Crash Landing at 560, Plan for Next Take off ?

Question

Hello experts, I am Nikhil. Right, at this second, I am in a BIG big dilemma, and i am absolutely lost on how to proceed from where i am standing right now.  I am extremely hopeful that experts on this wonderful community will spare some time and guide me, rather rescue me from the fall.  I will try to cut the daily soap stories and stick to the core of the issue, so that i don't waste anyone's precious time.

I have been preparing for GMAT for 2 years now. As I wasn't in a hurry to take the exam, so i took this much time to appear on exam, and finally appeared today. But after devoting this much time, I was stunned to see 560 on the screen. I gave a good amount of serious time to GMAT in last 60 days, in which i covered MGMAT books, all OG Guides, all Aristotle Guides, MGMAT CATS, GMAT Preps and what not.
 
My Average Score stayed around 660, Quant (47) and Verbal (34) for all the above tests. And on the actual GMAT i got 560 : Quant (45) and Verbal (23). Being an Indian, i am a non-native speaker of English, but i know for sure that i am not this terrible at it to get a meager score of 23.

So where did i go wrong ? Were the Manhattan tests or the OG Guides or the GMAT Preps less accurate ? It can't be a coincidence that my average on the practice tests is 34 on Verbal, and on actual it would shrink to 23. And let me share with you that during the Verbal portion i wasn't exhausted or tired to an extent that would have affected my score.
I honestly think none of the available prep companies provide Verbal questions that could match up the actual GMAT questions difficulty level. I found only Knewton and Aristotle to be a good source for quality questions, didn't get chance to go through Knewton in detail earlier, but now will definitely do so.

So where did i fail ? I have a false hope that someone will come up and point out that there is a bug in the GMAT scoring algorithm which is responsible for the recent low scores on GMAT. And it has been happening across multiple test takers. But let's get real, chances of this happening is really low, because people are getting the magical number now and then.
So here am i, who now badly wants a 700 on the screen, even if it means to get the score with bug in place.

It was a miserable moment, when GMAT slapped 560 on my face, how dare it do that. And now my sole objective is to get 700, not a number less. Only then my revenge with GMAT be completed.

So experts, please enlighten me with your wisdom. I am ready to put in everything that 700 demands. Please point me to the right strategies, to right forums, suggest me the best Verbal prep courses and advise me anything if you would like.  I have read good reviews about e-gmat and Veritas, will consider opting one of them.

Since most colleges deadlines begin Mid/Late -September, i have time till August End or Early September to beat this nasty GMAT.

Finally, i am not stumped because i failed to get 700, my true goal for 1st attempt was around 660, i am stumped to get extremely low scores on Verbal.
For quant, i know where i lack, and i know how i have to improve, so not much worried from quant side. I dreamed of writing my debrief today, ending up asking for help. :\

Following are the details that might be helpful to you for evaluating my case:

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Some information about main areas in Verbal:

1. RC - Accuracy Rate - 30% (i.e. 3 right questions out of 10, under timed) - 40%(i.e. 4 right questions out of 10, in untimed environment)
2. CR - Accuracy Rate - 60% (i.e. 6 right questions out of 10, under timed) - 80%(i.e. 8 right questions out of 10, in untimed environment)
3. SC - Accuracy Rate - 70% (i.e. 7 right questions out of 10, under timed) - 90%(i.e. 9 right questions out of 10, in untimed environment)
 
A crucial weakness that i know i have is if that i have to read a dense paragraph, i will have to read it 3-4 times on average to grasp its meaning.
And under timing conditions, this weakness affects both RC and CR pretty badly, as it consumes a lot of time. Also Dense Word Problems in Quant.

For RC - i have my own strategy, clearly which failed today. I read entire paragraph once, and then jump to question, and then for specific questions, i try to skim the passage to get the answer.

For CR - i start with removing the wrong answer choices first.

For SC - Aristotle Grail, i believe is the best book. Aristotle's tips work well for me.

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Thanks,
Nikhil

P.S: Please let me know, if you need any other information that would prove useful in evaluating my case.

KarishmaB · Answer

Sorry to hear about the unexpected score. In the last few days, I have come across quite a few such cases on the forum (had V35 in prep tests but V23 in the actual) so I thought of digging up a bit. Here are Brian's thoughts (and a couple of my comments to clarify) on why this might be taking place.

· A lot of prep RC passages are “old” in the longer-winded 400+ word count days, but the newer passages are shorter and denser *and* everyone seems to get 4 passages.

· I have to bet the official SC is getting tougher and I think we have a little advantage here (since we use a reasoning based approach to SC too). Especially among the forum crowd you have a lot of memorizers who might have gotten by on previous “memorize between vs. among” or “memorize such as vs. like” questions but now they’re more reasoning-based (more questions based on accurate meaning). And I doubt the most popular tests have caught up, so they’re practicing for older questions.

· Really the best explanation I have is that the test is evolving faster than some popular practice tests.

· ALSO – I wonder how many prep tests are from people doing AWA/IR first…I bet IR saps people’s energy more than they think and they’re losing focus toward the end.

