Hey folks, although I am yet to appear for my exam, but because I believe I have achieved something that should be forwarded to all the people dwelling on the same boat, here I am posting some relevant theories so that everyone out there feel comfortable with Verbal, specially if he/she is a non-native.
First thing first, its all about temperament. Gmat plays with your psyche. It can quickly take you down if you are unable to lift your scores and hence, a lot of people giving up and running for the preparation companies to do the trick. I suggest that one should first concentrate on his/her weaknesses and if the preparation is still unconvincing, then maybe approach the relevant preparation companies.
I started off with
MGMAT foundations for verbal. Non-Native background comes with a lot of problems. Because my foundation seemed a bit out of shape, I decided to give this book a week to get into the right shape. After that, I made sure to complete Sentence Correction and for that I used
MGMAT SC. Boy, this book's definitely handy. But be sure to extract as much as you can. Also, there's a common phenomenon here on the forum.
MGMAT: The bible for SC. PowerScore: Bible for CR. Undoubtedly these two books cover the ins and outs of the exam, but it very much depends on your learning style. For Sentence correction, I exhausted the
MGMAT SC, and even then I wasn't convinced that I was hitting the mark. Usually, I would make silly errors, and some of the concepts, even though I got them correct at times, were not very clear to me. And since a question can make a huge difference on your final score, I decided not to take a chance, rather went for the
e-gmat Sentence correction course after much research. After going through the course. I am confident of acing concepts and relevant problems I have struggled with before. I did
OG soon after, and hit a rate of 89%. Also, find attached a list of idioms, a very comprehinsive list, and enables you to create your own examples.
For CR, I did PowerScore CR Bible. I must say PowerScore is indeed the best buy for CR. However, don't get into the habit of focusing on the 700 level questions. I know its tempting to just stare a 700 level question and give it a try. These strategies can quickly get you down. Build you foundations first. for the same reason, I have attached a couple of CR files. One contains the most occuring CR questions of GmatPrep and on the exam as well. It comes with relevant examples, and a bit of outline on how to approach the questions. Additionally, it is EXTREMELY improtant to review the
OG explanations of even the correct answers. That gives you an idea of how the author is approaching the question and if your strategy can be executed on the same line. I have also attached '300 GMAT question' file. with answers on a separate Excel grid. This contains a list of LSAT CR questions with explanations. One of the members posted this but it was quite mixed up to be honest. I gave it a proper shape, although I am done with first 100, I shall be doing the rest as soon as I get some extra time. Also, it is very important to get accustomed to official GMAT like questions. For that there's a document on this forum that contains GmatPrep questions. EXTREMELY HANDY i tell you. But because it doesn't contain explanations, it could be a bit of a problem, but you have forum for that. Search for the question and you will get great explanations from top people here. If you find it difficult to attach, let me know I will be happy to attach it here.
For RC, I must say Read, Read and Read. A lot of people have already mentioned this, and all agree to it because this is the only way forward on RC. Additionally, time your reading, extract as much as possible out of what you read. Create different scenarios within the passage. That enables you to point out relevant information in split of a second. And saves you a lot of time. Also, don't rush. If you;ve taken 30 seconds extra on a passage, that's ok. Believe me understanding the passage is so much more important than saving time. Because that automatically saves a lot of time if you know where the exact information is and how it is relevant. Also, once you've read the passage, give it another 15 seconds to skim though. That again provides a good overview of the passage that might come in handy later during the questions. Again, before your exam, try doing the offical RC passages. This forum has a pdf version of all Gmatprep RC questions. That enables you to get used to the pattern. If you cant find so, please let me know.
All in all, I would say Verbal is all about Understand rather than practicing. If you understand the concept, know the right way to approach the question, Verbal is all yours. Also, do not give up. Just DO NOT. People scoring above 40 are humans. Learn from them, ask as much possible. Everyone here is friendly and full of great ideas. Choose the best one, done confuse yourself. And get yourself into the habit of reading all the great 700+ stories. Believe me, that helps.
Also, I am waiting for your Kudos, if the above has been of any help.