Idioms: Should I study and memorize them?

[sachin.w]

Hi Stacey,
I read your article : http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... orrection/

I have , however, seen some Gmat experts recommending studying and memorizing idioms for success on GMAT SC despite this announcement.

I personally find it very difficult memorizing 100s of idioms that are listed in the 5th ed Strategy guide.

Do you think it is worth studying them? Do you think I can increase at least 2 points on verbal by studying Idioms?

I am not a native speaker of English.

What is the current trend of SC Questions on GMAT? I know they won't test purely based on Idioms but still I would like to know if learning idioms can help me eliminate answer choices quickly.
I believe this is the reason why native speakers are able to score high on Verbal. They can quickly eliminate answer choices based on wrong usages/idioms and thereby save considerable time which
is utilized for the other sections.

Regards,
Sachin

[StaceyKoprince]

Ooh - follow the link on the bottom of that page:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... -the-gmac/

A few days after that posted, GMAC clarified that they were only dumping American-centric idioms. (That's in the next post.)

Everyone finds idioms difficult because, as you noted, we just have to memorize them. Still, you are going to miss questions if you don't study idioms.

I doubt, however, that you can raise your verbal score 2 points just by memorizing idioms - that's a HUGE increase (around 6 to 8 percentile points, depending on your level). You're going to need to do more than just memorize idioms.

Don't memorize every idiom in the world (there are thousands). Instead, look for a list of idioms that have been known to be tested on the official questions. (eg, the idioms chapter in our SC book is made up ONLY of idioms from official problems). Try to learn 1 or 2 a day, but also recognize that you're not going to learn them all. That's okay, just try to get better than you are now - just as you're doing in all other areas!