Hi aerograce,

Looking at your ESR, I agree that SC was your weakest verbal topic; however, given your high score goal, I think that you have room for improvement in all aspects of GMAT verbal. Do you want some advice on how to improve your verbal skills?
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I’m happy to help! I’ll start with CR.

When studying Critical Reasoning, you need to ensure that you fully understand the essence of the various question types. Do you know the importance of an assumption within an argument? Can you easily spot a conclusion? Do you know how to resolve a paradox? Do you know how to properly evaluate cause and effect? Do you know how to properly weaken or strengthen an argument? These are just a few examples; you really need to take a deep dive into the individual Critical Reasoning topics to develop the necessary skills to properly attack any Critical Reasoning questions that you encounter.

As you learn each Critical Reasoning problem type, do focused practice so that you can track your skill in answering each type. If, for example, you incorrectly answered a Weaken the Argument question, ask yourself why. Did you make a careless mistake? Did you not recognize the specific question type? Were you doing too much analysis in your head? Did you skip over a keyword in an answer choice? You must thoroughly analyze your mistakes and seek to turn weaknesses into strengths by focusing on the question types you dread seeing and the questions you take a long time to answer correctly.

When practicing Reading Comprehension, you need to develop a reading strategy that is both efficient and thorough. Reading too fast and not understanding what you have read are equally as harmful as reading too slow and using up too much time. When attacking Reading Comprehension passages, you must have one clear goal in mind: to understand the context of what you are reading. However, you must do so efficiently, so you need to avoid getting bogged down in the details of each paragraph and focus on understanding the main point of each paragraph. That being said, do not fall into the trap of thinking that you can just read the intro and the conclusion and comprehend the main idea of a paragraph. As you read a paragraph, consider how the context of the paragraph relates to previous paragraphs, so you can continue developing your overall understanding of the passage. Furthermore, as you practice Reading Comprehension, focus on the exact types of questions with which you struggle: Find the Main Idea, Inference, Author’s Tone, etc. As with Critical Reasoning, analyze your incorrect answers to better determine why you tend to get a particular question type wrong, and then improve upon your weaknesses. You can perfect your reading strategy with a lot of practice, but keep in mind that GMAT Reading Comprehension passages are not meant to be stimulating. So, to better prepare yourself to tackle such bland passages, read magazines with similar content and style, such as the New York Times, Scientific American, and Smithsonian.

Sentence Correction is a bit of a different animal compared to Reading Comprehension and Critical Reasoning. There are three aspects to getting correct answers to GMAT Sentence Correction questions: what you know, such as grammar rules, what you see, such as violations of grammar rules and the logic of sentence structure, and what you do, such as carefully considering each answer choice in the context of the non-underlined portion of the sentence. To drive up your Sentence Correction score, you likely will have to work on all three of those aspects. Furthermore, the likely reason that your Sentence Correction performance has not improved is that you have not been working on all three of those aspects.

Regarding what you know, to be successful in Sentence Correction, first and foremost, you MUST know your grammar rules. Let's be clear, though: GMAT Sentence Correction is not just a test of knowledge of grammar rules. The reason for learning grammar rules is so that you can determine what sentences convey and whether sentences are well-constructed. In fact, in many cases, incorrect answers to Sentence Correction questions are grammatically flawless. Thus, often your task is to use your knowledge of grammar rules to determine which answer choice creates the most logical sentence meaning and structure.

This determination of whether sentences are well-constructed and logical is the second aspect of finding correct answers to Sentence Correction questions, what you see. To develop this skill, you probably have to slow way down. You won't develop this skill by spending less than two minutes per question. For a while, anyway, you have to spend time with each question, maybe even ten or fifteen minutes on one question sometimes, analyzing every answer choice until you see the details that you have to see in order to choose the correct answer. As you go through the answer choices, consider the meaning conveyed by each version of the sentence. Does the meaning make sense? Even if you can tell what the version is SUPPOSED to convey, does the version really convey that meaning? Is there a verb to go with the subject? Do all pronouns clearly refer to nouns? By slowing way down and looking for these details, you learn to see what you have to see in order to clearly understand which answer to a Sentence Correction question is correct.

