"How to achieve a V51"

Question

Hi all! Responding to a PM (with OP permission

) in case others might benefit from my two cents! The original question is as follows: So, to address your question, I'm going to start by suggesting a bit of a mentality shift. I know this isn't what many want to hear, and can even seem counter-intuitive, but you'll put yourself in a far better position to succeed, maximize your potential, and even achieve a perfect or near-perfect score if you try to develop your approach around continual improvement rather than perfection. This will not only allow you to "enjoy the small wins" and make continued progress, it also allows you to focus on the right opportunities for improvement and remain motivated throughout the process! With that in mind, there are a few content and approach-specific pieces of advice that I would suggest for high-score seekers, and really anyone looking to maximize their potential with the verbal portion of the exam. Once you've built the foundation... focus on strategy/logic, NOT memorization! It's really easy to want to approach the GMAT... particularly question types like Sentence Correction in verbal with a "memorization-mentality," but it's absolutely essential that we keep in mind that the GMAT - even in verbal! - is intended to be a logic/higher-order thinking test - not a "memorization and regurgitation" test. So, memorization-driven strategies that may have been extremely successful for you in the past (even for other standardized tests!) may not be successful for you here, especially once you've already built the foundation. Too many students will attempt to find continued improvement by memorizing more and more idiom/diction structures, and by trying to utilize pattern-recognition as a whole to be successful in verbal. Is it potentially helpful to have an idea of the top 10 or so idiomatic structures you could see... sure. That said, continued improvement comes down to continued fine-tuning of your strategies and the emphasis you place on logic, not on memorization. So, for instance, in sentence correction, focusing on having the consistent ability to identify clear decision points (differences among answer choices that allow us to make decisions/differentiate correct answers from convincing wrong ones) - such as pronouns, differences in verb structure, and cues/indicators for comparison language can provide a great foundation for SC success, and will allow you to eliminate low-hanging-fruit that may be based on word-by-word differences. But, from there, to continue to build on that success, you'll need to become adept at recognizing when illogical meaning/modifiers/etc. can obscure the more subtle logical flaws in a sentence. After all, if a sentence isn't saying something logical - it can't be grammatically correct! So, if you tend to reach a point where you're generally able to narrow down to 2 or 3 answer choices and struggle with where to go from there, and/or if you tend to fare well on easy/medium-level questions, but see a drop-off on more challenging SC that tests the "exception to the rule" or wherein the correct answer doesn't "sound the best" or "sound the way you would have said it," - be sure you're identifying and building on the way you approach the answer choices. When an answer choice "sounds funky" - leave it be if you're unable to verbalize *why,* and focus on working from the decision points you're most comfortable with the right/wrong nature of, toward the stuff you're feeling a little shakier in. Similarly, with CR and RC, it's important to note that some of our most convincing wrong answers either: -do a great job of answering a different question than the one being asked, or -address a different conclusion/etc. than the one given. With that in mind, verbal is, at its roots - completely strategy-driven! Continued improvement comes from identifying patterns and opportunities in the errors you make, not pattern-recognition and "always"/"never" rules you develop based on the questions you encounter. (e.g. "when I see this, I always choose x" or "the longest answer is never the answer," ...and particularly the infamous expression "the GMAT prefers .") This actually brings me to my next (and likely most valuable) point... Embrace and learn from your mistakes! I know, I know... it sounds pretty cheesy, but the GMAT is just not the type of test where you can expect to maximize your potential by rolling through as many questions as you possibly can as quickly as possible. Students tend to very quickly see their scores plateau - particularly in verbal - with this process. Instead, you'll want to be sure you learn the absolute most you can from every question you encounter. (Even if it means sacrificing practice time for review time!) In order to do this, you'll want to be sure you're moving beyond the results of the test statistics that may tell you "you're missing more assumption questions," or "your accuracy is lower in parallelism," and really digging into why you struggle with the questions you miss/guess correctly. So, be sure you're saving enough time in any given practice sitting to review through explanations pretty directly after you go through the practice set, so that you're able to take a look at the approach given in the explanation, compare it back to your approach, and really specifically pinpoint where you went wrong/failed to move forward. This will give you more specific feedback on what about the question caused you to struggle, and what to pinpoint as a targeted opportunity for improvement. This should also allow you to recognize mistakes and tendencies across question types. Generally, even if you're missing questions across the board, mistakes often boil down to a few common approach-/strategy-/interpretation-driven issues. With that in mind, I would very strongly recommend picking up on error logging. Students tend to steer away from keeping track of their errors and what they've learned from them because it does take some time to complete. But, the most consistent differentiator between students I've seen who make substantial improvements and reach top-tier scores, and those who don't has been that successful students tend to really embrace error logging, learning from mistakes, and finding a way to make understanding how the testmakers are testing them interesting - even if they don't find the content all that exciting. (and let's be honest... for some of us, it may be tough to find passages about worms or the solar system all that exciting!) So - try to dig into, find patterns, and strategically address why you miss the questions you do, and you'll be well on your way to overcoming plateaus and maximizing your score potential. Are you missing RC questions because you struggled to break down the passage? or do you tend to run into trouble with inferences across verbal passages? Did you mis-identify the conclusion in CR? or were you trapped by a convincing wrong answer that sounded a lot like how you would have answered the question, even though the meaning didn't align? With that in mind, I've briefly mentioned but want to more fully address the final piece of advice I have regarding verbal success... Focus on what matters, not on what doesn't. Again, I can't stress enough that continued success in verbal tends to come from strategic improvement, not memorization/advanced "content" knowledge. This applies to each verbal subsection in a few specific ways: -In Sentence Correction - focus on the error types, not on the grammatical lingo/terminology. You won't need to know that a gerund is called a gerund to be successful on test day. Success has way more to do with recognizing common GMAT errors where you see them! -In Critical Reasoning - make sure you aren't bringing in your own outside information/assumptions in your analysis. Focus on identifying the question type at hand, and what to look for/what to look out for in each case. -In Reading Comprehension - don't try to be a subject-matter expert. In fact, I've seen prior knowledge on the topic at hand hurt students far more than it helps them. In the same vein, don't allow yourself to get thrown off by lingo/terms you don't know - instead, focus on using context, and your understanding of words that indicate the direction and function of the passage to be successful. The GMAT is not meant to be a vocabulary test, so if you don't know a term in the passage... there's a good chance you won't need to! So, in short, there is no "how to" roadmap that guarantees a perfect score in verbal, (nor should you really need one, so long as you're pairing a command of Quant with successful strategies in Verbal,) but if you follow the above suggestions, you should put yourself in a solid position to maximize your personal potential and make continual improvement in your practice performance by harnessing what the GMAT is truly trying to test us on and avoiding getting caught up in a seemingly endless list of grammatical structures to attempt to attain a perfect command of grammar in the English language... You won't need it to be successful on the GMAT, and in some ways, focusing on the wrong things can shift you away from the core skillsets the GMAT is attempting to test you on - the logic behind the questions and the strategies you take into your approach. I hope this helps - but feel free to jump in with any follow-up questions you may have for me!

