noun 'Firefighters'(plural).

Hello umg,

Thank you for the insight. You are absolutely correct about the point regarding grammar rules. I did realise it a couple of days back. Now I have started reading the MGMAT verbal books again, starting with the foundation for verbal. I am currently strengthening my hold over various parts of speech.
Even though I have done all the SC questions in OG'16, I will be doing all of them all over again in the manner you have suggested, once I am confident with the basics of grammar and types of SC related errors.

Thanks for the great advice.