The GMAT Verbal Reasoning section consists of 23 questions across two question types: Critical Reasoning (CR) and Reading Comprehension (RC). As with the quant section, you’ll receive a verbal score on a scale from 60 to 90, which combines with your other section scores to produce your overall composite score.
GMAT verbal tests a handful of specific skills: your ability to read precisely, reason carefully, and choose between subtly different answer choices under time pressure. It does not reward speed-reading, subject-matter expertise, clever tricks, or getting “close.”
The Verbal Reasoning section of this free course is organized to help you work efficiently:
- In this overview section, we’ll highlight a couple of broad issues that affect performance across both Critical Reasoning and Reading Comprehension.
- The individual Critical Reasoning and Reading Comprehension sections that follow go much deeper, with targeted explanations, examples, and resources that address common challenges student face with each question type.
The two items below focus on general verbal challenges that cut across both CR and RC. Once you’ve looked through those, use the sections below to dive into Critical Reasoning and Reading Comprehension separately, where you’ll find much more detailed guidance for each question type.
Core verbal problems holding you back.
I’m running out of high-quality GMAT verbal practice questions.
If this sounds like you, the problem usually isn’t effort — it’s supply.
Unfortunately, there’s a finite supply of official GMAT verbal questions. If you burn through them too quickly, you can stall your progress long before you’ve built reliable CR and RC instincts.
Third-party “GMAT-style” questions aren’t generally the best solution. In our experience, those tend to train bad habits. Instead, many strong verbal scorers supplement with LSAT Logical Reasoning and Reading Comprehension, which test the same core skills as GMAT CR and RC — often more rigorously.
LSAT questions force careful reading, punish outside assumptions, and require you to justify why answers are wrong. Those are exactly the habits that lead to success on the GMAT verbal section.
If this is what’s holding you back, read this: Five Reasons the LSAT Can Help Your GMAT Score. This article explains why LSAT material is often better training than non-official GMAT questions — and how to use it without confusing yourself.
If you want a quick overview before committing: Why LSATs Are Great Practice for GMAT Verbal. A short explanation of how LSAT CR and RC map cleanly onto GMAT verbal skills.
My verbal skills feel weak overall, not just on GMAT questions.
Keep going with this guide to watch our video guides. The sections below break GMAT verbal into its two question types, Critical Reasoning and Reading Comprehension, with targeted guidance for the specific issues that tend to limit scores in each area.
Critical Reasoning questions assess your ability to evaluate arguments logically and precisely. While they can feel subjective at first, GMAT Critical Reasoning is highly structured: each question is built around a clear argument, and each has exactly one answer that correctly responds to that argument as written.rnrnOur free GMAT Critical Reasoning course is designed to help you develop a reliable, repeatable approach to CR — one that improves accuracy by focusing on how arguments work, why wrong answers fail, and how strong test-takers make logical decisions under time pressure.
GMAT Critical Reasoning Lessons
CR doesn’t usually go badly because you don’t “know the question types.” If you’re struggling, it’s probably because you keep making the same predictable mistakes under time pressure.
That’s why this series is titled the way it is: each video targets a specific error pattern (missing the heart of the argument, paraphrasing badly, falling in love with a tempting answer, etc.) that we often see in our students. Find the mistake that sounds like you, watch that video, and then go apply it to official CR questions right away.
If you’re not sure where to start, begin at the top — the early videos fix the “foundational” errors that worsen everything else downstream.
Once you’ve watched the videos above, use the sections below to identify the Critical Reasoning issues that most often limit students’ verbal scores, and jump directly to the most relevant section for your situation.
Common Critical Reasoning Pitfalls
Critical Reasoning feels subjective, and I can always argue for more than one answer.
If Critical Reasoning feels subjective, it’s usually because more than one answer sounds reasonable, not because the question actually allows for multiple interpretations.
GMAT Critical Reasoning is built around formal arguments: claims, evidence, assumptions, and logical consequences. Each question has exactly one answer that correctly responds to the argument as written. The other four answers may sound persuasive, tempting, or even partially relevant — but each wrong answer always contains a specific flaw.
GMAT Critical Reasoning rewards precision, not persuasion. If you approach these questions by asking “Which answer do I like best?” or “Which one feels reasonable?”, the test will feel arbitrary. Once you shift to asking “Which answer actually does what the question demands, with no extra assumptions?”, CR becomes far more predictable.
High scorers aren’t better arguers. They’re better at identifying why wrong answers are wrong.
