GMAT Verbal - Reading Comprehension. Experts please help

Hi Rich,

The score with a V27 is not a GMAT score.
It is actually a mock score in GMATPrep taken in October last year.
I had been meaning to remove the GMAT score, but have not been able to remove it after adding schools.

1) What study materials have you used to help you prepare for the Verbal section?
For a basic understanding, I have used the eGmat course along with the 13th edition of the OG.

2) What 'steps' do you go through on a typical SC, RC and CR prompt?
For a SC :
1. I start with analyzing the statement and identifying errors if any.
2. If there are errors in the statement, I try to find the answer option which rectifies the error.
(Usually use Process of Elimination to eliminate the wrong answers)

For a CR :
1. I try and understand the argument and identify the conclusion.
2. Based on the question type, do whatever is required.
-> For a weaken question(weaken the conclusion/provide alternate explanation)
-> For a strengthen question(strengthen the conclusion)
-> For assumption question(bring it down to 2 options and finally apply negation technique to bring it down to one)
-> Paradox question(find an alternate explanation to resolve the discrepancy)

For RC:
1. Read the passage and try to understand in depth.
(Since i am slow reader and lose patience when i am not able to understand some part,
end up spending around 5-6 mins doing this)
2. Start answering questions, and with almost every answer option have to go back to the passage.
3. Even while marking the answer am mostly not sure why the other option is wrong.

Initially practiced about 30-40 questions in every section(mostly from the OG)
Since then, have solved questions randomly, every now and then but never planned my study sessions.
Randomly solved questions, sometimes 20-30 CR and SC, sometimes RC, and sometimes a combination of the three.

3) What is your exact Test Date?
I am yet to book the exam, have been waiting to score 680+ consistently in the mocks.
Planning to take a couple of mocks in a week starting from next week. It that a good strategy?
My last mock score(Manhattan mock) was 650(V34,Q45) - took the verbal section first.
Target date : before August 10th.

4) What is your overall goal score?
I wish to score in excess of 730.

Thanks a ton for the reply.
Pushpit

Hi pushpitkc,

Based on how you described your approach to the Verbal section, there are a number of 'inefficiencies' that need to be corrected before you can consistently score higher. As such, you need to work on more than just your approach to RC.

Beyond that point, it's important to remember that a CAT is really a 'measuring device' - when used correctly, it will give you a realistic score and help define your strengths and weaknesses, but it will NOT help you to fix any of those weaknesses. To raise your scores, you have to put in the necessary practice and repetitions. The CAT will show you whether your studies are helping you to improve or not. As such, you really shouldn't take more than 1 FULL CAT per week.

If you want to take the GMAT before August 10th, then you have up to 6 weeks of study time remaining. While you could potentially accomplish a lot during that time, you will have to be efficient with your studies.

1) How have you have scored on each of your practice CATs (including the Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores for each)?
2) Going forward, how many hours do you think you can consistently study each week?

For your next CAT, I suggest that you take one of the Official GMAC CATs and take it in a realistic fashion (take the FULL CAT - with the Essay and IR sections, take it away from your home, at the same time of day as when you'll take the Official GMAT, etc.). Once you have that score, you should report back here and we can discuss how best to proceed.

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

Thanks a ton for the reply, Rich.

I will be taking the GMATPrep Mock at the earliest and report with the scores.

1) How have you have scored on each of your practice CATs (including the Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores for each)?
My first test in September last year (GMATPrep Exam 1 - 550 (Q41,V25)
My second test in October last year (GMATPrep Exam 2 - 620 (Q48,V27)

Due to personal reasons, was unable to do any studying after this.
Resumed GMAT Prep in mid April this year and have been studying a bit here and there since then.
Wrote my first mock 2 days before Manhattan mock - 650(Q45,V34) Couldn't finish the Verbal Section.

2) Going forward, how many hours do you think you can consistently study each week?
I can easily study for around 6-8 hours/day if that will help.

Thanks in advance
Pushpit

Hi pushpitkc,

Since your earlier CAT scores are over 6 months old, they're not particularly relevant to assessing your current skills, so that next CAT score will be important in determining what you need to focus on and the amount of study time that you could potentially need. Again, we want that next CAT to be as realistic as possible (so don't take it at night if you plan to take the Official GMAT in morning).

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

Improving RC can be tricky.

Take a look at this passage and the corresponding video explanation - see if it helps:

https://www.gmatpill.com/gmat-practice-t ... stion/2125

Solution:

https://www.gmatpill.com/practicequestio ... ion001.mp4

Hi Rich,

I took a GMATPrep today, and scored a 700(Q49, V37) IR3 Section order followed Q-V-IR
Halfway through IR I could not concentrate and guessed through the remainder of the section.

I managed to score 14/17(around 94th percentile) in Sentence Correction of which at least
2 questions were questions I had seen before. I scored around 8/13 in Reading Comprehension
and 6/11 in Critical Reasoning(both around the 66th percentile)

I spent extra time in the initial part of the test to minimize the mistakes (made 4 mistakes in
the first 22 questions) but as a result was down to 29 minutes when I was starting with my
3rd RC passage(24th Question). I had to hurry things up and this resulted in a drop in accuracy.

