Seeking help, really lost to improve my GMAT score.

I have taken GMAT two times and score 640 (M51, V25) & 650 (M51, V26), AWA: 5.5 and I am a non-native english speaker.

I encountered the similar problems for both tests as below:

1. Time is seriously not enough for real test although I could finish during simulation practices before (without rushing): Only 11 mins left for my last 10 questions. I did use stopwatch for my usual practice and my pace seems quite ok.

2. RC part is my worst of worst, generally I will spend around 2-3 mins reading the passage and I can understand briefly the meaning of the passage but feel like very confused with those questions. Most of my time are actually wasted in RC part during real test.

3. I feel that SC part is quite different from the past practices I have done as well, which normally can take split & resplit strategy easily, and normally I can eliminate a few choices using idioms such as not only..........but also..........., either........or........., but most of the real test SC questions don't come in this style.

4. CR is ok for me except the passage is longer than those of practices.

The key problem for me seems to be the timing problem once much more time is spent in RC, therefore little time will be left for CR and SC, and I have to rush or even skip CR & SC part.


My aim is 700+ so that I could apply top schools, I have studied Manhattan GMAT SC and improved a lot from this book, however I feel I am still not prepared for the real test. once there are no obvious grammar errors or no obvious patterns for splitting & re-splitting.

I have just ordered Manhanttan GMAT RC part and hopefully I could improve based on this book. Previously I mainly depend on OG Official guide 12 and Verbal review, another reason of my failure may because those questions are a bit easier compared with real test.

However I am still quite lost with my future preparation and any advices are appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

Johnny