Beginner’s Must-Read: Return to the Fundamentals and Strengthen Your Three Core GMAT Verbal Skills!
Today’s GMAT test-takers face a dilemma:
It’s not a lack of resources, but too many resources. It’s not a lack of tutors, but too many scammers and deceivers. It’s not a lack of methods, but most people are teaching outdated ones.
During the first three weeks of my self-study GMAT prep, I downloaded most of the materials I could find online, including documents, online courses, and more, totaling several gigabytes. My mindset at the time was to “learn from the best of all worlds.” I thought that by studying all the available materials and constantly practicing with questions, I could definitely conquer this exam just like all the others I’d faced before.
Unfortunately, after three weeks, just like most people, I had gone through countless practice questions and jotted down fragmented rules in my notebook. Yet, my performance on questions remained inconsistent, fluctuating between good and bad. The most terrifying part was that these “rules” often contradicted themselves, making me increasingly hesitant as I worked through problems, ultimately forcing me to rely on “gut feeling” to decide.
I had a couple of very low days back then, lacking the motivation to tackle new questions. I repeatedly asked myself one question:
Why do business schools test so many rules?
Why do business schools test so many rules?
Why do business schools test so many rules?
If I could just find the answer to this question, I could convince myself to keep doing the same thing. However, dozens of hours passed, and I still didn’t know, “Why do business schools test so many rules?”
Then I finally understood. This exam isn’t composed of individual rules at all; it’s built around the core competencies required by business schools. Only by strengthening these core competencies do subsequent test strategies and problem-solving techniques become meaningful.
1. English Reading Comprehension for Academic Texts
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If your Verbal score is below 30, don’t even think about it—just focus on reading comprehension training. Why? Take a look at the data below:
Since the data above represents average scores, it excludes other factors like whether one attended tutoring or their innate intelligence. Please note the difference in Verbal scores between mainland China, Taiwan, and Singapore, ranging from 23 to 31. I personally believe the biggest difference lies in “English reading comprehension” (the fundamental difference between Singaporean test-takers and those from Taiwan, mainland China, and most other APAC countries).
Questions in the V22-31 range are all about “content complexity,” but the underlying logic is still common sense from everyday life. They don’t require too much high-level thinking; simply improving your reading ability will naturally lead to progress. Conversely, no matter how many questions you practice or how many test points and techniques you learn, if you misinterpret the question, you’ll still get a low score. This is because we always follow the process of “comprehension -> thinking -> problem-solving.” It’s impossible to reverse this order.
However, reading ability happens to be the most time-consuming aspect of the entire preparation process. Based on experience, it takes over a month and a half to build a solid foundation. So, if you’re at this stage, I believe you shouldn’t hesitate at all (even if you scored IELTS Reading 9)—just focus on reading training.
2. Logical Reasoning Ability
With comprehension comes thinking. For Easy-Medium difficulty questions on the GMAT, beyond the complexity of information (which tests reading ability), there aren’t many deliberately designed traps. Most questions involve common sense and normal logical judgment used in daily life. However, business schools demand a more rigorous informal logic, such as strictly narrowing down the issue under discussion, or only discussing one side of a causal link, and so on. Furthermore, answers can be more diverse, not necessarily the one you’d “intuitively think of.” Therefore, cultivating rigorous and comprehensive logical thinking habits becomes your next task.
Please remember, simply drilling questions does not effectively develop logical thinking. Neither does aimless review.Dustin believes that to improve this ability, it must be practiced comprehensively, in every detail of daily life.Below are some logical training exercises I commonly used during my prep. They have no barrier to entry, no upper limit, and no burden. As long as you are willing to practice consistently, you will see significant improvement within two to three weeks:
- Logical Foundation Training (Part 1): MECE (Mutually Exclusive, Collectively Exhaustive)
- Logical Foundation Training (Part 2): Two Good Habits to Improve Logical Thinking
- Logical Foundation Training (Part 3): Cultivating Your Own Logical Intuition
3. Adaptive Ability
Finally, what sets this exam apart from most “knowledge-based exams” of the past is that your review methods during preparation, along with the process of planning and revising your study schedule, will also determine whether you ultimately achieve a high score. No one starts on the perfectly correct path. Including myself, all high-scoring test-takers Dustin has observed share one characteristic: they understand “trial and error,” reflecting on and correcting mistakes they’ve made in the past. These reflections include:
(1) Why is a similar concept the wrong answer in the first question but the correct answer in the second? What are the logical commonalities and differences between these two questions?
(2) Whether the answer is right or wrong isn’t the main point; the key is why I thought incorrectly during the process of choosing an answer. Is there an issue with my thinking habits?
(3) Why haven’t I been improving? What exactly is my problem? How can my problem be broken down into different components? What efforts have I made in these areas in the past? Have these efforts truly addressed my problem?
(4) Is what I’m doing right now helpful for my exam, or is it only helpful for this specific question in front of me?
(5) If I believe the method I’m currently using is meaningful, then expand your thinking: are there better alternatives under the same circumstances and with the same resources?
Dustin’s proudest ability is this: I strive to bring the “adaptive” method of error correction and revision to all test-takers through rigorous dialogue and instruction, combined with my experience coaching over a thousand students. As educators, training institutions don’t just provide knowledge enhancement (English reading comprehension, logical reasoning ability); most importantly, they “cultivate adaptive ability.”
In the links below, you will see how “adaptive ability” is put into practice at every stage of exam preparation:
- Key Mindsets for Question Review: “God’s Eye View” and “Fog of War”
- RC Advanced: From “Burying This Question” to “Preparing for the Next” (Using GWD-TN14-24~27 as an example)
Conclusion
I sincerely hope that all test-takers, whether self-studying or attending tutoring, if you don’t know where to start or are stuck and unsure how to proceed, can return to the fundamentals: the three core competencies mentioned above. While I’d rather not make a sales pitch, if you have sufficient determination and are willing to effectively conquer the GMAT through this learning path, rather than just believing in online “quick fixes,” you’re welcome to chat with me at Dustin GMAT. From foundational courses, training programs, advanced workshops, to specialized classes, we have thoughtfully prepared empirically effective training for test-takers at different preparation stages, levels, and with various challenges. Let’s get back to basics and conquer the GMAT through core competencies.
