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Suffering in Sentence Correction

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Suffering in Sentence Correction

by amazonviper » Sat Jul 18, 2009 9:19 pm
I am a non native English speaker and I am currently preparing for the GMAT. I don't have issues in solving CR and RC. But I get owned by SC.

I read the first two chapters in MGMAT SC and I tried the problems it refers to in the OG11 books. To my dismay my accuracy level was 45% (I was stunned).

Now, I am not sure how to proceed. I don't want to blindly do problems without benefits and it risks me not getting the true benfit of the OG11 (like practicing it when I am fairly strong in SC) .

Is there a specific method to go about solving SC. Sometimes I even struggle in recognizing the subject of the sentence. Do I have to end up buying a grammar book and start reading through it ???. I am in desperate need for help/suggestions to get over with SC.

Any help is much appreciated!!!
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by zenithexe » Sat Jul 18, 2009 10:31 pm
This is my opinion,

I'm not native either, but I think MGMAT SC would help you out a lot if you keep going over them over and over. Most of SC question in OG contains many different rules that MGMAT discusses chapter by chapter. So, doing just 1st chapter many not give you enough tools to actually get the questions right. Even though the questions that MGMAT refers OG do actually contain whatever it discusses in that chapter, most of the question you can find the right answer by using tools provided by other chapters in MGMAT.

I would recommend that you go through the entire book first, and see if your SC scores improve. And go through it again it you are not satisfied with the score. I mean watching a same movie twice allows you to understand the movie better, right? XD
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by amazonviper » Sun Jul 19, 2009 4:02 am
Thanks a lot Zenith. I think you are correct. I should go over the entire book first and then try to solve the problems.

When you first start working on SC questions, do you set 2 mins for a question or would you rather try to just solve it without a time constraint. All the practice questions I have attempted were timed and I think it was adding pressure to the whole process.

Would you agree that timed tests should be taken after we get the concept ball rolling??

Thanks!!
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by zenithexe » Sun Jul 19, 2009 4:54 am
Yeah I agree, only take timed practice tests when you are comfortable with SC questions. There are two reasons:

1) You will learn more when you actually figure out the answer by yourself. Use the book to figure out if you have to, don't look at the answer explanation right away.

2) you will gain more confidence with SC
Pressure from timed test may cause you to build ... well...sort of "hatred" for SC questions.

After all when you first started to study English you weren't force to speak/write under limited time right? Otherwise I'm pretty sure you would've hated English so much that you wouldn't even be thinking of doing GMAT.

I mean yeah, it will take time. Study every day, I'm sure you will improve greatly. This site is very good place to visit often. It will be a good idea to ask questions when you get stuck. Good luck. =D
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by Toph@GMAT_REBOOT » Sun Jul 19, 2009 10:58 am
Tips for Sentence Correction (Note: I'm a native English speaker, but I still think these are useful tips)

1. After you complete a series of OG SC problems, read the explanations for both the right and wrong answers. Even if you answered the question correctly. Why? You get to read the rules straight from the minds of the testmakers.

2. When you write an email, post on a forum, etc., analyze your own writing using SC rules. This can teach you some of your own personal biases toward making SC mistakes. It is easier to overcome your weaknesses when you know what they are.

3. Once you start getting a better feel for SC, fine tune it using the note sets from Spidey and Sahlil in the resources section of this website. These sets of notes contain some of more advanced and less commonly seen rules of grammar.

Best of luck!
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by JasonReynolds » Sun Jul 26, 2009 10:04 pm
Sometimes being a non-native speaker is an advantage in SC. I'm a native speaker and its easy for me to make a lot of mistakes based on what "sounds right" At the same time, its an advantage for me at times.

I agree that you shouldn't hold yourself to 2 minutes on SC questions in the beginning. I always do my Sentence correction in sets of 14 questions (thats about how many you will see on the real test). Time the 14 questions so that you know how long it took you, but don't limit yourself.

When you approach a question, really focus on identifying the differences in each of the answer choices, and trying to decide why they changed certain things in a sentence. For example, if one sentence says "The clown's shoes" and another sentence says "The shoes of the clown." There is probably something they are testing you on.

SC can really be tedious. Its okay if at first questions take your 4 to 5 minutes. I know that sounds like a lot of time, but after a while, you train your brain to spot common errors. It starts to become easier, I promise.
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