By now.. I am wondering what has gone wrong with my verbal

Question

I have taken GMAT thrice - twice online (2nd one was a big crash and burn - due to some desk arrangement issue) and the third one was today on site. Generally, my Quant has been very aligned with my practice test at around 46-48. My Verbal is a total upside down. In my Practice Test - three practice tests done so far- Verbal has been consistent at V40. While I am not expecting actual test at V40 - I am expecting somewhere around there and yet today it was at V28 - a total shame.

now I have cancelled my score at today is at 610 below my 1st attempt at 640. But the benefit of on site test is the ESR on the exam. Do you think that is worth to take? can it be applicable on the cancelled score?

now I have cancelled my score at today is at 610 below my 1st attempt at 640. But the benefit of on site test is the ESR on the exam. Do you think that is worth to take? can it be applicable on the cancelled score?

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi levin343,

I'm sorry to hear that this 3rd attempt did not turn out better. To answer your immediate question: you CAN purchase an ESR for a 'Cancelled' Score - and that additional data could be really useful in assessing how you currently 'respond' to Test Day. Since you have now performed lower than expected on your last 2 Official GMATs, there might be some underlying issues with how you are approaching the Test. With a Score Goal of 690-720, you will have to make some fundamental changes to how you are approaching the GMAT

To properly plan out this next phase of your studies, we need to be really specific with the details about your prior studies. There are likely patterns in how you prepared for your three attempts - and if you developed any 'bad habits' during your prior studies, then we need to define those bad habits and fix them (meaning that we replace those bad habits with new 'good habits').

1) On what dates did you take each of your 3 Official GMATs? How did you score on each attempt (including the Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores for each)?
2) How long have you studied in total? How many hours do you typically study each week?
3) On what dates (or approximate dates) did you take EACH of your CATs/mocks and how did you score on EACH (including the Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores for EACH)?
4) What specific application deadlines are you considering?

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

GmatKnightTutor · Answer

To go from a V40 to V28 is quite a difference. Were the V40s on Official Mocks? Had you seen any of the questions for Official Mocks 1 and 2 beforehand?

GMATWhizTeam · Answer

Hi levin343,

Sorry about how things went with your GMAT. You can definitely improve your score if you identify what went wrong and work on improving that. Let me help you here.

What could have gone wrong?  
You could score V40 in mocks but could not reflect the same on the actual test. There could be a couple of reasons for it. Please go through the article below to understand it better.

Scored Well on Mocks but Failed Miserably on the Actual Test?

GMAT Verbal is mostly about the logical approach and the methodology. Once you learn the concepts, it's important to learn the right approach to solve questions before you start practicing them. There are certain skills to master for each module on Verbal. For example, SC questions test your ability to convey the right meaning without any ambiguity. So, it' important to approach them from a meaning stand-point. And to do that, you need to master the comprehension skill.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SGA8bwFNJM

Before I can suggest you anything, I need to know

your weak areas 
 your study strategy 
 your approach of solving questions

This information will help me understand your concerns and guide you in a better way. Please schedule a call with me using the link below so that we can have a detailed discussion on the same.

Click here to schedule a call

levin343 · Answer

just got the ESR. May be just for sharing..

GMATWhizTeam · Answer

Hi levin343,

Seems like you are struggling with all the three modules in Verbal. And coming to Quant, the struggle is mostly with Geometry and Algebra. Let me help you with Verbal first.

As discussed earlier, each module in Verbal needs certain skill to be mastered. For example, to solve SC questions you need to master the comprehension skill. Having said that, before you learn the concepts of any module, it's important to understand what is tested using that and the right way to solve them. Let me give you an example of Sentence Correction.

