Sudden sharp drops in VA and RCs
I used to score around 110-125/ 180 in Verbal Ability, but now it has suddenly dropped to 80-90. Even in the daily RCs, I would score 19-24, but it has sharply decreased to 9-14. Is it a normal fluctuation? Is it overconfidence? Is it the varying difficulty? How do I tackle this?
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one last thing i would like to ask.......for the vocabulary and sentence correction is it that you come accross the word you have already seen once or guess work ...most probably both ? also as mentioned in the previous comments out of arun sharma, wren and martin , word power made easy can you please tell me the best one with maximum output ? albeit not all 3 , i can at least do any 1 of them
Yes, you're right, its a combination of both. Finding that sweet spot requires you to give many mocks. Word Power Made Easy is non-negotiable in my opinion (but you must pair it up with many, many sectionals and mocks).
That happens generally when you take a break or your rhythm/flow gets broken! It also depends on the difficulty level;!
Mann, 137 in va is really high! Atleast for me; any tips?
Hey! Firstly, thanks for your advice! You're probably right, it might just be the Diwali break complacency taking time to wear off. For VA, there's three things that have genuinely helped me:
- Studying idioms and phrasal verbs. Don't waste your time reading every editorial/ newspaper, just get lists of high-frequency words from Arun Sharma/ Afterboards (they have this amazing flashcards section that's great for spaced repetition), and I emphasise this - USE THOSE WORDS - and what I mean by that is, say it often in conversations or journal entries. Otherwise, I assure you, you will forget them. Call the topper sagacious, call your cheapskate friend a mendicant, and castigate those around you for grammatical errors like a pedant until they ostracise you.
- Mock test/ Sectional review- Your mistakes tell you exactly where you're going wrong. Do not take them lightly, because aspirants have a propensity to repeat the same errors they make during mocks. Don't be one of them.
- Might sound tacky, but enjoy the RCs. You might think I'm insane, but hey- fake it till you make it. If you believe that a 700-word passage about Mel Robbins is your passion for the next 2 minutes, it will become that. This will help especially in inference questions, because if you take an interest, you will read between the lines.
I hope I could help you in some way!
Yeah! Makes sense 😃
I completely relate to the third point - I do the exact same thing. 🤝
I am consistently scoring ~120 in va. There's no specific point where I am lacking in general (except pj) My vocab is not very high; so I will surely try the first point!
Thank you!
i just attempted my first mock test , did quite well in LR and QA but messed up the VA. It was mostly due to vocabulary questions so i will make sure to try the first point , could you also suggest something for parajumbles cause that would be really helpful??
i am able to find opening statement and make pairs but 1 sentence doesn't seem to fit anywhere , and my accuracy in parajumbles is like 50%
Dude your SA and LR are amazing!!! Frankly, Parajumbles are something I struggle with too, but I've been practicing it from the AfterBoards topic tests and that's helped hone my parajumble skills.
For that one absurd sentence presenting out of nowhere, I like to try and categorize it. Is it a general statement ? Is it specific like a description statement? Is it rhetoric ? Is it a negative statement/ problem statement? This catechism alone will give you much more information to work with, and since your LR is good, I trust you to take care of the logical arrangement step!
That sounds great !, I have been doing Para jumbles mostly with intuition till now . And actually that's the problem I face , even though I am good at LR ,mostly 2-3 arrangements seem perfect to me , cause with reading I have realized that authors can use any format or order they consider fit, like an author writing satires may follow a different order with statements compared to someone who doesn't , so all that possibilities pile up in my head while solving Parajumbles and it messes up , but now I will try to categorise the statement just like you said , thanks for the advice !!
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your scores are legit fabulous ....may i know how are you preparing , your schedule , and resources you are referring ? It would be of great help
also how are managing boards and ipmat together
Honestly I am a JEE aspirant so I dont follow anything specific for quants and boards (I am from PCM background)- my coaching takes care of that. For VA, I've solved Arun Sharma (the CAT textbook, its honestly the same level as IPMAT), read Word Power Made Easy by Norman Lewis (I revisit keywords every now and then), Wren and Martin for grammar. Other than that, dozens of sectionals and mocks. You can look at some of the tips ive suggested for scoring in VA in another comment of this same post. Hope that helps!
but at this point of time i think i can't refer to any new books ?
I understand that concern, especially if you're targeting IIMB. So for that, I'd just say, go head on with the sectionals and mocks. You might initially score low, but after 5/6 of them, you'll get the hang of it. But honestly, for other IPMAT exams in May, I think Word Power Made Easy is nonnegotiable. Simply because it doesn't just teach you a lengthy list of jargon, it teaches you how to actually recall whatever you've memorised.