GMAT Verbal & Essays

Hi everyone,

Here's my dilemma. I have just about everything down on the GMAT. I'm very strong with the quantitative section, I ace critical reasoning and reading comprehension, but I am downright AWFUL at sentence corrections. I have the OG 11, but that isn't very useful - aside from tons of practice problems. Most of my preparation has been from practice problems. But I cannot get sentence correction down. I've read that the easiest verbal section to improve upon is SC - is this true? And is there a guide you would recommend? I've read some really good things about the MGMAT SC guide, but I've also seen good things about the PowerPrep.

I've taken two practice tests: the two GMATPrep. This is the breakdown:

GMATPrep #1, 1/13
Q: 30 correct out of 37 for a score of 49
V: 31 correct out of 41 for a score of 39
TOTAL: 720 / 800

Breaking my verbal down, I had just two wrong on both the CR and RC, but SIX wrong on SC. This shocked me, as I took the test once in August and thought that SC was my best verbal section. I was still pleased with my improvement, as I scored a 44 Q-34 V when I took it the first time, though that was with zero preparation (not a great move).

Anyway, I took the GMATPrep #2 today, and I didn't fare much better:

GMATPrep #2, 1/22
Q: 26 correct out of 37 for a score of 47
V: 34 correct out of 41 for a score of 42
TOTAL: 730 / 800

At first glance, this looks like a pretty good improvement. I'm not particularly concerned with the drop in Q, as I made a few stupid, STUPID mistakes on three of the first ten questions (a bit distracted by some TV) and probably could have bumped my score up a point or two if I just answered them correctly. However, my verbal is the big problem: Just seven wrong, but FIVE were SC and two were CR. I can live with getting two of each wrong (quite frankly, I should be perfect on RC because it's a strength), but FIVE-SIX SC's? I mean... I feel strong in that category. I just expect to go 49-44, and I'm not going to get the latter half if I'm screwing up that many SC.

Any advice?

Also, are the GMATPrep tests representative of what to expect on the actual GMAT? And are the MGMAT CATs really more difficult? Thanks.

Telowiski: I am in exactly the same position as you regarding GMAT verbal. Sentence correction is my only problem. I am amazed at how many grammatical nuances I am unaware of, and which are being tested on GMAT. This is especially so since I was able to get a perfect 800 on the verbal section of the GRE.

Right now, I'm slogging through Manhattan GMAT and the grammar section of Barron's. I'll report back on whether these sources have been helpful.