Struggling with the SC and CR - 700 Level

Question

Hi,

I have my exam scheduled in about a week from now, and I can't seem to get the 700-level CR questions specially and SC Questions right.

I have been studying for about 6 months now. I used E-gmat for Verbal and Veritas Prep Videos along with Gmat Club book for Quant.

I scored 640 on my Gmat Prep 1 (This was taken 1.5 months back)
I worked really hard and in the right direction after.
690 on my Gmat Prep 2 (Taken 2 weeks before, The Section Break was long, as I was facing internet issues)
640 again in my Gmat prep 3 (This was taken last week, taken in testing conditions)

My Quant ranges from 48-49. While my Verbal dipped from 35 to 29. On the last test I observed I only got 5 questions wrong out of the first 25, and then got 7 wrong of remaining 11. I am thinking its the time, because I really panicked at the 25th Question. If you think its time too, please help.

On reviewing my questions I observed, it is not something I don't know or I lack the basics, I just seem to miss the answer choice and automatically realise on seeing the correct answer.

I am aiming to score 700 and I have done everything I could think of. I have one test left from my exam pack and one week. So if anyone could help me with this, that will be really great.

Thanks!

MartyTargetTestPrep · Answer

Hi pulkitsahani.

There are multiple aspects of correctly answering verbal questions.

One of them is knowing basics, such as rules or what you have to do when you see a certain type of CR question.

Another aspect is being skilled at arriving at correct answers.

While the first aspect is clearly part of the second aspect, knowing basics is clearly not sufficient to get you to the correct answers to more challenging verbal questions. So, what else is necessary?

There are two things that you have to further develop.

- Skill in clearly defining why choices are incorrect or correct

If, when you go back to a question, you immediately see why the correct answer that you didn't choose is correct, it must be the case that, when you answered the question you didn't have a sufficiently clear reason for choosing the choice you chose. So, to score higher in verbal, you have to further develop your skill in applying the basic concepts that you understand to clearly defining why choices are incorrect or correct.

Interestingly, your becoming better at clearly defining why choices are incorrect or correct will not only result in your choosing correct answers more consistently but also will result in your speeding up, because it will result in a reduction of the amount of time you spend circling between choices because you haven't defined the differences between them.

- Execution skills

Another key aspect of correctly answering verbal questions is execution. So, you have to do things like making sure that you consider the non-underlined portions of sentences, correctly identifying conclusions, and making sure that you read passages and choices in their entirety, so that you don't get tripped up by details that you had missed. You can know all about how to answer verbal questions, but you will answer them correctly consistently only if you execute well.

So, here's my suggestion. To develop these aspects of your verbal skills over the next week, toward the beginning of the week, answer many verbal questions very slowly. Take your time carefully define why every incorrect choice is incorrect and every correct choice is correct. At the beginning of the week, you may spend ten minutes or more per question. You have to get used to applying what you know to clearly defining why choices are incorrect or correct.

As you do this, seek to answer basically all the questions correctly. You have to develop execution skills. What you know is not enough to get you a high score in verbal. What you do is very important as well. So, practice slowly and seek to execute flawlessly. If you miss a question, consider what about your execution could have been better.

Then, toward the end of the week, start doing some timed practice, to get into the mode of using in timed conditions the skills you have developed.

Whether a week will be sufficient time for you to develop the verbal skills you need in order to hit your score goal is not clear. Further, it may be that, while you get the basics, you need to understand more sophisticated verbal concepts in order to correctly answer 700 level questions more consistently.

At the same time, using slow, careful practice to develop key aspects of your verbal skill set is key to scoring high in verbal, and, by taking this approach over the next week, you may develop your verbal skills sufficiently for hitting your goal.

DwightSchrute · Answer

Thank you! I will apply what you suggested and let you know. Thank you!

Mo2men · Answer

Hi  pulkitsahani

Marty has given invaluable advice. You need to know why incorrect answers are incorrect. This process called 'reflection' I do it in all Verbal questions. You will find effective.

Good luck

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi pulkitsahani,

Assuming that you took these practice CATs in a realistic fashion - and that your current 'ability level' is right around 640 - you would likely need more than 1 week of additional study to get to the point that you could consistently score 700+ (the 690 score is questionable, since you noted that you had a long break between sections). As such, you might want to consider pushing back your Test Day. If it's at least 7 full days before your Official Test Date, then you can pay a rescheduling fee (which varies by location, but is currently $60 in US), and then continue to study.

Before I can offer you the specific advice that you’re looking for, it would help if you could provide a bit more information on how you've been studying and your goals:

Studies:
1) What type of study routine have you followed? How many hours have you typically studied each week?
2) How have you scored on EACH of your CATs (including the Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores for EACH)?
3) On this recent CAT, how many Verbal questions did you have to 'rush' through to finish on time?

