Climbing Through the Difficulty Ranks in Critical Reasoning

Question

I've been studying for the GMAT for a while, and the Critical Reasoning section has proven to be a hard nut to crack. Lately I've gone all the way back to the basics, to measure my understanding of CR fundamentals. I found that I usually do well (90+% accuracy) in the easy difficulty questions, but I as move up in difficulty, I get SMOKED by the Medium/Hard questions, hitting only about 40-50% accuracy.

How does one master Critical Reasoning questions as they get more difficult? What are the subtleties that differentiate Easy/Medium/Hard CR questions? I realize that this is probably a question I need to answer for myself, but I figured I would ask it in the forum, for those who have walked this path before.

I appreciate your insights.

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi dayoajayi,

The Verbal section of the GMAT is just as predictable as the Quant section is - and as questions get 'tougher', they often involve more layered concepts or wrong answer types that are more subtle or rarer in design. The basic 'logic' behind how the CR prompts are written doesn't change though. 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) How long have you studied? 
2) What materials have you used? 
3) How have you scored on each of your CATs (including the Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores)?

Goals: 
4) What is your goal score? 
5) When are you planning to take the GMAT? 
6) When are you planning to apply to Business School? 
7) What Schools are you planning to apply to?

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

DazzleMBA · Answer

Thanks for your reply, Rich. Here are my answers to your questions:

Studies: 
1) How long have you studied? A little over a year
2) What materials have you used? I started with MGMAT resources, the Official Guide, then Magoosh, then more practice with the Question Pack from GMAC. 
3) How have you scored on each of your CATs (including the Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores)? My recent CAT scores are:
Veritas: 
6/19: 630 (Q45 / V32)
6/26: 610 (Q44 / V30)
7/27: 610 (Q41 / V33)

Exam Pack 1: 
9/25: 600 (Q44 / V28)
9/28: 610 (Q38 / V35)

Yet, I scored a surprising 550 (Q36 / V31) on the official Test in October. I suppose I poured a lot of effort into trying to increase the Verbal score, at the cost of Quant. I also have a 580 (Q42 / V28) official score from April.

Goals: 
4) What is your goal score? 700+ (Q47+, and V38+)
5) When are you planning to take the GMAT? December 10
6) When are you planning to apply to Business School? Round 2 (January - I thought I'd have obtaibed my goal GMAT score by now) 
7) What Schools are you planning to apply to? Haas, Anderson, Kenan-Flagler, McCombs, Giozueta

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi dayoajayi,

GMAC has publicly stated that the Official Score that you earn on Test Day is within +/- 30 points of actual ability. Assuming a similar 'swing' in how your CATs function, your various score results (from the Official GMAT and your CATs) show that you essentially performed the same each time (+/- a few points). Based on this data, your general ability level is likely in the high-500s. Since you've been studying for a year, you've likely developed some 'bad habits' that will take time to fix (and replace with new 'good habits').

A December 10th Test Date gives you about 4 weeks of study time remaining. With a score goal of 700+, you will need to make some significant improvements to how you handle BOTH the Quant and Verbal sections. Unfortunately, 4 weeks is likely not going to be enough time to raise a 550 to a 700+. That type of improvement will likely take at least another 2-3 months of consistent, guided study with an emphasis on learning and practicing the proper Tactics.

Have you purchased the ESR for this recent attempt at the GMAT? While the ESR doesn't provide much information, it would likely give provide some clues as to what you should be focused on. For example, a Q36 means that you made lots of little mistakes throughout the Quant section and you missed out on lots of 'strategy-based' points. The V31 means that you likely lost significant points on at least 2 of the 3 major Verbal categories (SC, RC and CR). The fact that you've self-identified CR as an area that you need to work on is good; however, there are likely a number of other areas that you also need to work on.

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

OptimusPrepJanielle · Answer

Just like any other section, you need to drill down deep to identify your pain areas. There might be a particular type of problem that is troubling you. Try to find out which one and then work towards it. Below is a way in which you can drill down deep n various sections:

SC: The questions test various concepts such as S-V agreement, modifiers, parallelism etc. Find out what troubles you.
CR: There might be certain types of questions that are troubling you. May be Assumption, may be conclusion, inference etc.
You need to find that out and then practice them
RC: This again can be drilled down into different types of questions and also different topics. See what questions and topics trouble you the most and then practice accordingly.
Quants: Again try to break the questions in topics such as Algebra, Number system (very important), Geometry, PnC etc.

As an addition, start preparing an error log and keep a note of all the mistakes you made and the lessons you learnt from the problems. This will ensure you do not make the same mistake again.

Make sure you complete all of the OG and the Verbal review and if required, you can buy the Question pack1 from mba.com

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