GMAT Forum
2 postsPage 1 of 1
- TrillTalk
What is the secret to doing well on Sentence Correction?
I am absolutely terrible in SC. I have been studying so hard but just don't "get it." I know there has to be a better, more efficient way for me to learn. I have a hard time picking out verbs, pronouns, adjectives, etc... I know this stuff is extremely basic but even after studying the basics I am having far more difficulty than I would have ever imagined. I am consistently scoring 50% on all SC questions. Can someone give me some real advice?
- RonPurewal
- Students
- Posts: 19744
- Joined: Tue Aug 14, 2007 8:23 am
your problem probably stems from studying SC problems in groups according to topic. worse yet, you probably know the topics ahead of time - i.e., you've probably said "ok, i'm going to solve a bunch of parallelism problems" or some other such thing.
you can't get away with that, because the hardest part of SC is recognizing the signals that dictate which problem type you're dealing with. if you go into problems already knowing the error type you're confronting, you won't get practice in that most valuable of areas: recognition.
here is the best thing you can do:
on EVERY problem, answer the following questions. answer them as many times as you need to; almost all problems test more than one type of error.
* what type of error is being tested?
* HOW DO I KNOW THAT? what signals are present that indicate this error type?
* what is the GENERAL RULE behind the resolution of the error? (this question is not applicable to idioms, which, by definition, aren't subject to general rules.)
the "signals" problem may be easy or difficult to figure out, depending on the error type. for instance, it's easy to figure out when you're dealing with pronouns: if you see a pronoun (especially it, they, that, those), then you're dealing with a pronoun error. it's that simple. however, with larger-picture errors (such as parallelism), it can be more difficult to pick up on the error in the first place. the best you can do is solve the problems with an eye to these signals - "stimulus" and "response", if you will - rather than becoming fixated on the specific words in the problem.
good luck.
you can't get away with that, because the hardest part of SC is recognizing the signals that dictate which problem type you're dealing with. if you go into problems already knowing the error type you're confronting, you won't get practice in that most valuable of areas: recognition.
here is the best thing you can do:
on EVERY problem, answer the following questions. answer them as many times as you need to; almost all problems test more than one type of error.
* what type of error is being tested?
* HOW DO I KNOW THAT? what signals are present that indicate this error type?
* what is the GENERAL RULE behind the resolution of the error? (this question is not applicable to idioms, which, by definition, aren't subject to general rules.)
the "signals" problem may be easy or difficult to figure out, depending on the error type. for instance, it's easy to figure out when you're dealing with pronouns: if you see a pronoun (especially it, they, that, those), then you're dealing with a pronoun error. it's that simple. however, with larger-picture errors (such as parallelism), it can be more difficult to pick up on the error in the first place. the best you can do is solve the problems with an eye to these signals - "stimulus" and "response", if you will - rather than becoming fixated on the specific words in the problem.
good luck.
2 posts Page 1 of 1