GMAT Verbal Preparation Tips: How to Improve GMAT Verbal Score
GMAT
Beginning with GMAT Verbal Reasoning preparation? Here is a curated article for students aiming to prepare for the GMAT exam and its Verbal Reasoning section with tips for each topic tested on this section along with some of the common tips that can help students ace this section in one go. So check it out now!
The verbal section of the GMAT exam measures the test taker's ability to read and comprehend the written material, reason and evaluate arguments, and correct written material to express ideas effectively in standard written English. The GMAT Verbal section is difficult to crack, but with the introduction of GMAT Focus, the topics on VR have been reduced along with duration. Very few test-takers get a perfect score of 90. In this article, we will give you tips and strategies to handle the GMAT Verbal questions accurately.
GMAT (Focus) Verbal Reasoning Highlights
| GMAT Section | Verbal Reasoning (VR) |
| VR Syllabus | Reading Comprehension (RC) & Critical Reasoning (CR) |
| Verbal Reasoning Format | 23 Questions |
| VR Duration | 45 minutes |
| Scoring on Verbal Reasoning Section | 60-90 |
| Skills Tested on GMAT VR | Comprehension of English expressions, statement evaluation & reading ability |
| Latest on VR - Focus Edition | Sentence Correction has been deleted, questions have been reduced and so has the time |
GMAT Verbal Reasoning Section: Skills Measured
The basic skills tested on the Verbal Reasoning section of GMAT include:
- Ability to read and should be able to understand written material
- Also, be able to correctly reason and be able to evaluate statements
- Should be able to express ideas clearly in English
These are the three core skills that are essential to crack the Verbal Reasoning section of the GMAT (Focus) exam. Let us now look at how to go about preparing for the core topics of VR on GMAT in the following sections.
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GMAT Verbal Section: Reading Comprehension Questions
Reading Comprehension passages are up to 350 words long. Because the Reading Comprehension section includes passages from several different content areas, the student may be generally familiar with some of the material.
GMAT Verbal Section: Reading Comprehension Tips
There are 3 common types of topics for comprehension passages. The way you go about answering the question will be slightly different for each.
- Passages dealing with the sciences, such as biology and chemistry are factual and straightforward.
- Passages dealing with the social sciences, such as history and geography will present many conclusive questions, so you have to read them slowly.
- Passages dealing with business-related areas are tough, as they have difficult structures, and may even ask you to determine the author’s mood and opinions
- When answering a factual question, keep in mind that they are the most straightforward kind of question.
- When you are asked to describe the tone of the passage, the tone is more likely to be positive or neutral than negative. In a science passage, it is likely to be neutral.
- As you read, focus on the main theme, the author's tone, and paragraph topics rather than the specific details of the passage.
- Read the first question before you read the passage. You will have a better idea of what to focus on.
- When answering a fact question, carefully read both the passage providing the data – and several lines before it.
- You must practice the art of summarizing the paragraphs and identifying the main idea
GMAT Verbal Section: Critical Reasoning Questions
Critical Reasoning questions are designed to test the reasoning skills involved in making arguments, evaluating arguments, and formulating or evaluating a plan of action.
GMAT Verbal Section: Critical Reasoning Tips
- You must learn to identify the structure of the argument
- Read the question first so you know what kind of question you have to answer before you read the argument.
- For 'strengthen' or 'weaken-the-argument' questions, determine what type of reasoning the author uses and choose an answer that either helps or hurts that way of reasoning.
- For questions that ask you to conclude, choose an answer that contains the basic idea of the author.
- The answer must be a logical extension of the argument in the passage. Never choose an answer simply because you feel it is true.
- Try to guess the correct answer before you read the answer choices. This will help you focus on the best answer.
- Read all the answer choices. Eliminate the ones you know are wrong, and analyze the remaining ones with a focus on identifying the one that presents the most correct answer.
GMAT Verbal Preparation Books
The GMAT verbal section is challenging, and students need to prepare thoroughly for this section. We have provided a list of resources and books for GMAT verbal section preparation.
- Manhattan Prep GMAT Strategy Guides: Make sure that you read these books from cover to cover. Do not miss even a single question from these books. Try to make short notes when you read the theory. These books will provide you with a strong base.
- GMAT Official Guide (GMAT OG): After you have completed the Manhattan Prep GMAT Strategy Guides, you must solve GMAT OG. There is no escaping from this book. You must try to solve the GMAT OG at least twice before the main exam.
