How do I improve my meaning skill for GMAT SC?

Question

I often notice that most of my errors in hard questions is because of errors in understanding meaning in complicated sentences. How do I work on this?

juri01m · Answer

Hey!

I would recommend you to exercise with the following method:

1) Pick SC questions on the lower-spectrum of difficulty (maybe sub-600). 
2) Read the original sentence (option A) in its entirety. IN FULL.
3) Look away, do not read any other option, just close your PC or your book. 
4) Try to speak aloud to yourself and explain what the ORIGINAL SENTENCE (Option A) is trying to say. Try to figure out the meaning of the sentence.

4.1) YOU UNDERSTAND THE MEANING OF THE SENTENCE 
==> Go check the answer to the question, and see if the meaning of the solution resonates with the meaning implied in Option A. 
Example: if you think that the meaning in Option A (ORIGINAL SENTENCE) makes sense, then go see if the answer (which could be Option A itself) resonates in meaning to Option A

4.2) YOU DO NOT UNDERSTAND THE MEANING OF THE SENTENCE
==> Go check the answer to the question --> Was there a meaning issue?
4.2.1) There was a meaning issue in Option A ==> Good, you're getting better at grasping *meaning* 
4.2.2) There was no meaning issue in Option A ==> You did not understand the meaning in Option A (this does not mean there was no meaning in Option A, it means you failed to understand the meaning in Option A) --> Read the solution to understand what Option A (the ORIGINAL SENTENCE) was trying to say, and readjust. Maybe even bookmark the question to revise it when you feel you've made some solid progress.

Hope it helps!

Sarmadk5 · Answer

Any book recommendation for SC? How is Kaplan prep and Kaplan Verbal Work book?

pintukr · Answer

The most important thing : Original meaning should be preserved, while evaluating the options.

Sarmadk5 · Answer

having appropriate knowledge of tenses , grammar and vocabulary. Above all comprehension skills- through regular reading you can improve Meaning skills. Meaning is to comprehending what writer is conveying to reader.

MartyTargetTestPrep · Answer

Some key things you can do to improve your handling of meaning in SC questions are

- Learn to read SC sentence versions differently from how you normally read.

Normally, we read to understand what the write meant regardless of whether the writer's sentences effectively convey what the writer meant to say. In GMAT SC, on the other hand, we aren't satisfied with knowing what the writer meant to say. Instead, we read the sentences to understand what they say AS WRITTEN. So, when you read an SC sentence version, seek to understand what the sentence actually says, as opposed to what the writer likely meant to say.

- Do NOT emphasize the meaning of the original version of the sentence.

The original version is not special.

- Look for the sentence version that most effectively conveys a meaning that makes sense.

Notice that there are two criteria (1) most effective (2) makes sense.

- Practice untimed to develop skill.

While you're learning, you may notice that a sentence version seems off but not be clear regarding what exactly is wrong with it. In such a case, stick with the sentence version and the question until you can articulate exactly what's wrong. Carefully analyzing a question in this way may take 15 minutes or more. Spend the time. By spending the time, you'll develop strong skills that will eventually enable you to see what's going on quickly.

EducationAisle · Answer

Hi  Sarmadk5 , since you are asking for recommendation, thought I would mention that our sentence correction book  Sentence Correction Nirvana  is perhaps the  only  book that offers a score improvement  guarantee , and is especially designed for  non-native  speakers.

After reading the book  twice  (yes! it's an  academic  book, and so must be read twice in all seriousness, to  reinforce  the concepts), you will start looking forward to solving SC questions!

The book is available on  Flipkart  and  Amazon.in . You might want to refer to these sites, to also read testimonials of how readers have benefited.

You can als go thru  this post  on how  Soubhik ,  who scored  V51  (overall score 780) , vouches for our book.

If you want to  sample  a chapter before deciding to go ahead with our book, please PM me your mail-id (along with the chapter that you would like to sample) and I will be happy to send that chapter to you by mail. In addition, the entire Grammar section of the book is also available for free preview at  pothi .

EducationAisle · Answer

Well, since we are talking about SC here, it might not be inappropriate for me to point out that there is a subject-verb disagreement in your sentence above.

Since "most of my errors" is the subject here (plural), the correct verb should be " are  because.." and not " is  because".

How do I improve my meaning skill for GMAT SC?

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