Timing on sentence correction & Reading comprehension

[Kweku.Amoako]

Hi,

I have a serious problem with SC correction and reading comprehension. I am really seeking help because I am determined to hit 720 on the GMAT. I am currently scoring about 630 (Q43-47 V28-31).

First of all I am very slow on the verbal. I am not sure if I read too slow, have poor comprehension or just don't get it. I have read the MGMAT SC guide. It is really good and I feel like I get it when I read it. The problem is I still average average 2-3 mins on wordy SC problems. I have come a long way from averaging 5-6 mins on even short SC problems but I know 2mins average on SC questions is still not good enough for my target score. I have been working hard at this problem with both OG and MGMAT questions but I still can't seem to do better. I've been trying to figure out exactly why I'm spending so much time on SC:

1) I noticed I don't have a standard approach. My technique is on a case by case bases and that is because I usually can't spot errors with SC question so I end up reading each answer choice.

2) For long SC questions sometimes I blankout.

3) Sometimes I feel I have not mastered the SC rules very well but I only feel like that on long SC questions. In some cases I spent over a minute debating between answer choices.

4) I find it hard to apply the split and re-split technique because I generally can not spot the error until I have read the answer choice

My problems are really hurting my performance on sentence. But I have maintained hope that I can really do well on the verbal (sometimes I feel I can actually do much better on the verbal) in general if I can figure the problem and develop a consistent strategy and approach.

Please help. I am desperate. I am taking my exam on august 31 at 8:00am.

Thanks in advance

[RonPurewal]

hi - hope it's not too late for some advice here; as a hint, if you post "advice" questions, such as this one, in the GENERAL FOLDER, you're likely to get a response within a couple of days.
this question doesn't really belong where you've posted it (this folder is for questions pertaining specifically to the verbal STRATEGY GUIDES).

The problem is I still average average 2-3 mins on wordy SC problems.

what this almost certainly means is that you are deliberating on decisions.

not good.

if there is one secret to verbal, that secret would be MAKING DECISIONS QUICKLY.

unlike math problems - in which you sometimes need to poke around the problem for some approach, or try a few different strategies e.g. when factoring an expression - verbal problems are pretty much "there", and either you see the problem or you don't.
as a result, PARTICULARLY ON SENTENCE CORRECTION, a decision that you make after 30-45 seconds of deliberation is not very likely to be better than a decision that you make instantly.
it's just not.

my favorite analogy:
think of sentence correction in the same way that you'd think of being chased through a labyrinth by a fire-breathing dragon.
at some places you have to choose whether to go left or right. (it's a labyrinth, after all.) in some particularly intricate parts of the labyrinth, you may even have to choose among 3 or more paths.
still, no matter what decisions you make, YOU HAVE TO MAKE THEM QUICKLY. if you don't, then the dragon will get you.

same thing on sentence correction. if you don't know some grammar issue, then the resultant decision is a lot like choosing whether to run left or right in a labyrinth: no matter how much you deliberate, your decision will essentially be random. same thing here.

i know that this is basically your primary issue because of the following:

I have come a long way from averaging 5-6 mins on even short SC problems

5-6 minutes on ANY verbal problem - but especially a SHORT sentence correction problem (which should, ideally, take less than a minute) - means that you are sitting there paralyzed.

i will GUARANTEE you that you are not spending these minutes in analysis. not at all. instead, you're spending the minutes deliberating between options that you've already identified, and between which you're simply unable to choose.

this is the biggest thing you can do better:
if you are unable to make a choice, then IMMEDIATELY
* move on to some other criterion (i.e., find some other split or problem)
or
* decide at random.

IMMEDIATELY.

1) I noticed I don't have a standard approach. My technique is on a case by case bases and that is because I usually can't spot errors with SC question so I end up reading each answer choice.

are you looking at SPLITS first?

i.e., are you looking for DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE ANSWER CHOICES?
this is where you're going to get the fastest eliminations.

before you start "reading answer choices" or "spotting errors", you should be COMPARING THE ANSWER CHOICES FOR OBSERVABLE DIFFERENCES. 95+% of observable differences (splits) between answer choices are cases in which one option is correct and the other option(s) is/are wrong. (there's the occasional split in which everything is correct and they're just trying to distract you, but that is extremely rare.)

it sounds as though your PRIMARY approach is to try to "spot errors".
that's a suboptimal approach. you should only be trying to "spot errors" if you don't see any SPLITS. (if there's a split, then "spotting the error" is no longer something that you have to do; you just have to CHOOSE from among the available options, which is much easier.)

