any advice for another 40days revision plan? just got damn low at 510

Question

dear all
i have been preparing for GMAT since jun. i have even spent money for GMAT live session in both quan and verbal. after the course when i did the mock test in late jul, i have just got around 580 which i originally aim at 650-700. my break down is like q44-47 and v17-19. i know my verbal is super poor and i have no idea what happen (i thought it were the problem of grammar), hence, reading this forum, i spent money on e-gmat verbal course trying to boost up my verbal part and in later mocks from diff sources (kaplan, gmatprep, economist, gmatpill etc), i have got around 600-610 (q44-47, v25-27). i can see lots of improvement in area of SC but still performs poorly in RC and CR. hence, i intensively spent around 36 hours in 3 days for this part by doing mock and studying the mistakes i have made and keep doing the questions in question tanks.

today, when i did the gmat exam, i hv got a damn low score at 510 with q40 and v20! i don't know what the hell is happening. but anyway, i m aiming at retaking by 15 sept. provided that i have been studying more than 100 hours (incl mocks and practice), any advice for me to utiliize the remaining 40 days to boost up my score?

(in conclusion, i think taking exam in the morning is not a good thing so at the end i have picked the afternoon session on 15 sept..umum, at the beginning when doing the quan part, i think some questions are not yet seen before in preparation tim, so probably it drags me down from 44-47 to 40. for verbal, umum in general i think it's easy in reading. probably i suck in RC and CR again).

resources i have used for today exam:
- the princeton review 1012 gmat practice questions version 2012 (sucks; quite a number of errors/mistakes in the answer so i gave up in the middle)
- cracking the new gmat 2013
- kaplan gmat premier course book (i think it's not enough to cover hard questions?)
- kaplan live session + online session
- e-gmat

i think i am not with enough materials for study? so today i quickly bought 2 books as powersource gmat CR bible and the OG2015. and i am going to follow the revision plan laid down by gmatpill at www.gmatpill.com/gmat-practice-test/con ... study-plan .

do you think i can go back to 650-700 in 40 days? damn it. even now i still am not sure why i would face the 100 score in diff comparing to my mock score... (sorry for discrete explanation here as i don't intend to organize it in a better manner lol)

VeritasPrepDennis · Answer

Feverkid -

It really sounds like you have some gaps in the Verbal fundamentals and this is leading to a scattershot approach on the practice tests and in your studying. While you likely have the SC piece down better than RC or CR, I am attaching a document that has some quick Sentence Correction tips. Remember that the GMAT is about "reasoning", and you can reason your way to the correct answer in many cases. In the SC portion, you can weigh and measure the answer choices even if you do not immediately know if something is right or wrong. By looking at the answer choices, you can see differences in verb tenses, differences in pronouns and the like. Your job, at this point becomes determining what the correct verb tense or pronoun is rather than understanding some archaic grammar rule.

On the CR questions, they key is really understanding the structure of arguments. An argument consists of premises and conclusions. Once you can properly identify the premises and conclusions in an argument (or for purposes of the exam, in the stimulus), you know how to attack the problem. For example, if the question asks you which of the following strengthens an argument, you should realize that there is a conclusion and premise(s) in the stimulus and you are looking for another piece of information (a premise) that DIRECTLY strengthens the conclusion. If a question asks what can be inferred from the above, your answer will be a conclusion. If you do not have a good grasp of this, spend some time doing some drills in identifying premises and conclusions. Another thing to remember is that the GMAT utilizes a very "mechanical" type of logic. By this, I mean that rather than esoteric arguments about the meaning of life or things of that nature, the logic required is more like functions in algebra - if x = y, and y = z, what can we say about the relationship of x to z? The conclusions must directly flow from the premises. Many trap answers on the GMAT involve emotional responses and get you to deviate from the mechanical nature of the logic. Let me know if you would like more information on this section.

Finally, the RC section. Do you think the test makers believe that test takers need to know about the various theories of how butterfly nebula were formed? Or how the brain synthesizes certain proteins? No; just as they do not expect test takers to know how to calculate, without a calculator, the square root of 182,329. However, they do expect us to be able to figure out which of the 5 choices the correct answer is. One of the most important pieces of the RC section is HOW you read the passage. Typically, we read for details - because we are reading something that we already have a solid base of knowledge about - a white paper, a text book, an article from an industry magazine. SInce we are not expected to know anything about the subject of the RC passage, we must read it differently - because reading it so slowly as to digest the details will waste time. (The good news on this is since we are not expected to know anything about the subject, all of the answers to the questions can be found within the passage!) So, instead of reading for detail, read at the 30,000 foot view to get the landscape of the passage. In your initial reading of the passage, you will simply want to get what the passage is about (the scope), how the passage is organized (chronologically; point/counter-point;hypothesis 1, hypothesis 2, new hypothesis), what the author is saying about the subject (just giving info, just giving opinion or analyzing the subject) and finally, WHY the author wrote the passage. If you can get this landscape picture in the first reading, and possibly a high level connection on the technical and scientific passages, you are where you want to be. This understanding will allow you to answer the universal type questions such as, which of the following would be the best title or why did the author write this passage. For the detail oriented questions (such as, the primary difference between the cranial screw top method and the endonasal endoscopic method is best described as), your understanding fo the organization of the passage will allow you to quickly go back into the passage to find the answer.

