How to improve SC after MGMAT??? Need help!!

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trzask.m: Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts; Posts: 5; Joined: Wed Sep 02, 2009 5:35 pm

by trzask.m » Tue Apr 13, 2010 3:53 pm

Hey everyone I have visited this site many times during my GMAT prep and it has been a great help. I really need to improve my sentence correction skills in order to dominate the GMAT Verbal section. I just took Powerprep CAT#1 yesterday with a verbal score of 42, which is in line with most of my other CATs. I am happy with this score but I am also very frustrated with it. On the powerprep CAT I got no RC questions wrong and only one CR question wrong, the rest of my errors (about 6) came in SC (similar to my other CATs. I am a native english speaker, and I really feel that if I can improve on SC I can acheive a verbal score of 45 or higher. I have done everything that has been suggested in the forums, I have went through MGMAT SC, I have made flashcards, I have been through OG 11, 12 and OG Verbal, I have made an error log and reviewed my errors as well as my correct answers, now I really do not know what else to do. I am working through the latter half of OG verbal right now and still get around 4 incorrect in a set of 20 everytime. I know the rules pretty well, but I am really struggling at applying them to the question, especially on very long SC's. I just get overwelmed by the question and end up taking too much time doing it. I can usually pound out RC and CR questions in 1 minute where SC's I take 1:45 to 2:00 minutes and still end up getting them wrong. Does anyone have any tips that would help me break down the sentence and find the errors? Any new suggestions on how to improve in SC in general would also be extremely appreciated. BTG has been a great resource for me and I know that with some insight I can destroy the verbal section. Please I am so desperate and so frustrated!!! AHHHH!!! HaHa. Thanks in advance for the suggestions.

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Source: Beat The GMAT — Verbal Reasoning | Tue Apr 13, 2010 3:53 pm

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arpita@gurome: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 91; Joined: Fri Apr 02, 2010 11:05 pmFollowed by: 42 members; Location: Mumbai, India; Thanked: 33 times

by arpita@gurome » Thu Apr 15, 2010 10:24 am

Hi,

Have you analyzed what kind of questions you get wrong? For example are they the ones with Parallel Construction Errors, Modifier Errors, Pronoun Errors, etc. Or are they just the ones that are plain long. The best way to solve long sentence correction SCs is to mentally strike out the prepositional phrases that usually make the sentence long. Here is an example:

There is now a powerful new recording of "Mass" by the Baltimore Symphony, under the direction of Marin Alsop; the recording, one of many that have followed since Bernstein first wrote it in response to a request by Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis in 1971, was made at the time of 2008 Bernstein celebration.

This 53-word sentence is long and confusing. The main point of the sentence is that "Mass" was written by composer Bernstein in 1971 and was recorded by Baltimore Symphony in 2008. The first clause is not underlined and so can be ignored in looking for an error. The sentence now simply becomes:

The recording, one of many that have followed since Bernstein first wrote it in response to a request by Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis in 1971 , was made at the time of 2008 Bernstein celebration.

An error that should become apparent is the use of the pronoun "it". It is unclear what this pronoun refers to. As stated, the pronoun appears to refer to the recording. But Bernstein did not "write" the recording in 1973; he wrote the composition "Mass" in 1973. That means the pronoun "it" refers to the composition. To rectify the error, one could restate the underlined portion as follows:

The recording, one of many that have followed since Bernstein first wrote the composition in response to a request by Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis in 1971, was made at the time of 2008 Bernstein celebration.

Continued in the next post...

Arpita Sen
Verbal and Admissions Expert
Gurome, Inc.
www.GuroMe.com
Win a free MBA essay review: https://bit.ly/toZumc

1-800-566-4043
+91 99201 32411 (India)

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GMAT/MBA Expert

arpita@gurome: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 91; Joined: Fri Apr 02, 2010 11:05 pmFollowed by: 42 members; Location: Mumbai, India; Thanked: 33 times

by arpita@gurome » Thu Apr 15, 2010 10:32 am

Eliminate prepositional phrases

Prepositional phrases are modifiers that begin with a preposition. They provide additional detail to the sentence and can often be eliminated without substantial loss of information and with remarkable improvement in clarity and ease of comprehension. For instance, the already simplified sentence above could have been simplified further by eliminating prepositional phrases.

The recording, one of many that have followed since Bernstein first wrote it in response to a request by Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis in 1971, was made at the time of 2008 Bernstein celebration.

The highlighted prepositional phrases - in response; to a request; by Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis; in 1971 - can be eliminated to make the sentence easier to understand.

The recording, one of many that have followed since Bernstein first wrote it, was made at the time of 2008 Bernstein celebration.

The additional simplification brings to sharp relief the error in using "it". The correct answer is a replacement of the pronoun with "the composition" as earlier.
The recording, one of many that have followed since Bernstein first wrote the composition, was made at the time of 2008 Bernstein celebration.

Arpita Sen
Verbal and Admissions Expert
Gurome, Inc.
www.GuroMe.com
Win a free MBA essay review: https://bit.ly/toZumc

1-800-566-4043
+91 99201 32411 (India)

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frank1: Legendary Member; Posts: 537; Joined: Fri Jan 22, 2010 10:06 pmFollowed by: 1 member; Thanked: 14 times

by frank1 » Sat Apr 24, 2010 1:25 am

nice tips...
seems like it will be useful for reframing the mindset.

Any way ,these whole process+reading these 4 longs answer is to be done in 1.83 minutes which i find always frightening....(which causes problem in many situations....i cannot say it is illogical as i know i have to cope with it)

In sentence,
The recording, one of many that have followed since Bernstein first wrote the composition in response to a request by Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis in 1971, was made at the time of 2008 Bernstein celebration.
eve after long processing
i think the last part of sentence is still making things bit awkward(need to read twice ....why it doesnt sound 100% right)
so from what i have read,every book says "the modifiers should be very much close to word/phrase it modifies......
i think here "was made at the time of 2008 Bernstein celebration" refers to recording ....

so can this sentence be jumbled to make it better? (atleast for meaning or to make it more clear)

just a query...

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