What do you recommend me to do in order to improve my timing?
Though this is close to my goal score is 730, I felt with the repeat questions, my score is slightly inflated.

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts.

Regards
Pushpit

Hi pushpitkc,

You seem to understand that this score result is almost certainly 'inflated', so it's not practical to assume that you're currently scoring at the 700/V37 "level." Beyond the high likelihood of an inflated score, there's now also a question as to how much those 'repeat' questions impacted your pacing. You might have spent less time on those questions and you wouldn't have exerted the same amount of effort (nor experienced any of the 'stress') that comes with dealing with a 'new' question in the Verbal section. Considering the Verbal pacing issue that you described, I would have to assume that that issue would likely have been worse if you had dealt with a full set of questions that you had not seen before.

I was really hoping that we would be able to review a CAT in which you hadn't seen any of the questions before, but based on your 'post count' in the forums here, it's unclear how likely that is at this point.

1) In your estimation, how many "random" Verbal questions have you attempted/answered in the forums here that were NOT from any of the Official Guides? In simple terms, I want to try to gauge if there are any available CAT pools that you have no prior knowledge about. To that end, are there any 'blocks' of CATs that you have not used before (re: GMAC, Kaplan, MGMAT, Veritas)?
2) Are you still planning to take the GMAT before August 10th?

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

Hi Rich,

Please find the answer to your questions below :
1) In your estimation, how many "random" Verbal questions have you attempted/answered in the forums here that were NOT from any of the Official Guides? In simple terms, I want to try to gauge if there are any available CAT pools that you have no prior knowledge about. To that end, are there any 'blocks' of CATs that you have not used before (re: GMAC, Kaplan, MGMAT, Veritas)?
I had been very careful to avoid anything official while practicing here at GMATClub.
Whenever I started working on a problem, I would confirm the source.
If I saw the words GMATPrep/Offical Guide I avoided it, so that I did not
encounter this situation when I woulld take the Official tests.
However, I think I might have missed a few questions and unfortunately
those were the questions I got in the test. That being said,
I have never used Kaplan and EmpowerGMAT(baring a few questions
that I may have seen at GMATClub)

2) Are you still planning to take the GMAT before August 10th?
No, I have decided to defer the plan for another month, and maybe work on the essays side by side
as the schools I am targeting have their R1 deadlines around Mid-October.

I'm very confused and not sure what should I do?
Looking forward to hearing from you.
Thanks in advance
Pushpit

Hi Pushpit,

Pushing back your Test Date was a smart idea - you should be able to use the extra study time to continue to hone your skills and improve. Based on what you've described, I think that you should study as you see fit for the next week, then - for your next CAT - you might want to try one of the Kaplan CATs. Make sure to take it in a realistic fashion (take the FULL CAT - with the Essay and IR sections, take it away from your home, at the same time of day as when you'll take the Official GMAT, etc.). Assuming that you have not worked through any of the questions that will appear on that CAT, then we will likely have a better chance at receiving the proper data we need to assess your skills and plan out what you should be studying going forward.

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

Hi Rich,

I took a full cat from Kaplan 2 days ago.
I scored a 680(Q47,V36) and though my Verbal score was pretty decent,
I messed up in Reading Comprehension as usual. My accuracy was beyond pathetic(4/14)
Sentence Correction as usual saved me from getting a dismal score.
What do you think should the approach be from here on?

There is hardly any time left and if I postpone GMAT any further,
Round 1 might be out of reach for my dream school.

Hoping to hear from you!

Thanks in advance
Pushpit

Hi Pushpit,

1) What is your Official Test Date now?
2) On this last CAT, how many of the RC questions did you 'narrow down to 2 choices (the correct answer and one of the incorrect ones) and still get incorrect?

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

Hi Rich

Please find my answers to your questions,

1) What is your Official Test Date now?
I am yet to take a date but may take September 14th as the date.
The R1 deadline for my dream school is October 16th.

2) On this last CAT, how many of the RC questions did you 'narrow down to 2 choices (the correct answer and one of the incorrect ones) and still get incorrect?
Due to shortage of time I had to guess the entire last passage(except the main point question)
But for the remaining questions, I was able to narrow down to 2 choices most of the times(with the exception of 1-2 questions)

Thanks in advance
Pushpit

Hi Pushpit,

If you're consistently "close" to getting the correct answer in RC - but you're still getting the questions wrong most of the time - then there is something 'missing' from the work that you're doing (the notes you take, what you notice - or don't notice - about how the answers are written, etc.). Thus, putting in some time to analyze the wrong answers that you chose (to try to define any patterns involved - so that you can avoid similar wrong answers in the future) would make some sense. It might be that there's some underlying inefficiencies with how you're handling the Verbal section overall - and in that case, to improve you'd need to learn/practice new Tactics for the entire Verbal section. Either way, you could still make some significant improvements over the course of 3-4 weeks.

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