From 415 to 700+: Seeking Guidance for Verbal Improvement & Overall

Question

Hello bb and GMAT Community,

I’m reaching out for advice on how to dramatically improve my GMAT score from my first attempt of 415 (Q75, V64, DI73 on January 27, 2025) to a 700+ score. I’ve booked my next exam for April 7, 2025, and for months I’ve been self-studying because expensive coaching isn’t an option for me.

My fundamentals in Quant and Data Interpretation are strong, but I struggle with Verbal—both Reading Comprehension and Critical Reasoning—mainly because I’m a non-native speaker and often find the language challenging. I can dedicate 6 to 7 hours per day for preparation, and while I’ve been utilizing resources like GMAT Ninja, I feel that I might need additional guidance.

Could anyone share insights on:

Specific strategies or resources to strengthen verbal skills
How to effectively balance my study time across the sections
Personal experiences or study plans that helped you make significant score improvements

I’ve attached my official GMAT score screenshot for reference. Any advice, tips, or recommended study approaches would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you in advance for your support.

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AjiteshArun · Answer

Hi Karanjotsingh,

Expensive coaching isn't necessary. There are many resources, including (of course) GMAT club itself, that don't require payment of any kind.

Also, as a retaker, you could use  Delv . I know it's not much (just me, a few students, and a ppt), but it's designed for retakers targeting very high scores.

bb · Answer

Looking at your score reports, it looks like you can really go in any direction and improve Q, V, or DI.

I would say whatever you feel is easiest and you can improve the most, You should attack that section first, improve the score and then replicate (to the extent possible) your success to other sections.

What are you using for your prep? What is self prep because self prep entails using books and materials, not just plinking questions

Karanjotsingh · Answer

Hi  AjiteshArun ,

Thanks for the reassurance and the great resource pointers! I'll check out Delv and the free CR course on YouTube. Your guidance means a lot, and it's encouraging to know that affordable options can still lead to high scores.

Thanks again!

Karanjotsingh · Answer

Hi  bb ,

Thanks for the advice. Sometimes I tend to rely on just picking random questions on GMAT Club to solve, although I do use OG occasionally. I’m beginning to see that this might not be the best approach, and I should incorporate more structured materials into my self-prep to better replicate success across sections.

Thanks again for the guidance!

bb · Answer

It works for quant potentially - especially if you are stronger at it but it’s a long road as you do some questions that you know and some that you don’t and so you end up wasting time.

It’s much harder to learn for verbal if you don’t have strategies or explanation of how different parts of the argument work and how to time yourself. So I would spend a small amount of money and get a book. It’ll save you a lot of time even getting some of the really really cheap books from the previous edition of the test will help you tremendously probably for like $10 and it’ll save you hundreds of hours (likely).

Karanjotsingh · Answer

Thanks for the advice—I’ll pick up the OG book as you suggested. I have one more question: Is it possible to hit a 700+ score within just one month if I’m putting in 6 to 7 hours a day and have some personal guidance? If so, could you help me, or perhaps point me towards someone who can? I’m feeling both frustrated and determined since I’ve already wasted a lot of time. Any support or direction would mean the world to me.

GmatKnightTutor · Answer

Consider checking out Manhattan-Prep's 6th Edition for Critical Reasoning. If you want to practice reading without burning official RC passages/questions, articles from The Economist that are similar to those on the GMAT could be useful as well. Becoming familiar with how inference questions work on RC may also help a bit.

3 RC tips

Karanjotsingh · Answer

Hi  AjiteshArun ,

I loved your lecture and how clearly you explained the CR session and I just finished the first one! I was wondering if you have similar sessions for RC, Quant, and DI, and how I can join the live sessions. Your guidance is helping me, and I'm excited to learn more.

Thanks so much!

Karanjotsingh · Answer

Hi  GmatKnightTutor ,

Thanks for the suggestions! I'll check out Manhattan-Prep's 6th Edition for CR and start using The Economist for RC practice. I appreciate the free consult tip as well and looking into that.

Thanks again!

NextstopISB · Answer

Start with GMAT ninja videos, keep practicing quizes

AjiteshArun · Answer

That's great to hear.

The RC sessions are almost ready, but unfortunately, quant and DI will take a lot more time. And the free live sessions are on hold right now, but I'd be happy to restart them if a few more people join. Keep prepping, and feel free to tag me here if you have any questions.

ScottTargetTestPrep · Answer

Hi Karanjotsingh,

I want to address your issues with GMAT verbal.

To increase your verbal score, you must identify your exact weaknesses, fill in any knowledge gaps, and strengthen your skills. The overall process will be to find weaker areas, learn all about how to answer questions of types that you aren't that comfortable with now, and do dozens of practice questions category by category, basically driving your score up point by point.

For example, assume you begin studying Critical Reasoning. Your first goal is to master the individual Critical Reasoning topics: Strengthen the Argument, Weaken the Argument, Resolve the Paradox, etc. As you go through the questions, do a thorough analysis of each question that you don't get correct. If you missed a Weaken question, ask yourself why you didn't get it right. Did you make a careless mistake? Did you not recognize what the question was asking? Did you skip over a key detail in an answer choice? Getting GMAT verbal questions right is a matter of what you know, what you see, and what you do. So, any time that you don't get one right, you can seek to identify what you would have had to know in order to get the right answer, what you had to see that you didn't see, and what you could have done differently to arrive at the correct answer.

Regarding RC, when students get those questions wrong, it’s partly because they don't truly understand what they have just read. To understand what you are reading, you may have to slow down even more (for now) in order to eventually speed up. You have to learn to comprehend what you read, keep it all straight, and use what you are reading to arrive at correct answers.

At this point, your best bet is to focus on getting the correct answers to questions, taking **as much time as you need** to see key details and understand the logic of what you are reading. If you don't understand something, go back and read it one sentence at a time, even one word at a time, not moving on until you understand what you have just read. There is no way around this work. Your goal should be to take all the time you need to understand exactly what is being said and arrive at the correct answer. If you can learn to get answers taking your time, you can learn to speed up. Answering questions is like any task: The more times you do it carefully and successfully, the faster you become at doing it carefully and successfully.

Another component to understanding what you are reading is being “present” when reading. Don’t worry about how things are going at work, or what you will eat for dinner, or even how long you’re taking to read through the passage. Just focus on what is in front of you, word by word, line by line. Furthermore, try to make reading fun. For example, even if you are reading about a topic that bores you, pretend that you are the person making the argument. By doing so, you will make the passage more relatable to YOU, and ultimately you should be able to read with greater focus.

One final component of Reading Comprehension that may be tripping you up is that RC questions contain one or more trap answers that seem to answer the question but don't really. So, a key part of training to correctly answer RC questions is learning to notice the differences between trap answers and correct answers. You have to learn to see how trap answers seem to follow from what the passages say, but don't really, while correct answers fit what the passages say exactly. Of course, the better you become at noticing the differences between trap answer choices and correct answers, the faster you will answer RC questions.

Here is also a great article that you can check out:

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