How to get a 600 GMAT with weak verbal part

Thank you for your reply EMPOWERgmatRichC.

The exam I took was Official Gmat and I am totally concerned that I need to improve my skills that is why I would like to start a good plan to improve them, so it would be a pleasure to ask your question!

1/2. I have been study GMAT around 4-5 months and mainly the material that I used was the Official Guide GMAT, Verbal and Quantitative. Also I used the Manhattan for Reading Comprehension, Critical Reasoning and Sentece Correction, but not as intense as the Offical Guides.

3. Yes the Pre-Master I want to apply just ask for 550, if I get this score I will be able to get in the programme. It also necessary to prove IELTS 6.5. I did the exam already and I am wating for the results, I will get them in the end of this week.

4/5. The deadline to apply for Pre-Master is 31th January 2020, but I would like to take GMAT around 1 month before, so let says that I would like to be ready to take GMAT again in December this year.

6. If you mean programme as Pre-Master or Master I really want to apply for this one since if I get in to the PreMaster and I pass it, I will be automatically enrol in the following Master in marketing; and looking the requirements they ask they are not to high that other Busniess Schools, I feel that I just need to work harder.
If you mean programme to improve my GMAT score I would like to take anyone can help me but I do not know which one will fit on my goal to get 550 and my currently level, considering also that I am not English native speaker.

I hope that I answered the question with enough information and thank you one more time for your help!

Eri Quesada

Hi Eriquesada,

Based on when you plan to retake the GMAT, you have plenty of time to study and improve - which is good. Raising a 440 to a 550+ is an achievable goal - and you do NOT need to correctly answer ANY hard or weird questions on the GMAT to score at that level, but you do have to keep the little mistakes to a minimum.

From what you described, your studies have been "book heavy" so far. Unfortunately, many GMATers who study in that way end up getting 'stuck' at a particular score level. Even the best books are limited in what they can teach you; they also cannot force you to approach questions in a certain way and their explanations are often one-sided. As such, you will likely need to invest in some new, non-book resources for this next phase of your studies.

1) Have you taken any practice CAT tests or mocks during your studies so far?
2) Going forward, how many hours do you think you can consistently study each week?

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

Hi EMPOWERgmatRichC,

Good to hear that I have plenty time and I am ready to use this time wisely to get the 550+ I need, because I know that I dont have to face the hardest and weirdest question to get it, but I think that I am having a lot mistakes in the other questions. Specially, as I said in the first post, the verbal part is being the more challenging for me.

I got this feeling that I just study with a book and feel stuck in some point, so I am open to learn other techinques to improve my skills.

1. I had 4 extra classes with a tutor where I did some some CAT exams but lets say I tried just few but I didnt retake them to focus in mistakes... I think that I was too focus in only OfficalGmat Exercises.

2. Where I am working part time, after my holidays I will work then 4 days. So I am planning to study 2-3 hours when I have workday and when I am off I can study more.. 5-6 hours? So lets say around 25 hours. I read in some post that study a lot of hours can be counterproductive, but I do not know if I agree with that since, in my university period, more you study more score you get.

Thank you!

Hi Eriquesada,

Since you just took the Official GMAT, you do not need to take any practice CATs/mocks just yet. You should plan to take one in 2-3 weeks - and then at regular intervals during your studies (re: a NEW CAT every 1-2 weeks).

Raising a 440 to the point that you can consistently score in the 550-600 range will likely require at least another 2-3 months of consistent, guided study - and you'll have to make significant improvements to how you handle BOTH the Quant and Verbal sections. Thankfully, the GMAT is a consistent, predictable Exam, so you CAN train to score at a higher level. From what you describe, you have plenty of time to continue studying and improving - which is great. At this point, you can proceed with your studies however you choose; if you want to be efficient with your studies going forward, then you might find it beneficial to invest in a GMAT Course of some type (either Guided Self-Study or instructor-led).

Most GMAT Companies offer some type of free materials (practice problems, Trial Accounts, videos, etc.) that you can use to 'test out' a product before you buy it. We have a variety of those resources at our website (www.empowergmat.com). I suggest that you take advantage of all of them then choose the one that best matches your personality, timeline and budget.