There's certainly a lot more to be said about verbal strategy, so ask away!

Shrey9 · Answer

wow this is a nice read.. I can see that it's coming with a lot of honesty.
Well, that reminds me of a few technical details/nuances related to a few questions,

RC- I was reading slow (very slow when I was not improving), but now I have upped my reading speed and it has made significant difference in the time I have for other questions, but I don't see a percentage improvement, when it comes to score, per se.
how can I set up my error log for this question type ? this is a problem
On a CR or SC, I note the question and write the error/errors I made - 'I couldn't understand the parallelism/logic', 'I was looking at false decision points', 'I couldn't decide between C vs E because I didn't know that the awkward structure in C was better than E (usual one I have read, being a non-native)'.

CR- I fell for easy questions at times, and sometimes hard ones are a breeze for me. I have realised, understanding the passage stem and answering the right question, is the technique, by which the right answer pops off the screen.. But, that doesn't happen with 100% accuracy; sometimes an abysmal 50%, or somewhat satisfactory 75% is what I could reach.

SC- Certain topics such as idioms (old questions from OG, new ones don't have much idiom references I guess),and MEANING/logic too, if seen are the ones that trick my brain to think more than it should. And that extra thinking is the culprit. They say analyse-paralyse for a reason, I guess.
I happen to do well with rules, most of the times. But, I did mention the errors I get, too
I can't get a 100% accuracy on this either, but I am not even aiming for it.. i try and make sure that I get the question on the screen right, and that has made a huge difference (From V22-V37/38's or maybe even more, when I take the next test)

The process has been a long one for me, but I am sure working on it, as you said "continually improving".
if you think the questions, w.r.t each question type, I asked makes sense to you, let me know how can I improve myself on these ?

