Sentence Correction Is Leaving. That Does NOT Mean You Can Skip It (Yet)

By EMPOWERgmat on May 2, 2023

Here is a mistake I am watching people make right now, every single week. Say you have a GMAT date this summer. You read the news that GMAC is building a shorter test with no Sentence Correction. You think, "Great, SC is dead. I'll stop practicing it." Then you open your Verbal section, and there it is, SC question after SC question. Each one is waiting for you to guess.

Let me be blunt. If you are taking today's GMAT, skipping Sentence Correction in practice is a TERRIBLE IDEA. It is also a very fixable one, so let's fix it.

What is actually changing, and what is NOT

First, the facts. GMAC has announced a new version called the GMAT Focus Edition, planned for late 2023. It has three sections: Quant, Verbal and Data Insights, 45 minutes each. It is scored from 205 to 805. It has no essay, no geometry and no Sentence Correction.

That is the future. Here is the test you can sit for today, as laid out on GMAC's page on the sections and timing:

Section	Questions	Time
Analytical Writing	1 essay	30 min
Integrated Reasoning	12	30 min
Quant	31	62 min
Verbal	36	65 min

Verbal has three question types: Sentence Correction, Critical Reasoning and Reading Comprehension. Sentence Correction (SC) gives you a sentence with part of it underlined. You get five versions of that part, and you pick the best one. Choice A always repeats the original.

Your 200 to 800 total score comes from Quant and Verbal. So every SC question you face on today's test feeds the number schools actually look at.

Now the forced choice. What matters MORE to you: the test you WISH you were taking, or the test you are ACTUALLY taking? If your date is on the current GMAT, SC is on your test. Period.

Why you can't 'skip' it on Test Day

The GMAT is adaptive question by question. That means the computer picks your next question based on how you did on the last ones. You must answer each question to move on, and you can't go back to change an answer.

So there is no "skip SC" button. Every SC question shows up, and you either answer it with a method or you guess. A guess on a question you could have gotten right is a point handed away.

Stop reading for a second and think about this. How many of your missed Verbal questions last week were HARD questions, and how many were ones you should have gotten? I'll bet the second list is LARGER. SC is full of gettable questions, because it runs on a short list of rules that repeat. That is exactly the kind of question you can train for.

A runner at a starting line looks over a shoulder at a distant finish line on a far hill, while a nearby finish line sits right in front of the track. — Train for the race you are running, not the one that comes later.

Show me: the method beats the ear

Most people answer SC by reading all five choices and picking what "sounds good." That is not a strategy. That is what you do when you have no strategy. Try this one with notes on paper.

Try it

The list of documents that each applicant must submit, including transcripts and two letters of recommendation, are longer this year than they were last year.

are longer this year than they were last year
is longer this year than it was last year
is longer this year than they were last year
are longer this year than it was last year
has been longer this year than it had been last year

Show the answer

Step 1: write the choices on your pad. Put A B C D E in the same space where you take notes for this question. You will cross letters off as you go.

Step 2: look DOWN the choices, not across. Don't read each choice as a whole sentence. Compare the first words. You see "are" (A, D), "is" (B, C) and "has been" (E). That split tells you the test is about the verb.

Step 3: find the real subject. What is longer? Not the documents. Not the transcripts. The LIST is longer. "List" is singular, so it needs "is." Cross off A and D.

Step 4: find the next split. Now compare "they were" (C) and "it was" (B). The word stands for the list, which is one thing. So it must be "it." Cross off C.

Step 5: check what is left. E uses "has been" and "had been." "Had been" is for something that happened before another past event. Last year is not before anything here, so the tenses don't fit. Cross off E.

Answer: B.

The trap: the plural words "documents," "transcripts" and "letters" sit right next to the verb, so "are" SOUNDS right. Your ear hears the nearest noun. The rule says find the subject. Choice C is the second trap: it fixes the verb, so it feels safe, but the pronoun still doesn't match.

Notice what happened. You never had to decide which sentence "sounds best." You split the choices, applied one rule at a time and crossed letters off. That is faster AND more accurate than reading five sentences over and over.

The mistakes I see, and what to do INSTEAD

Dropping SC from practice because it is 'leaving.' It is not leaving your test. INSTEAD: if your date is on the current GMAT, keep SC in every Verbal practice set until Test Day.
Picking what 'sounds good.' Your ear was trained on how people talk, not on how GMAT sentences are built. INSTEAD: name the rule that kills each wrong choice. If you can't name it, you guessed.
Reading all five choices top to bottom. This is slow, and it makes the choices blur together. INSTEAD: look down the choices for splits, and attack one difference at a time.
Doing it all in your head. Some people think they're 'smart enough' to skip notes. THAT is the pride that costs points. INSTEAD: write the letters, cross them off and jot the subject of the sentence.
Treating SC like a separate skill. SC trains you to notice what every word in a sentence is doing. That same skill helps in Critical Reasoning and Reading Comprehension. INSTEAD: read every Verbal prompt with that care. You can't fake it by skimming, as we covered in why speed reading won't get you to 700+.
Waiting for the new test without a plan. Maybe the Focus Edition is the right test for you. But 'maybe' is not a plan. INSTEAD: check your application deadlines. Then pick ONE test and train for that test. Watch GMAC's GMAT page for official launch details rather than rumors.

SC is not your whole Verbal score

Let's keep this in proportion. You still have Critical Reasoning and Reading Comprehension in the same 65 minutes. Don't pour all your time into SC and let RC slide. In RC, you need to know the main idea before you hit the questions. A balanced Verbal plan trains all three types, because all three show up on your test.

And if your SC results have been rough, don't get too down on yourself. SC is one of the most trainable parts of the test. The rules are few, they repeat, and they show up in patterns. You don't need to be a grammar genius. You need a method you use EVERY time.

A notepad with five letters written in a row, four of them crossed out and one circled. — Cross off the wrong ones. Don't fall in love with the one that sounds nice.

Your challenge for today

Pull 10 Sentence Correction questions from your official practice materials. Do them with a pad and pen. For each one, write the letters, find the first split and write down the rule that kills each wrong choice. No rule, no cross-off.

Then count. How many did you get right because you KNEW, and how many because you guessed and got lucky? That second number is your real SC score. Go find out what it is today.