Advice for approaching verbal after getting crushed in actual exam

You clearly did not get "crushed" (V35 is a good score)

Apart from any other material you're considering, try to get access to all the official material you can. This would include the questions from the earlier OGs and the question pack. You should also get the exam packs as you've taken the free GMATPreps.

1. Do make a study plan, but remember to focus more on the execution. Further improvement is all but guaranteed given that you seem to have got a V35 after studying for just 3 weeks.
2. Doing OG questions again makes sense if you haven't quite got (or don't quite remember) the reasoning behind the questions you've solved.

Hi pchaoj,

It looks like you need a study plan that you can stick to. Here is a customized 2-3 month study plan that can help boost your score: https://www.gmatpill.com/gmat-practice-t ... study-plan

Use this as a guideline. You don’t have to follow it exactly but the structure of the study plan should be the same structure that you take in your approach. This helps to optimize your retention and learning.

As you study, we recommend that you focus on one particular subsection for multiple consecutive days before moving onto the next. You can see this in our study plan where we recommend 5 days on nothing but SC -- before moving onto CR and then RC.

Here is a sample SC video to help you start your journey: https://www.gmatpill.com/sentencecorrect ... ythons.mp4

Best of luck - we are here to help.

Hi Pachio,

It takes many GMAT test takers 300+ hours to score a 700+. Since you have only been studying for 3 weeks, with continued motivation and more dedicated study, I believe you can hit your verbal score goal.

Remember, the GMAT is such a challenging exam because there are relatively few questions asked in a given exam, yet those questions come from a huge topic pool. Thus, the best way to get a great GMAT score is to have a thorough understanding of all the topics that may be tested on the exam. To develop such mastery, you want to strive for linear and targeted learning and follow that with focused practice. In other words, you want to master one topic before you move to the next. Have you been able to do this?

When studying verbal, focus on learning one section at a time: reading comprehension, sentence correction, or critical reasoning. For example, when learning about critical reasoning, you want to be able to learn about all aspects of critical reasoning: strengthen and weaken the conclusion, resolve the paradox, find the conclusion, must be true, etc. Follow up your learning with focused critical reasoning practice, so you can determine your specific weaknesses within that topic. Do the same with sentence correction and reading comprehension.

In regard to next steps, you may consider finding some “fresh” prep materials, rather than re-doing the official guide questions that you have already completed.

If you have any further questions, feel free to reach out.

Good luck!