How to solve SC questions?  
SC questions on GMAT test your ability to convey the right meaning without any ambiguity. So, it's important to approach them from a meaning stand-point. You might have often come across answer choices which are both grammatically correct and convey a logical meaning but are indeed incorrect because they do not convey the intended meaning. So, the process to approach SC questions is to:
  Comprehend the original meaning of the sentence 
 Identify errors if any (both grammatical and meaning wise) 
 Eliminate answer choices which either are grammatically incorrect or do not convey the intended meaning

You can go through the recording below to understand the process in a better way.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SGA8bwFNJM

Critical Reasoning:  
And similarly, before solving CR questions, you need to understand that most of the CR questions are based on one of the four frameworks:

Plan - goal 
 Causality 
 Comparison 
 Quantitative

And each framework has a set of guidelines to pre-think. So, once you learn the framework and the guidelines, the process of solving CR questions becomes a lot more structured.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCrobt7hZl8

Reading Comprehension:  
You seem to be struggling with RC passages as well. You need to understand that while reading RC passages on GMAT, it's important to read them in an inferential manner. It's important to understand the purpose of writing the passage. The right way to go about it is to map various paragraphs of the passages and finally derive the main point.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yx7sB0Ade50

How to proceed further?  
By now, you must have understood that focusing on the process is more important than focusing on practicing questions. You need to understand where exactly you are making the mistake and then work on that. For example, solving SC questions can include various steps such as:

Reading the sentence 
 Comprehending 
 Identifying the errors (both grammatical and meaning) 
 Eliminating incorrect answer choices

You can do this by going through the detailed solutions of the questions. Identify the exact step at which you are making the mistake, introspect what led you to take that decision at that point of time and then learn the right approach.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOFbOXjw2wY

Quant:  
And coming to Quant, you are struggling with Geometry and Algebra. If you have any conceptual gaps in these topics, make sure to fill those gaps. Once you do that, learn the right approach to solve questions. This approach will mainly help you in solving DS questions in which you have to consider many cases and you should make sure not to assume any unstated information in the passage.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhBnFzDm6DE

Choose the right resource which can help you with the process and help you to work on your weak areas. You can check out the free trial of GMATWhiz. It is a personalized course which comes with an integrated study plan. I'll DM you the details. You can reach out to me for more details.

Click here   to sign up for the free trial of GMATWhiz.

We can dive deep into your ESR and get more insights from it. Please schedule a call with me using the link below and we will have a detailed discussion on the same.

Click here to schedule a call

BharathRA · Answer

Hi Levin,
I totally empathize on your tough luck on not improving your score on your 3rd GMAT attempt. And first thing, you can not take your ESR on the exam once you have cancelled the score, you will have to reinstate that 3rd attempt to get the ESR for it. After scoring V 40 consistently on mocks and going to a V 28 , needs detailed analysis and hence taking the ESR will be ideal if you want to really give a check on your flaws and improve your GMAT score. Levin can you update me from where you had taken the mock tests from, is it from MBA. com or from other resources. Also once you have received the ESR report , you can mail it to me for in-detailed analysis.
You can reach me on mail at - bharath@scoreleap.in

AjiteshArun · Answer

Hi  levin343 ,

The surprising thing about your ESR is that you made only 9 mistakes in the verbal section. You started off very well (2 incorrect, 2 incorrect, 1 incorrect in the first three quarters) but then (under time pressure?) got 4 questions wrong in the last quarter. Clearly, one of the things you may need to work on is time management. Your accuracy in the last quarter may have been even lower if you hadn't been able to get through the third quarter with an average time of 1:06 (and an accuracy of 86%, which is excellent). That said, a 2, 2, 1, 4 performance leading to a V28 is still... odd (9 is actually pretty good, and it is possible even with 13-14 mistakes to end up with V32 or more). Normally, we'd say that the GMAT is an adaptive test, and that the number of mistakes isn't a reliable indicator of final score, but V28 with just 9 mistakes is  tough . For what it's worth, I've been seeing quite a few ESRs like this even at the high end of the score scale (1 mistake: V47, 2 mistakes, V45).

The only reason I can think of for what happened to you is that the GMAT gave you a bunch of easy questions, and that's why the "penalty" for 9 mistakes was so great. Try to work on your time management so that you don't face time pressure towards the end of your test.

mSKR · Answer

Hi  AjiteshArun  and other experts

His level of difficulty per questions fall from 1st Quadrant to 2nd Quadrant but never reached to the same level as in 1st Quadrant . 
I am confused how is it possible because he has only 4 mistakes in 1st 2Quadrants.

