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audreyd
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From 740 (Q50 V40) to 770 (Q51 V44) 31 Dec 2020, 02:47
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spitfire1

5. The Incredible Hand Trick: This is a weird one but probably the key difference for me in verbal in getting to that 98th percentile. This is def more useful for Verbal than Quant but you can obv use it for either. Now many times with any type of question you will skim the answers and eliminate some but return to the rest to examine further. This can sometimes be inefficient as you may lose track of which answers you 'eliminated'. So during practice exams (and this must be tested during practice exams first obv), when I started looking at the answer options for a given question, I would keep my left palm open with all five fingers. Each option had a corresponding finger - (A thumb, B pointer, C middle, D ring, E little). As I eliminated an option, I would "close" the corresponding finger. This way after round 1 of eliminations, you just peak at your hand and you know which answers you need to re-examine rather than go back and sort of lose track and be like "oh wait did i eliminate this one? and why was that?" etc etc. Trust me - if done correctly, this can save A LOT of time. It certainly did for me. So just as an example say you look through the answers and you spot immediate mistakes with C and D, then you're making the spiderman sign with your left hand, and then you go for the next round and just examine A, B and E. Yes, it's weird - but genuinely this helped me a lot. My initial GMAT (V40) was marred but having to rush at the end and get successive answers wrong.
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Thank you so much for this incredible and actionable tip!
I've just used it while practicing and it really helps!! (even though the hand can look very awkward at times)
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From 740 (Q50 V40) to 770 (Q51 V44) 06 Nov 2022, 06:39
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I got 4 questions wrong totally in Verbal (out of 30 counted) and got V44. In my 740 attempt I got 5 questions wrong and got V40. Big difference was where I got the questions wrong.
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Hello Experts. I am not sure if I understand. Did he mark only 30 questions or 34 questions, because back then the Verbal section had 41 questions.
Even if he did I don't know how a V44 is possible by leaving so many questions. I am not being disrespectful, I am just curious if this strategy can be used.
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From 740 (Q50 V40) to 770 (Q51 V44) 06 Nov 2022, 06:57
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Arsalan24
Quote:
I got 4 questions wrong totally in Verbal (out of 30 counted) and got V44. In my 740 attempt I got 5 questions wrong and got V40. Big difference was where I got the questions wrong.

Hello Experts. I am not sure if I understand. Did he mark only 30 questions or 34 questions, because back then the Verbal section had 41 questions.
Even if he did I don't know how a V44 is possible by leaving so many questions. I am not being disrespectful, I am just curious if this strategy can be used.
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In both the 41-question verbal section and the 36-question verbal section, only 30 questions count. The others are uncounted "experimental" questions that the test-makers include for the purpose of testing the questions.

For more on counted and experimental questions, see this post.

What are Experimental Questions in the GMAT?
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From 740 (Q50 V40) to 770 (Q51 V44) 06 Nov 2022, 20:09
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Even if he did I don't know how a V44 is possible by leaving so many questions. I am not being disrespectful, I am just curious if this strategy can be used.

Might be worth checking out some current V44 ESRs to see what type of performances are necessary. Some quick Verbal tips on the gmatknight website.
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