Sonia,
I have just started my prep recently and have taken two tests till now. I have analysed my performance in english and have been able to identify a few shortcomings. Based on these i have decided to employ the following strategies for each section. You might find some of this useful.
RC: I have realised that i am better of understanding the passage fully, i.e. by reading it once, reading it twice and if need be a quick third glance as well, depending on the complexity. While doing this i spend anywhere between 3.5 to 6 minutes depending on the length of the RC. By doing this i tend to remember most key points within the RC and the questions take me anywhere between 30 secs to 1 minute to answer since i do not have to go back an look at the passage again. This approach translates into 2.5 to 3.5 minutes per RC question for me currently, which, with further practice i hope to bring down to about 2.5 minutes per question on an average. The accuracy is also more because i tend to retain a lot more since i have read the RC multiple times over. TRY AND ENJOY THE RC, I KNOW IT IS DIFFICULT, BUT TRY TO READ IT AS IF THE INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THE RC IS OF GREAT USE AND INTEREST TO YOU. SPENDING 5 TO 7 MINUTES ON AN RC IS ALL RIGHT. DONT PANIC IF YOU TAKE THAT MUCH TIME.
SC: I have just done the MGMAT SC book and it seems to be most comprehensive book on the subject. Don't have too much practice in this area yet, but from the 25 questions that i have done from the the OG (last 25), the accuracy has been 80%. In SC, timing seems to be key as i believe that this is the once section where you can save a lot of time (between 30 secs to 2 mins) per question. I have made notes on the rules and am also referring the BTG SC Flashcards to review the rules in this section. Learning the rules seems to be the only way forward in this section. Also the MGMAT SC guide has each chapter linked to the OG 12 and the OG Verbal review, so it may be a good idea to review each OG question again along with this book, in a chapterwise manner to try and get maximum out of each question. I would prefer going through a lesser set of questions multiple times rather than keep using more resources. ONE MORE THING...I HAVE REALIZED THAT WHENEVER I SPEND MORE TIME THAN REQUIRED ON A SINGLE QUESTION I USUALLY GET IT WRONG. SOMETIMES IT IS ADVISABLE TO GO ON YOUR GUT. SPEED IS ESSENTIAL HERE, WORK ON SPEED IN THIS SECTION.
CR: This is the approach that i have decided to adopt in my CR questions. A) Read the question B) Read the Statements C) Find the conclusion (this is critical) D) Look for what the question is asking for in the statement (quite often this question will have a link to the conclusion) E) Never assume things based on your intelligence that are not mentioned in the question, always stick to what is given in the question. (For example - you know that the colour of grass is green; however if the question states that the colour of grass is yellow, then do not assume it to be green). 2 TO 2.5 MINUTES ON THIS QUESTION IS OKAY.
Hope my three bits are of some use to you.
Cheers!!!
