Verbal Reasoning Language

[cubixguy77]

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I've noticed that many of my errors stem from a misreading or misinterpretation of the question stems, so I'm wondering if there are particular words to watch out for.

Also, would anyone draw a distinction between the following stems:
"The author suggests that..."
"The author implies that..."
"It can be inferred that..."

 

[apumic]

That's something that'll come w/ practice at this pt.

The distinction there is largely one of subtlety. Listen to the phrases. You should get that feeling. Practically, however, I don't think there is much difference in terms of how I'd go about answering the question. Unfortunately, I think part of the wonder of verbal tests is how much of the test occurs beneath the surface. There may be little obvious difference between how someone who gets 99th percentile scores on these approaches a question vs. how someone who scores toward the 60th or 70th does. The difference is largely in the subtext -- what one notices or feels. For me, I rarely "know" why my answer is right (sometimes I strongly disagree with the "reasons" listed by the prep companies, for instance, for the "correct answer" -- despite getting the answer correct); however, my answers tend to be correct about 85% of the time prior to doing any prep (i.e., on a diagnostic for a given standardized exam). A lot of it has to do with intuition. I suspect that must be developed over time through reading, writing, and other verbal-intensive activities.