Books to improve your General English for SNAP test 2019

With the exam date for SNAP test 2019 approaching thick and fast, your preparations for the exam must be in full swing. After all, excelling in this entrance exam provides you with the opportunity to pursue an MBA from Symbiosis, one of the most coveted universities in India for its faculty, campus and placements. However, preparing for this exam requires a holistic approach as you have to study four different sections. Namely General English, Quantitative Aptitude, Analytical & Logical Reasoning, and General Knowledge. Each section consists of different questions, which requires unique strategies to solve them. To help you with one, we shall discuss General English.

The General English section in SNAP comprises of reading comprehension, verbal reasoning, and verbal ability. To do well in this section, you must be thorough with different aspects of the English language. For example, you should be aware of various forms of writing to interpret and solve reading comprehension. Or your grammar should be on point to do well in the verbal ability section. To get the hang of it, you need regular practice.

Therefore, we have listed down a few books which will aid in your preparations for the General English section.

1. How to prepare for Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension

Authors: Arun Sharma and Meenakshi Upadhyay

Arun Sharma and Meenakshi Upadhayay are well-known names amongst MBA aspirants. They authored some of the best-selling MBA books in India, ranging in different sections of an entrance exam. One of them is "How to prepare for Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension." This book aims to build your skills in reading comprehension, verbal ability and verbal reasoning. It simplifies the process by dividing each topic into sub-sections.

For example, verbal ability consists of sub-sections such as sentence correction, fill in the blanks, vocabulary, vocabulary-based questions and paragraph jumbles. Studying these subsections will help you cover the syllabus in detail.

The book also consists of sample papers and mock tests. Thus, you can test your General English knowledge consistently.

2. The Pearson Guide to Verbal Ability and Logical Reasoning

Author: Nishit Sinha

Nishit Sinha trained over 5000 students in the past seven years for popular entrance exams, including previous SNAP tests. His passion for teaching students about the idiosyncrasies of English and numbers culminated in the book "The Pearson Guide to Verbal Ability and Logical Reasoning." From the basics of General English like how to attempt a reading comprehension to various tricks and tips that will reduce time in solving them, the book covers everything. The book also has sample papers of varying difficulty levels, which will give you enough practise for exam day.

Hence, the book is worth the investment for the value it provides.

3. Word Power Made Easy

Author: Norman Lewis

In order to perform well in the General English section, it is essential to have a strong vocabulary. It will not only help you interpret the meaning of the words used in reading comprehension but also help you solve verbal ability questions. In that case, you must invest your time in reading "Word Power Made Easy" by Norman Lewis.

Written by the legendary grammarian Norman Lewis, this book provides a step-by-step process to increase your knowledge and proficiency of the English language. The book provides you with exercises which will teach you the meaning and correct pronunciation of colloquial and non-colloquial words. This way, you will learn to speak fluently without using an illiterate expression or make embarrassing grammatical mistakes. It will also increase your confidence in written and spoken English.

Each exercise ends with a test where you can review what you learnt so far. Thus, you can track your progress and broaden your vocabulary knowledge at the same time.

By studying one of the above-mentioned books, you will achieve mastery in this section. The progress will reflect on your good mock scores, which will boost your morale in the days preceding the exam. All the best for SNAP and rest of the upcoming MBA entrance exams 2019!

Candidates aspiring to join Mba / MSc (CA) / MSc (SS) programmes offered by institutes of Symbiosis International (Deemed University) have to appear for the common, mandatory Symbiosis National Aptitude (Snap) Online Test 2019.