· Perhaps a downside to a lot of forum time...I wonder if students had seen enough practice test questions discussed on the forums - or direct ripoffs and variations of them -that their scores were a little inflated.

On the whole, the point is that actual GMAT is tougher than some popular practice tests. These tests have probably been the same for the past 3-4 yrs though the pattern especially of Verbal has changed drastically.

My suggestion going forward will be to adapt yourself to the new GMAT - shorter but denser RCs and reasoning based SCs. Try to get hold of some latest tests for two reasons - the questions would be better suited to the current GMAT and the questions would be *new* i.e. they wouldn't have been discussed on the forum before. Also, web based tests are better than downloadable one. (One neat feature of our new tests is that they're web based and easy to update, so we can update, add, and delete questions instantly.)

KarishmaB · Answer

Now for your question: How to proceed?

Assume you are at V23 (the score you get in GMAT verbal does not mirror your comfort with English). With practice, you can get V40. My advice to you would be to start reading more. Your RC accuracy is not up to the mark. Everyday, read newspapers, magazines, journals for at least 2 hrs - this is usually a long term strategy and doesn't give immediate results but it is a must to increase comfort with the written word.

I will suggest you the relevant Veritas material:
Veritas CR book has a 2 -3 page brief on every question type - I find it extremely useful. It gives you a clear picture of what is expected in each question type and makes CR very mathematical - a plus for people with good Quant scores. 
Veritas SC book is not a grammar book - it has reasoning based, meaning oriented theory on how to tackle SC questions. But I see your accuracy in untimed environment is already good! Great! So all you need to do is learn to go faster and you are gold.
Also, Veritas RC book has many dense passages which are great for practice. I think you must go through them. Even though much theory for RC does not exist, whatever is given is useful in helping you think straight. Different strategies are discussed but you will need to figure out what works best for you.

Also try out our free question bank. It has new questions so it will get your grey cells kicking. If you are able to get results on your own, great!

Another option could be to join a classroom course - when you see others working hard, it gives you a lot of motivation to work hard yourself too. Also, you learn a lot from your instructor as well as other students and their questions.

Since you may not be very interested in the quant classes, you could opt for a few hrs of private tutoring (which is a little expensive). On the plus side, the course is run according to your requirement. Also, since you are short on time with 35-40 days to go, this would be the most efficient option.

MacFauz · Answer

This really hits the nail on the head.... I especially agree with the point about SC... I don't remember seeing any questions invloving idioms as the error and I do think a lot of the SCs were ones that dealt with meaning and clarity.. @Karishma.. I think it would be a good idea to make this post a new thread maybe with a title like "GMAT Verbal - Practice Vs Actual"

KarishmaB · Answer

That's a good idea. Let me see what I can do.

smartmanav · Answer

OG 13 is d BIBLE for GMAT..

If you can understand the CR n SC concepts from the practice questions of OG13, i bet you can drastically improve your score. If not 720... it can get u 680 to 700 for sure.

haiyen2189 · Answer

I think you should try E-Gmat. They're exclusively for verbal, and I had seen lots of students get a better understanding with the E-Gmat. As I said, your math score looks alright, I think E-Gmat would be appropriate. Give it a try. They're not that expensive, and they're very comprehensive/detailed about each type of question. Good luck.

nikhiil · Answer

Thanks smartmanav for your reply, i have already thoroughly completed the OG with good accuracy rate on CR and SC. I am simply not able to find a reason for the drastic low scores on Verbal. I have a feeling that now GMAT penalties more heavily for each wrong question on Verbal section. :\

But no matter what, i have got to improve Verbal to a level where my overall score can reach the 700 zone.

nikhiil · Answer

That's what i have in my mind now. Have heard good reviews about E-gmat. But not sure whether it's schedule will align with mine, i want to give test prior to 15 sept, so that i don't miss the ISB deadline. :\

haiyen2189 · Answer

You can just use their materials. I myself used their materials and thought that it's much more comprehensive compare to other books. Taking courses wasn't necessary. I think if you take the time to read their books you'll basically have the course covered in a much cost effective and time sufficient way.

nikhiil · Answer

Do they sell books ? I didn't see any on their website. Am i missing something ?

haiyen2189 · Answer

That's what i have in my mind now. Have heard good reviews about E-gmat. But not sure whether it's schedule will align with mine, i want to give test prior to 15 sept, so that i don't miss the ISB deadline. :\ 
 You can just use their materials. I myself used their materials and thought that it's much more comprehensive compare to other books. Taking courses wasn't necessary. I think if you take the time to read their books you'll basically have the course covered in a much cost effective and time sufficient way.

Do they sell books ? I didn't see any on their website. Am i missing something ? 
Well if you go into their "Pricing section" you'll see them selling different packages, including study materials. There's no need for the live class unless you think your score was attributed to your lack of understanding a concept through reading, and you need someone else to explain it to you. I'm that person who can never learn anything on my own, so I took some live prep courses and even face to face, but to be honest, if you can read through their materials, it's faster because you go at your own pace, not theirs.

Crash Landing at 560, Plan for Next Take off ?

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