BREAKING: Target Test Prep releases Brand New 2026 On Demand GMAT prep course

Redeem

How to improve my SC skills?

This topic has expert replies
Post new topic Post Reply
Previous Topic Next Topic
Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts
Posts: 53
Joined: Sat Dec 18, 2010 7:44 pm
Thanked: 2 times

How to improve my SC skills?

by agarwalmanoj2000 » Thu Aug 04, 2011 5:38 pm
I am an Indian and have 50 days to go for my GMAT exam.
I have -
1) Already read Manhattan GMAT SC guide over three times, made notes and solved all the excercises (accuracy rate was 60%) at the end of each chapter.
2) Already read Aristotle sentence correction grail and made notes.
3) Solved OG 12 twice. (accuracy rate was 50%)
4) Solved SC from blue book verbal twice. (accuracy rate was 70%)
4) Also seen some Ron's video
5) Solved around 100 question from 1000 SC (accuracy rate was 60%)

But still, I am not able to solve SC problems correctly. I take long time to solve and I get many problems wrong (accuracy rate was 30%).
I took gmat prep last week and scored 610 (Q46, V28). I did most of the SC problem wrong and also during review of the wrong SC problems, I was not very comfortable and
cound not figure out the solution myself. I had to refer to forums and spend time understanding solution of each problems.

I find OG 12 SC question very tough.

Currrently, I am going through OG 12 although I feel I am improving but each problem solving and review take me long time. In many problems, I keep on staring problem for long
time trying to figureout, how to solve it.

Please advise, how can I improve my SC in short period of time.
Top
Source: — GMAT Strategy |
User avatar
Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts
Posts: 2
Joined: Mon Aug 01, 2011 4:10 am

by sachinjoshi » Fri Aug 05, 2011 7:05 am
What is the average time you take to ans a sc question?
Top
User avatar
GMAT Instructor
Posts: 509
Joined: Wed Apr 21, 2010 1:08 pm
Location: Irvine, CA
Thanked: 199 times
Followed by:85 members
GMAT Score:750

by tpr-becky » Fri Aug 05, 2011 10:37 am
Looks like you may have a problem deciding which errors are most important and learning how to identify those first a foremost. Decide which errors you should be looking for and where to look for them based on the frequency they are tested on the GMAT - you should certainly focus on parallel, misplaced modifier, verb tense, subject verb, and pronoun before you move on to smaller errors.

you may also consider getting someone to help you with these - seems like you have done a lot of work and not really seen much improvement, it may be time to find a tutor who can guide you a bit more efficiently and to create a plan for how to attack each problem - there are simple steps you can use to organize your thinking on each question.
Becky
Master GMAT Instructor
The Princeton Review
Irvine, CA
Top
Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
Posts: 381
Joined: Wed May 19, 2010 10:15 pm
Thanked: 41 times
Followed by:2 members

by AbhiJ » Sat Aug 06, 2011 1:08 pm
Dude, don't be in a hurry to solve SC questions. Take your sweet time. Its better to solve 140 SC questions(in OG 12) taking 5 minutes to solve each problem, 5 minutes to analyse the solution given in OG, and noting down the lessons learnt than be in a hurry and solve a bunch of questions. SC is like maths once you can identify the concept your speed would improve.

Read 1 lesson from Manhattan SC book , solve the corresponding OG problems without looking at time, try to get the answer correct and note why other answers look wrong to you. It can due to some grammatical reason , or some idiom , passive voice, akward wordy or just sounds wrong to you. Note it down. Then go back to OG solutions and read/analyse every solutions.Note what you missed. Tick mark the wrong answers for later review.
Top
Junior | Next Rank: 30 Posts
Posts: 26
Joined: Mon May 23, 2011 11:34 pm
Thanked: 3 times

by sss2534 » Sat Aug 06, 2011 3:29 pm
AbhiJ wrote: Take your sweet time. Its better to solve 140 SC questions(in OG 12) taking 5 minutes to solve each problem, 5 minutes to analyse the solution given in OG, and noting down the lessons learnt than be in a hurry and solve a bunch of questions.
I agree with you completely. I think it's great advice! People somehow think they need to do everything *timed* and up against a clock -- it does not work for everyone though. It's good to get the hang of the questions and build on your fundamentals before working on pacing.

One of the strategies I use when solving OG or other *paper* questions it to circle the question that I am not sure about and come back to it at the end of the problem set. I don't like to upset my rhythm by spending an inordinate amount of time on a single question. Once I finish the problem set -- I re-visit the circled questions and then try and figure each of them out.