In what scenarios, is this possible? Does it mean he had all wrongs or only 1 correct from 8th to 11th questions? Was it RC? All straight wrongs in RC together have such a heavy penalty? Even in such a scenario , he did next 7 correct straights(12th to 18th). 
2 mistakes per quarter is very normal scenarios for V35 around scores. is n't it?

What lesson can we learn from here? 
Do all RCs correct?

levin343  : Its very unfortunate that your mistakes and score do not seem to be of average case. Do you remember when did you get RCs? What was last section consist of ? ( sometimes last 6-7 are RCs).
I suspect that you might have got most straight mistakes in RCs and other sections could not build previous level of difficulty again. I read GMAT give high priority to RCs and high penalty to straight wrongs. 
 levin343  : what is your average score in verbal in general ( GMATprep or previous GMAT exam score)?

What experts have to say on this? Please suggest .

levin343 · Answer

Hi All

Thanks for the feedback. Indeed it is hard to fathom as to where I got the mistakes and how GMAT has taken me so far back with only few errors. That said key lessons learned, regardless of how we want to analyze the questions are:

1. The gameplay in GMAT is not based on % correct - apparently my take that the exam was easy is very true. I found the Verbal way too easy. 
2. The (1) may cause me to be reckless, make decision to rush through some questions, I remember rushing through some sections toward third and fourth part of the sections and may be in that has made the kind of action - which resulted in easy qns answered wrongly and that dragged the GMAT adaptive scoring system down to easier questions - this may explain 2nd part easy qn wrong - which the computer then does not allow me to progress to difficult qn and also the third part med qn wrong 
3. I ended up with close to 2 mins extra time - because of (1) and (2) - i think the hard lesson learn is just - consistency and accuracy, as well as stamina - i think toward the fourth section - either I felt tired OR just purely unlucky - hence it faltered out

The overconfidence does feed the ego and complacency. Hence the hard and bitter lesson learnt here. I think the RC is fine - I got it 100% mostly for specific questions, the interpretation question is indeed not great - but I am sure it is probably just 3-4 questions.

So consistency, accuracy, stamina and time management are important too. I found that Verbal is harder also in term of time management - because you realized that you may take time in performing some questions on SC/ CR - but once a good RC is there - you suddenly just got more time to spend. So it is a bit tricky. I guess, just try as much as I can to consistently put 2 mins - regardless of the CR that may or may not take your time more/ less than 2 mins.

More feedback is welcome. Thanks Guys!

mcelroytutoring · Answer

Hi levin343 , Are you sure that you finished the Verbal section, and confirmed the final answer? There is a "significant" penalty for not finishing, according to GMAC, and this could help explain your low Verbal score with only 9 questions incorrect. https://www.drivecms.com/uploads/mcelroytutoring.com/Screen%20Shot%202021-08-22%20at%207.14.10%20AM.png See this thread for more info: https://gmatclub.com/forum/v42-with-onl ... l#p2844651

AjiteshArun · Answer

I won't get into whether the OP finished the verbal section or not, though the ESR clearly indicates that all 36 questions in the verbal section were completed. I am more concerned about what someone preparing for the GMAT would think after seeing the word  significant  used to justify what is a very extreme position.

Adding my reply to the post you linked to.

mcelroytutoring · Answer

Good point! It does say "you completed 36 questions in the Verbal section" in the blue "Summary" part of OP's (attached) ESR, so this means they must have confirmed their final answer.

This also means that the 2-wrong V42 ESR must actually say "you completed 35 questions on Verbal" instead. I'm going to try to verify that fact with OP, but so far they haven't posted that particular portion of their ESR.

I'm not sure why you are taking issue with the term "significant penalty," as those are GMAC's words, not mine. See below:

For more information, see this thread: https://gmatclub.com/forum/from-v46-to- ... 54776.html

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