Hi everyone,
I really need some advice regarding Verbal.
GMATNinja GMATNinjaTwo ScottTargetTestPrep generis BillyZ Yesterday I completed an official mock N5 and got V34. I got 9 mistakes: 1 in SC, 3 in CR, and 5 in RC. I do not know why, but SC seemed easy.
My previous mock was a month ago and I got V29.
On the real exam, which is in 3 weeks, I definitely need at least V37 to get 700, as I usually get around 48-49 in Quant.
I have already done a lot:
1) As I am a non-native speaker, I am reading news on a daily basis from Harvard Business Review, the Economist, Bloomberg, and e.t.c.
2) I have completed the whole
TTP Verbal course, with the exception of some topics in CR with an accuracy of 75-80%.
3) I have done all the questions from both
OG and Verbal review several times
4) I review my
error log regularly.
5) I have read many success stories and gmat-club threads on how to improve Verbal.
I have been devoting 3-4 hours to gmat each day for 2,5 months.
What difficulties do I have in Verbal? I think my weaker points are RC and SC. Everything is pretty fine with CR.
Talking about RC, I definitely have problems with speed and comprehension. Sometimes I do not understand some difficult words from 700+ RCs, what really affects my timing as I spend a lot of time understanding words from the context.
For example, in the middle (14-17 questions) of the latest mock (V34) appeared this text: "The ultimate pendulum clock, indeed the ultimate mechanical clock of any kind, was invented by a British engineer, William Shortt" Unfortunately, I am not allowed to add URLs(
I got only 2/4 correct, but it took a huge amount of time, with the result that I had to skip 35-36 questions at the end, which I could have done correctly because they were from not really difficult RC.
There are some more texts that are too hard for me (in the comments):
1) "Winter's V doctrine"
2) "In current historiography, the picture of a consistent, unequivocal decline in women’s status"
The rest of the texts are ok for me but sometimes take too much time. I generally do not have problems with medium-level texts!
According to my peers who have already passed the exam, texts are more difficult in the real gmat, which really frightens me. Moreover, I comprehend worse under moral pressure. No to mention, despite the fact that my friends scored constantly around V40 on mocks, each of them got V37-38 on the real exam - one more stressor.
As far as SC is concerned, I am 100% sure that I know the majority of rules well, and, of course, the exceptions, which I always revise. Thanks to the
TTP SC course. But I have difficulties with idioms (there are some questions that can not be done if you do not know an idiom) + there are sometimes very ridiculous exceptions to the rules that are impossible to predict. I would like to highlight that
I always pay huge attention to the meaning of each sentence, but some hard SCs seem to ignore the rules! I do not know what to do with such debatable SCs, as rules do not work here.
Let me provide you with some examples that confuse me a lot:
1) "Although she was considered among her contemporaries to be the better poet than her husband, later Elizabeth Barrett Browning was overshadowed by his success"
2) "Technically, "quicksand" is the term for sand that is so saturated with water as to acquire a liquid's character."
And the only SC that was incorrect in my latest mock (especially in mock n5 SCs were relatively easy):
"By the same techniques used for genetically enhancing plants, making them disease- or pest-resistant, researchers have been able to increase the amount of protein in potatoes, sweet potatoes, and tobacco."
Taking into account this data, I would be glad to hear what to do best in these 3 weeks to have an increase from my demo V34 to the real V37? Should I start doing LSAT questions to improve RCs?
I really do not what to do, as I have already scanned a lot of reputable sources...
Thank you all!!