MartyTargetTestPrep wrote:
Recently, someone who had been preparing for the GMAT for a while came to me because he was far from satisfied with his GMAT verbal scores and wanted me to help him figure out what was going on.
So, we met and went over a bunch of verbal questions, and both of us could tell that his understanding of the concepts was good, and that his reasoning skills were strong. So, the question became that of why on Earth was he still scoring so low on verbal, and the answer is pretty interesting.
As we worked together, it became apparent that, while his knowledge and reasoning skills were strong, his approach lacked precision. For instance, when he would answer a CR question, he would basically, but not precisely, understand the passage. Then he would basically, but not precisely, identify the conclusion. Then, you guessed it, he would basically, but not precisely, identify what the question was asking, and finally, in going through the answer choices, he was not all that careful. As a result, often, by the time he went to choose a choice, he would be way off course and end up choosing the wrong one, even though sometimes his lack of precision in taking any one step was barely noticeable. In fact, at times, it was kind of hard to wrap our minds around the idea that these minor little issues were really what was holding down his accuracy and score, but the more we worked, the more it became apparent that they were.
So, what was going on was that, while he had learned a lot through preparing for months, all that learning wasn't paying off, because lack of precision was sabotaging his process. In fact, even though, in some ways, he was close to being able to totally rock GMAT verbal, he was considering giving up on the GMAT.
The story has a happy ending though. Just by deciding to be more precise every step of the way when answering verbal, and quant, questions, he almost immediately sent his practice accuracy skyrocketing, and he's looking good to rock the GMAT next time he takes it.
So, you can see how important precision is when it comes to GMAT verbal. In fact, in all areas of the GMAT, precision is one of the most important ingredients for success. So, for best results in GMAT verbal, make precision a priority.
Hi
MartyTargetTestPrep - what you do you mean by precision ?