Let me know if you would like further info on any of the above. I think you have a good base, and with your Quant skills have a shot at achieving the score you want. Good luck!

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi feverkid,

I'm hoping that you can provide some additional information on how you've been studying:

1) You say that you've been preparing since June, but when in June did you start? If you started in the beginning, then it's been about 2 months. If you started at the end, then it's been about 1 month. many Test Takers spend 3 months (or more) on their studies, so it might be that you just have not put in enough time and practice yet (to hit your goals).

2) What did you do in this last week before taking the Official GMAT?

3) When are you planning to apply to Business School?

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich

feverkid · Answer

1) yea i started revising at the beginning of jun
2) i already knew i m weak in cr/rc. i rarely read eng doc or passage at work but just talk in eng in daily conversation (yea i m non-native speaker). hence i hv subscribed nytimes and tried read those articles in comtemporary art section everyday (i usually skip this section when reading newspaper and even though i read it now, its too boring and reporters always use those terminology tht i m not familiar with.. probably its the situation in RC passage) so a week before, i keep reading nytimes, doing mocks. after the exam, i try analyze what mistakes i hv made and quickly studied the whole relevant chapters of the mistakes in diff books.
3) i wish to apply for lbs, insead.. yea - i know 700 is the avg and the range is from 650-750. hence i aim at 650-700 and skew to 700 side. thx

feverkid · Answer

thank you for your detailed analysis!! thank you!! truly learn a lot. so do u hv 40 days are enough for me to catch up those verbal gaps? yea - i think probably logic is a problem to me. not sure if its bcoz of my work. at workplace, i usually have to think out of the box and use lateral thinking for innovative ideas and solutions. anyway, thanks. maybe i shall study the powerscore bible for the traditional thinking logic and forget my own style thinking a bit.

when we talk about RC, yea i am trying to force myself reading the outline of the passage instead of the detail question. but eventually when reading the break down, i usually lose scores in detail questions (some are "tricky" in which i still have to twist some detail facts before getting the answer?) and also the matter of inference question. usually i can eliminate to 1-2 options. but its hard to go further as i thk they are mostly the same. (probably i have got the problem of generizing ideas? sometimes when doing the "global" question asking for the main point of the passage, i face similar issue as being stuck in the middle and no idea which option i should pick.. they look the same to me lol)

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi feverkid,

Based on what you've described, I have some questions about how you took your CAT...

When you took your CATs:
1) Did you take the ENTIRE CAT (including the Essay and IR sections)?
2) Did you take them at home?
3) Did you take them at the same time of day as your Official GMAT?
4) Did you ever do ANYTHING during your CATs that you couldn't do on Test Day (pause the CAT, skip sections, take longer breaks etc.)? 
5) Did you ever take a CAT more than once?

Using your 510 score as a 'baseline score', it will be difficult for you to raise your score 150+ points in 40 days. It won't be impossible, but it would be easier if you had more time. Do you have the flexibility to push back your Test Date?

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich

	Manhattan Prep: $99 Bonus Score Higher on Your GMAT Exam. Guaranteed.
	Target Test Prep - Save up to $599 $400 Discount + $99 Bonus GMAT Club Tests
	e-GMAT: 60% Off on GMAT Focus Get to 735+ from any starting point
	Magoosh increases your score, guaranteed - 15% off ALL Magoosh GMAT plans with code GMATCLUB15 + Free GMAT Club Tests.
	Experts' Global - ~~$1720~~ $960 End-to-End GMAT Prep + App Support: 150+ Videos, 2000+ Questions, 15 FLTs +
	GMATWhiz - $299 ~~$499~~ Experience the course through a free trial.
	GMAT Club Tests - Free Included with every course purchase of $149+ View all deals

any advice for another 40days revision plan? just got damn low at 510

Prep Toolkit

Top 5 GMAT Debrief Videos

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards