Can I read companion chapters before mastery?

[KatarinaM707]

The study syllabus offers extra work in the companion book. I am really interested in this-- for example, I looked over the companion chapter 1 in quant and it helped me understand fractions better. However, for verbal I am more cautious since it lends to more memorization. The companion chapter 1 in verbal says to only study this chapter if you've already mastered the sentence correction material. It's week 2, so I definitely don't think I've mastered anything yet. So then why is the companion listed as extra work for week 2? I am confused by this-- would it not be helpful to read the companion for verbal in week 2 if I haven't yet mastered sentence correct?

[StaceyKoprince]

Hi! It means that you should first master that same specific *sub-category* of "regular" material before moving on to the advanced—eg, SC modifiers specifically or, as you said, fractions.

That same sub-category of regular material is assigned in that same week (or in prior weeks), in the main area of the syllabus. So do any "regular" SC assignments from that week and prior weeks first. If you feel really good about those lessons, go ahead and check out the advanced assignment from the Companion guide. Alternatively, you may want to do additional practice to feel more comfortable with the regular-level material and come back to the advanced assignment in a later week.

The above also applies for Quant. Basically, all of the advanced chapters from the Companion guides are put into the syllabus after we've assigned you the "regular" material for those same areas. So the question is really just how comfortable you felt with the regular assignments—that will tell you whether you're ready to try the advanced material.