i gave my first mock from GMAC and scored 580(V22 Q47)

Hi UtkarshSood,

A 580 is a solid initial CAT score (the average score on the Official GMAT hovers around 550 most years). Many GMATers find the Verbal, the Quant or both to be challenging - so you're not alone. Thankfully, the GMAT is a predictable, standardized Test, so you CAN train to score at a higher level. Considering this recent Verbal Score, raising a 580 to the point that you can consistently score 700+ will likely require at least another 2.5 - 3 months of consistent, guided study - and you'll have to make significant improvements to how you handle BOTH the Quant and Verbal sections. Based on your timeline, you might need to consider pushing back your Test Date (although you do not need to decide on that either way just yet).

You do NOT need to be a 'fast' reader to score at a high level on the GMAT, but you do have to work at a reasonable pace, 'attack' each prompt that you face (re: actively read, look for patterns, etc.) and take a reasonable amount of notes. Many GMATers end up losing points because they try to read too fast (or "skim" text, which is also not a good idea) - and that actually leads to additional problems (re: they almost always have to reread the entire prompt - sometimes multiple times - which is the actual CAUSE of their pacing problems).

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 in total? How many hours do you typically study each week?
2) Have you used any other practice materials besides the ones that you listed?

Goals:
3) Is your overall goal score 700 or something else?
4) When are you planning to apply to Business School and what Schools are you planning to apply to?

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

Hi Rich,

Thanks for your response.

I'm facing the same problems in RC as mentioned by you.

I have been on and off with my GMAT preparation because of my hectic work pressure and timings. However, i quit my job couple of weeks back to focus on the test preparation. My main focus has always been on the quant section because that is my area of interest but now i feel it is high time that i start focusing on the Verbal as well.
I have used egmat and manhattan material.
Yes, my aim is to score 700 because the schools that im planning to apply ask for somewhere around 650-700 for a competitive edge.
I'm planning to apply somewhere around Nov-Dec 2020. The schools that i'm targeting are SFU, UBC, UOW, McMaster etc. Basically, Canadian B schools is my priority.

Hi UtkarshSood,

Many GMATers spend 3 months (or more) of consistent study time before they hit their 'peak' scores, so you will likely need to commit to a more consistent routine (and not study "off and on") to hit your Goal Score.

In addition, "review" is an exceptionally important part of the GMAT training process; your ability to define WHY you're getting questions wrong is essential to defining the areas that you need to work on (and the specific things that you need to 'fix'). As such, I'd like to know a bit more about your last CAT. While a full Mistake Tracker would provide a lot more information, there are some basic questions that you should be able to answer (and the more EXACT you can be with your answers, the better):

After reviewing each section of this recent CAT, how many questions did you get wrong....
1) Because of a silly/little mistake?
2) Because there was some math/verbal that you just could not remember how to do?
3) Because the question was too hard?
4) Because you were low on time and had to guess?
5) How many Verbal questions did you 'narrow down to 2 choices' but still get wrong?

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

HI UtkarshSood,

I’m glad you reached out, and I’m happy to help. If we are looking at the glass as “half full”, then you should be pretty pumped about your quant score. Q47 is very nice, my friend. That said, since you scored V22, it’s clear that verbal is really dragging down your score. I see that you’ve mentioned RC as an issue but would you like some general advice on how to improve in all aspects of GMAT verbal? Lastly, you may find it helpful to read the following article:

How to Score a 700+ on the GMAT — A Mini Guide for Success

Hey,

Yes, i have started dedicating my entire time for the preparation.

So, I got 15 questions incorrect out of 36 questions in Verbal Question.

1) 2 questions (1 SC, 1 CR) Because of a silly/little mistake
2) 2 questions (1 CR, 1 SC)
3) 6 questions (3RC, 3SC)
4) I spent my maximum time on RC questions
5) Around 4-5 questions.

I made major mistakes in SC questions and spent max time on RC question. I misinterpreted some CR questions as well.

Out of 31 questions, 12 were incorrect in the Quantitative section,

1) around 3-4 questions were wrong because of a silly mistake
2) 2-3 questions (Some concepts that i didn't study like Probability, SD etc)
3) 2-3 question were very tricky
4) 1-2 questions
5) 3-4 questions

Thanks for your help.

[quote="ScottTargetTestPrep"]HI UtkarshSood,

I’m glad you reached out, and I’m happy to help. If we are looking at the glass as “half full”, then you should be pretty pumped about your quant score. Q47 is very nice, my friend. That said, since you scored V22, it’s clear that verbal is really dragging down your score. I see that you’ve mentioned RC as an issue but would you like some general advice on how to improve in all aspects of GMAT verbal? Lastly, you may find it helpful to read the following article:



Hi Scott,

Thanks for your message.

Yes, I am open to any kind of advice.
Thanks a lot for such an informative article.

Hi UtkarshSood,

I've sent you a PM with some additional notes and questions.

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

Here is some general advice you an follow to improve your GMAT verbal skills. I'll start with CR.

When studying Critical Reasoning, you need to ensure that you fully understand the essence of the various question types. Do you know the importance of an assumption within an argument? Can you easily spot a conclusion? Do you know how to resolve a paradox? Do you know how to properly evaluate cause and effect? Do you know how to properly weaken or strengthen an argument? These are just a few examples; you really need to take a deep dive into the individual Critical Reasoning topics to develop the necessary skills to properly attack any Critical Reasoning questions that you encounter.

As you learn each Critical Reasoning problem type, do focused practice so that you can track your skill in answering each type. If, for example, you incorrectly answered a Weaken the Argument question, 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 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 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 answers to better determine why you tend to get a particular question type wrong, and then improve upon your weaknesses. You can perfect your reading strategy with a lot of practice, but keep in mind that GMAT Reading Comprehension passages are not meant to be stimulating. So, to better prepare yourself to tackle such bland 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, you likely will have to work on all three of those aspects. Furthermore, the likely reason that your Sentence Correction performance has not improved is that you have not been working on all three of those aspects.

Regarding what you know, to be successful in Sentence Correction, 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 less than 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 none of those reasons are 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. Getting the right answers takes a certain work ethic. You have to put in the necessary time to see the differences between answers 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 to arrive at that answer and what you could do differently 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 do 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 skills improve, you’ll then want to practice with questions that test you on skills from multiple SC topics.

Ultimately, if you are unable to learn and practice in the manner described above, you may consider looking for additional verbal prep resources. If you are unsure of which resources to choose, check out some reviews here on GMAT Club.