Critical Reasoning Trouble

[Milanproda1]

I wanted to ask the moderators or any students for some serious advice regarding CR questions and how to get better at them.

My scores are:
MGMAT CAT # 1-580 Start of course (5/6/11) Verbal 30
MGMAT CAT #2- 640 (6/25/11) Verbal 33
MGMAT CAT #3-660 (6/16/11) Verbal 37

So I have seen improvements throughout the course. However, I am still struggling with "upper level" (according to the MGMAT CAT 600-700 and 700-800 level) CR questions. For example, on my last test, I had gotten 13 CR questions:

Correct: 5/14
Correct 600-700 (3 for 3)
Wrong 600-700 (none)
Correct 700-800 (2 for 11)
Wrong 700-800 (9 for 11)

Now I am not big into question difficulty (Watching all of Ron's Class Sessions "Question difficulty is not important, just learn the material" but I am seeing a trend where I get most of the 600-700 level questions right, but I am consistently TERRIBLE with 700 plus level questions. Furthermore, I usually recognize the hardest question, I just do not answer them correctly.

So, I was wondering whether anyone has any advice as to how to get better a CR? Any materials, methods, approaches? I went through the SG and watched all of Ron's Classes, so what is the next step?

I am almost done with my course (tomorrow is the last class) and I plan on taking the GMAT August 10th). I will probably delay it another 2 weeks if I am not prepared.

Thank you in advance for any advice,

Milan

[StaceyKoprince]

Good job on your progress so far. Are you struggling with ALL 700+ CRs? Or are there patterns in terms of certain sub-types that are giving you the most trouble? If so, that's a good way to narrow your focus, because different sub-types often have different kinds of traps, etc.

You mention that you seem to be fine with the sub-700 Qs and that you even seem to be fine with the 700+ arguments themselves, but the questions / answer choices bring you down.

So, one thing to do is to start studying those answer choices more explicitly. (And do this on the questions you get right, too - you can learn a lot from questions that you got right!)

Start thinking about:
1) why was the wrong answer so tempting? why did it look like it might be right? (be as explicit as possible; also, now you know this is not a good reason to pick an answer)
2) why was it actually wrong? what specific words indicate that it is wrong and (if I got it wrong) how did I overlook those clues the first time?
3) why did the right answer seem wrong? what made it so tempting to cross off the right answer? why were those things actually okay; what was my error in thinking that they were wrong (if I got it wrong)? (also, now you know that this is not a good reason to eliminate an answer)
4) why was it actually right?

Also, go take a look at your last couple of MGMAT tests and see whether there's a pattern for the question sub-type as well (eg, Strengthen, Draw a Conclusion, etc.) - then I can help you more with whatever those subtypes are.

[Milanproda1]

Hey Stacey,

Thank you for your reply. I generated the MGMAT CAT reports, and I saw the I am at 17 percent correct on Draw the Conclusion questions, and 0% (eyes closed) in analyzing the structure of the argument.

I have gone over most of the CAT questions and the QB CR's. It is pretty weird, some questions I just get, others I don't. I will keep hacking away until I find a way.

One question about the CATs. When I looked question breakdown I had 33 "700 level" questions (The rest were all 600-700, and all correct), and I was correct on 17 "700" level Q's. I was surprised that I had gotten so many right (I was extremely lucky), but I only got a V37 (I presumed with that many hard q's I would get close to 39). I feel like I need to get about 32,33 out of 41 in order to get a V40?

Thanks again for your help and advice, sorry to nag with the dumb questions,

Milan

[jnelson0612]

Hi Milan,
Clearly, Draw a Conclusion questions can be an area of focus for you. Ask yourself on each answer choice does this answer choice HAVE to be true based on the information above? Be very wary of extreme wording on these questions as these answers are very easy to disprove, and you have to choose something that MUST be true. Try a few in the OG and then rework the ones you missed on the CAT.

Wow, I really don't think that you have to get that many right to get a V40. I'm looking at my own last CAT and my verbal was a 99th percentile and V45. I got 31/41 right (full confession: I did the section in 50 minutes so I should have slowed down and tried to be more accurate). Check to see if you missed some 500-600 in some of the other sections (or even some 600-700 may drag your score down a bit). Good luck!