The Graduate Management Admission Test or GMAT is a popular examination that students undertake who wish to join a graduate business school. The 3 and a half hour GMAT exam consists of four sections (1) Analytical writing assessment (2) Integrated reasoning (3) Quantitative and (4) Verbal. The verbal section of GMAT can be very tricky as most students consider preparing for this section at the end. However, it is important to build familiarity and understanding of the concepts to be able to tackle this section. Read ahead to know more on what there is in store –
The verbal section of the exam basically tests your capabilities on three different grounds.
First is the “Sentence Correction” section. This section is aimed to test your grammar and basically delves in the rules of tenses, articles, prepositions and other simple as well as complex construction of sentences. However, do not confuse this for simple grammar questions as these would be complex concepts assuming all students have a strong knowledge of basic grammar.
The second is “Reading Comprehension”. This section basically tests your critical reading skills and your ability to infer conclusions from the given passage. It also tests your ability to analyze the logical structure of the passage and would include deducing the author’s tone from the given passage.
The third section of the passage is “Critical Reasoning”. In this section, you are expected to find the answer choice that strengthens or weakens the argument. You may also be asked to find an assumption the argument makes or to make an inference yourself. This section basically tests your ability to comprehend what the passage tries to state, to identify its conclusion and to understand how the assumptions differ from the conclusion and from the inference. The other skills tested in this section may include
- Understanding words and statements in reading passages
- Understanding the logical relationships between significant points and concepts in the reading passages in order to answer related questions for the same
- Drawing inferences from facts and statements provided in the reading passages
- Understanding the author’s point of view and their proposed arguments solely by reading the passage
So if you’re planning to sit for a GMAT exam, we hope this gives you better clarity and you can equip yourself better to ace the exam!
