GMAT Strategy

I have about three weeks left to real GMAT. I have in the past scored 480 Q45,V13,AWA5 (first attempt an year ago)
Now, I have prepared for a couple of weeks to refresh GMAT skills, and it is going so so. But, knewton where I also take a prep course, offers videos and homework problems which are quite useful. This together with CATs.

When I do CAT tests now my verbal score is floating between 20-23, and I need to improve this to at least 35 to be able to score near 600 which is what the school requires now before colleague start in April.

My verbal skills are bad in each area - worst in CR and RC.
Accuracy SC is ~60%, CR <=50% RC<50%. I can see form my CAT scores that I simply spend TOO much time on the RC passages, e.g. 5-7minutes for reading, taking paragraph notes, and answering the first question. On the following questions I spend ~1-2 minutes per question. I usually get uncertain, and I have to to back to the passage and reread for a while before I dare to answer. Or I simply did not grasp the passage the first time so I have to go back and reread. And getting questions wrong after this amount of time is devastating.

On CR I spend 1.6-3minutes per question which also steals too much of valuable time... :.(

I usually end up having to random guess RC/(CR), especially after half of the verbal is passed after staring in to the question for a while. I simply don't get the passage sometime when I have read it.

For RC I have been told to write a MAPS, main point, attitude, purpose, and structure on my note board. Usually I end up only with Structure and brief notes of each paragraph to make me actually think and work through the passage before answering questions.

I will mainly spend the remaining three weeks on improving verbal! I have started reading CR Bible, which I think develops my skills in CR in the sense of signaling words, avoiding traps and problem constructions etc. For RC I don't have any plan. But instructors at Knewton have recommended me to read the Economist and practice MAPS. Is this really what I want to do to improve my GMAT RC skills? If yes, how much time should I spend on doing MAPS from Economist paragraphs every day?

The last thing I want is these three weeks pass, and I have not improved my verbal. So, please give recommendations!

Hi BKW,

No matter how fast your pacing is, and how many CATs you take, your Verbal score will not improve unless you have a solid strategy for each question type that is rewarding you with high accuracy.

If your accuracy is not high, then you need to slow way down and take a good look at your approach for each question type. You are probably spending too much time with RC because you haven't practiced enough. Speed comes with practice, and accuracy comes with strategy.

If your MAPS strategy isn't quite working for you, maybe there is a way to streamline it? I do a similar passage map method, but I like to focus on finding the topic, scope, purpose, function of each paragraph, and author's pov. Maybe this will be more helpful? Again, the key is to SLOW DOWN and really take your time to do the strategy. Aim for 100% accuracy. When you are not accurate, ask yourself what is missing. There are a few reasons we get RC questions incorrect:

(1) Didn't understand the passage (fix this by your note-taking...don't take notes just to take notes...use the notes as an opportunity to break it down)

(2) Didn't understand the question (did you rephrase the question in simpler terms? did you write down your own prediction based on your notes and/or details from the passage?)

(3) Chose an answer choice that was out of scope, extreme, opposite, or didn't answer the question (did you impulsively go with the first answer that "sounded right"? did you forget your prediction? did you eliminate too hastily? did you forget to rephrase complicated choices?)

Here are a few articles I've written on RC. Some are for SAT or GRE, but the lessons in them apply to GMAT as well. I hope they are helpful to you!

https://grockit.com/blog/gre/2010/12/16/ ... -passages/

https://grockit.com/blog/collegeprep/200 ... g-passage/

https://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2010/06/ ... assage-map

https://grockit.com/blog/collegeprep/201 ... te-taking/

Here are a few posts here so you can see how I model my note-taking:

https://www.beatthegmat.com/rc-doubts-t72415.html#328882

https://www.beatthegmat.com/aristotle-rc ... tml#331401

https://www.beatthegmat.com/passage-map- ... tml#336717

By the way, The Economist is a great publication to improve your English. I also recommend the WSJ or the NYTimes online, or books on tape. Anything that is on a topic interesting to you (no need to bore yourself silly!) and written at a fairly high level is great practice for RC.

Good luck to you!

Vivian, thanks a bunch! I will have to look into this!

bkw, let me add my experience here. vivian has given u a great reply and i may not have anything new to add.
in my case, i take 1 minute to finish SC. so i use an extra 30-45 secs that i get here toward the CR. CR takes me a lot of time but i generally get the question right if i have 2 mins. for RC, i noticed that only practice improved my accuracy. start with some OG passages. do 2-3 per day. u still have 3 weeks left so u can complete atleast 30 passages....while working through the passages see what sttategy is best for you...for some ,taking notes helps, for some a main point roadmap helps and for some others, they choose not to write anything for RC....for CR , you could try reading through Powerscore CR. it is a great book.

nehs wrote:bkw, let me add my experience here. vivian has given u a great reply and i may not have anything new to add.
in my case, i take 1 minute to finish SC. so i use an extra 30-45 secs that i get here toward the CR. CR takes me a lot of time but i generally get the question right if i have 2 mins. for RC, i noticed that only practice improved my accuracy. start with some OG passages. do 2-3 per day. u still have 3 weeks left so u can complete atleast 30 passages....while working through the passages see what sttategy is best for you...for some ,taking notes helps, for some a main point roadmap helps and for some others, they choose not to write anything for RC....for CR , you could try reading through Powerscore CR. it is a great book.

Thanks for getting back to me. I am actually reading CR Bible now, one chapter per day and I do the exercises at the end of each chapter. I have not started with OG CR practice yet which is something I must start doing VERY soon!
I am taking a Knewton course, and the courses are so demanding in number of things to do before, during, and after the online lecures so it almost takes my time.

I MUST start doing 2-4 RC passages per day too!

-Is it recommended to memorize all the signalling words in a passages that indicate conclusion, contrast etc?
-Do you pace your 2-4RC passages?
-If you take notes, what is your approach?

Thanks a bunch!

bkw wrote:-Is it recommended to memorize all the signalling words in a passages that indicate conclusion, contrast etc?
-Do you pace your 2-4RC passages?
-If you take notes, what is your approach?

Thanks a bunch!

do complete as many chapters as possible from the CR bible. each question type is a chapter. so if u dont have time then do chapters for weaken,strengthen,causality,assumption questions. these r the most common question for CR

about your question:
1. i do not memorize any signal words. it does not work for me.i just read the passages and note 1-2 thingd about each paragraph. whn answering quest, i go back to this summary and see if i can answer the quest. if i cannot then i go to the corresponding part in the passage.
2.yes,i pace the passages that i do.generally, 7-8 mins for a 4 question passage
3. i answered this in (1) above. i do take notes most of the time but there are some passages in which i dont take notes(rare).