If you have any additional questions, then just let me know.

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

Hello Eriquesada,

Welcome to GMAT Club. As you mentioned, you took your first GMAT ( V 17/Q35- 440), that is the pretty score at the beginning. But was that in either of the mock test or that was real GMAT.

Many test aspirants are unhappy with their initial practice test scores. What we have observed is that this is due to either lack of a detailed study plan or some unreliable resources. Various possible combinations to achieve the score of 600 or 620 are V 30/ Q45, V 33/Q42, V35/Q40.

What you need at the start is a detailed study plan for both the sections: Verbal and Quant. Also, make sure that you focus more on learning the basic concepts and then practice as many as questions possible. Also, until you can track your performance, you won’t get enough confidence to beat the GMAT. And for this, you need a diagnostic test. Please appear for a diagnostic test on https://www.mathrevolution.com. Also, check our free trial pack and free-video lesson.

In addition to the diagnostic test and study plan, you need reliable resources and up-to-date questions to study that meet GMAT exam trends. Once you have all this, in the end, you need to learn unique and alternative approaches that will help you in managing time for solving the questions.

For doubts clearing, a dedicated trainer should always be there with you to help.

Let us know if you have further questions.
You can reach us at info@mathrevolution.com.
Success is within your reach.
Good luck!

Hi Eriquesada,

I’m glad you reached out, and I’m happy to help. Since you scored 440 on your latest practice GMAT, you clearly lack the quant and verbal fundamentals you need for a high score. Thus, moving forward, you need to follow a study plan that allows you to individually learn each GMAT quant and verbal topic and practice each topic until you’ve gained mastery. To study in such a way, you may need some new quant and verbal materials, so take a look at the GMAT Club reviews for the best quant and verbal courses.

If you’d like more specific advice on how to improve your verbal and quant skills, feel free to reach out. Good luck!

Hello EMPOWERgmatRichC, MathRevolution and ScottTargetTestPrep for all your responses an tips, and sorry for my late reply but I was enjoyinh my holidays before to come back to the reality.

I have already checked some of the online courses but I am still confuse about which one is better for me, considering that my weakest point is the verbal part, although I know that also I need to improve more in the quantitative part. I am a bit lost how to improve my verbak part, specially RC and CR... I have read that doing some reading with academic content could help, but anyone knows any website or similar where I can find the best texts to do that.

Also I am looking for a study plan to follow due to I followed mine during my first preparation for GMAT exam and the result was not too good, so now I do not know if I am looking for something that does not exist, what I am looking for is a online course which help me with material like efficient knowledge, CATs, simulations, exercises... and also a study plan to follow to have my weeks organized and do not mess up my brain.

I am planning to start the first of Spetember, it is also when I start my new job (3 days off and 4 working days). So the plan is to study 30-35 weekly hours until December, take GMAT again and raise from 440 to 550.

Thank you to all of you for help, I will really appreciate any tips or advice.

Regards,

Eri Quesada

Hi Eriquesada,

While it is great that you might be able to study up to 35 hours a week, I have never asked anyone to study that much - especially over a long period of time. That type of 'volume' would greatly increase your chances of 'burning out' before Test Day (and that is something that we want to avoid). You can certainly start off your studies however you choose, but if you find that you are getting tired or that you are unable to focus, then you should decrease that number of study hours.

Based on your prior Official Score, you have a great opportunity to pick up points in BOTH the Quant and Verbal sections, so having the proper study materials and Study Plan will help you to approach all of this in an organized way. Given everything that you have described, I think that you would find the EMPOWERgmat 3-Month Study Plan to be quite helpful. We have a variety of free resources on our site (www.empowergmat.com), so you can 'test out' the Course before setting up an Account.

By the time September 1st gets here, it will have been approximately 1.5 months since you took the Official GMAT. Since GMAT skills tend to 'fade' over time, it would be a good idea for you to take a NEW FULL-LENGTH practice CAT Test at some point between now and then. That score will give us a good sense of your current strengths and weaknesses and will help provide a basis for comparison as you continue to study. A FULL CAT takes about 3.5 hours to complete, so make sure that you've set aside enough time to take it in one sitting.

