GMAT tomorrow , Confused in Verbal scores - Please help

souvonik2k

Hi Mate,

With one day to go, you should try to relax more. If you want, do revise some topics that are from your strong area.
Do not think much about the verbal score variance, because algorithm of Manhattan and Official GMAT are different.

Best wishes.

Hi Kshitij,

The scoring algorithm on the Official GMAT is far more complicated than most people realize. Since that algorithm is proprietary, no GMAT company has an exact match for it, thus CAT scores can vary a bit based on the 'biases' involved in their respective designs. The GMAT takes into account far more than just the number of correct answers (and there are always a certain number of 'experimental' questions that do not count towards your Score). While we could talk about more effective ways to analyze your CAT/mock results, since you are so close to your Official Test Date, you should NOT be doing any heavy studying/review at this point (NO more CATs and NO 'cramming') - you would be better served by getting some extra rest so that you can go into Test Day calm, clear-headed and ready to work. Once you have your Official Score, you should post back here (or you can feel free to PM me directly) and we can discuss the results.

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich

Contact Rich at: Rich.C@empowergmat.com

Hello Kshitij

With one day to do, you need to relax have a good sleep, and keep your mind as relaxed as possible. You can do almost nothing within one day. The result of your GMAT Prep exam is most relevant to your current verbal position so forget about the Manhattan result. Keep the faith you can do it.

Wishing you the best of luck!

Hi, You might be done with your test today. Is your verbal score close to the official test or mgmat test?

Hi kshitijmiler,

Do share your test day experience. How did it go?

I scored 610 Q49 V25 IR4

Posted from my mobile device

Hi Kshitij,

I'm sorry to hear that Test Day did not turn out better. There are a variety of factors that can impact your performance on a Test (both a practice CAT/mock and on the Official GMAT), including the type of Exam that you're using, the time of day that you start the Exam, the testing conditions, how well-rested you are, the section-order, etc. It's also possible that you just got a bit 'unlucky' on Test Day (meaning that with a 610, you're actually closer to a 650 than you probably realize).

Before we discuss any of those potential issues though, it would help if you could provide a bit more information on how you've been studying and your goals:

1) How long have you studied? How many hours do you typically study each week?
2) What study materials have you used so far? What “brands” of CATs/mocks have you used?
3) In your initial post, you listed 4 CATs that you took over the last 2 weeks - but what OTHER CATs/mocks did you take? On what dates (or approximate dates) did you take EACH of your CATs/mocks and how did you score on EACH (including the Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores for EACH)?
4) When are you planning to apply to Business School and what Schools are you planning to apply to?

If you took your Official GMAT at a Test Center, then you might also choose to purchase the Enhanced Score Report. While the ESR doesn’t provide a lot of information, there are usually a few data points that we can use to define what went wrong on Test Day (and what you should work on to score higher). If you purchase the ESR, then I'll be happy to analyze it for you.

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich

Contact Rich at: Rich.C@empowergmat.com

Hi kshitijmiler,

Sorry to hear that your GMAT exam did not go as planned. Let me share my insights.

Looking at your individual break up of score, you have almost mastered the Quant section. However, you are surely on the wrong path for verbal preparation.

Your verbal score clearly indicates there are many conceptual gaps and you may need to start from scratch, revisit the concepts and get a clear understanding of them before you solve the questions. Verbal questions on GMAT are very tricky. Let me help you with the right way to approach your Verbal Prep.

How to Ace your Verbal Prep?

For GMAT Verbal, it is very important that you follow the right methodology and the logical approach. Your focus has to be on eliminating four incorrect choices rather than choosing the right one. The key is to develop a solid understanding of the concepts that are typically tested on the GMAT and master the process skills that are required to solve GMAT questions. Only then, you will be able to smartly avoid the traps set by the test makers.

Before you start learning, it's important to understand what is actually tested using the questions. Each module in Verbal (SC, CR and RC) has to be approached in a different way. For example, before you start learning the concepts of SC, you need to understand that SC questions on GMAT test your ability to convey the right meaning without any ambiguity. So, it's important to approach them from a meaning stand-point. You might have often come across answer choices which are both grammatically correct and convey a logical meaning but are indeed incorrect because they do not convey the intended meaning. So, the process to approach SC questions is to:
• Comprehend the original meaning of the sentence
• Identify errors if any (both grammatical and meaning wise)
• Eliminate answer choices which either are grammatically incorrect or do not convey the intended meaning

You can go through the link below to understand the process in a better way:

Also, improving in SC alone won’t fetch you the desired score. You need to prepare for RC and CR as well in a structured and efficient manner. You have to follow a methodical and systematic approach while solving the questions in order to work on your accuracy and increase your score. For example,
• In CR, you have to understand the argument, identify the premise and the conclusion and then pre-think the answer before looking at the solutions.
• In RC, you need to have the right reading strategies to understand the inferences which are not directly stated in the passage.

I’d recommend you to follow this order for the verbal part - SC->CR->RC. The reason for this is very specific. Each question type on the GMAT is testing a specific skill. SC tests your comprehension skills. CR tests comprehension & analytical skills. Finally, RC builds on the previous two skills and also tests your ability to be able to grasp the central point of the passage i.e. Your inferential skills. Thus, when you learn in this order, it's much more effective.

The importance of using a standard resource:

The only method to make sure that you invest your time, money and effort in an effective way is to use a standard resource which teaches you the concepts, strategies and also helps you work on your weaker areas. Studying using OG or a few random resources might help you to solve GMAT like questions but I’m afraid that they won’t be able to help you much from a strategy perspective.

I would suggest you to go for some standard course for your preparation which can help you prepare in a structured and efficient manner thereby increasing your productivity. It’s always better to spare some more time on your preparation until you are ready instead of missing out on your dream colleges/ b-schools in hurry.

GMATWhiz helps you with all these things as we follow a structured and methodical way of teaching things, which makes the learning process simpler and efficient. It also helps you to develop an understanding of the test maker’s intention behind asking the question. It uses an AI powered learning platform to provide you with real time improvement modules after every practice quiz. It provides you with additional concept videos and practise quizzes which helps you overcome your weaker areas in a specific topic right away without having to put in additional effort to identify your weaker areas.

You can check out GMATWhiz and go for its GMAT Prep Course.

Here’s a link to our free trial – https://learn.gmatwhiz.com/?page=signup

Hope this helped and feel free to contact if you have any further queries.

You can always write back to me here or the better way would be to connect over a call and have a discussion. You can schedule a free consultation call using the below link.

Sorry to hear about your GMAT. Do you plan to retake it?