I Need Some Strategy's For CR - Please

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I Need Some Strategy's For CR - Please

by rickyishere » Tue Sep 28, 2010 6:10 pm
Hey all,

Can anyone please share there strategies when responding to CR questions? I have read the PowerScore CR Bible once and I do understand the concept provided. To me it boils down to three things : a) Conclusion b) Premise and c) Question stem.

However, I still have difficulty concentrating on each problem and trying to have a specific answer for each of the above three items in a 2min allotted time frame. The result is that I get 40-50 % question incorrect.

I am not aiming for a stellar GMAT score but a solid 650 will do for me and for that I need to score between 31-34 in verbal.

Thoughts/Inputs/Ideas are really and greatly appreciated.

Thanks
-Ricky
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by ashokkadam » Wed Sep 29, 2010 12:28 am
Hi rickyishere, Firstly, you have done the best thing by reading Powerscore CR Bible. If I can understand your problem, you have difficulty in identifying conclusion, premises and the question stem for any CR question, though you did understand the concepts from the book. It appears to me that you did not follow the CR Bible seriously. If that is the case, then I suggest you to go through the book again taking as much time as possible until you are clear and confident with all the concepts tested on GMAT.

See, it is not necessary that every CR question will have a conclusion. But you will always have premises which you must consider them always true for any CR question type. Premises are the statements in the question stem, except the conclusion(if present). Question stem, I believe, is the most important part of any question. That's what you have to answer ultimately.

Let me reiterate the two definitions from the book.
Conclusion: A statement or judgement that follows from one or more reasons.
Premise: A fact, proposition or statement from which a conclusion is made.

So in 2 min, you should try to understand the stimulus(premises+conclusion), understand what is asked(question stem) and zero-in to the best possible answer choice. Hope that helps.

rickyishere wrote:Hey all,

Can anyone please share there strategies when responding to CR questions? I have read the PowerScore CR Bible once and I do understand the concept provided. To me it boils down to three things : a) Conclusion b) Premise and c) Question stem.

However, I still have difficulty concentrating on each problem and trying to have a specific answer for each of the above three items in a 2min allotted time frame. The result is that I get 40-50 % question incorrect.

I am not aiming for a stellar GMAT score but a solid 650 will do for me and for that I need to score between 31-34 in verbal.

Thoughts/Inputs/Ideas are really and greatly appreciated.

Thanks
-Ricky
Force and mind are opposites; morality ends where a gun begins.

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by citystatekate » Wed Sep 29, 2010 8:09 am
Hi Rikyishere - To add to what ashokkadam has already advised, I think it is important to have a strategy for evaluating answer choices - extreme words are the first things I look for, and there's usually one answer choice that will randomly widen the scope of the discussion by applying or comparing the conclusion to other countries, populations, competitors, species, etc. Given that some CR questions are quite lengthy, it helps to cut down the number of possible answer choices as quickly as possible.

Best of luck,
Kate