need help in CR

This topic has expert replies
User avatar
Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts
Posts: 6
Joined: Sat Oct 25, 2014 7:13 am

need help in CR

by G.K » Sat Oct 25, 2014 7:37 am
Hi,

I use the OG 13th edition for practice. After the 70th question (in CR) my accuracy has really decreased, close to 50% now. Prior to that, I used to get 1 or 2 questions incorrect for every 10 attempted. I am totaly confused now, were the questions before easy? are the ones after 70th hard? I tried using other resources to check this, and the result was similar to earlier results.

I gave GMAT Prep 2 a week back and got only 2 questions in incorrect in CR.

Any help would be appreciated... Is there any practice test or resource which can actually show me exactly what my level is?

Thanks!!!
Source: — Critical Reasoning |

GMAT/MBA Expert

User avatar
Elite Legendary Member
Posts: 10392
Joined: Sun Jun 23, 2013 6:38 pm
Location: Palo Alto, CA
Thanked: 2867 times
Followed by:511 members
GMAT Score:800

by [email protected] » Sat Oct 25, 2014 11:03 am
Hi G.K,

There are a couple of things to think about when it comes to the OG (and in this case, CR questions):

1) The sections in the OG are generally arranged in order of difficulty, so the deeper you get into the set of CR questions, the harder they (generally) become.

2) As you deal with tougher CR prompts, you will be more likely to face rarer (and more subtle) argument "structures" and patterns. The more common, easier logical patterns that you noticed in the earlier CR prompts won't show up on the tougher ones.

3) Since CATs and the Official GMAT are both adaptive, you won't end up seeing that many CR questions that you would consider to be tough (although you'll probably see a couple). Working through 10 tough CR prompts in a row is NOT representative of what you'll face on the GMAT, so you shouldn't get too upset by a 50% correct rate at that level.

4) You can use your CAT results to get a sense of your true abilities. It sounds like you're pretty good at CR right now, so there's probably not too much to worry about. CR typically represents a smaller set of questions on Test Day than RC or SC, so for a strong overall Verbal score, you need to make sure that you're ready to handle those larger categories too.

If you can answer a few questions, then I'll be happy to offer any additional advice that is applicable:
1) How have you been scoring on your practice CATs?
2) What GMAT resources have you been using to study?
3) What is your score goal?
4) What is your Official Test Date?

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich
Contact Rich at [email protected]
Image

User avatar
Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts
Posts: 6
Joined: Sat Oct 25, 2014 7:13 am

by G.K » Sat Oct 25, 2014 11:59 am
Hi Rich,

Thank you for the detailed explanation. :)

Here are the answers:

1) How have you been scoring on your practice CATs?

GmatPrep 1 - 530 in mid-August
Veritas Free CAT - 660 mid September
Princeton Free CAT - 690 September End.
GmatPrep 2 - 710 Last week

2) What GMAT resources have you been using to study? - OG & MGMAT guides.

3) What is your score goal? - 750

4) What is your Official Test Date? - 21 November