What's the best way to improve SC accuracy

Question

Hello guys

Just had a mock on Gmatprep today and got a 670 (Q47 V35) however when I was reviewing my mistakes I've noticed that most of them emanate from SC. But the funny thing is, I was pretty sure of my answers on SC questions that I got wrong. 
In that respect, I'd really appreciate if you guys can give me any advice on how to do to improve my SC for 700+ questions.

Cheers

u1983 · Answer

Hello Larbi ........... I would take this as a good sign, as the experts say that SC is the easiest to improve. I am not the best in the business ..... but I would definitely 1. have a second look on the mistakes & start solving the 700-level questions. In our GC community we have a thread called Sentence Correction Question Directory Topic and Difficulty created by bb . URL : https://gmatclub.com/forum/sentence-cor ... 29750.html ....... hope this helps.

sudarshan22 · Answer

Agreeing with what u1983 has posted, I would want to add some pointers based on my personal experience. 1) The first thing that comes to my mind for mastering SC in verbal is hands-down e-gmat SC course, You can opt for e-gmat verbal course or go through below free resources mainly for SC. https://gmatclub.com/forum/e-gmat-s-all ... 44985.html P.S. It is not any paid advertisement from my side, the course is indeed very helpful

2) Always go for the meaning of the sentence, remember - meaning over any other rules. Do read the sentence completely till the end, many of the times there is one keyword at the end-non-underlined part that completely changes meaning of the sentence( Damn you GMAC, you ain't giving me that point so easy

). We have this habit of going for an option which looks/ sounds good but take a pause and try to infer what the intended meaning is before hitting the submit button. 3) Go through Ron Purewal's videos( must if you are aiming to score high in SC ) mentioned in below link: https://onedrive.live.com/?authkey=%21A ... 2A63933A42 4) Try revising SC flashcards, you can prepare them on your own or just download one that is floating on the GC already, and trust me there are plenty useful ones. Personally I found the below mentioned flashcard the best, Thank you slingfox : https://gmatclub.com/forum/slingfox-s-g ... 96483.html 5) Follow some verbal legends here on GC, go through the ways they tackle SC questions and I guess that should be it. If you follow the aforementioned pointers, you would be the next GMAT SC Spartan.

Happy learning!

ScottTargetTestPrep · Answer

Hi Larbi,

I’m glad you reached out, and I’m happy to help. For off, a 670 is a solid starting point. That being said, I’m happy to provide some advice on how to improve your Sentence Correction skills.

There are three aspects to getting correct answers to GMAT Sentence Correction questions. Those three aspects are what you know, such as grammar rules, what you see, such as violations of grammar rules and the logic of sentence structure, and what you do, such as carefully considering each answer choice in the context of the non-underlined portion of the sentence. In order to drive up your Sentence Correction score, you likely will have to work on all three of those aspects. Furthermore, the likely reason that your Sentence Correction performance has not improved is that you have not been working on all three of those aspects.

Regarding what you know, to be successful in Sentence Correction, first and foremost, you MUST know your grammar rules. Let's be clear though, GMAT Sentence Correction is not just a test of knowledge of grammar rules. The reason for learning grammar rules is so that you can determine what sentences convey and whether sentences are well-constructed. In fact, in many cases, incorrect answers to Sentence Correction questions are grammatically flawless, and your task is to use your knowledge of grammar rules to determine whether an answer choice creates a sentence that makes sense in context.

This determination of whether sentences are well-constructed and make sense is the second aspect of finding correct answers to Sentence Correction questions, what you see. Likely, the main reason that Sentence Correction has not "clicked" for you is that you have not put enough work into developing your skill in seeing what is going on in the various versions of the sentence created by the answer choices. To develop this skill, you probably have to slow way down. You won't develop this skill by spending under two minutes per question. For a while, you will have to spend time with each question, maybe even ten or fifteen minutes on one question sometimes, analyzing every answer choice until you see the details that you have to see in order to choose the correct answer.

