From 530 (q40 v23) to 690 (q45 v40)

Hi,

If you look at the registration date of my account in GMAT Club you may notice that I've been present here for quite a long time. But only today, I really have something to tell.

I passed GMAT three times starting from May 2005:

530 - q40 v23
580 - q43 v27
690 - q45 v40

As you may see, there is a slight progress in Q section and a huge one in Verbal.

Since Verbal is a problem section for many non-natives I would like to suggest my explanation of my success in this area:

1. Study materials. I've got GMATPlus in electonic form. It was downloaded somewhere in this forum. I read and solved questions using my PocketPC, which appeared to be very convenient: in public transport and in home lying in the sofa.
I've done all SC and CR questions, partly RC questions paying specific attention to error log. I classified errors into three main groups:
- negligence (simple and stupid errors)
- hard errors (but understandable after additional analysis)
- concept errors (ones, which I don't understand completely)

Then I took several individual lessons with GMAT tutor and addressed all concept errors (actually it helped me a lot in understanding GMAT logic)

2. Reading. I started to read only in English, i.e. if you want to read a new fancy book (e.g. Dan Brown "The Da Vinci Code") get its English version, if you want to read news - read BBC.com or anything else which is in English. That approach helped me a lot in not getting afraid and distracted by long and complex GMAT passages.

3. Vitamines. A month before exam I started to take vitamin C and homeopathic remedy that improves brain activity.

To my mind, all these measures, combined assisted me in improving my score.

What else can I say. I did it )))))))))))

I do really feel that I can take 700 threshold, but, perhaps, it is worth to concentrate on other areas of my application.