Hello,
I took my GMAT in May and scored a 650 (V34, Q47) and I am preparing to retake the test. I am aiming for 700+. My problem is that I am unable to crack sentence correction questions..meaning I am unable to do all the SCs correctly. As an example I did the manhattan SC question bank and made 8 mistakes out of the 25 questions. I am looking for good suggestions on how to improve my hit rate. I feel that my problem is with questions in which the entire SC is underlined and that I need to practice more tough questions...this is just my thinking. I already over searched on the internet and found no good answer to my problem. Here is what I used so far and I have already exhaused almost all my verbal resources.
1) OG 11 ( I know the answer to every SC question)
2) OG 10 (many questions are from OG11 and on the newer ones I have the same problem...hit rate is not high)
3) Manhattan SC guide (read it over 5 times...maybe I am missing something)
4) Kaplan 800, Kaplan verbal book
5) Kaplan, Princeton GMAT comprehensive books
6) reviewed all my mistakes but by doing so I only remember the answer to that particular question or if a similar question comes I will crack it but if the question is fumbled....I make a mistake.
I ready many blogs and most people who scored above 700+ did not review any more material than what I reviewed. So what is the solution? why am I getting confused with questions when the basics are tested in a newer way? Do I need more practice on tougher questions?
Thanks for all your suggestions.
GMAT Forum
2 postsPage 1 of 1
- RonPurewal
- Students
- Posts: 19744
- Joined: Tue Aug 14, 2007 8:23 am
here are some ideas you can try that might increase your success rate a little bit.
* make FLASH CARDS of the problems. there are tons of ways in which you could do this, but here's one possible idea:
- use Big Texas sized flash cards - the normal 3x5 ones might not work for everything i'm going to tell you right now, unless you can write / print at microfiche size
- put the entire problem on the front side of the card
- on the back side of the card, HIGHLIGHT EACH SPLIT between the answer choices in a DIFFERENT COLOR, and then put a brief explanation of that split on the back of the card. highlight the explanation in the same color in which you highlighted the split; because you're going to be putting lots of splits on the back of the same card, you're going to want an easy way to tell the different explanations apart.
- if there are splits that you can't highlight - i.e., splits involving large-scale rearrangements of words, affecting clarity rather than grammar, or splits involving placement of constructions such as modifiers - then describe them at the bottom of the card, highlighting them in some other color (or not highlighting them at all).
* try to WRITE YOUR OWN SENTENCES involving the same types of errors. don't try to include ALL of the same error types that appear in each problem - if you do so, you'll probably wind up with sentences that are essentially carbon copies of the ones in the problems - but try to include a couple of them in there. if you have a study buddy, try your new problems out on him/her and see how (s)he does.
* READ THROUGH THE CORRECT ANSWERS IN ONE SITTING.
you heard me right - don't even do the problems; just read through the wording of the correct answers.
you see, the gmat has a unique writing style, just as hemingway, faulkner, etc. have their own writing styles. the writing style of the gmat may not be as colorful, regionally marked, or manly as that of hemingway or faulkner, but it's still a style - and, if you get the "vibe" of the correct answers, you'll sometimes be able to eliminate choices simply because they don't conform to the way the gmat writes.
note: this should NOT be a primary method for eliminating answers; you should only use this kind of "vibing" for GUESSING if you can't see more grammatically formal ways to eliminate answer choices.
those are just some ideas.
good luck!
* make FLASH CARDS of the problems. there are tons of ways in which you could do this, but here's one possible idea:
- use Big Texas sized flash cards - the normal 3x5 ones might not work for everything i'm going to tell you right now, unless you can write / print at microfiche size
- put the entire problem on the front side of the card
- on the back side of the card, HIGHLIGHT EACH SPLIT between the answer choices in a DIFFERENT COLOR, and then put a brief explanation of that split on the back of the card. highlight the explanation in the same color in which you highlighted the split; because you're going to be putting lots of splits on the back of the same card, you're going to want an easy way to tell the different explanations apart.
- if there are splits that you can't highlight - i.e., splits involving large-scale rearrangements of words, affecting clarity rather than grammar, or splits involving placement of constructions such as modifiers - then describe them at the bottom of the card, highlighting them in some other color (or not highlighting them at all).
* try to WRITE YOUR OWN SENTENCES involving the same types of errors. don't try to include ALL of the same error types that appear in each problem - if you do so, you'll probably wind up with sentences that are essentially carbon copies of the ones in the problems - but try to include a couple of them in there. if you have a study buddy, try your new problems out on him/her and see how (s)he does.
* READ THROUGH THE CORRECT ANSWERS IN ONE SITTING.
you heard me right - don't even do the problems; just read through the wording of the correct answers.
you see, the gmat has a unique writing style, just as hemingway, faulkner, etc. have their own writing styles. the writing style of the gmat may not be as colorful, regionally marked, or manly as that of hemingway or faulkner, but it's still a style - and, if you get the "vibe" of the correct answers, you'll sometimes be able to eliminate choices simply because they don't conform to the way the gmat writes.
note: this should NOT be a primary method for eliminating answers; you should only use this kind of "vibing" for GUESSING if you can't see more grammatically formal ways to eliminate answer choices.
those are just some ideas.
good luck!
2 posts Page 1 of 1