HaileyCusimano · Answer

Hi Shrey9 - happy to address some specifics! On the Reading Comprehension front - make sure you're identifying whether you're primarily missing questions based on the passage or the question type/error. Stylistically, we can do this in much the same way we would for SC or CR - "chose an inference answer that could be false," "couldn't break down the passage," though identifying targeted passages/questions is certainly a bit trickier. Are you finding common themes in missed questions? Tendencies to perform exceptionally well or poorly depending on the passage type/writing style? The more you can dig into the "why" behind missed questions, the better - that's really the main takeaway we should be looking for out of the error log!

On CR - if you're recognizing that you're making common mistakes like answering a different question than the one being asked, or misidentifying the conclusion, make sure you have a set process you take into each question. So, identify the question type and take a moment to run through the process you take into that CR question type - as it will vary question-to-question. If you can build on what to look for/look out for in each question subtype, you should be in a better position to avoid trap answer types and build on consistency - so you're not sitting at 50% accuracy in some sets, and near-perfect in others. So, for instance: When encountering an assumption question, I know I start by identifying the conclusion. I then identify the major premise(s) and identify the gap. I take a few moments to try to pre-empt potential assumptions, so that I'm able to find the meaning among the answer choices, rather than having to match each answer choice back to the argument every time. From there, I use process of elimination by testing answers to the question "does it have to be true for the argument to be valid," (aka, the assumption negation technique). You should have a process identified for each CR question you encounter, as questions often carry the same structures and convincing wrong answers (for example, a convincing wrong answer for an assumption question would be an answer that strengthens, but doesn't have to be true for the argument to make sense. - the above process would weed out such a convincing wrong answer.) On sentence correction, again, I think having a process and building on that process should help with what you mentioned. So, make sure that when you identify decision-points, you begin with those you are most confident in the right/wrong nature of first , then proceed to those you're feeling shakier in only when necessary. With that in mind, meaning and modifiers tend to "sneak" their way into more questions than most realize. Make sure you're keeping the potential for meaning- and modifier-based errors in each question you encounter, as meaning is really the umbrella under which all other errors fall. After all, something can't be grammatically correct if it doesn't mean something logical! I'd honestly suggest beginning by reading through the stem twice if necessary, once to absorb logical vs. illogical meaning, and once for split-by-split differences. This isn't necessarily a process you'll need to take into test day, but it should reinforce the importance and process of considering logical meaning as you move through - especially if, as a non-native English speaker, you find this element more challenging. (And to your point - yes - I wouldn't be as worried about idioms beyond the most common few, past that, you should be able to reason through SC using logic/reasoning, rather than brute force memorization! *particularly on more recent official/test-day questions*) Beyond the above mentioned points, using your error log and reflections to identify and address targeted opportunities for improvement using GMATClub's tag page (and reputable question sources) will ensure you're making continual progress and improving on weaknesses. So, try to key in as specifically as possible on common opportunities for improvement and address them in smaller banks of targeted questions. Just be sure you're circling back to general practice on a regular basis, as some of the challenge on many of the errors you mentioned deal with identifying the question type/topic, and this will be best assessed in general practice.

Let me know if you have any follow-up questions/comments!

Arro44 · Answer

Very interesting article, although I found it too late.

GKomoku · Answer

hello VeritasPrepHailey just wanted to say THANK YOU!

this is really amazing post, even if we heard a lot of similar information, it collects all we need to know to improve our verbal score! jTXlgqhsiS8.jpg

HaileyCusimano · Answer

Thanks GKomoku and Arro44 ! Happy to hear folks are finding this helpful

biyania · Answer

Hi Hailey,

I have been taking veritas mocks for some time now. My last last 3 scores were 710, 690, 680. My verbal is positioned between 36 and 38( though I am trying hard ) to make it 40. However my quant is at 47-49 level. I find the quant of veritas relatively tougher. Sometimes verbal as well. My aim is 730+ but realistically 710. By that equation I am kind of 20 points behind assuming veritas score is representative of actual gmat. Sometimes I feel its even tougher.

I also feel that in every test one of CR or RC goes to that bad 50% accuracy level. Its like if I have done RC good, I can almost predict CR is going to be bad. SC is ok and I can do well in that.

I am taking gmat on 23rd this month. Please suggest me what all should I do for the remaining 9 days. Thanks in advance for the words of wisdom you are going to write.

