Desperate help needed on VERBAL section

Question

Hi my fellow GMATers,

This is my first time posting on the forum. I really need some good suggestions on how to improve my Verbal section score on the GMAT, as I have run out of ideas as to how to improve my verbal score.

I have been preparing the GMAT since late December 2014, and I have taken the GMAT tests 3 times. My Quant section hasn't varied much , usually staying at the 49-50 range. But no matter how much I have studied, my Verbal section has been stuck in 30-31 range.

At the early stage of my preparation, I have done all the OG 13 questions and went through the Manhattan GMAT books. But since February 2015, I have focused mainly on the GMATPREP question banks. GMAT CLUB has collections of all the individual sections of Verbal, and I have almost completed 80% of the questions on there. I timed myself when I was doing the questions 10 at a time, and my correct rates are 90%, 80%, 90% on SC, CR and RC respectively. I am getting quite confident on these sections. And on the latest GMATPREP practice tests, I have gotten 710 (Q49, V37) and 760 (Q50, V44) two weeks ago, although the score might be slightly inflated as I have seen a few questions already from the question bank. I didn't find myself running into the timing issue.

I just finished my 3rd attempt of the GMAT test yesterday, and I have scored 650 (Q49, V30), and this doesn't make any sense to me, as my Verbal score hasn't changed at all since my last test (Q50, V31). My next test date is May 21, 2015, and I really need some urgent help on how I can improve Verbal to somewhere close to 40-44.

What I have experienced from this very recent test was that I felt the real questions were a lot harder than the retired GMATPREP questions. And as always, I ran out of time on Verbal (I had to guess the last 5 questions). I had hard time on CR to quickly figure out the answer choices but still not very confident, and I felt I was quite confident on RC and SC (but I could be wrong). This has not been the case when I am practicing CR (I usually have 80% correct rate).

I know Stacey mentioned several times in other posts that you will need to go from Essay to Verbal when doing practice tests to reflect the rest test experience. And I always skip essay but I will do from IR to Verbal, so I essentially only miss 30 mins of mental fatigues. I am not sure if this is the solution to my problems.

I really need some help on Verbal from you guys. I could do more practice tests, but I really don't want to see myself in the same situation one month from now.

Many thanks in advance.

Kind regards
Wilson

RichEconomistGMAT · Answer

Hi Wilson,

It might be helpful to hear more about the +/- 20% of Verbal questions you answered incorrectly in your practice. Which facets of your Verbal are you struggling with most? It's a good idea to review your practice exams to date and try identifying any patterns in your mistakes. If there are certain concepts or strategies you're consistently missing, this will help you zero in on where to focus your attention, rather than spending too much time reviewing questions you're already comfortable with.

I also think it's worth considering some additional resources. After so much prep, you might have possibly seen the same question(s) multiple times, which would explain why the questions on your official exam felt a little more difficult.

However, with your fourth attempt on the horizon, I'm also curious about your other scores. If you've consistently scored in the 650 range, it might be time to let the rest of your profile speak for itself. We actually wrote about this on our blog recently, which you can check out here: https://bit.ly/1yLEzaR

Best of luck,
Rich

wilsonguo · Answer

Thanks very much Rich for your response.

I have reviewed my GMATPREP question banks, and CR is definitely the area I get inconsistent results. At this stage of my preparation, I am quite confident with RC and SC, where I usually got 90% correct rate on each section. But I found that even though my performance in CR is inconsistent, I should not constantly be getting 30 on my Verbal section. And as I mention it didn't make sense to me that there was no improvement on my Verbal score since the last tests, when I have done loads of practice questions.

My test scores have been in the range of 650 to 670 in the past 3 tests. So, that's why I feel extra frustrated with myself. Especially after getting 710-760 on my GMATPREP exams, I know that I am capable of getting a 700+ score on the real exam. But I just haven't found the break through point yet. That's why I want to post here and hopefully some instructors can give me some advice what I should do in this coming month.

RichEconomistGMAT · Answer

Hi wilsonguo,

I think you're on the right path here. Identifying that CR has been giving you the most trouble will allow you to focus your attention on improving there over the next month or so. In fact, our blog featured some really helpful tips for CR, which you can check out here: https://bit.ly/1yMbs73

That being said, your scores are still fairly good. You might want to consider what impression you'll send to the business schools you're targeting by taking the GMAT a fourth time. Even if you break that 700+ barrier, your GMAT score alone won't determine whether or not you're offered admission. Have you had the opportunity to speak with admissions offers at your desired schools? Often times they're happy to give you an idea of the minimum GMAT score you'll need to gain admission.

