Why am I bogged down on CR?

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Why am I bogged down on CR?

by man_gman » Tue Aug 02, 2011 5:09 pm
Hello everyone,

This is my first post on these forums. This is my 3rd week studying for GMAT. I started with SC for a week (12 hours). Then RC on the second week (10 hours). And now it's onto CR. My method of studying is to go over the tips and tricks outlined in Kaplan book and then do simulated quizes of 12 - 17 questions from of one type of questions. SC was hard at the beginning (English is not my first, nor my second language), but now I can do each question in under 1.4 minutes with 85% accuracy on average. RC is 90% accuracy for me and about the same time wise. However, after doing 6 CR questions my average time per question in this section is 2.2 minutes! I'm slightly confused here. I thought reading comprehension was supposed to be the most time consuming type of questions. Did anyone else run into this type of problem? Any tips on this question type would be greatly appreciated.


Regards,
Alex
Source: — Critical Reasoning |

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by rishimaharaj » Tue Aug 02, 2011 5:37 pm
Hello Alex!
Welcome to BTG!

Solving the CR questions in 2.2 minutes is not horrible, so I'd say not to be too worried about it. The more questions you go over, the better you will be.

I'd recommend you to go through this site for any CR related articles and also to watch the Kaplan/Veritas/Knewton youtube videos. They were mighty helpful. I got them from the 60 day guide and pasted them below.

Also, be sure to learn the Premise and Conclusion indicator words, so you are able to spot them.
Premise = because, since, for, for example, for the reason that, in that, given that, as indicated by, due to, owing to, this can be seen from, we know this by
Additional Premise = furthermore, moreover, besides, in addition, what's more
Counter Premise = but, yet, however, on the other hand, admittedly, in contrast, although, even though, still, whereas, in spite of, despite, after all
Conclusion = thus, therefore, hence, consequently, as a result, so, accordingly, clearly, must be that, shows that, conclude that, follows that, for this reason
(This list was taken from the PowerScore CR Bible -- a great resource).

The following are the relevant CR links from the 60 day guide:
Read The Princeton Review article, 3 Tools for Spotting Assumptions - https://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=5t8b6& ... yS13scG6.g
Watch the Knewton video, Affirming an Assumption - https://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=5t8b6& ... tocgq1TMvg
Watch the Knewton video, Affirming an Assumption Using Additional Evidence - https://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=5t8b6& ... aIioLUjCjg
Watch the Knewton video, Denying Assumptions - https://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=5t8b6& ... XKONopOiMw
Watch the Knewton video, Denying an Assumption Using Additional Evidence - https://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=5t8b6& ... pTsorH6VGw
Watch the Knewton video, Inferring Strategies - https://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=5t8b6& ... e5Bw5Dgy3w
Watch the Knewton video, Strengthening Arguments - https://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=5t8b6& ... tWlRqCmaHQ
Watch the Knewton video, Affirming an Assumption - https://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=5t8b6& ... c.oCEp7v.g
Watch the Knewton video, Affirming an Assumption Using Additional Evidence - https://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=5t8b6& ... 4z0blded1A
Watch the Knewton video, Weakening Arguments - https://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=5t8b6& ... yIH7ND.vyQ
Read the Veritas Prep article, Critical Reasoning The Warren Buffett Way - https://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=5t8b6& ... 4oWyZ7OzSQ
Read the Grockit article, Conquering Your Weakeners On GMAT Critical Reasoning - https://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=5t8b6& ... xi8z0zsdrA
Review/Ask/Answer questions in the Beat The GMAT Critical Reasoning forum - https://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=5t8b6& ... dOuF_2G7vA


Hope this helps!
--Rishi