6 Attempts and still at V32...Need Help

Question

Hi All, I am a non native English speaker, residing in India. I have a great academic record , except for GMAT! I am writing this because I feel there are so many in GMAT club who were struggling with GMAT Verbal score, and successfully scored 730+ later. I need expert guidance and suggestions on what should be my next strategy, because I am not able to realize where am I lagging now and where should I put my focus. My Target score is 750 My background: 1. Graduated from NIT 2. 6+ years of IT experience 3. GMAT experience - 6 attempts ( 610,640,560,640,640,640,660). Latest score - 660 (V32, Q49) I know you will call me Mad... But after all these attempts, I still have hope that I will score 740+ one day

My Verbal study strategies till now: 1. Solved all the OG questions -OG 2020, OG VR, Official Practice questions pack 2. I have solved all the OG questions with process of elimination. Old OG questions- from CJ's website. 2. Completed Manhattan SC guide. 3.Completed Powerscore Bible for CR 4. Enrolled to e-gmat twice.(By now I am quite familiar with their content , so cannot enroll again). 5. I have also seen GMAT Ninja SC videos( those are great). 6. Gmat official Mock test scores-610, 640, 690 , 630, 650 7. ESR details of latest GMAT score- CR - 70 percentile RC -57 percentile SC- 56 percentile Problem in my view: 1. I feel that i solve the SC through grammar and methods mentioned in MGMAT guide and not by understanding the meaning. Because after my latest GMAT test (20 December 2020), I don't remember any of the SC question properly , whereas I am able to recall RC and CR passages. Is that one of the reason for such a low score in SC? 2. RC: I get the main Idea of the passage and paragraph, but somehow i get nervous when i see unknown topics (latest one- 1 RC in GMAT related to Milkweed sap and Alphids) Need Help from Gmat Club experts and users : bb , souvik101990 ChiranjeevSingh VeritasKarishma Bunuel GMATNinja - Please guide me on what should be my next step. I found recently telecasted Vinayak's debrief quite helpful and motivating. I still need more suggestions. Any help will be greatly appreciated

I promise if I am able to get my target score, I will help as many candidates as I can through this forum

Shilpa04 · Answer

Need help for Gmat Verbal , stuck at V32 from 2 years

KarishmaB · Answer

Shilpa, in these two years, have you spent enough time reading? Most of the language skills are picked up passively by regular reading. Taking GMAT again and again is not going to be effective if you do not prepare differently. You have not mentioned what your timelines are but assuming you have a few months before the next attempt, you must start reading from today. Invest at least an hour or two every day (the recommended reading list is available on the forum). Also, while travelling and/or before sleeping etc, put on an audiobook and just listen. You need to understand the nuances of language. I have seen people improve their language skills by putting in substantial effort this way. People with good language skills automatically improve in RC and SC. I am assuming that you have been through at least one test prep curriculum and all official material in the span of these two years. Re-reading how to handle various question types etc will not help you improve anymore. Focus on your language skills for a few months and then come back to GMAT. You will be surprised to see the improvement.

hacorus · Answer

Hi Shilpa04,
For SC, I have found the power score book helpful and a good complement to GMAT Ninja's video. Solving for grammar is more common than solving for meaning, but you need to make sure the sentence makes sence once you have eliminated dome answer choice if you are hesitating between 2 last choices. This will most likely happen if you get high percentile questions (i.e. 2 answer choices grammatically correct but one making more sense than the other). 
For RC, I think that using LSAT as recommended by GMAT Ninja, helped with getting use to unfamiliar reading and to read efficiently (don't know how is your timing in relation to your performance). I stopped doing LSAT when I scored 80-90% consistently in under 1h. Transitioning back to normal GMAT material before taking the test again as LSAT is fairly different was also a good way to check my progress.
Good luck for the hard work ahead, aftee 2 years you've shown your determination so keep up the good work for the finish line, you'll do great!

Posted from my mobile device

Shilpa04 · Answer

karishma -Thanks alot for your reply...

I gave each exam after a period of 3-4 months.
You have correctly pointed out that I was spending too much effort/time to recognize GMAT pattern and tricks, and not on the language.

