GMAT Verbal & Essays

For those of you who have scored 40+ in Verbal... did you use LSAT Materials?

Yes I heavily used them (old LSAT tests) and I got a 41, although I think it may have backfired, since I scored much lower on the verbal than I had on any practice tests.

The problem is that the LSAT CR questions are straight to the point and very logical. Basically there's a clear pattern to their logic - there wasn't a single unnecessary word in any of the questions. And if you look at the old paper tests or GMAT Prep when GMAC used to lease the questions from Law Services, it seems that GMAT questions were like that too. But on the actual test the questions were wordy, had no pattern, were illogical, and tried to trip you up with implausible scenarios and convoluted wording rather than actual tough logic questions.

Basically, what ended up happening is that I'd read the question on the GMAT, expect a certain answer based on how the LSAT would answer it....but none of the answers were even close.

Now, the same thing for RC. The LSAT uses harder passages, do doubt about it. They're longer, have more difficult subject matter, etc. However, the questions are much easier and straight to the point. All they're trying to do is to make sure that you can read high-level passages and answer simple questions about them.

The GMAT took a different approach. The passages I got were shorter, easier to read, simpler subject matter. However, they made the questions much harder and tried to trip you up with word games, convoluted language, and other bullshit. Why not just use harder passages and have straightforward questions...like the LSAT?

Sorry this is a lot of text, but from you're previous posts I gathered you're looking to retake the GMAT (as am I), so hopefully this helps.

I scored a 40, but have scored 43-45 on most of my MGMAT CATs and expect to do better on my next exam. I did not use LSAT materials.

Yes & no. I did not study LSAT materials within 6 months of my GMAT. I had considered taking the LSAT prior to deciding to take the GMAT. I think the LSAT equivalent of CR and the lengthy RC passages of the LSAT made the GMAT feel like a breeze. That might've been the biggest help. I think I felt more at ease initially with GMAT CR than I would have otherwise. I'm don't think studying LSAT materials is actually necessary. But it probably can help*.

*This is only if you don't let looking at LSAT materials disctract you from what you're really foucsing on... THE GMAT! There are types of LSAT CR questions that you really don't need to know how to do for the GMAT.

Best of luck!

I've been hearing this trend for a while now. I refuse to let it become a big deal on here... but I have friends who say that the LSAT guides sealed the deal for them w/ Verbal once they studied everything. They said it wouldn't help people with a 34V because there is still basic information that one wouldn't be understanding, but they said it helped them in those higher realms.

I got a 42...honestly, just read read read. I barely went through the manhattan books. What I did do was read a lot of Dickens, Rand, and Austen. Also reading esoteric articles in financial/scientific journals helps a lot too. If you are a native english speaker (and it sounds like you are) I wouldn't be too concerned with memorizing which idiom is which, or what the name of the grammatical error is. You'll just recognize it, and it will click. Most of the time I just went with what sounded right in my head.

As far as CR and RC goes, TAKE YOUR TIME. I never took more than a minute on the SCs but spent a ton of time on RC and CR passages. Towards the end of the test I got this near impossible passage on how the middle ear works. Instead of getting frustrated and breezing past it I read it once, twice....at least five times before even answering the first question. But I had a much better grasp of the passage.

I actually ended up running out of time on verbal and had to guess the last five questions and still ended up with the 42. So if I have any advice for you it's to step out of your everyday reading "comfort zone" and read things you aren't used to reading. NOT FROM A GMAT STUDY BOOK. Also, don't be afraid to take as much time as you need to and read the passages as many times as you need to in order to ensure you get the gist of the passage.

Good luck!

So tomorrow at work I'll change my default homepage from the Huffingtonpost.com to WSJ.com haha

go with global.nytimes.com or economist.com =)

thanks money9111 for starting this topic...solved doubts regarding LSAT materials...

Studying lots of materials is the key to success.

Currently I am reading, just for reading and increasing my comprehensive ability, science daily, NewYork Times, LSAT sets, and OG's.

It is helping me. How?

=> It is increasing my endurance to read long passages.
=> LSAT RC's are well structured, and studying those will help you to grasp the gist of a hard passage easily. Take them just for practice as you will take the reading of an article from science daily or from other papers.
=> Read the explanation of Kaplan on the LSAT materials. Those explanations are not like official explanation, rather they are more informal. The explanation will help you how to paraphrase an RC within 2 minutes. So, it is a big deal.
=> LSAT CR's are more logical than those of GMAT.

JUST READ READ READ READ, and READ.

NO WAY...............................................BUT READ.

thanks taylor85

I would agree, just read, read, read. That's really the key. It'll not only increase your comprehension, but will also increase your speed.

For SC, I found that repetition is the key. Get your hands on as many of these suckers as you can and practice, practice, practice. There are only so many tricks in the book, so if you do enough problems they should be second nature come test time and you can stack up time for RC.

For CR, I found that writing out the argument really helps. Particularly, finding the assumption is key.

RC, I'd say just try to be really excited about what you're reading. I tricked myself into getting enthusiastic about the short passages and saw my score increase.

I only got a 40 though, so take my advice with a grain of salt. =)

*A quick caveat, I completely agree with gmat_perfect's approach. Don't limit yourself to reading business material. Read EVERTHING! Sciences, anthropology, history, etc... especially something denser than normal.

Well I happen to love the science passages on the GMAT - I used to be premed so I really get into the passages lol. Now the passages about history or roman civilization I don't care for one bit!

I'm reading the global.nytimes.com right now - technology section

I got a 46 in verbal and I didn't study any LSAT material at all. CR were always a piece of cake for me from the start, and RC was easy too after a little practice. For me it was all about sentence correction, that was my weak point and I really focused on that a lot. Used the manhattan sentence correction book, it is god like for GMAT. For reading, I think the economist is one of the best choices you can make. They use many of the grammar rules found on the gmat, and a lot of the idioms as well. I read it every week and have for years so I am not really sure if it helped or not.

42 V here and I didn't use LSAT material. Like some other posts CR were always a very easy for me. I found that on RC I was missing 1 or 2 each time until I slowed down, did a full first read then a second quick read. With that strategy I was barely ever missed one. SC was all about practice and patience. I found the OGs the best resource. Break off the SCs in chunks of 5. And review them in detail. Don't move to sets greater than 5 until you can get all 5 correct.

Hope this helps.