- Online Resources: Make sure to utilize the following online resources:
- GMAT Club Forum and GMAT Club YouTube Channel
- Beat The GMAT
- Thursday’s with Ron
- Magoosh YouTube Channel
Common GMAT Verbal Reasoning Section Tips
Applicants preparing for GMAT Verbal Reasoning section should incorporate the following prep tips to enhance their sectional preparation:
- Read regularly, inculcate this habit and cracking the VR section will be easier than usual.
- Learn new vocabulary words every day and incorporate them in daily communication and writing.
- Understand the use of new words also by understanding their meaning, synonyms and even antonyms.
- Learn multiple new words and memorise them using mnemonics to be able to remember their meanings.
- Discuss newspaper articles or magazine articles with parents and friends to broaden further understanding of new concepts.
- Finally, ensure that you make note of all the new vocabulary and concepts so that you can refer back to them whenever needed.
These tips are essential for applicants to ace the Verbal Reasoning section on the GMAT and be able to get high scores on GMAT exam.
Armed with these insights, you are now ready to start your GMAT Verbal Reasoning journey. Identify your strengths and weaknesses, create a tailored study plan, and dedicate time to consistent practice. With focused effort and strategic preparation, you can conquer the GMAT Verbal Reasoning section and achieve your desired score.
Some of the best books to prepare for GMAT Focus Edition are as follows:
- The GMAT Focus Official Guide
- The Critical Reasoning Bible
- All the GMAT guides (Manhattan Prep)
- Total GMAT Math (Jeff Sackmann)
- GMAT Prep Plus (Kaplan)
Ideally these are some of the most important GMAT Focus books to prepare for the exam.
GMAT exam is actually very tough, as only a handful number of students crack the exam. Out of 200,000 students, only 6% of the students qualified the exam. SIne the competition is very high, these tests are a hard nut to crack. Students preparing for GMAT exam will have to prepare rigorously and solve question papers in order to crack the exam. GMAT is hard to crack but not impossible. With the right strategies, students can aim to crack the exam.
Check out: Is GMAT exam tough?
As such there is no particular preference for choosing the best month to appear for GMAT exam. It is up to the applicants to choose a relevant GMAT exam date based on their admission intakes abroad and regster accordingly. Those who wish to submit GMAT scores for Fall intake should register for July-August months. While those applying for Spring intakes can appear for the exam in September-December months. It is completely up to the students because they need time to prepare and select an apt GMAT exam date.
Preparing for the GMAT test takes time and sincere efforts. You can prepare for the exam in six to eight months or it can be 3-4 months depending on your practice and ability. You need to give consistent efforts to get a good GMAT score. Make sure that you understand the GMAT pattern and syllabus before you purchase any study material. You must start with the GMAT official study material and then move on the other standard resources such as the Manhattan Prep guides. You must also appear for GMAT mock tests every week to gauge your progress.
650 - 690 is a good score, however, if you score above 700 then it is great and it also enhances your chances of securing admission to a top B-school. However, a good GMAT score is not the only criterion for securing admission to a top MBA college. Students need to build a holistic profile that should have a decent balance of work experience, academic excellence, extracurricular activities, etc. Nonetheless, a good GMAT score will definitely help you in improving your candidature. Make sure to cover every aspect of the GMAT syllabus with the correct resources.
GMAT is a computer-adaptive test, it adapts to the performance of the candidate while he is giving the test. The difficulty level of the questions changes based on whether the candidate is answering the questions right or wrong. If the candidate is answering the questions right, the level of the questions will rise, similarly, if the candidate is answering the questions wrong, the candidate will start getting easy questions. Also, as the next question is generated based on the performance in the current question, the candidate cannot visit the previous question. The candidate needs to answer a question about whether he is able to solve it or not in order to move ahead in the exam. If you get an easy question while taking the GMAT exam, you need not panic whether the previous question was correct or incorrect. Instead of wasting your time, you must focus only on solving the current question.
Yes, GMAT exam preparation is quite time consuming and requires a lot of precision in terms of applicant's understanding. The sections on GMAT are four in total and each section has a certain set of question type that are targetted in a timebound manner. Applicants have to time their preapration for GMAT because there's lots to cover based on syllabus and pattern. Plus for some the Quant section may be challenging, while for others the Verbal Reasoning section may be challenging. Based on the difficulty time should be allocated for GMAT preparation for individual sections and holistically as well.
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