How far can one go in verbal

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Tega1984: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 51; Joined: Wed Oct 13, 2010 4:47 am; Thanked: 2 times; GMAT Score:560

by Tega1984 » Wed Jun 15, 2011 8:51 am

O.K. This question might sound a bit naive. I understand that there's no definite answer to it. But still, can I reach a score of 40 in verbal if I answer all the SC questions right and let's say 50% of CR and 50% of RC questions right? I already know quite well that it's the difficulty of questions that matters,but let's say if the questions are of medium level? I've got 2 weeks before my test and from verbal I'm going to concentrate only on SC,that's because I'm already quite good at it and I think that there's still some room left for progress. So that's why I'm wondering, I really don't think that I've got any energy left to improve more on other two sections.

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Source: Beat The GMAT — Sentence Correction | Wed Jun 15, 2011 8:51 am

Brian@VeritasPrep: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 1031; Joined: Thu Jul 03, 2008 1:23 pmFollowed by: 255 members; Location: Malibu, CA; Thanked: 716 times; GMAT Score:750

by Brian@VeritasPrep » Wed Jun 15, 2011 9:12 am

Hey Tega,

Interesting question. What's difficult about your strategy is that the verbal section adapts without regard for question type. So even if you're straight killing SC, if you're struggling through RC and CR you may not see enough really difficult (and therefore really "lucrative" in terms of score) SC questions. As wrong answers drag down your degree of difficulty on CR and RC, your subsequent SC questions may only be average difficulty. Or you may go on a decent run of 3-4 straight SCs and get them right, only to get a monster RC passage that drags you all the way back.

So in terms of advice, if you still have a healthy two weeks I'd do what you can to bump up your percentage on CR and RC at least a little bit. It's hard to game the system on GMAT scoring - schools want well-rounded applicants and the GMAT is designed to test for that. I'm not saying 100% that your strategy wouldn't get you a decent score, but I think it's pretty risky so I'd advise playing it straight and trying to turn at least a few CR and RC weaknesses into strengths...

Brian Galvin
GMAT Instructor
Chief Academic Officer
Veritas Prep

Looking for GMAT practice questions? Try out the Veritas Prep Question Bank. Learn More.

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Tega1984: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 51; Joined: Wed Oct 13, 2010 4:47 am; Thanked: 2 times; GMAT Score:560

by Tega1984 » Wed Jun 15, 2011 9:23 am

Hi Brian,
Thanks for the reply.

I agree with you on everything. I probably knew in the back of my head that this would be the answer. So I'll probably try to improve on CR and RC too...

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