In any case, start by tightening up your performance on CR. Our blog elaborates further, but focus on finding the missing links between the assumption and conclusion when reading the passages, and consider trying some new resources instead of recycling too often through the sets you've already done.

Best,
Rich

wilsonguo · Answer

Thanks Rich,

I will for sure check out the link you have provided.

My target schools are HEC, INSEAD and London Business School. I think the impression I have gotten from the schools are I should be competitive as long as I am above the average GMAT score of the individual schools. So, that's why I really want to get a decent 700+ score. And also I want to work in management consulting sector, so a good 700+ score will help me land a job with these companies as well.

But for sure, I will try some other resources than GMATPREP to freshen up and not to recycle on the same questions.

Thanks again for your great imput.

Cheers
Wilson

sukanyar · Answer

I read your post with a lot of interest, because reading your post reminded me of some of the posts that I read earlier on this forum about the actual GMAT being more difficult than the practice tests. However, in all those posts, the discussion was actually limited to only the sentence correction questions on the actual GMAT being more difficult than the Sentence Correction questions in the mock test.

However, you actually found Sentence Correction and Reading Comprehension on the actual GMAT to be easier, while critical reasoning to be tough. Obviously, there will be some element of subjectivity here because it would also depend upon an individual's comfort level in respective sections. As you have noted, your comfort level in Critical Reasoning is the least among all the other sections in Verbal.

I am also wondering if you were scoring slightly higher in the mock tests because perhaps you were getting few repeat questions. Since you have been working towards GMAT for quite some time now, is it possible that some of the questions that you attempted in mock, were already solved by you at some earlier point?

Lastly, I have heard that GMAT has recently started offering this new option of "Enhanced score report", which basically goes a level deeper, into how much you have relatively scored in each of the sub-sections. So the impression that I have, is that rather than presenting with just a consolidated Verbal score, the enhanced score report will tell you what your breakup is each of the three sub-sections in Verbal. I think this option can only be availed at a price but is perhaps something that you might want to explore.

EMPOWERgmatVerbal · Answer

Hi wilsonguo,

Your synopsis raises 3 important factors/issues:

1) The official GMAT algorithm can be VERY sensitive to right or wrong responses, most notably in the first 12 questions (the sensitivity there is greater earlier on in a section). If your previous exposure to the questions biased your responses at all, that could be a pretty big factor. Nevertheless, yours is a pretty big score range, so I suspect there's more to the story than just previous exposure. Can you estimate how many of the questions in the section you may have seen prior to the test?

2) Test realism - It's vital that your tests are as realistic as possible. I'm sure it's not what you'd prefer to hear, but you need to take the AWA and IR sections before all of your CATs to build the proper stamina for test day. Otherwise, you're preparing for an experience different from that of the official GMAT. This will be an easy fix. You also want to make sure that:
-Your breaks are realistic
-You take your practice CATs at the same time as your real test
-You have no distractions (phone, music, etc.)

3) Pacing - You mentioned leaving 5 questions at the end of a section. The official algorithm penalizes for strings of wrong questions, so you were getting clipped right at the end! As you continue to develop your tactics for the 3 question types, you're pacing will continue to improve. BUT, if you do catch yourself falling behind pace mid-section, and you absolutely do have to guess, then you can look to SCATTER your guesses around in the rest of the section on questions that are likely to take you too long (EXCEPT questions, and Bolded Statement questions can be good targets). That alone should get you a quick little burst of points in the meantime.

sukanyar · Answer

Thanks. That is a wonderful advice to keep in mind, if we are falling short of time.

So, what you are suggesting is that it's better to have (say) 5 "scattered" errors, than to have 5 errors (by leaving 5 questions) "continuously" at the end. Is my understanding correct?

EMPOWERgmatVerbal · Answer

Hi sukanyar,

Yes! That's exactly right. The official GMAT algorithm penalizes for strings of incorrect answers, so if you've been guessing on a whole chunk of questions at the end of a section, then you're likely to trigger that penalty.

If you know you're going to run out of time, then it is FAR better to scatter the guesses around since you'd be able to defend against the 'string of wrongs' penalty.

Ultimately, you'd want to improve your pacing on Verbal so that this is a moot point altogether (by the aid of GMAT reading tactics, and Triage), but in the meantime, the advice above will give you a little pop in your score.

Desperate help needed on VERBAL section

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