Verbal Reasoning on the GMAT Focus: how to improve in 30 days
Verbal Reasoning on the GMAT Focus Edition has two parts: Reading Comprehension and Critical Reasoning. Sentence Correction is gone. That changes how you train: those who mastered grammar rules now need to master argument logic and strategic reading.
Weeks 1 and 2: active reading
- Read one academic passage per day (economics, science, history) and summarize the main argument in one sentence.
- Identify each paragraph's function: introduction, evidence, objection, conclusion.
- Do not highlight everything. Mark only transitions and contrast words.
Weeks 3 and 4: Critical Reasoning
Critical Reasoning requires you to identify premise, conclusion and logical gap before looking at the answer choices. The most common mistake is reading options before understanding the argument. Practice 10 to 15 questions per day, always naming the type: strengthen, weaken, infer, assume or structure.
Timing control
- Average target: 1m57 per Verbal question.
- Reading Comprehension: invest in the first paragraph and transitions; return to the text, not your notes.
- Critical Reasoning: if you have not identified the gap in 60 seconds, bookmark and move on.
How to measure progress
Track accuracy by question type and by error cause. If after two weeks you still miss more from interpretation than from content, the issue is not vocabulary — it is active reading.
Thirty days is enough to raise Verbal if training is targeted: active reading first, Critical Reasoning second and pacing throughout.
Want the full method and the app?
The GMAT Descomplicado eBook (27 chapters, updated for the Focus Edition) comes with app access: error log, spaced-repetition flashcards and a pacing tracker.