GMAT Strategy

Hi,

I need your valuable advice to reduce my speed in SC (keeping the accuracy high).

My approach:
1) Read the sentence,
2) Understand the meaning,
3) Find visible error in the original sentence by fousing on 'SV agreement, Pronoun, Parellelism, Tense, Modifiers
4) Scan for identified errors in options (and any other error in options)
5) Pick the remaining

The whole process takes anything from 1:45-2:05 (in long sentences and completely underlined sentences time goes even to 2:30). Accuracy 60-80%. Generally, higher time (~2:00) means higher accuray for me.

However, I intend to reduce my time to max of 1:15 (in long sentences to 2:00). Could you all suggest how can I achieve my goal - do you find any flaw in my approach? Do you have a better approach?

Appreciate your time and suggestions.

Along with meaning why don't you understand the structure. It should save some time for long and fully underlined SCs. Check out this link for my reply to your post. https://www.beatthegmat.com/duke-philip- ... tml#447652. Its wrong I agree, but try it that way and you can save some time. I found this in Stacey Koprince's replies to SC questions and started practicing in the same manner. It did save some time for me.

Another option is you have posted your steps to solve the SC. Use a timer to know how many seconds you take for each step. Try to reduce the one which has maximum time span.

My approach is quite similar:

1. Always start with the Subject/Verb. Always begin by identifying the main subject and the predicate verb. The subject is the noun that is doing the action of the sentence. It may not always be the first noun you see in the sentence. The predicate verb is the main action of the sentence that is being done by the subject. There could be many verbs in the sentence, so don't be fooled!

2. Chunk It Out. Parse out the rest of the sentence. Is there a long prepositional phrase, a lot of adjectives, relative clauses that begin with "that," etc. You should also look for common "splits" like broken parallelism or verb issues. If you need to use your scratch pad to write out the sentence in shorthand and draw marks around parts of it, go for it!

3. Focus on Modifiers. SC sentences are long because they have a lot of added clauses. See if you can mentally "eliminate" them to focus on the bare bones of the sentence. Make sure you understand how each modifier relates to the rest of the sentence. Is it clear what it is modifying? Does it help or hinder the meaning?

4. Consider the "style" -- remember that generally the GMAT prefers less words, active voice, and infinitives over participles.

5. Before you select your answer, re-read the whole sentence. Check to make sure the meaning is unambiguous and that it's clear, despite its length.