GMAT Strategy

although i have been studying for quite some time now, it has been quite irregular. Recently, lets say for the past one month i have starting focussing more.
i keep solving questions rigorously. This is what my breakdown looks like.
quant: 27-32 out of 37
verbal: 25 to 30 out of 41
i think i can manage quant as time progresses by refining a few topics.
However, verbal bogs me down.
My verbal breakdown (in general) is:
SC: 11/15
CR: 9/13
RC: 7/13
Looking at the above breakdown, i draw the conclusion that CR and SC are not so much a problem as RC. However, i feel i could improve there as well. sometimes, i feel that i tend to loos focus.
Anyways i do not follow any of the recommended startegies for RC. Could some one please help me improve the specific areas that i lack in?

Regards,
Rahul

try to do RC under stress conditions you might be amazed by the results

SC: 11/15
CR: 9/13
RC: 7/13

Hmm....... you seem to have spread out your mistakes across all the 3 areas. I am assuming this is on GMATPrep/OG quality questions.

Some good news if your scores are evenly spread out (there is more to it than meets the eye in GMAT scoring algorithm - read about it here: https://www.crackverbal.com/blog/?p=1) then you can actually get 40 raw score in verbal (which along with a 48-50 quant raw score give you a smashing 730+) with around 8 mistakes. This means you can afford making about 4 mistakes in SC, and 2 each in SC and CR. Your aim is to keep atleast 2 areas where you are very strong (read as less than 2-3 mistakes) and 1 area where there is a scope of slipping into 4mistakes or so.

Here is my recommendation:

1. For SC your accuracy is actually pretty good. There isn't need to worry at this point.

2. For CR you need to look at what type of questions get you - assumption-based (find assumption, strengthen, weaken etc), content-based (find inference, conclusion, resolve paradox etc), or structure-based (bold-face, mimic the argument). Once you have figured where you are going wrong, you can fix it by looking up specific strategies for the same.

3. For RC, the passages have got shorter and the questions more inferential (with answer choices being very close - sometimes separated by just 1-2 words). The trick is to read the passage slowly consuming 30-40% of total time, take a breath (don't worry about time for this ) and try to summarize it in your words. Then focus on the questions for the remaining 60-70%. I think the biggest mistake people do is read the passage and try to understand EACH word while not focusing on the questions. Try doing this and am sure you will see an improvement.

Another thing about RC is that you will get about 4 passages out of which there will be 1 experimental passage, and 1 passage where you will breeze through without much difficulty (typically during the initial part of the test). You will be left with only 2 more passages where you will have to use all your patience, energy and smarts to keep your mistakes down to 1-2/passage.

HTH,

Arun

PS: As indiantiger mentioned another critical factor for RC is mental fatigue and lack of focus. By the time you hit the 30+ question mark your eye is on the watch and mind on the final score. A recipe for disaster - try to keep your mind focused on the task at hand i.e. completing the test.

Thanks Guys