2) For long SC questions sometimes I blankout.

you simply cannot allow this to happen.

never, ever, deliberate.
ever.
if you are unsure between 2 things, move on to some other split. if you run out of criteria, then IMMEDIATELY guess at random.

3) Sometimes I feel I have not mastered the SC rules very well but I only feel like that on long SC questions. In some cases I spent over a minute debating between answer choices.

this is your biggest problem, right here, again.

you should spend a maximum of, say, THREE TO FIVE SECONDS "debating between" answer choices.
if a decision is going to be random, it's still going to be random after that minute has passed. and then you'll have one less minute to work with.

4) I find it hard to apply the split and re-split technique because I generally can not spot the error until I have read the answer choice

the whole point of the splitting technique is that YOU DON'T HAVE TO SPOT ERRORS AHEAD OF TIME.

all you have to do is FIND A DIFFERENCE between the answer choices, and THEN decide which answer choices are right and which are wrong.

are you sure you understand what split-and-resplit is? again, the entire point of the technique is that it obviates the need to spot individual errors.
if you need a reminder of the split and re-split technique, you should check out the recorded session #1. (since you're a student, you should have access to this.)

My problems are really hurting my performance on sentence. But I have maintained hope that I can really do well on the verbal (sometimes I feel I can actually do much better on the verbal) in general if I can figure the problem and develop a consistent strategy and approach.

also, if you want a 720, you are going to have to spend TONS of time on sentence correction problems. perhaps a few months of consistent study, especially if you're coming from a place where it's taking you several minutes to answer even the shortest of SC questions.

go through EVERY problem in the GMATPREP VERBAL FOLDER of this forum (these are all official problems, and most of them are pretty hard).
go through EVERY problem in the official guides.
be sure that you can explain why EVERY wrong answer choice is wrong, and be sure that you can identify ALL legitimate grammatical structures in correct answers (viz., the ones that are split correctly vs. the incorrect answer choices).

and finally, you may not need a score in the range you're talking about. 720 is above average for admitted students at every single business school on the planet, so you don't need a score in that range unless there is very little else to distinguish you from other applicants.
if you have any substantial factors that separate you from the pack - whether demographic, work-related, or other-experience-related - then you won't need as high of a score.

[Kweku.Amoako]

Thanks Ron the detailed response.

Since I posted this, I made significant improvement. I can now pretty much answer most SC questions just under a minute and sometimes just over 1 minute and 30 secs depending on the difficulty level. But I am still struggling with lengthy SCs with everything underlined. I think the reason I am struggling with this is because when I scroll down the answer choices for these types, the positions of words and phrases are are not consistent and it makes it hard to compare corresponding parts without reading the whole sentence to identify corresponding parts of the sentence. This makes it hard for me to identify differences in the corresponding parts of a sentence.

Also for most of these types of SC questions, because the whole sentence is underlined, the sentence could be corrected in more ways compared to other types of SC questions where the non-underlined part forces you to only correct the underlined part. For example for a subject verb construction where only the section with the verb is underlined, I only have to correct the verb to correspond to the subject. Whereas in the same case where the whole sentence is underlined, I can not just scroll down the answer choices to compare the verbs because the sentence could be corrected by changing the subject as well. In such lengthy SC questions where many concepts are being tested it seems to take me just over 2mins to figure out.


Regarding my target score, my principle is why settle for less when I feel I'm capable of doing better. I maybe able to to differentiate myself in other ways as well as in my MBA applications. But the more ways the better especially considering the fact that I will be competing with other people with better profiles. I feel the GMAT is one of the easiest ways I can differentiate myself amongst other ways

[esledge]

...But I am still struggling with lengthy SCs with everything underlined. I think the reason I am struggling with this is because when I scroll down the answer choices for these types, the positions of words and phrases are are not consistent and it makes it hard to compare corresponding parts without reading the whole sentence to identify corresponding parts of the sentence. This makes it hard for me to identify differences in the corresponding parts of a sentence.

If the whole sentence is underlined, two major grammar topics are more likely to be present: (1) modifiers and (2) pronouns.

(1) because the GMAT authors often create modifier splits by moving the same or similar blocks of text around in the sentence. If a modifying phrase is at the beginning of one choice, and the end of another, the whole sentence must be underlined.

(2) because pronouns are more likely to be used the longer a sentence is, in general.

So to pick up speed on these, I'd recommend scanning for pronouns first, then look for similar blocks of text in each choice, paying attention to those phrases that "stay together" but get moved around relative to all the other text.