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

Hi Eriquesada,

Thank you for reaching back out. So, although I cannot provide you with an exact study plan, I can provide some detailed advice on how to improve both your quant and verbal skills. As I already mentioned, to improve your skills, you need to follow a linear and structured study plan. Let me expand on this idea further.

Let’s say, for example, you are learning about Number Properties. First, you should develop as much conceptual knowledge about Number Properties as possible. In other words, your goal will be to completely understand properties of factorials, perfect squares, quadratic patterns, LCM, GCF, units digit patterns, divisibility, and remainders, to name a few concepts. After carefully reviewing the conceptual underpinnings of how to answer Number Properties questions, practice by answering 50 or more questions just from Number Properties. When you do dozens of questions of the same type one after the other, you learn just what it takes to get questions of that type correct consistently. If you aren't getting close to 90 percent of questions of a certain type correct, go back and seek to better understand how that type of question works, and then do more questions of that type until you get to around at least 90 percent accuracy in your training. If you get 100 percent of some sets correct, even better. Number Properties is just one example; follow this process for all quant topics.

When you are working on learning to answer questions of a particular type, start off taking your time, and then seek to speed up as you get more comfortable answering questions of that type. As you do such practice, do a thorough analysis of each question that you don't get right. If you got a remainder question wrong, ask yourself why. Did you make a careless mistake? Did you not properly apply the remainder formula? Was there a concept you did not understand in the question? By carefully analyzing your mistakes, you will be able to efficiently fix your weaknesses and in turn improve your GMAT quant skills.

Follow a similar routine for verbal. For example, let’s say you start by learning about Critical Reasoning. Your first goal is to fully master the individual Critical Reasoning topics: Strengthen the Argument, Weaken the Argument, Resolve the Paradox, etc. As you learn about each Critical Reasoning question type, do focused practice so that you can track your skill in answering each type of question. If, for example, you get a weakening question wrong, ask yourself why. Did you make a careless mistake? Did you not recognize the specific question type? Were you doing too much analysis in your head? Did you skip over a keyword in an answer choice? You must thoroughly analyze your mistakes and seek to turn weaknesses into strengths by focusing on the question types you dread seeing and the questions you take a long time to answer correctly.

When practicing Reading Comprehension, you need to develop a reading strategy that is both efficient and thorough. Reading too fast and not understanding what you have read are equally as harmful as reading too slow and using up too much time. When attacking Reading Comprehension passages, you must have one clear goal in mind: to understand the context of what you are reading. However, you must do so efficiently, so you need to avoid getting bogged down in the details of each paragraph and instead focus on understanding the main point of each paragraph. That being said, do not fall into the trap of thinking that you can just read the intro and the conclusion and thereby comprehend the main idea of a paragraph. As you read a paragraph, consider how the context of the paragraph relates to previous paragraphs, so you can continue developing your overall understanding of the passage. Furthermore, as you practice Reading Comprehension, focus on the exact types of questions with which you struggle: Find the Main Idea, Inference, Author’s Tone, etc. As with Critical Reasoning, analyze your incorrect Reading Comprehension answers to better determine why you tend to get a particular question type wrong, and then improve upon your weaknesses. Keep in mind that GMAT Reading Comprehension passages are not meant to be easy to read. So, to better prepare yourself to analyze such passages, read magazines with similar content and style, such as the New York Times, Scientific American, and Smithsonian.

Sentence Correction is a bit of a different animal compared to Reading Comprehension and Critical Reasoning. There are three aspects to getting correct answers to GMAT Sentence Correction questions: what you know, such as grammar rules, what you see, such as violations of grammar rules and the logic of sentence structure, and what you do, such as carefully considering each answer choice in the context of the non-underlined portion of the sentence. To drive up your Sentence Correction score, it is likely that you will have to work on all three of those aspects.

