Verbal Strategies Help

Hey Rodrigo,

These are the Verbal tips I can recommend:

SENTENCE CORRECTION (always check grammar, style, and meaning)

1. Grammar. If you've been studying SC for any length of time, you should already be familiar with the common grammatical errors: verb disagreement, pronoun disagreement, run-ons, mass count words, faulty comparisons, etc. This should definitely your first-stop in your SC elimination process.

2. Meaning. Most students who can't break 700 on the GMAT ignore the "sense" of a sentence. Sometimes what seems like a grammar error, will actually be correct if you consider the MEANING of the sentence. This is especially true for modification and pronouns.

3. Style. Once you've eliminated blatant grammatical errors and considered the differences in meaning among the remaining answer choices, it's time to consider the style. This is where active voice/passive voice, wordiness, redundancy, and overall clarity come into play.

CRITICAL REASONING

1. Identify the Conclusion, Evidence & Assumption(s). This should be your first step for all of the Critical Reasoning question types. The conclusion and the evidence will be explicitly stated in the passage, while the assumptions will require you to sit and consider the author's point of view. What needs to be true in order for the conclusion to be correct based on the given evidence?

2. Find the purpose of each sentence. Sometimes CR questions will ask what the function is of a part of the argument. You may see questions that ask "which role" a sentence plays. Try to place it into one category: conclusion ,or evidence? If the sentence was removed from the paragraph, what would be lacking?
3. Know the overall flow. Arguments have a tendency to follow one of two shapes: a triangle or an inverted triangle. Does the author start by making a specific conclusion and then provide more general evidence, or does he begin with observations and then get to a thesis? Use variables to describe the structure. "Y leads to X which leads to Z" is different from "Y turns into Z unless Y is prevented." Be on the lookout for "If X, then Y" relationship.
4. Paraphrase the argument. Dumb down the complexity of the argument as you read, as if you were explaining it to a child. You may want to write down a few short notes to help you. The idea is to ignore the petty details and see through to the author's main point and to the evidence he provides to support his point.

5. Choose a verb. Questions about argument structure often ask about the "methods" an author uses. You already know the flow of the overall argument, now give it an overall purpose and label as an infinitive verb. Common verbs:

to explain to dismiss to theorize to strengthen
to demonstrate to revise to assert to suggest
to interpret to reconcile to challenge to predict

6. Look for transitions. Transition words and phrases are like signposts pointing your way through the logic of the argument. They tell you what is coming next. "Specifically..." means a more detailed example will follow. "Thus," means a summation is to be expected. "While this may be true..." is a phrase that shows a concession is about to be made. Keep a study sheet of transition words and divide them into categories: Examples, Adding, Contrasting, Emphasis, Resulting In, etc. It's an ongoing process to familiarize yourself with these, but a worthwhile one.

7. Determine what is missing for Complete the Passage Questions. What does the blank represent? Often it will be either a restatement of the conclusion, or another supporting piece of evidence, but it could also be an action advocating by the author, or an example of the author's argument applied to the real world.

8. Make a prediction (and write it down)! This is the most important strategy for CR. You've got to trust that you understand the argument enough to know what should be the correct answer. Don't worry about making it perfect - just get something down on paper! If you think of your prediction but don't write it down, you risk forgetting it or twisting it to fit the answer choices.

9. Eliminate out-of-scope answers. While the correct answer may not perfectly match your prediction, the simple fact that you took the time to think critically while you came up with a prediction will help you understand the author's focus and the flow of his argument. Eliminate answer choices that would NOT follow the gist of the paragraph. Especially look for those that are outside the scope of the author's focus, a favorite CR wrong answer type!

10. Try the Negation Technique. An assumption is something that needs to be true and is required in order for the Evidence to lead to the Conclusion. If we negate the answer choices then the correct choice will weaken the argument the most. This is an excellent strategy to try for Assumption questions.

READING COMPREHENSION

1. Always look for at the thesis for the Main Idea. Just like most 5-paragraph essays, the author of a reading passage on the GMAT will typically place his thesis at the bottom of the introductory paragraph. That is where he introduces his main idea and gives his over-arching opinion. If you feel confused about the Main Idea, the thesis is a great place to look!

2. Take short notes while you read. You can't possible remember every piece of information from the passage, but note-taking as you read will help you recall much more information than memory alone.

3. Don't skim. If you only read a sentence here and there, you'll never grasp the "big picture" of the passage. It can be tempting to rush through the passage to get to the questions more quickly, but then you'll be going back through the passage inch-by-inch, searching for the answers to those questions! Read at a relatively efficient pace, but read thoroughly the first time around.

4. Write down a Prediction. For each question (except for very specific Inference questions) you should be able to come up with your own answer based on your notes and your understanding of the passage. Trust that you can come up with a reasonable approximation of the correct choice on your own. Process of elimination is a much more effective method than simply reading and re-reading each choice.

5. Remember that Details support Functions. If a question asks you why the author includes a specific detail from the passage, consider that all the details within a paragraph are generally used to support the function of that paragraph. To answer specific detail questions, sometimes you need to take a step back and ask, what's the function of the paragraph that the detail is found in?

6. Focus on structure - go back for detail. When you read the first time, think more about HOW the passage is put together, structurally. How does each paragraph fit into the author's main idea? How does the author develop his discussion of the topic? You can always go back for the nitty-gritty details, and if you worry too much about the subject matter it's easy to get overwhelmed, especially if it is especially complex or unfamiliar.

7. Look for concessions. Sometimes the author will have a very strong opinion and argue it throughout the passage, and then will unexpectedly stop and make a concession to the opposing side, seeming to weaken his argument. Don't let it throw you. Whatever the author spends the most time focused on is his true thesis - he may just have some reservations about one or more aspects of it.

8. Remember that the Tone can be neutral. The passages can sometimes be quite scholarly and removed, meaning the author does not always have a strong "voice" in the passage. If you have a hard time finding the author's opinion, it may simply be that he doesn't have one. If you see a Tone question for this type of question, look for the most general, ambivalent selection.

9. Find the Scope in the first paragraph. The scope of the passage is what ABOUT the topic interests the author. What is his focus? This is usually clear from the first 2 sentences of the passage. If you're having a hard time honing it on it, try to consider where you'd find this passage. Is it a book review? An article from a scientific journal? A newspaper editorial?

10. Rephrase confusing answer choices. If you're having a hard time making sense of a difficult set of answer options, you can always "dumb them down" by simplifying them in your own words. You have a scratch pad for a reason - use it! It will help you cut through the verbiage and see the choices for what they really imply.

Good luck!

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