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**urgent***deadlines appearing soon, should I go for test?

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**urgent***deadlines appearing soon, should I go for test?

by iamcste » Sun Apr 25, 2010 10:52 am
My deadlines are appearing soon. cant really put in more effort to Verbal but wanted to see if my current preparation can still help me to get a decent verbal score ( around 35) - obviously, practice tests do indiciate that but still wanted comments from experts whether I am in too risky situation.

SC and RC are my strengths in terms of accuracy and timing. ( in RC, in some passages I overshoot time but in acceptable margins)
However, based on my current study, I am not well quipped to face harder CR questions. (harder in my definiton is not understanding the argument at the first reading despite putting lot of attention) *I get around 50% hit rate in my practice tests. Given that I am appearing soon, I just accept this as my weakenss and want to move ahead.
my plan is as soon as I face harder CR question ( which I do face as I get SC and RC ones right) , make an educated guess ( atleast exclude ones with extreme words etc, out of scope) and invest the saved time in other questions which I can solve.

so, given that

1. I am bound to miss around 5-6* CR hard questions ( may be few of them are experimental too)
2. incorrect CR questions would not be wrong in a series of 3-4 which impact your score a lot( at the most I can get two CR questions incorrect in successsion), and
3. 85% SC and RC hit rate,
4. I am putting my time only in my strength areas

can I still get decent V score around 35?
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by Osirus@VeritasPrep » Mon Apr 26, 2010 7:58 am
A V 35 is definitely attainable. Since your test date is approaching. I think the best thing to do going forward is attempt to single out one or two CR problem types that give you trouble and attempt to identify the logic that you should look for in the correct answers to those question types. If you do this, you may get more of them correct. You probably don't have enough time to go through a book or more material, so just focus on past practice test/problems.
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by Brian@VeritasPrep » Mon Apr 26, 2010 8:43 am
Hey, iamcste:

First, good advice from Osirus, and I agree with him that something in the 35+ range is certainly attainable.

Another recommendation for you - since you're defining "harder" CR questions as those for which it is difficult to understand the argument on your first read, and I think I remember from previous conversations with you that you're a nonnative English speaker, I think you (and, really, anyone) can benefit from thinking of CR questions more systematically.

Try to break down each stimulus into logical components, and not necessarily try to understand the entire paragraph at first glance. For Strengthen-the-Conclusion questions and Weaken-the-Conclusion questions, the conclusion of the argument is easily the most important component, by a longshot. If you've determined that you're answering one of those questions, and that it's a more-difficult-than-usual argument, then look for the conclusion first and make sure you understand it (and its limiting terms..."some", "only", etc.). Then, knowing what the conclusion is, you can better get the gist - a loose understanding may be all you need - of the premises that lead to it, and you'll have much more effectively read the stimulus.

I'd argue that most "difficult" CR questions derive that true difficulty more from clever answer choices and subtle wording of conclusions than from difficult language and/or topic matter. If you can sift through the language and topic matter to get to what's important, you may well find that the question and answer choices are easier than you thought.
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by Stacey Koprince » Wed Apr 28, 2010 8:08 am
Received a PM asking me to reply. Some good advice above already.

As a general rule, yes, you should know your weaknesses going into the test and, when necessary, you should let your weaknesses go more easily. You don't want to spend extra time on weaknesses; a little extra time is warranted only if it's something you think you totally know how to do but the problem is a little longer or more convoluted than usual and will therefore take an extra 15 or 30 seconds. At the same time, you don't want to rush through or automatically ignore your weaknesses - for example, I'd suggest that you still spend at least a minute on a CR question before deciding to guess. (Unless, of course, you're already behind on time and need to catch up. Then, guess quickly and move on.)

Also, as a general rule, the last week to two weeks before the test should be spent solidifying your strengths and figuring out how else to deal with your weaknesses (eg, educated guessing). You don't mention when your test actually is, but it sounds like you might be in the final few weeks.

When possible, it's great to be able to make an educated guess (as opposed to a random guess) and I think you could use what Brian wrote to help you with this. If you can, for example, find and understand just the conclusion, that may help you eliminate a couple of choices, even if you're not entirely clear on how the author claims the premises lead to the conclusion.

Finally, I agree with the others above that it is possible to get a 35, yes, with the weaknesses you described. (There's no guarantee, obviously - a lot of other things factor into this!)
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