Regarding what you know, first and foremost, you MUST know your grammar rules. Let's be clear, though: GMAT Sentence Correction is not just a test of knowledge of grammar rules. The reason for learning grammar rules is so that you can determine what sentences convey and whether sentences are well-constructed. In fact, in many cases, incorrect answers to Sentence Correction questions are grammatically flawless. Thus, often your task is to use your knowledge of grammar rules to determine which answer choice creates the most logical sentence meaning and structure.

This determination of whether sentences are well-constructed and logical is the second aspect of finding correct answers to Sentence Correction questions, what you see. To develop this skill, you probably have to slow way down. You won't develop this skill by spending under two minutes per question. For a while, anyway, you have to spend time with each question, maybe even ten or fifteen minutes on one question sometimes, analyzing every answer choice until you see the details that you have to see in order to choose the correct answer. As you go through the answer choices, consider the meaning conveyed by each version of the sentence. Does the meaning make sense? Even if you can tell what the version is SUPPOSED to convey, does the version really convey that meaning? Is there a verb to go with the subject? Do all pronouns clearly refer to nouns? By slowing way down and looking for these details, you learn to see what you have to see in order to clearly understand which answer to a Sentence Correction question is correct.

There is only one correct answer to any Sentence Correction question, there are clear reasons why that choice is correct and the others are not, and those reasons are not that the correct version simply "sounds right." In fact, the correct version often sounds a little off at first. That correct answers may sound a little off is not surprising. If the correct answers were always the ones that sounded right, then most people most of the time would get Sentence Correction questions correct, without really knowing why the wrong answers were wrong and the correct answers were correct. So, you have to go beyond choosing what "sounds right" and learn to clearly see the logical reasons why one choice is better than all of the others.

As for the third aspect of getting Sentence Correction questions correct, what you do, the main thing you have to do is be very careful. You have to make sure that you are truly considering the structures of sentences and the meanings conveyed rather than allowing yourself to be tricked into choosing trap answers that sound right but don't convey meanings that make sense. You also have to make sure that you put some real energy into finding the correct answers. Finding the correct answer to a Sentence Correction question may take bouncing from choice to choice repeatedly until you start to see the differences between the choices that make all choices wrong except for one. Often, when you first look at the choices, only one or two seem obviously incorrect. It may take time for you to see what you have to see. Getting the right answers takes a certain work ethic. You have to be determined to see the differences and to figure out the precise reasons that one choice is correct.

To improve what you do when you answer Sentence Correction questions, seek to become aware of how you are going about answering them. Are you being careful and looking for logic and details, or are you quickly eliminating choices that sound a little off and then choosing the best of the rest? If you choose an incorrect answer, consider what you did that resulted in your arriving at that answer and what you could do differently in order to arrive at correct answers more consistently. Furthermore, see how many questions you can get correct in a row as you practice. If you break your streak by missing one, consider what you could have done differently to extend your streak.

As with your Critical Reasoning and Reading Comprehension regimens, after learning a particular Sentence Correction topic, engage in focused practice with 30 questions or more that involve that topic. As your Sentence Correction skills improve, you will then want to practice with questions that test you on skills from multiple Sentence Correction topics.

Regarding prep courses, in addition to seeking advice in this thread, take a look at the GMAT Club reviews for the best quant and verbal courses, and also read through some GMAT success stories to see what materials have worked well for other test-takers.

Feel free to reach out with further questions.


Good luck!

Follow the following study plan:-
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https://gmatclub.com/forum/gmat-self-pr ... tml?f=menu

Courses that can help with your prep:-
https://gmatclub.com/forum/best-gmat-co ... ml?fl=menu

Best books for Quants:-
https://gmatclub.com/forum/best-gmat-ma ... ml?fl=menu
Best books for Verbal:-
https://gmatclub.com/forum/best-gmat-ve ... ml?fl=menu

Best Gmat practice tests:-
https://gmatclub.com/forum/all-gmat-pra ... ml?fl=menu

Thank you to all of you for hekping out with GMAT preparation, specially to ScottTargetTestPrep for the long tips I will follow them during my new preparation!

Have a nice day!

My pleasure!