HaileyCusimano · Answer

Hi biyania ! Happy to help! So, it sounds like more than anything, you're lacking consistency in your verbal approach. Have you kept an error log or notes of any sort to identify where the back-and-forth between CR and RC is coming from? Do you find passages as a whole tend to be "hit or miss" for you? Or are there particular question structures you tend to run into more trouble with? The more you can key in on the causes of inconsistency, the more diligently you'll be able to address them. That said, if you're experiencing that level of back-and-forth, there are also likely "big picture" confidence/strategy-related elements at play. When students run into consistency issues based on their confidence levels and momentum, I encourage them to keep two specific tactics in mind in their practice leading into test day: Mirroring the test environment. Here, we'll want to consider all the outside elements that make up the test experience and try to mirror them in practice tests. So, try to take the test around the same time of day as the real thing, mimic the morning of with a hearty breakfast, the same level of caffeine you normally take in in the morning, and the same routine. There's a lot of science to back the idea that a bit of exercise before you sit for a 3.5 hour test can be a really good thing - so consider a brisk walk/jog to clear your head and relax - but definitely don't overdo it! Take a look at 3-5 "batting practice" questions on the section you plan to start with. In terms of the test environment itself - try to take a practice test or two in a less "comfortable" environment (for instance, in a public library with harsh overhead lights and a different computer screen than your home computer) and - if you're going to wear noise-cancelling headphones on test day - mirror that in your practice tests! A lack of ambient noise can be jarring at times too! Overall, the more you can know what to expect and have experienced what to expect, the more natural the transition into the real thing will be!

and... Creating structure you can control. This is much of why I suggest being diligent with those pacing benchmarks! The more we can set processes in place for the test that we are in control of, the less swayed we'll be by the things we can't control - the questions themselves! So, check in on pacing at regularly-scheduled intervals, and develop processes to "reset" when momentum isn't quite going your way so you can clear your head for the next question at hand. The more you take control of the test - the less the test takes control of you! At this point, you'll want to make the bulk of your practice over the next 9 days as test-like as possible, and if you find there are common trends where you consistently miss questions, you'll want to target the "why" behind those errors specifically. Now, precisely what that should look like depends a bit on your current strengths and weaknesses. Do you find pacing to be problematic? Do your errors tend to be more content-driven or strategy-driven? Either way, I'd suggest practice testing once or twice more (official practice tests if you have any remaining) - potentially broken up over two days for one of them if need be, and devoting the remainder of your time to reviewing and consolidating your notes, strategy for each question type, and anything else you need "as fresh as possible in the back of your head." If you plan to target specific content/question types, I'd do so in the next couple of days so that you can spend the remaining time broadening things back out and fine-tuning! So, review any recent practice/practice tests to see if you can identify any trends in why you're seeing this back-and forth, address corresponding topics and strategies, and then broaden things back out in the final week - and be sure you're putting yourself in a position to feel rested, prepared, and confident! I hope this helps - but feel free to follow up on any of those questions I posed and we can chat more about this!

TargetMBA007 · Answer

Thanks for this amazing post Hailey. Really enjoyed it.

I have a couple of questions:
1. Like someone else mentioned for some reason in CR i am a lot more comfortabl with medium difficulty questions (85%-90% accuracy) than easy (80%-85%) and my timing on easy is actually higher as well. Any ideas what could be the root cause here? I am equally focused when trying to answer both.

2. You talk about focusing on the "function" of each RC passage. Do you have any tips (or links to resources) on how understanding the functions of the various paragraphs within an RC passage?

Thanks

HaileyCusimano · Answer

Hi  TargetMBA007 ! Glad to hear you found the post helpful!

To address your questions:

1) Have you found any common themes as to "why" you run into trouble on the CR questions that you stumble on? Often when students run into trouble on the easier CR questions, it's because they've become too memorization-driven and accustomed to the specific constructions and abstraction of the "average" CR question.

So, a bit more structure should help resolve this. Make sure you take the same step-by-step process into each question and look to understand what your job for the question is and what first steps to take/what to look for and look out for. From there, just getting into the habit of reflecting on and addressing common themes on where you run into trouble on these questions should get you the rest of the way there.

2) Great timing on the function RC question! I'll actually be hosting a series of RC webinars with GMATClub over the next few weeks, and one of these videos is *specifically* about breaking down function questions! I'll link you to the announcement as soon as it's up! Feel free to check it out!

I hope this helps!

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