3 months verbal preparation - disappointing result V16 to V20! :(

Question

Background: for the last 10 years, I have been away from academic studies. I took the diagnostic test in Feb and scored V16. Since last 3 months I studied all verbal sections and today took the GMAT prep again and scored V20. Here is my preparation summary. SC - first MGMAT books and then e-gmat. CR - MGMAT + PowerScore CR Bible RC - LSAT (8 Exams) + OG During my preparation, I improved my concepts a lot - SC is more clear now, scored 80% on e-gmat. Improved how to crack RC passage and also practice LSAT. used to score 5-6 correct out of 8 Qs on LSAT. Test results during practice questions on OG-15: SC - 70 % on overall tests - total 140 Qs. CR - Accuracy is 100 % for first 50 Qs - 23 Incorrect out of total 124 Qs. = 82 % Accuracy overall RC - For every passage - I used to have just one or 2 errors out of 6 Qs. Out of 110 Qs attempted - 27 Incorrect. = 76% I didn't practice any other books or questions except the ones mentioned above. If I look at my accuracy in all sections - I believe GMAT Prep mock does not justify the score I deserve.

Lesson learned during GMAT prep: 1) Shuffling of Qs - During the test I find it difficult to adjust to shuffling of different questions. During practice I didn't shuffle CR, SC and RC (used to practice question section-wise). 2) Timing - This was the real issue - I spend so much time in answering questions and even attempted one RC passage without reading the passage. 3) Panic - When I saw that I have to attempt last 20 Qs in 20 minutes - I start getting panic. Also I know that I need to review my error logs and also the answered questions to clarify my understanding. Experts - Please help and advice how to approach Verbal section in the next 3 months (I would review my Quant section mainly) - I really want to improve my score. Studies and focus is not an issue . My target score is V38-40.

chetan2u · Answer

Hi,
firstly lets be very candid. Improvement of 16 to 20 is no improvement at all..
Although I am not supporter or opponent of any course, But even self study of three months should have got you above that..
So may be more than course, your approach towards Verbal has not been correct.
1) Did you take any online courses or it were mainly through Books.
2) Although V 20 shows lack of understanding of basics in all subsection, are you aware of your subsection scores.
3) three months should be enough to score 30+ and beyond that requires more than basics, so what you choose is important.

most important point right now is to know your weakness and take the first step of building upon your basics through may be MGMAT books.

optmistic2016 · Answer

Thanks for the candid response, my answer to your questions are as follows:

1) Did you take any online courses or it were mainly through Books. -

Ans: 
SC - first MGMAT books and then e-gmat.
CR - MGMAT + PowerScore CR Bible
RC - LSAT (8 Exams) + OG

2) Although V 20 shows lack of understanding of basics in all subsection, are you aware of your subsection scores.

Wrong Correct Total Questions Success Rate
SC 8 9 17 53%
CR 5 6 11 55%
RC 5 8 13 62%

My only question - so OG practice doesn't reflect anything that I improved?

chetan2u · Answer

Hi,
Should not feel bad about the frank opinion..
If you would have had just 20 days for your exam, I would have tried to build up your confidence by saying that you have shown improvement.
But since you have 3 months more, it is better to take bitter pill and improve upon Verbal...

Again my point is that the coming 3 months are enough to score much better in verbal..
May be your approach was not correct.. and things require to change rather than continuing the same..

Now if you feel your accuracy is way more than what the scores show, may be you are not able to produce the same in EXAM, either stress or subconscious fear..
this may require you to get accustomed to the exams...
Take more Verbal sectionals and full MOCK tests..
in time you will get conditioned for the exams..
May be this will help you

optmistic2016 · Answer

Many thanks for the candid response, I prefer it rather than any other feedback.

As you know that my SC is the weakest of all sub-sections, so do you recommend any book for SC or any online course beside the one mentioned in my post?

Yes, I am literally feeling more conceptually better in all sub-sections - I have noticed that whenever I tried to time myself - I screw up my test - when attempted under untimed manner - result in way better without looking at the answer choice.

Any other suggestion for next 3 months ? time is not an issue - bottomline is - improvement and good Verbal score.

Thank you for your great suggestions!

ccooley · Answer

Your original post says it all. It isn't that you have weak verbal skills, per se (although you should still brush up on the rules!) - it's that you're taking the test wrong. Check out this post on the MPrep blog for more detail. It discusses Quant, but the situation for Verbal is basically the same.

https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/blog/ ... mat-quant/

From how you discuss your results, you seem to still have the mindset that getting a certain percentage of questions right is necessary, or at least important. It's not! Almost everyone gets roughly the same percent of the questions correct, full stop. What actually matters is which questions you get right and wrong, and when during the test you get them right or wrong.

If I were you, I'd emphasize the following:

1. Make sure you don't have any 'holes in your foundation'. If you miss easy questions, it ends up having a much greater negative impact on your score than missing hard questions. Actually, missing hard questions is totally okay and won't affect you much. Start with MPrep Foundations of Verbal or a similar book, go back to basics, and make sure you're at 100% accuracy on the easy stuff.

2. Timing drills. Using the GMAT Prep software or something similar, do timed, randomized verbal sets with all three problem types mixed. Start with relatively short sets, but work your way upwards towards longer sets that will challenge your stamina and timing sense. As you do these, you'll learn to take the test more intelligently - making the difficult but necessary choices that every great test-taker makes, about where to invest your time and energy and where to walk away from a problem.

optmistic2016 · Answer

+1

Many thanks Cooley, its an eye opener, completely new info which I was not aware of. Since last 3 months, I have been reading a lot of stuff about GMAT on many forums, articles but didn't come across something which you have mentioned.

Even with such a bad score today, I am still very motivated - because I believe its doable and as my name suggests - optimist - I can improve it - its just the matter of right strategies and time. I am glad that I wrote that post and got expert's opinions - how to tackle my issues.

Definitely - I would go through basics again along with that - practice mixed questions - GMAT prep + OG 2016 online question bank. After the test today, I did exactly what you said -I tried OG 16 online test and choose 20 Qs pool with timer and found it difficult to answer - I think its psychological - then - reduce the number of questions to 6 - mixed 3 CR and 3 SC - got 5 correct.

I am very happy to read your post - this shows I am on the right track and solving right or wrong does not matter - its which difficult level Qs have i corrected or not - I am super motivated again - thanks a lot!

chetan2u · Answer

Hi,

As i mentioned earlier, 3 months is good enough to improve and with your determination, it becomes easier..
since you have time, I would suggest make notes while you are reviewing the Qs. Anything written stays for long and is available for a revision at any time..
Even the resources you are going through can be made into concise self notes..

Ofcourse the importance of feeling at ease while doing TESTS remains the priority..

All the best

optmistic2016 · Answer

This is really useful. I have started reviewing the books from scratch and making notes. Will take tests once I am done with revision etc Thanks for your inputs!

Terabyte · Answer

Hey,  optmistic2016  I have approximately the same situation as you have. Could you please share your result? What have you done so far?

gentvenus · Answer

I too like to review the books from scratch and make notes.

3 months verbal preparation - disappointing result V16 to V20! :(

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