I have not spent enough time on reading. I will definitely go through the reading list suggestions given by bb in one of the forum and read everyday...

Thankyou

Shilpa04 · Answer

hacorus - Thanks a lot for your reply

I will take down your suggestion and work on it.

1. SC - Power score + Meaning based approach
2. RC - LSAT for unfamiliar reading

Thanks, and keep motivating to people like us...If V32 is so difficult, I wonder what does it take to achieve V44(as shown in your profile)

GmatKnightTutor · Answer

Consider isolating the TYPE of questions you get wrong. I.E. Sub/verb agreement etc.

EducationAisle · Answer

Six attempt are a  lot  Shilpa! I can only imagine how frustrating this is for you.

Since you mention SC as your specific area of concern, thought I would mention that our sentence correction book  Sentence Correction Nirvana  is perhaps the  only  book that offers a score improvement  guarantee , and is especially designed for  non-native  speakers.

After reading the book  twice  (yes! it's an  academic  book, and so must be read twice in all seriousness, to  reinforce  the concepts), you will start looking forward to solving SC questions!

The book is available on  Flipkart  and  Amazon.in . You might want to refer to these sites, to also read testimonials of how readers have benefited.

See  here  how Mohit, who scored 750 on GMAT, vouches for our book.

If you want to  sample  a chapter before deciding to go ahead with our book, please PM me your mail-id (along with the chapter that you would like to sample) and I will be happy to send that chapter to you by mail. In addition, the entire Grammar section of the book is also available for free preview at  pothi .

Shilpa04 · Answer

VeritasKarishma - Thanks a lot for your advice, I started reading "Economist" and "Scientific American" after your advice and I got V37 yesterday in my GMAT exam

. Regards, Shilpa

KarishmaB · Answer

That is a big improvement, Shilpa! Well done!
Best Wishes!

rajatchopra1994 · Answer

Congratulations  Shilpa04  on your Improvement. What is your latest GMAT score. Can you please provide debrief of your prep from last Gmat exam to this one.

Regards,
Rajat Chopra

vv65 · Answer

Congratulations Shilpa, well done

It's great that you implemented the advice to start reading. In your original post you wrote, "i get nervous when i see unknown topics". I guess all that reading helped to overcome that problem Your story is a lesson for others who are struggling with GMAT verbal. Regular reading (of GMAT level material) will help with the GMAT. Equally important, your general awareness will improve, your ability to deal with complex text will improve,and you may develop an instinctive ear for proper, idiomatic English. All this will be helpful long after the GMAT is done. Posted from my mobile device

EducationAisle · Answer

Hearty congratulations on this very heartening development. Must have been cathartic for you.

Shilpa04 · Answer

Hi Rajat, My latest score is 710. I changed my entire strategy of studying this time. I enrolled for egmat course again, after realizing that i did not utilized the course to the fullest. I have listed below few changes i made in my study plans this time, and compared it with my last attempt- 1. I studied every day without fail( atleast 2 hours daily) ; Earlier -> only 3-4 days in a week 2. Before any study/quiz session I revised all my previous error logs regularly (even 4 months old error logs) ; Earlier -> Every time I used to make new error logs, each error log i used to revise only once or twice. 3. As suggested by Egmat team, this time part from incorrect question, I reviewed the correct questions also (questions for which I took more than recommended time in quiz) and made detailed notes of at least 20-30 questions from each sub-topics; Earlier --> I used to only review incorrect questions 4.I was seeking feedback from egmat team on regular basis and sought improvement plans from them; Earlier -> I was overconfident and hardly asked outside help. 5. I watched students debriefs and attended egmat webinars on a weekly basis and tried to takeaway at least one new and positive thing from each debrief or webinar. Earlier -> I avoided watching debriefs or webinars. 6. As told in my earlier post, I read "The economist" and "SA" almost everyday. Earlier - I always avoided extra readings

In short for my last attempt - I tried with a "Beginner's mind" .

Hope this helps! Thanks, Shilpa

Shilpa04 · Answer

Yes it is.. Thankyou so much

6 Attempts and still at V32...Need Help

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