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How to get to 99th percentile on Verbal

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How to get to 99th percentile on Verbal

by Avinash_Tyagi » Tue Jul 19, 2011 4:37 pm
Hey guys, I need help on my verbal, Quant is coming along nicely for me, I've always been good at math so I expect to get very high on the Quant section, but verbal is a mess for me, I took a Knewton diagnostic a few weeks back and got a horrible 36 on it.

I have 18 weeks left to review, so I have time, but I need help on getting my verbal score up. Ideally I want to get into the 99th percentile.

Can anyone help with me plan my review for the verbal section?
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by vineeshp » Tue Jul 19, 2011 7:30 pm
The right books. After OG, you can look at the following.

SC = MGMAT SC + Aristotle Practice .

CR = Powerscore Bible + LSAT CR practice (Aristotle free dwld)

RC = Lot of practice including RC 99.

:)
Vineesh,
Just telling you what I know and think. I am not the expert. :)
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by Avinash_Tyagi » Tue Jul 19, 2011 7:59 pm
I don't think the Study guides/books are the issue (I have the Manhattan books, the three books from the GMAC, including the OG, as well as the Powerscore books, and a couple of others from Kaplan and REA, and I'm also taking a Knewton test prep course), so I am well covered in that regard.

My issue is that while I've been doing the review and the practice problems for a few weeks now, I'm still having a great deal of problem with the verbal, is this something that is just going to require me to do a lot more review/practice problems before I get better (I have plenty of time if that's the case, so no worries), or do I need to change up the way I am approaching the Verbal review in order to make the necessary gains?

I wanted to ask now, so that if there is something I need to adjust, I have plenty of time to do so
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by vineeshp » Wed Jul 20, 2011 12:23 am
Too many books also never helps.

Id recommend you stick to the leading books in each section. With SC, it is a matter of knowing each of those SC rules and applying them instinctively. With CR, it is a matter of knowing which answer exactly works and again, seems like it can come only with practice. Thats why I recommended the practice material. Just solving a lot of problems without understanding the rules also does not help. So it has to be an efficient approach of practice with understanding what each question tested. With 18 weeks on your side, you are at an advantage. Logging your errors also helps tremendously.
Vineesh,
Just telling you what I know and think. I am not the expert. :)
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by Dan@VinciaPrep » Wed Jul 20, 2011 12:33 am
Hello Hello
Perhaps the biggest key to the verbal section is the sentence correction section. On average you should be spending 1 minute and 10 seconds per SC question. This allows you to spend a bit more time on the RC and CR which could make a big difference. The next time you take a practice test check out how long you spent on the wrong answers on SC. Usually people spend way over the 1min 10 sec on questions they get wrong, but spend about the right amount of time on SC questions that they get right. This tells you that if you think it's going to take you too long just move on. Most of the time when a SC question takes to long it's because you didn't see what they were testing so you end up missing the question even after spending a fair amount of time on it.

For the RC section- practice. I've seen lots of people that didn't work on the RC section because they didn't think they could improve, but if you really work on the RC section a bit everyday you'll see progress.

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by kushagra09 » Sun Jul 24, 2011 6:35 am
Dear fellow members and experts,

I needed a huge help, I am writing GMAT on 11th August and that leaves me with 2 weeks of prep time. I have not been faring well in the CR section and needed some extra practice material other than OG and Verbal review which I have already completed but has not significantly helped to improve my accuracy in the section. I tried to buy the LSAT official papers but the minimum delivery time in India for the book is 15 days which has truly disheartened me. I will be highly obliged and greatly indebted if you can provide me links of difficult CR questions (LSAT) or some worthwhile download material which have explanations to help me master the section. I really don't have time and will appreciate a prompt reply.

Thanks in advance.

Cheers!
Kushagra
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by Dan@VinciaPrep » Mon Jul 25, 2011 12:28 am
Hello,
I'm not sure I know of any right off the top of my head that you can get online. However, how is your SC speed and accuracy? If your spending longer than 1 minute and 10 seconds and getting less than 85% maybe you should work more on that section since I think it's easier to improve in a short period of time. I think it's a good idea to work on CR as well during these last couple weeks if you can, but if you can't I'd work on bringing your SC time down so you can spend more time on CR on the day of the test. Also, how many practice tests have you taken? Usually it's a good idea to load up on practice tests when you're at this stage of the game so you can build up your stamina more and get your timing down.

Cheers
-Dan
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