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To answer the queries of test takers regarding how to prepare for the Verbal section, here is the 6-step approach. If followed diligently, it leads to a great Verbal score.
The day you decide to take GMAT is the day you need to start reading, if you don’t already. It is easier to start with and stick to fiction so kick off with that.
There is a compilation of good reads on a thread started by BB on GMAT Club: https://gmatclub.com/forum/books-to-read-improve-verbal-score-and-enjoy-a-good-read-76079.html#p572735
In GMAT, we get passages from different categories: Natural Sciences, Social Sciences, Business & Economy, and Arts & Linguistics
Cover all four categories through books, national dailies such as NYT, the Hindu and magazines such as National Geographic, Business today, Oxford American, Discover, Entrepreneur, Scientific American, The Economist etc. on a regular basis.
Here is a video on the importance of Reading: https://youtu.be/dqoECZ41zSI
Start with a detailed discussion on Conditionals. You must understand how to handle conditional statements, not just for Verbal but for Data Insights too. Then go through the theory of both CR and RC including important points in all the various question types.
Here are some useful theory videos of CR and RC:
How to approach RC passages: https://youtu.be/PtqSBl1D_wg
CR Strengthen: https://youtu.be/mB8bm_a4GNk
Here is the entire verbal playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLn2sff0yMs_P8yPvRmhPlyrdhcz3eE8O3
Start practicing with official questions of easy level without timing yourself.
In the Verbal Review book, question numbers 1 to 36 of RC and 113 to 154 of CR are easy.
Each day, do 1 or 2 RC passages and 5 CR questions.
Break down each argument and evaluate each question thoroughly. Check solutions on YouTube, GMAT Club etc. Understand how each word used by the author plays a part in the question. Apply the concepts you learned in your theory on these questions consciously.
Start practicing with easy official questions in sets of 10 questions split evenly between CR and RC, giving yourself 2 mins per question.
In the Official Guide, question numbers 333 to 377 of RC and 490 to 547 of CR are easy questions.
Then review and evaluate each question thoroughly, untimed. Check solutions on YouTube, GMAT Club etc. Understand how each word used by the author plays a part in the question.
If you have a longish prep timeline, say more than 3 months, switch to LSAT practice questions since you have thousands of these questions available and they are high quality too, just like official GMAT questions. With the Focus version, most LSAT CR questions are fair game for GMAT. Focus on the reasoning used, conditionals used etc. Also, we are seeing longer passages in FE which makes LSAT RC suitable too. The LSAT passages are long, but questions are straight forward. By practicing them, you will learn how to structure a lot of data quickly. But GMAT questions are trickier than LSAT questions so you must switch back to GMAT official content a couple of months before your target test date.
Here is a video on how to structure data in RC: https://youtu.be/oSgG1HtEFxQ
Last two months, switch back to GMAT content. All your practice will be timed only. Start with medium questions – 10 a day split evenly between CR and RC, timed. Over 4 alternate weekends (whenever you are not taking a full-length practice test), try a Verbal practice test of 23 questions split evenly between CR and RC. This should be a healthy mix of medium and hard questions. Invest a few hours to review the test thoroughly. If you run out of questions, you have more official practice questions available on mba.com. In all you have about 470 Verbal medium and hard practice questions (excluding the 6 practice tests) so plan accordingly.
Check solutions on YouTube, GMAT Club etc. after each test, even for questions you answer correctly – to confirm your reasoning.
Here is a video discussing a couple of tricky assumption questions: https://youtu.be/ZQnhC4d5ODU
Finally, you will be ready to take the test.
