How to Improve Accuracy in CR

[henry12345]

Hi All,

I just finished study CR, did some exercises from OG Verbal Review and reviewed all of them
and I found a couple of interesting things about CR..

I study CR from Powerscore book (quite simple and the best out there), then I try Manhattan but decide to stop (the diagram, symbol are not my type, basically confusing to read)
I do all exercises from OG verbal review and from 83 questions, I only got 68% accuracy or I got 26 wrong answers... From my review through all the explanations, I find these :

1. CR can not really be learned like SC or Quant
--> I learn from Powerscore book how to find conclusion, how to determine the question type and how to deal with it, but on the exercise, I feel I dont have any confidence to say that I know how to deal with certain questions.. I might know the type of the questions, the conclusion, but when I try to answer it.. I got blank... Mostly because my logic thinking is not really sharpened yet, most of the time, I got wrong because I look in the wrong direction, or wrong part (esp for strengthen, weaken type)... Those types are easy when you know how the author come up with the conclusion, but when you dont know how the author come up with the conclusion, you might end up look at the wrong perspective, hence wrong answer.

2. Wording/ Idiom problems for non native
As a non native I am quite confident with my english, but sometimes when I read CR problems, and answer choices I got stucked because of wordings or idioms
ex:
an airport is restricted to A and B --> to my knowledge, this means A and B are not allowed into the airport
But on contrary, the real meaning is anything else except A and B are not allowed...

another example is : to allow means giving permission, but "to allow for" meaning is completely different

Hence I choose wrong answer


Conclusion:

My verbal score is as low as 25 in GMAT prep.. and for SC and CR my accuracy are still on 60-70%

I want to ask for suggestions on how to increase my accuracy hence my verbal score

thank you

Henry

[[email protected]]

Hi Henry,

What were your scores on your last few practice CATs (including the Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores)?
What fraction of the SC, RC and CR questions are you getting correct?

While it certainly sounds like there are certain practice resources that you have enjoyed using, if they don't provide you with enough insight and practice to improve, then you will almost certainly have to invest in other resources. There's also the possibility that your Verbal skills are relatively strong, but that you're not properly handling the physical and psychological challenges that come with taking FULL-LENGTH Tests.

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich

[MartyMurray]

Hi Henry.

From what you said it sounds as if you know what it is you need to develop, better skill in noticing key details and the logic of what is going on in CR prompts, questions and answer choices.

Some of the other things you mentioned, such as determining question type, while they may smooth the path toward getting right CR answers, are not themselves really ways to determine which answer is correct.

Also, because many CR questions are rather unique, not fitting any standard form, it can be difficult to get to their answers by using standard strategies.

So the upshot is that what you need to focus you preparation work on is getting better at seeing the logic and details that you need to see in order to get the questions right.

There are a multiple ways to do this.

One is to go back over questions you didn't get right at first and see what it is you needed to see to get them right. Figure out exactly what makes the right answer right, and the wrong answer wrong. This can often come down to noticing one or two key words, and often people miss CR questions because they somehow ignore those key words.

Another thing that you can do is to slow waaaay down when doing practice CR questions. See what your hit rate is when you take five minutes, ten minutes, or more to answer each of them, analyzing the questions and answer choices until it's crystal clear which answer choices are not correct and which is. By doing this you will develop skill in analyzing the questions and an eye for what you need to see in order to get them right. Once you have developed those things, you can seek to speed up, while continuing to use the skills you developed while doing the questions slowly.

While I can understand how at times language issues can make handling CR certain questions challenging, from what I have seen generally people whose native language is not English can still achieve high overall hit rates in CR even if occasionally they are thrown off by words or expressions that they do not readily understand.

While getting better at CR can take practice and time, by being confident that you can increase your hit rate and by developing the basic skills necessary for doing so, you can get to a much higher hit rate in CR, as well as in the other areas of GMAT verbal.

[henry12345]

Hi rich,

Sorry for the wrong delay,
I have 3 CAT test from GMAT Prep
1st : Q45 V 25 580
2nd : Q45 V22 560
the first two, i dont do the IR and AWA
3rd : IR 5, Q 48 V 31, 650

basically my SC is on the 65-75% accuracy, CR is about 70-75% and RC is also about 70-75% accuracy
My target score is 720, so my verbal still needs more attention
verbal 40 might be enough to increase 70 points

regards,
Henry[/quote]

[MartyMurray]

verbal 40 might be enough to increase 70 points

This chart is pretty good for seeing how changing section scores affects total score.

https://magoosh.com/gmat/2013/how-to-cal ... at-scores/

[[email protected]]

Hi Henry,

This latest CAT score is a solid performance. With a Q48, you should be able to squeeze a few more points out of the Quant section - so you wouldn't have to pick up all of those missing points from the Verbal section.

1) When are you planning to take the GMAT?
2) When are you planning to apply to Business School?

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich

[henry12345]

Hi rich,

I plan taking the GMAT on January and I plan applying for business school maybe next year..

henry

[[email protected]]

Hi Henry,

On this last CAT, in the Verbal section, how many of the questions did you 'narrow down to 2 choices' but still get incorrect? It's possible that you don't know enough about how to spot the common wrong answers (so that you can avoid them). Combined with a general 'fatigue issue' (you might be too tired to perform at a high level when you get to the Verbal section), we might have the two areas that you need to work on.

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich

[Bara]

I wanted to throw in some suggestions which might support your study was well, which are not presented yet.

1) One way to move through understanding logic better is to take the 'game' out of the equation. What I mean by 'game' is the process of you needing to find an answer, and rather, have this be a more exploratory venture where you already KNOW the answer and then apply a comprehensive process of understanding WHY it's correct and how the other answer choices are NOT. This way, it pulls you out of the 'is-this-correct' mode and into 'why-is-this-correct' - -lowers the stakes. If you cannot figure out why some are correct or as I often say, 'least wrong', and cannot figure out why others ar e 'more wrong' you'll know that this is a bit of a blind spot. You do this enough, alone or with a specialist, you'll begin to see patterns which can support your getting these right when you are answering questions.

2) There is often a real tangible disadvantage not being well versed in formal American English whether that is not one's first language, or even limited exposure to this kind of 'idiomatic-driven' and 'formal' aspect of English. If this IS the case with you, and as you demonstrated above, it's important to get down each of the issues that are coming up in CR and SC, so you can continue to decipher exactly what the question is asking you to do. Again: you will see patterns emerge, and on this, you should equally be consistent with how to answer correctly, because this too will be consistent and reliable.

3) It seems SC is still your lowest score, and this, I unabashedly recommend you check out our SC book: https://www.amazon.com/Full-Potential-S ... bara+sapir. Not only does it provide a compressive treatment of the material you're expected to know, it will move you through exercises, AND help you enter an optimal mindset which was something you alluded to needing as well. Further: it addressed what non-native English speakers need to do to work through this section.

Do be in touch with any questions...and keep up the great work!

Best,