If this sounds like your experience, start here: Is GMAT Verbal Arbitrary and Subjective? This article explains why Critical Reasoning (and Reading Comprehension) only feel subjective — and how the GMAT consistently rewards careful, rule-based reasoning rather than opinions or instincts.
If you often feel “close” but still get the question wrong: “Close” Counts in Russian Roulette, but Not on GMAT Verbal Questions. This piece shows why narrowing answers down to a “final two” usually means you’ve missed a decisive flaw — and why being “almost right” on GMAT Verbal usually isn’t close at all.
I get down to two answers, and then I still pick the wrong one.
If you frequently narrow GMAT Critical Reasoning questions down to two answers and then miss the question, the issue usually isn’t bad luck. The issue is usually a flawed understanding of the passage or the answer choices, and the decisive flaw went unnoticed.
On GMAT verbal, getting to a “final two” doesn’t mean you’re close. In fact, it often means you’ve stopped evaluating answers critically and started comparing them to each other instead of to the question and the argument.
Every wrong answer on a Critical Reasoning question has a specific, identifiable flaw. High scorers don’t choose the answer that sounds better. They eliminate answers by pinpointing exactly why each one fails to do what the question asks. When you can’t articulate why an answer is wrong, you haven’t definitively eliminated it.
This is why CR rewards precision over intuition. The correct answer isn’t the one you like best — it’s the only one that survives careful scrutiny.
If this sounds like your experience, start here: “Close” Counts in Russian Roulette, but Not on GMAT Verbal Questions. This article explains why narrowing answers down to a “final two” is often misleading — and how to train yourself to spot the decisive flaw that separates the correct answer from the rest.
If you also find yourself rejecting answers for being “not perfect”: Don’t Be a Perfectionist on GMAT Verbal. This short video explains why the correct answer doesn’t need to be flawless. It just needs to be less flawed than the other four.
I know all of the question types, but I still miss Critical Reasoning questions.
If you understand the different Critical Reasoning question types but still miss questions, the problem is usually how you’re reading, not what you know.
Many test-takers read the question stem first (“Weaken,” “Strengthen,” “Assumption,” etc.) and then dive into the passage already hunting for a specific idea. That feels efficient, but it often backfires. There are many ways to weaken or strengthen an argument, and the GMAT frequently features answers that aren’t the first thing you’d think of. Some students even misread the question stem entirely, simply because they’re too eager to toss each question into a narrow category.
When you lead too aggressively with the question type, you bias your reading and narrow your attention too early. Strong CR performance comes from first understanding the argument on its own terms — what’s being claimed, what support is offered, and what’s being taken for granted — before you worry about what the question is asking you to do with it.
Knowing the task is obviously essential. But anchoring yourself in the argument comes first.
If this sounds familiar, start here: CR Tip: Don’t Read the Question First. This short video explains why reading the question stem first often lowers accuracy — and how anchoring yourself in the passage leads to more reliable success.
If you want a structured foundation for CR arguments: Beginner’s Guide to GMAT Critical Reasoning. A clear breakdown of how CR arguments are constructed and how to analyze them without relying on shortcuts or memorized tricks.
I rush through answer choices and miss things I should’ve seen.
If you often miss Critical Reasoning questions and immediately think, “I knew better than that,” the problem is often how quickly you’re reacting to answer choices.
Many test-takers try to save time on CR by eliminating answers impulsively: crossing something out because it feels irrelevant, extreme, or off-topic. In practice, this habit hurts both accuracy and timing. Once you’ve accidentally eliminated the correct answer, you’re forced to spend extra time trying to justify why a wrong answer must be right.
Strong CR performance comes from disciplined evaluation. High scorers don’t just react to answer choices. Instead, they justify every elimination by identifying a specific flaw. If an answer is irrelevant, they can explain exactly why. If it’s too strong, too weak, or misaligned with the question, they can point to the precise problem.
A thorough, systematic approach to answer choices doesn’t truly cost time. It prevents the much bigger time loss that comes from chasing the wrong answer.
If this sounds like your experience, start here: Don’t Just REACT… Stop and THINK. This short video explains why impulsive eliminations backfire on GMAT CR — and how forcing yourself to justify each elimination improves both accuracy and pacing.
If you find yourself settling for the “last answer standing”: Don’t Fall in Love on GMAT Critical Reasoning. This short shows why answer choice (E) deserves the same level of scrutiny as the others — and why making excuses for a remaining option is a warning sign that something was missed earlier.
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