Heavy drop in RC during exam - any advice appreciated

Question

Hi all,

after 4 weeks of really intense studying besides my full-time job (each evening 5 to 6 hours) I took the GMAT yesterday.
My target score was about 700 to 710 and I ended up with a 640 (Q43, V35).

For Quant I pretty much know what happened - during the first quarter of questions I got a lot of PS questions in my weak areas (only 50% of the first quarter of questions correct). 
Never happened before in the GMAT Official Practice exams, where I scored both times a solid Q48. I consider that just extremely unlucky, but before I will take the next GMAT exam, I will obviously work on those weak areas (especially PS Geometry & PS Eq./Inq./Alg. questions).

What surprised me extremely was the V35 score report. In the two GMAT Official Practice exams (the first one two weeks ago, the second one 5 days ago) I scored a V32 and a V35 with strong weaknesses in SC and CR. However, in all my mock exams (including MGMAT) my accuracy for RC was 95%. As I started with verbal only 1 week ago, I focused completely on SC and CR.
But now my results: SC a score of 38, CR a score of 39 but RC with only a ridiculous 23. 
During the exam, I received crazy hard texts - on a level that I never saw before on both practice and mock exams. In those 4 RC passages, I got 2 passages with 5 paragraphs (also something I never saw before) with very scientific-journal like texts with extremely abstract questions on top (not like long passage --> less questions & less abstract).

So now my question to you: do you have any tips for me where I can find RC passages like that? And practice on them?

Thank you very much! Any tips highly appreciated!

deepverma · Answer

For RC: Can Try LSAT RC passages here in Gmatclub-Question Bank and Filter with LSAT Tag.
Also note: Sc can be improved quickest of 3 in verbal.

abhishekdadarwal2009 · Answer

I beg to differ, in my opinion focus only on Gmat style Essays/RCs and dont go for LSAT because the LSAT RC are usually longer and different than those questioned in GMAT.I recommend you use only GMAT material for your preparation.

ScottTargetTestPrep · Answer

Hi lx9711,

Do you also want some general advice on how to improve your RC skills?

GMATWhizTeam · Answer

Hi lx9711,

I think no matter how long the passages are, the way you approach the passage shouldn't change. I recommend you to focus on learning the methodology instead of solving more passages which are lengthy. Let me help you here.

How to approach RC questions: 
The first rule to keep in mind while reading an RC passage is to approach with an open mind. It is important to have the right reading strategies to solve RC questions. GMAT gives you ample amount of information in the passage. It does not test your knowledge on topics such as physics, political science.  You need to read the passage in an inferential manner so that you can draw the right inferences and understand the intention behind writing the passage . If you are focusing more on the details, then I would recommend you let go of that process and start focusing on the inferences. There is a process called “Involved and Evolved Reading” which helps you read a passage effectively. You can refer to the following video to understand the strategy of “Involved and Evolved Reading”.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0VhuzaV6P0

Having said that, do not neglect SC and CR because if you solely concentrate on RC, there might be chances that you will lose touch with other aspects. So, make sure that you practice a few questions of SC and CR on daily basis. Hope it helped! If you wish to know more about the study strategy, you can schedule a free consultation with our GMAT Strategy Consultant using the below link.

Click here to schedule a call

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi lx9711,

I'm sorry to hear that Test Day did not turn out better. Many GMATers spend 3 months (or more) of consistent study time before they hit their 'peak' scores, so if you studied for just 1 month, then that might help to explain why you have not hit your Score Goal yet. Given that relatively short timeframe, a 640/Q43 is still a strong performance though - and if you can commit to a longer study timeframe and focus on training in the proper Quant and Verbal Tactics, then I think that you would have a great chance of scoring 700+.

Before I can offer you the specific advice that you’re looking for, it would help if you could provide a bit more information on how you've been studying and your goals:

1) What study materials have you used so far?
2) When are you planning to apply to Business School?
3) What Schools are you planning to apply to?

From what you describe, you have purchased 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 send me your ESR, then I'll be happy to analyze it for you. Before you can include attachments with your posts/PMs, you need to have at least 5 posts in the forums (right now, you have just 1 post). If you would rather not go through those extra steps at this point, then you can feel free to email me directly (at [email protected])

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

Heavy drop in RC during exam - any advice appreciated

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