As you go through the answer choices, consider the meaning that is conveyed by each version of the sentence. Does it make sense? Even if you can tell what the version is SUPPOSED to convey, does it really convey that meaning? Is there a verb to go with the subject? Do the pronouns in the sentence clearly refer to nouns in the sentence? By slowing way down and looking for these details, you can learn to see what you have to see in order to clearly understand which answer is correct.

There is only one correct answer to any well-written Sentence Correction question, there are clear reasons why that choice is correct and the others are not, and those reasons are not that the correct version simply "sounds right." In fact, the correct answer often sounds a little off at first. That correct answers may sound a little off is not surprising. If the correct answer were always the one that merely sounded right, then most people most of the time would get Sentence Correction questions correct, without really knowing why the wrong answers were wrong and the correct answers were correct. So, you have to go beyond choosing what "sounds right" and learn to clearly see the logical reasons why one choice is better than all of the others.

Finally, let's discuss what you have to do in order to get Sentence Correction questions correct. The main thing that you have to do is to be very careful. You have to make sure that you are truly considering the structures of sentences and the meanings conveyed, rather than allowing yourself to be tricked into choosing trap answers that sound right but don't convey meanings that make sense. You also have to make sure that you put some real energy into finding the correct answers. Finding the correct answer to a Sentence Correction question may take bouncing from choice to choice repeatedly until you start to see the differences between the choices that make all of them wrong except for one. Often, when you first look at the choices in a Sentence Correction question, only one or two seem obviously incorrect. It may take time for you to see what you have to see. Getting the right answers takes a certain work ethic. You have to be determined to see the differences and to figure out which choice is actually correct.

To improve what you do when you answer Sentence Correction questions, seek to become aware of how you are going about answering them. Are you being careful and looking for logic and details, or are you quickly eliminating choices that sound a little off and then choosing the best of the rest? If you choose an incorrect answer, consider what you did that resulted in your arriving at that answer and what you could do differently to arrive at correct answers more consistently. Practice Sentence Correction by seeing how many questions you can get correct in a row. If you break your streak by missing one, consider what you could have done differently that would have resulted in your extending your streak. After learning a particular Sentence Correction topic, engage in focused practice with 30 questions or more that involve that topic. If you are unable to train in such a way, then perhaps you need to consider adjusting your study routine.

Lastly, you may find my Poets & Quants article helpful regarding  how to improve in GMAT verbal .

If you have any further questions, please reach out.

CrackkkGMAT · Answer

Hi Larby,

Please let me know if you get some solid strategy to improve the SC part of Verbal. I also face the same issue. I did almost all the questions in OG. But when it comes to the test, I am not able to score.

Thanks in advance.

Posted from my mobile device

GMATNinja · Answer

Several super-smart people have already loaded you up with good advice, so I'll keep this short.

If you thought that you did much better on SC than you actually did, I can pretty much guarantee that you're mostly using your ear on SC, and that's a huge no-no, as Scott mentioned. The main reason why SC is hard is that sentences that sound right are actually wrong, and sentences that sound horrible are often the right answer. More than that issue -- and on ways to improve your overall technique --  here .

And for whatever it's worth: if SC is your only real problem on verbal, you're in GREAT shape, since it's much easier to improve on SC than on CR and RC. If you're disciplined in your approach to SC, you'll absolutely get better at it over time. So there's plenty of reason to be optimistic.

Have fun studying!

egmat · Answer

Hi  Larbi ,

I would recommend that you review all the errors that you have made to identify if there is some pattern in the mistakes which can be improved upon. I hope you take intended meaning of the sentence into consideration while solving SC questions. I think you will find this article on   5 strategies that GMAT uses to Distort meaning   helpful in understanding the crucial role that meaning-based approach plays in acing GMAT SC.

Sign-up for the   e-GMAT Free Trial   to know more about the meaning-based approach to solve SC.

Hope this helps!

Regards,
Aditee

EducationAisle · Answer

Hi  Larbi ! Since you mention SC as your specific area of concern, 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.

See  here  how Mohit, who scored 750 on GMAT, 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 .

What's the best way to improve SC accuracy

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