There is only one correct answer to any Sentence Correction question, there are clear reasons why that choice is correct and the others are not, and none of those reasons are that the correct version simply "sounds right." In fact, the correct version often sounds a little off at first. That correct answers may sound a little off is not surprising. If the correct answers were always the ones that sounded right, then most people most of the time would get Sentence Correction questions correct, without really knowing why the wrong answers were wrong and the correct answers were correct. So, you have to go beyond choosing what "sounds right" and learn to clearly see the logical reasons why one choice is better than all of the others.

As for the third aspect of getting Sentence Correction questions correct, what you do, the main thing you have to do is be very careful. You have to make sure that you are truly considering the structures of sentences and the meanings conveyed rather than allowing yourself to be tricked into choosing trap answers that sound right but don't convey meanings that make sense. You also have to make sure that you put some real energy into finding the correct answers. Finding the correct answer to a Sentence Correction question may take bouncing from choice to choice repeatedly until you start to see the differences between the choices that make all choices wrong except for one. Often, when you first look at the choices, only one or two seem obviously incorrect. Getting the right answers takes a certain work ethic. You have to put in the necessary time to see the differences between answers and to figure out the precise reasons that one choice is correct.

To improve what you do when you answer Sentence Correction questions, seek to become aware of how you are going about answering them. Are you being careful and looking for logic and details, or are you quickly eliminating choices that sound a little off and then choosing the best of the rest? If you choose an incorrect answer, consider what you did to arrive at that answer and what you could do differently to arrive at correct answers more consistently. Furthermore, see how many questions you can get correct in a row as you practice. If you break your streak by missing one, consider what you could do differently to extend your streak.
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Hello, NandishSS. Apart from the graph in the bottom-left, I cannot tell exactly which section the graph indicates. However, I will draw attention to whatever I do notice about each graph in hopes that such information may prove beneficial to you.

Top-left: This looks like a record of the overall performance on a section, either Verbal or Quant. It appears as though the test-taker was struggling with Medium-level questions, as indicated by the purple Incorrect line, so the difficulty never got bumped up. You can see from the light blue line that the Correct responses were always at a level below the incorrect responses. At a certain point, however, in the third leg of the section, the test-taker had finally reached a stasis, the point at which the algorithm had found the correct level of question difficulty for that particular test-taker. As would be expected, performance was similar at that level to how it had been before, observable by the symmetrical--V-shaped--performance statistics from the second to third to last points of capture. This was a low-medium-level performance for the test-taker in that section.

Top-right: Every question in the first quarter of the section was answered correctly, which is why the difficulty of the questions steadily increased, but also why the Correct line is the only one visible. The test-taker began to miss some questions in the second part of the section, but not consistently enough for the bar to be lowered substantially. You can see, for instance, that the Correct dot is only slightly below the Incorrect one. After the halfway point, the test-taker started making more mistakes, so the difficulty level dropped more, and even the Correct responses were to questions slightly less difficult, on average, than those that were missed. Again, the performance of the test-taker had been more or less dialed in by the time the third section had been completed. The difficulty of the questions went up slightly as performance increased, but the questions that the test-taker was missing or getting correct were on par with each other, in terms of difficulty. Overall, this was a medium-high performance.

Bottom-left: This appears to be a Verbal graph, although on recent ESRs I have seen, there is no bottom bar indicating numbers that would correspond to the old 41-question section or the newer 36-question section. This was a pretty strong showing from the test-taker, who missed medium-hard questions in the first portion of the test but was consistently answering the Medium questions correctly. Thus, the question difficulty was increasing all the while. In the second portion of the section, the test-taker was exposed to some very difficult questions but could not answer them correctly, so the question difficulty decreased from sections two to three. In the third section, there is a sad story that plays out, with the test-taker getting roughly the same level of questions from the previous section Correct but answering lower-level questions, those at a completely Medium level, incorrectly. Perhaps the mental challenge of those tough questions from section two had taken its toll, or perhaps the test-taker was distracted at this point. Whatever the case may have been, it is a shame, in my view, to see such an inversion in an ESR. It leads to negative thinking, as in, Why couldn't I get those easier questions right in the third part? What would have happened if I had? Should I take the test again? The overall difficulty of the questions dipped somewhat between the third and fourth portions of the section, but at least the inversion disappeared and the test-taker was missing only harder questions on average.

