How to improve my verbal score?

Question

Dear All,

I have been studying for the gmat for some time now and have given two practice tests. My quant is fine but my verbal score is stuck at 21-23. I have 2 weeks before i sit for my exam. Is it possible to improve my verbal score to 35 in these two weeks time? If so what should I do to make it happen?

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GmatKnightTutor · Answer

Generally speaking, that sort of verbal score jump in that time frame would be unlikely. Here's a post of a Verbal student I tutored (Verbal Solving Approach) who went from a V31 to V40 in about 30 days. There may be some insight you can take:

https://gmatclub.com/forum/gmat-online- ... 68599.html

How to improve my verbal score?

For SC, memorize relevant idioms if you haven't already. Identify the types of RC questions (Main Idea and Inference) and how to deal with them. Pattern recognize some of the incorrect answer choices the GMAT throws your way (i.e. the true-but-chronologically wrong answer choice on RC).

Some free tutor tips and suggestions: https://www.gmatknight.com/blog

All the best

EducationAisle · Answer

2 weeks are generally very insufficient, to bring about a 12-14 point improvement in Verbal score.

MartyTargetTestPrep · Answer

Hi Rez1666.

To increase your verbal score you need to do three things:

- learn key rules and concepts.

- learn and develop strategies for answering verbal questions.

- practice applying the rules, concepts, and strategies.

Those tasks are pretty significant. For instance, while the number of rules and concepts you have to know is finite, it's not a tiny number. Also, developing an eye for what's going on in GMAT verbal questions by practicing can take a fair amount of time.

So, generally people take more than a few weeks to achieve GMAT verbal score increases of over 10 points.

So, while you may get to the upper 20s or even 30 in two weeks, you'll likely need more than two weeks to get to V35.

For an in-depth discussion of how to prepare for GMAT verbal, see these posts.

How to Score High on GMAT Verbal

Three Key Practice Tips for Mastering GMAT Verbal

For some in depth

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi Rez1666,

With Verbal Scaled Scores in the low-V20s, you're losing significant points in ALL 3 major Verbal categories (RC, SC and CR). The type of Verbal improvement that you're looking for is achievable (since the Verbal section is just as consistent and predictable as the Quant section is), but that training will likely take far longer than the 2 weeks that you've allotted.

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:

Studies:
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) 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)?

Goals:
4) What is your overall goal score?
5) When are you planning to apply to Business School and what Schools are you planning to apply to?

760+: What GMAT Assassins Do To Score at the Highest Levels

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

Contact Rich at: [email protected]

TomKSH · Answer

I recommend Powerscore series both for CR and RC. They helped me improve my score as well as my general reasoning and reading skills, although I am not sure if two weeks are sufficient.

GMATWhizTeam · Answer

Hi Rez1666, Two weeks certainly may not be good enough to improve your verbal score to V35 since 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: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SGA8bwFNJM 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 Verbal 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 before taking a call. 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. Click here to schedule a call

GMATWhizTeam · Answer

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