I am also not a big fan of this hard and fast rule that says you should *never* spend more than 2 minutes on a question. In the Quant section -- there are tough 700-800 level questions that can be solved in under 30 seconds. But there are relatively easy DS questions that can be take much longer -- especially if there are several cases, scenarios and numbers to test.
Top
Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts
Posts: 53
Joined: Sat Dec 18, 2010 7:44 pm
Thanked: 2 times

by agarwalmanoj2000 » Sun Aug 07, 2011 5:51 pm
@sachinjoshi - Around 2.5 to 3 min for tough SC questions.
@AbhiJ - Many thanks for your advice !!!
@sss2534 - Many thanks for your advice !!!

@tpr-becky - Many thanks for your advice !!! It seems to me you are correct.

Someone, please advise a good verbal tutor for SC.
Top
User avatar
Legendary Member
Posts: 1239
Joined: Tue Apr 26, 2011 6:25 am
Thanked: 233 times
Followed by:26 members
GMAT Score:680

by sam2304 » Mon Aug 08, 2011 5:08 am
It seems you have problem in identifying the parts of the sentences. Manhattan SC and Aristotle grail are good ones which helps you to improve the score very quickly. Even after reading it twice or thrice if you find difficult to spot errors you are having a hard time in basics.

Try finding the subject, verb, objects, phrases, clauses in OG problems and don't try to solve the question. Just identification of parts. Manhattan SC helps you to glance through these identification process with examples available in its book which are quite easy but when it comes to actual GMAT problems, they are a bit complicated in identifying the parts. So try with OG problems. Probably that's where your difficulty is. You would have solved the examples in Manhattan SC easily but you are not linking the concept application explained in Manhattan/Aristotle with OG problems. SC is more like maths just application. Parallelism often occurs with parallel verbs and parallel clauses. So once you start finding those your hit rate will improve in parallelism. Start with few questions from OG. Once you are confident of finding the parts use Manhattan SC to attack parallelism questions alone. Then try identifying subjects and phrases which are important for modifiers. You have know to what the modifier modifies before approaching. Same approach some questions just to identify the parts of speech then start with modifier questions using Manhattan SC. Modifiers is done now. Once you start identifying subject/object pair you will learn about Subject verb agreement. Same strategy. Then try with the tenses. Identify the tenses - same strategy. Then go through the list of idioms available in the Manhattan SC.

Once you are confident in all these start over with OG questions again. These are the major errors with which questions are framed. Try to find one of the above mistakes and eliminate answer choices with similar errors. Then try to apply other rules to find the right choices. Hope this helps.
Top
Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts
Posts: 53
Joined: Sat Dec 18, 2010 7:44 pm
Thanked: 2 times

by agarwalmanoj2000 » Wed Aug 31, 2011 11:26 pm
Dear Experts,

It is around a month, since I posted my problem related to SC skills. I gave two more exams in the mean time and there is some improvement in my SC skill, BUT THE VERBAL SCORE IS STILL AROUND 30. I am giving here more details of my GMAT preparation for better understanding -

I gave a GMAT PREP in Dec' 2010 scoring 570 and I started studying using full Manhattan series in Dec 2010. I studied each book in detail and solved all the exercises including OG12 by 24-Apr-2011. I started giving CAT's and here are the results -

1.MHCAT1 24-Apr => 370 (Q30, V3) => Timing issues in quant section and option setup issue in Verbal section. => Measure taken: Made notes for Quant and Verbal using Manhattan book and solved practice question set for all 8 books.
2.MHCAT2 11-Jun => 600 (Q45, V29) => Several CR wrong because I did not focus on finding conclusion. => Measure taken: Solved around 150 problem from 1000 CR.
3.MHCAT3 26-Jun => 580 (Q39, V31) => CR improved but several RC wrong => Measure taken: Practiced RC using Aristotle RC99 and OG.
4.MHCAT4 10-Jul => 600 (Q45, V29) => Around 50% accuracy rate in RC, CR and SC but with only 35% accuracy rate in 600-700 range question. => Measure taken: Practised last hard questions from OG 10 and OG 11.
5.GMAT PREP1 31-Jul => 610 (Q46, V28) => Several SC wrong => Measure taken: Did partial SC E-GMAT course and practiced SC questions from OG 12
6.GMAT PREP2 17-Aug => 630(Q47, V30) => SC improved little but not much. => Measure taken: Practiced 150 question from GMAT prep question set in details.
7.MHCAT5 31-Aug => 590 (Q43, V29) => SC improved but several CR and RC wrong. I rushed through last 6-7 verbal questions and got all of them wrong.

I have read Powerscore CR book in details and have also made notes. I am also reading WSJ to improve my verbal score. Despite all my efforts of last 8 months, my verbal score has not improved. It is still between 29 and 31. I want to score above 720, so need to increase my verbal score (around 35 to 38) to reach my target. I am attaching my MHCAT5 reports for your reference. I am very much exhausted but do not want to give up after coming so long.