Goals:
4) When is your exact Test Date?
5) When are you planning to apply to Business School?
6) What Schools are you planning to apply to?

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

DwightSchrute · Answer

Hi Rich,

I really can't push back my date, I have a lot of work commitments which I have been avoiding for the past 3-4 months because of the test, and at some point I need to address them.

Please find below my answers.

Studies:
1) What type of study routine have you followed? How many hours have you typically studied each week?
I study almost at an average of 4-5 hours on weekdays as well as weekends (Everyday), my work has been very flexible as I got rid of a few responsibilities. Few days, and genuinely few I might not be able to put in these many hours, but I make sure I at least put an hour or 1.5.

2) How have you scored on EACH of your CATs (including the Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores for EACH)?
My Quant has been very consistent at Q48-Q49 on each of my CATs. My Verbal at first was V29 on the first test, then it went up to V35 and then again down to V29.

3) On this recent CAT, how many Verbal questions did you have to 'rush' through to finish on time?
I believe at the 25th Question I realised I am running behind and thats when the rush kicked in, I stopped actually investing in the questions and started skimming through those remaining 11 out of which I got 7 wrong. And for the first 25 questions I only managed about 5 wrong.

Goals:
4) When is your exact Test Date?
My exact date is 15th June, 2019.

5) When are you planning to apply to Business School?
I was planning to apply for Class of '20.

6) What Schools are you planning to apply to?
I was planning to apply to at least the top 20-30 schools.

Now, I don't know if I have studied wrong or practiced in a wrong way.

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi pulkitsahani,

With less than 1 week before Test Day, you might be tempted to try to 'cram' in a lot of study time - but that type of approach rarely leads to great results on the GMAT (and you would run the risk of 'burning out' a bit before Test Day, which is something that we want to avoid). You could take that last CAT if you like, but you should plan to do so earlier in this week - and not too close to next Saturday). You'd be better served over these next 5-6 days by doing some light review/practice and getting some extra rest so that you can go into Test Day calm, clear-headed and ready to work.

Your immediate issues are clearly in the Verbal section (and are likely based on how you take notes). What 'steps' do you go through when dealing with a typical RC, SC and CR prompt? How often do you find yourself narrowing the answers down to 2 choices and then "guessing"?

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

DwightSchrute · Answer

Hi Rich,

Thank you for looking into my concerns.

With SC, I first try to account for the Subject Verb Pairs, then work my way to modifiers and then pronouns. And by notes if you mean, writing things down on paper, I don’t do that in SC. With SC, I very rarely find myself stuck between 2 choices, and usually the error is in the idiom, wrong comparison, or silly ignorance of the right pronoun.

With my CR, very often I find myself stuck between choices, and i believe 10% out of the time the answer is neither of my narrowed choices. 
I take my notes by usually writing down the conclusion, then the falsification scenario and then the premise and work my way through. 
For the 600 level questions, almost all times I usually have an idea what I am looking for in the answer choices. 
The 700 level or the “tough” ones is the case. I am either stuck between 2 choices out of which I choose the wrong one or the complete opposite happens, the answer is neither of my narrowed down choices.

Posted from my mobile device

DwightSchrute · Answer

Hi Rich,

One quick follow up thought I have. If I do
push back my dates and I also push the year of applying, how much more time would I need? And what should I do differently?

I really want to get this right, I have been doing this for 6-7 months now, and if I have to spend some more time, I am going to go all the way. But I have come too far now to settle.
But I really don’t know what to do different.

Posted from my mobile device

MartyTargetTestPrep · Answer

Fwiw, I guess you will catch most issues by doing what you are doing, especially as you are considering modifiers. At the same time, what you are describing does not sound quite holistic enough for correctly answering harder questions. If the flaw in a sentence is based not on a specific part of a sentence but more on the entirety of the sentence, your looking at parts of the sentence rather than at the sentence as a whole might not result in your catching it.

Just a vibe I'm getting from what you said ...

What you are saying tends to confirm that you are not defining why you choose or eliminate choices sufficiently clearly.

Yes, some 600 level questions are gettable via prethinking. Correctly answering a 700 level question takes more sophisticated analysis. You have to clearly see the direction of the effects of the statements in the choices, and you have to make connections that often involve multiple logical steps.

Overall, from what you are saying, it seems that you have to adjust your approaches to answering the questions and your approaches to training, and that your doing so and really getting verbal down could take anywhere from one month to a few months.

DwightSchrute · Answer

Hi Marty thank you for your response.

This may a sound a little too weird, but I am really lost, although I really get what you mean, but I really don’t know how to execute it. I have exhausted all my materials and I currently don’t have a path to follow, I am not quiet sure if I am explaining myself here in the best possible manner. But I’ll try... everything you said completely made sense to me and I understand, the problem is I don’t know how to approach it.

Posted from my mobile device

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