A big GMAT mistake test-takers make when answering GMAT Verbal questions is using hacks instead of skill to find correct answers. A very common (and, sadly, just as ineffective) hacks include:

automatically eliminating CR answer choices that use “extreme” words such as “only,” “always,” or “none.”

reading the first RC question associated with a passage before reading the passage itself[/list]

These so-called hacks, and others like them, are not a reliable route to finding correct answers to GMAT Verbal questions. Sure, it could be the case that a CR answer choice that uses the word “always” happens to be incorrect. And you could get an ace on 10 at the blackjack table.

Similarly, it could be that reading the first RC question before reading the passage slightly reduces the amount of time you spend answering that question. However, it’s likely that you’ll add back your “saved” time and then some on the questions that follow, since you will have read that passage specifically for the first question and not for overall understanding.

Ask yourself, do you want your Verbal score to hinge on half measures and strategies that work only occasionally? Or, do you want to be able to implement strategies that you know will work time after time, on question after question?

Warmest regards,

Scott Woodbury-Stewart
Founder & CEO, Target Test Prep