Please advise, how do to improve my verbal score and feel free to ask me, if you need any other information.

Thank you in advance.
Attachments
MHCAT5_Reports.zip
(6.91 KiB) Downloaded 197 times
Top

GMAT/MBA Expert

User avatar
GMAT Instructor
Posts: 3380
Joined: Mon Mar 03, 2008 1:20 am
Thanked: 2256 times
Followed by:1535 members
GMAT Score:800

by lunarpower » Mon Sep 12, 2011 4:34 am
i received a private message regarding this thread.

most of the advice that i can offer here will be duplicated at the following link (and in the links that are cited in it), so check it out:
https://www.beatthegmat.com/how-to-prepa ... tml#403863

--

also, a couple of general comments in response to a couple of other things that you wrote -- honestly, the following comments are much more important than anything directly pertaining to the gmat curriculum:

DO NOT OVER-STUDY!
IF YOU ARE FATIGUED, STOP, AND TAKE A FEW DAYS OFF!
this is NOT a test that can be conquered by spending extraordinary time and effort on memorization and rigorous note-taking. (the objective of the test is to measure reasoning skills ultimately related to business management. as a result, the entire structure of the test -- especially the verbal section -- is designed with the specific intention of defeating memorization-based approaches. if you could conquer the test by simply studying for X number of hours, then the test would be absolutely useless!)
the test depends heavily on lateral thinking, intuition, subconscious pattern recognition, and (especially in CR) real-world common sense that is absolutely impossible to replace with any sort of memorized rules. if you over-study, then you will destroy your brain's ability to use intuitive thinking and common sense, an effect that will ultimately redound negatively to your verbal score.

if you have been studying more than 3-4 hours per day, or if (heaven forbid) you have been studying 7 days per week, the first thing you need to do is take a couple of weeks completely off -- totally shut the books and walk away from them. if you don't, then it will be impossible for you to reactivate your brain's capacity for creative thinking and good old-fashioned common sense; your mind will be stuck in a memorized rut that will prevent you from thinking intuitively on test day.

also, the only part of the verbal section that really merits extensive study is sentence correction. if you have been spending hundreds of hours on the other two sections of the test, then most of that time has probably been wasted.

* you can't memorize rules for critical reasoning. you really can't; don't try. there are a couple of large-scale techniques that are useful -- such as the method of negation for assumption questions -- but specific rules are not going to help you. if you attempt to approach CR with memorization and rules, you will inhibit the processes of intuition and common sense that actually solve most CR problems. as a result, IF YOU STUDY CR TOO MUCH OR TOO RIGOROUSLY, YOU WILL GET WORSE AT IT.
you should study CR only for long enough to understand (a) how each question type works and (b) what general qualities characterize the correct answers (again, it's useless to memorize rules that characterize specific situations).

* on reading comprehension, a rules-based approach will be similarly ineffective. you do need to study RC, of course -- but, again, only for long enough to understand how each question type works and what general qualities characterize the correct answers.
if you are having trouble with reading comprehension because you are not sufficiently proficient in english -- as opposed to having trouble with the questions themselves -- then STOP studying for the gmat, at least for a few months, and get better at reading and understanding professionally written english first!
Ron has been teaching various standardized tests for 20 years.

--

Pueden hacerle preguntas a Ron en castellano
Potete chiedere domande a Ron in italiano
On peut poser des questions à Ron en français
Voit esittää kysymyksiä Ron:lle myös suomeksi

--

Quand on se sent bien dans un vêtement, tout peut arriver. Un bon vêtement, c'est un passeport pour le bonheur.

Yves Saint-Laurent

--

Learn more about ron
Top
User avatar
Legendary Member
Posts: 979
Joined: Tue Apr 14, 2009 1:38 am
Location: Hyderabad, India
Thanked: 49 times
Followed by:12 members
GMAT Score:700

by bubbliiiiiiii » Tue Sep 13, 2011 4:15 am
DO NOT OVER-STUDY!
IF YOU ARE FATIGUED, STOP, AND TAKE A FEW DAYS OFF!
This advice was/is very true in my case. Please take this seriously and do not overdo.
Regards,

Pranay
Top
Legendary Member
Posts: 2789
Joined: Tue Jul 26, 2011 12:19 am
Location: Chennai, India
Thanked: 206 times
Followed by:43 members
GMAT Score:640

by GmatKiss » Tue Sep 13, 2011 5:09 am
lunarpower wrote:i received a private message regarding this thread.

most of the advice that i can offer here will be duplicated at the following link (and in the links that are cited in it), so check it out:
https://www.beatthegmat.com/how-to-prepa ... tml#403863

--

also, a couple of general comments in response to a couple of other things that you wrote -- honestly, the following comments are much more important than anything directly pertaining to the gmat curriculum:

DO NOT OVER-STUDY!
IF YOU ARE FATIGUED, STOP, AND TAKE A FEW DAYS OFF!
this is NOT a test that can be conquered by spending extraordinary time and effort on memorization and rigorous note-taking. (the objective of the test is to measure reasoning skills ultimately related to business management. as a result, the entire structure of the test -- especially the verbal section -- is designed with the specific intention of defeating memorization-based approaches. if you could conquer the test by simply studying for X number of hours, then the test would be absolutely useless!)
the test depends heavily on lateral thinking, intuition, subconscious pattern recognition, and (especially in CR) real-world common sense that is absolutely impossible to replace with any sort of memorized rules. if you over-study, then you will destroy your brain's ability to use intuitive thinking and common sense, an effect that will ultimately redound negatively to your verbal score.

if you have been studying more than 3-4 hours per day, or if (heaven forbid) you have been studying 7 days per week, the first thing you need to do is take a couple of weeks completely off -- totally shut the books and walk away from them. if you don't, then it will be impossible for you to reactivate your brain's capacity for creative thinking and good old-fashioned common sense; your mind will be stuck in a memorized rut that will prevent you from thinking intuitively on test day.

also, the only part of the verbal section that really merits extensive study is sentence correction. if you have been spending hundreds of hours on the other two sections of the test, then most of that time has probably been wasted.

* you can't memorize rules for critical reasoning. you really can't; don't try. there are a couple of large-scale techniques that are useful -- such as the method of negation for assumption questions -- but specific rules are not going to help you. if you attempt to approach CR with memorization and rules, you will inhibit the processes of intuition and common sense that actually solve most CR problems. as a result, IF YOU STUDY CR TOO MUCH OR TOO RIGOROUSLY, YOU WILL GET WORSE AT IT.
you should study CR only for long enough to understand (a) how each question type works and (b) what general qualities characterize the correct answers (again, it's useless to memorize rules that characterize specific situations).

* on reading comprehension, a rules-based approach will be similarly ineffective. you do need to study RC, of course -- but, again, only for long enough to understand how each question type works and what general qualities characterize the correct answers.
if you are having trouble with reading comprehension because you are not sufficiently proficient in english -- as opposed to having trouble with the questions themselves -- then STOP studying for the gmat, at least for a few months, and get better at reading and understanding professionally written english first!
Thanks for the wonderful advice Ron. You experts rock!! :)
Top
Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts
Posts: 53
Joined: Sat Dec 18, 2010 7:44 pm
Thanked: 2 times

by agarwalmanoj2000 » Tue Sep 13, 2011 9:40 pm
@Ron - Thanks a lot Ron for your advise. I am exhausted and going to take at least 2 weeks of break.

@Bubliii - Thanks a lot for sharing your experience.
Top
Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts
Posts: 1
Joined: Mon Jan 25, 2010 8:36 pm
Location: Richardson, Texas

by cndukwe » Tue Nov 01, 2011 12:37 pm
Wow! Exactly 18 days until I take the GMAT and I am really glad that I ran across this post. I have been struggling to understand as to why my Verbal Score is stuck between (30-35), but I will definitely take the advice I saw here into consideration. Thanks!
Top
Junior | Next Rank: 30 Posts
Posts: 17
Joined: Wed May 26, 2010 11:25 pm

by n2739178 » Wed Nov 09, 2011 1:26 pm
Ron - How would your ideas in this post for verbal apply to the Quant part? I have definitely been studying quant wrong and now have completely burned myself out... I tried to memorise everything etc. and I just can't get above Q43 in practice tests. I've literally studied around 1000 hours for this test :(

I'm thinking that I may have a few weeks off, work on my essays and applications (deadlines are fast approaching) and then use the last month before deadlines to get back on the GMAT horse so to speak and try and beat this thing before the deadlines.

Is this a good idea? I'm nervous that if I take a few weeks off I will forget everything again :(

thanks
Top
User avatar
Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts
Posts: 58
Joined: Mon Nov 07, 2011 7:44 pm
Location: Washington DC
Thanked: 1 times

by iwillsurvive101 » Mon Nov 28, 2011 12:21 pm
lunarpower wrote:if you are having trouble with reading comprehension because you are not sufficiently proficient in english -- as opposed to having trouble with the questions themselves -- then STOP studying for the gmat, at least for a few months, and get better at reading and understanding professionally written english first!
Ron - How would you suggest someone to do that? I need to ramp up my reading/comprehension skills. I haven't read even 1 book to the core. What I can do effectively is Google Search software codes and write my own(I am a programmer if you can't tell). I am good in Math, but Verbal sucks(I am good at spoken English though).

Please let me know, Sir!
Top
Post new topic Post Reply