Bottom-right: This is like a hybrid of the top-left and top-right graphs, with an equilibrium being reached around the second portion of the section between questions missed and questions answered correctly (again, in terms of difficulty). Seeing such a convergence is a good thing, really, showing that the questions the test-taker was seeing fell in line with that person's ability in that particular measure. The near flatlining that occurs afterwards among questions missed is what you would expect to see. The third portion of the section appears to have been the hardest (again) for this test-taker. The Correct answers were at a lower level, but pretty much whenever the test-taker had the opportunity to work on harder questions, those answers tended to be Incorrect. Thus, the question difficulty did not really increase thereafter. The bar had already been set, and the convergence at the end more or less shows that once again, the algorithm had found the right spot for the student to perform consistently on questions. This was an average performance in the section, nothing great, but nothing horrible either.

I hope that helps. Details on the ESR are given in the blue Summary box for each section.

- Andrew

MentorTutoring , Thanks for the analysis. These four graphs are of Verbal with different scores.

EMPOWERgmatRichC - I haven't taken yet. But I'll soon
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Hi NandishSS,

When exactly is your next GMAT? Do you need any advice regarding your study plan?
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HI rakshitsood21,


You can refer the below post

https://gmatclub.com/forum/esr-analysis ... l#p2433357
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Hello, Max. It is not uncommon to see a drop of 20 points or so between practice tests and the actual test. Certain test-day factors seem to play a bigger role than many test-takers anticipate. With that said, a 700 is a decent score, but I agree that if I had achieved four practice test scores of 720+, I would want to earn such a score on the real exam. If you have not already, you may want to peruse this e-gmat article on GMAT™ scores and LBS admissions, based on 2018 and 2017 cohorts. One part that stands out to me is that among GMAT Club members who reported scores of 700-740, there was a high percentage who made it to the interview round. If the rest of your application looks to be in good shape, then you could consider applying with the 700.

In any case, it is unfortunate that you mention wanting an analysis in the skills section in Q, since I find the broad approach used by GMAC™ on those very measures to be the least helpful on the ESR. For instance, what does the category Value/Order/Factors mean if you did so-so? Were you great at two of the three, but poor in another, or did you make mistakes across the board that balanced out to the percents you see? Same with Counting/Sets/Series. It is hard to tease out meaningful discussion points when that is as far as GMAC™ goes in providing sub-scores. Even Geometry, which is at least a single subject, can mean any of a number of things. The best you can do on your own or with the help of a professional is to comb through what you had been missing in practice to see how those questions may map onto the data the ESR shows.

You may feel free to attach your ESR in a PM. I would be happy to take a look at it for you. However, you might find my insights into Quant topics less helpful than my analyses of your Average Difficulty and Time Management information. (I also think there are more useful data to glean from the Verbal breakdown.)

- Andrew

Hi Experts,

Could you please provide me feedback on my ESR? I want to know what I need to do to improve my verbal score. Also, please comment on my AWA ability.

Hi NandishSS,

Please find attached my ESR.

Thanks,
Nitin

Saw this post after I made my thread...re-posting and attaching ESRs here:
Some context:


- Took 1st GMAT in February (680 Q46, V38)
- Took 2nd GMAT on 6/22 (670 Q45, V37) Cancelled
- Took 3rd GMAT on 7/20 (690 Q47, V38) Cancelled

General mock tests range from Q45-50, V36-42 across 6 Veritas/Manhattan Prep mocks exhausted my GMAT Prep mocks (700/750*/700/700/700/690)
* - Retook GMAT Prep #2 after 6 months and scores a 750 day before GMAT #3

I am targeting R1 applications and giving the online GMAT a final on 7/31 with a goal score of 730+. Between 6/22 and 7/20 I focused on Sentence Correction, which thankfully improved but led to a fall in RC/CR.

During this latest GMAT, I was extremely anxious/nervous heading into the test and ended up rushed in my last 10 questions both on quant and verbal, I believe a detriment in my preparation was not managing my time appropriately. I have done the research and feel that I have an appropriate time strategy. My current strategy for the next 10 days is as follows:

- eGMAT Scholaranium - Hard SC/CR practice quizzes
- Target Test Prep - Hard geometry, word problems, and number property quizzes; Global Quiz #1/2
- OG Wiley - Redo all hard quant problems (Last finished these in March)
- GMAT Prep - Hard CR questions

Time Strategy
- SC (No more than 90s)
- CR (No more than 120s)
- Quant (No more than 120s)
- RC (3-4 min for passage, 45s for questions)

I wanted to see if the experts on GMAT Club had any added insights when looking at my ESRs from both 6/22 and 7/20 or further advice.a