For most Indian / non native english speakers, the Verbal part of the Gmat is beyond doubt the toughest to score. You may have score an 80-85 % in english back in ur school & college days but, the GMAT english wouldnt guarantee you a hi score mere…
For most Indian / non native english speakers, the Verbal part of the Gmat is beyond doubt the toughest to score. You may have score an 80-85 % in english back in ur school & college days but, the GMAT english wouldnt guarantee you a hi score merely based on your academic history. So, here is a cpl of books that I found extremely helpul for each area :
CR :
I find CR questions the toughest to crack as first you have to decipher the meaning of the para presented, then make a logical structure out of it & then by the time you hit the answers, you tend to forget what the conclusion is. Here im listing some books & materials that most help crack GMAT verbal for a student who scored bw 60 - 80 in his school / college days in english. Follow the order:
1. E-GMAT CR for $69
2. CR Bible -Explains concepts in detail
3. Work with GMAT test prep, & OG 13 to know where you stand.
4. KAPLAN GMAT 800
I had also purchased the MANHATTAN SET OF 8 books that include CR, however,Im not including this one in the list above,as I found this book the least helpful in terms of understanding concepts & explaining methods to crack these questions most efficiently.
SC :
Many find SC as the easiest among all the GMAT verbal sections & I do too. However, I must admit this wasnt the case when I began preparing for SC. There are 4 vital resources that I best made use of to pump my score from a meager 40% to a whopping 85%. they are
1. Arostotle prep SC grail - latest ed. This book is a MUST HAVE whatever the level of your english is. No other material explains the concepts as clearly as this book & helps you register them in ur memory as well. The book also has dedicated some pages exclusively for idioms that are really helpful for the GMAT.
2. Manhattan Guide in SC : this book is just fine , if you wish to read more but I doubt if this book alone would guarantee a hi score in SC especially if your an average scorer.
3. GMAT Prep questions & Online MGMAT Question bank in SC.
RC :
This again is a tough area & the thing is skills that you used in CR & SC are key to crack RC. The best way to answer questions in limited time is to read the passage while deciphering a logical structure ( relationship) between the key variables. I always try drawing arrows & triangles to depict these vital relationships & this greatly helps to understand the passage easily . My score has improved tremendously following this method. The books I used were :
1. OG13
2. GMAT prep
I didnt use any other material as the key to improve score on RC is to read scientific newspapers, magazines over a 3 month period rather than browsing over various sources of exam preps.
Remember the key to scoring High is really not the amount of hard work that you put in ......... but it's how efficently you utilize your time & how well your efforts are geared towards the top result.
All the best !