Difficulty with CR

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rohit9359: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 66; Joined: Sat Jan 03, 2009 2:05 pm

by rohit9359 » Sun Mar 22, 2009 9:36 am

Hello

I am having trouble with the CR section of GMAT. Especially with the Inference and Conclusion type of questions.

Could someone please recommend book/material/guidance to cement the basics?

Thanks,
Rohit.

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Source: Beat The GMAT — GMAT Strategy | Sun Mar 22, 2009 9:36 am

prasantnaidu: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 31; Joined: Tue Aug 19, 2008 11:06 pm; Location: India; Thanked: 1 times; GMAT Score:440

princeton review

by prasantnaidu » Sun Mar 22, 2009 11:18 am

Hi,

My experience says that Princeton review helps you in understanding the basics. So have a look and you can do the practice from the OG.
Hope that helps,

Keep Rocking,
PN

You don't win the Silver, You lose the GOLD.

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pJackson79: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 85; Joined: Sat Mar 14, 2009 11:44 pm; Thanked: 1 times

by pJackson79 » Wed Mar 25, 2009 12:24 am

I thought that the Critical Reasoning Bible from PowerScore was an amazing asset. Do be aware, though, that it is very similar to the PowerScore Logical Reasoning Bible, which is a LSAT prep material.

Last edited by pJackson79 on Tue Mar 31, 2009 4:14 pm, edited 1 time in total.

P. Jackson
Vocabulary Words & GMAT Practice Questions

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Vitalina: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 116; Joined: Tue Dec 09, 2008 12:30 pmFollowed by: 2 members; Thanked: 3 times; GMAT Score:670

by Vitalina » Wed Mar 25, 2009 3:27 am

I have the same problem. Or actuall, my scores on CR fluctuate dramatically. I had a couple of tests where I had NO mistakes in CR at all, and some tests with 50-60 percentage hit. It's really confusing when you are not performing consistently.

Has anyone else had the same problem?

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kartik1979: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 115; Joined: Thu Nov 27, 2008 3:17 am; Thanked: 1 times

CR

by kartik1979 » Wed Mar 25, 2009 11:11 am

I agree , I too had lot of probelsm with Cr , there were days when i used to do CR and get all questions right and others where my hit rate was pathetic

Cr requires lot of concentration, . In OG the CR questions are much simpler as they test you on single subject and dont mix various themes into one question , kaplan 800 was much harder

But i would suggest powerprep of course

if you have much time in your hands

before you attempt OG or any other book get your basic fundas right

go through powerprep

understand how an assumption question is different from weaken and how to attack various questions

learn of course denial test and fact test used in assumptions and conclusion ( Helps a lot)

do OG and then later do kaplan 800 or 1000 CR and understand which Cr type you are getting wrong and concentrate on it

with time u will get better

In CR` mY POINTERS WOULD BE

Understand the question - first and for all

without it you can get no question right

in questions or answers when complicated wording are used like " not less likely " etc ignoe the not or negation and undestand the sentence and then negate it it makes life simpler

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syr: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 38; Joined: Fri Feb 20, 2009 8:45 am; Thanked: 5 times

CR -- same problem with me

by syr » Fri Mar 27, 2009 1:51 pm

Hi Guys,

I have the exact same problem. In CR, there are times when I am very confident and I get most right. But then there are times that whatsoever I do I go wrong.

I know that my GMAT score was hit because of my CR. The subjects were varied and I took time to understand the question because the domains of the questions were new to me.

I have been trying to figure out how to improve, because I always thought I was good at CR or atleast I got the answers from OG right.

I have recently got the CR Bible from Powerscore. And I am hoping to improve my CR skills.

Just wanted to share my thoughts. Any suggestions on improving are most welcome. (required I should say).

Thanks,
syr

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henryhenry: Junior | Next Rank: 30 Posts; Posts: 24; Joined: Sat Jan 31, 2009 4:21 pm

Re: CR -- same problem with me

by henryhenry » Fri Mar 27, 2009 3:39 pm

syr wrote:Hi Guys,

I have the exact same problem. In CR, there are times when I am very confident and I get most right. But then there are times that whatsoever I do I go wrong.

I know that my GMAT score was hit because of my CR. The subjects were varied and I took time to understand the question because the domains of the questions were new to me.

I have been trying to figure out how to improve, because I always thought I was good at CR or atleast I got the answers from OG right.

I have recently got the CR Bible from Powerscore. And I am hoping to improve my CR skills.

Just wanted to share my thoughts. Any suggestions on improving are most welcome. (required I should say).

Thanks,
syr

ok. Here are what worked for me.You can try these and see what happens.

Take a look at the question stem,when the question asks you to weaken an argument,one of the answer choices will strenghten the arguement.Wrong choice designed to mislead if you don't organize your thought.

One of the answer choices will try to repeat what is in the evidence without addressing the conclusion/question.Another misleading answer choice.
One of the answer choices will deviate from the scope of the question to address something similar or related to the evidence or conclusion. Another misleading answer choice.
I call all these misleading answer choices as "bird of prey"

CR and RC are not that difficult.It is the way standardized test-writers write these choices that complicates things. Test-writers prey on test-takers unconscious mistake.If you dont agree with me,take a look at reading comprehension in the official exams of SAT,ACT,MCAT,GRE,LSAT,GMAT.You will see that the format is the same. All those exams have reading comprehension in common.

Further,analysis the last 75 questions in CR of OG 11 or OG 12 and you will see what i m talking about.

These are just my observations and tips.

By the way,NEVER use 1000CR or any other questions that do not have clear explanation.It is a recipe for disaster.

I wish you well.

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pJackson79: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 85; Joined: Sat Mar 14, 2009 11:44 pm; Thanked: 1 times

Re: CR -- same problem with me

by pJackson79 » Fri Mar 27, 2009 5:33 pm

syr wrote:Hi Guys,

I have the exact same problem. In CR, there are times when I am very confident and I get most right. But then there are times that whatsoever I do I go wrong.

I know that my GMAT score was hit because of my CR. The subjects were varied and I took time to understand the question because the domains of the questions were new to me.

I have been trying to figure out how to improve, because I always thought I was good at CR or atleast I got the answers from OG right.

I have recently got the CR Bible from Powerscore. And I am hoping to improve my CR skills.

Just wanted to share my thoughts. Any suggestions on improving are most welcome. (required I should say).

Thanks,
syr

One more point that I thought I should share. A friend of mine got a near perfect score on the verbal section and we were conversing about different strategies for CR. He told me that he barely studied but his trick was to determine the main point of the argument and then look for all the irrelevant answers. After those had been crossed off (i.e., the answers that addressed a different topic), there were only 1 or 2 answers left. I have begun doing this and it has helped a lot.

P. Jackson
Vocabulary Words & GMAT Practice Questions

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