HongHu wrote:
Karlfurt has a very sensible point. Your problem is that you have not really mastered the verbal section. From your acount your score has been fluctuating quite a bit. Your math score is consistent with your past performance. And your verbal score is not far from your range of performance. I would not characterize it as a "bad day" and rush to take your second chance. You may get a better score that is close to your higher end of 690, but it is also equally likely that you may score close to your lower end of 580. And you would have wasted your very important second chance.
A lesson from many native speakers is that they go by feelings when they tackle the verbal section. They do not feel that they need much preparation. It's their daily language afterall. However, if you are not familiar with GMAT verbal questions, you will fall in many traps and may not get up in time to conqure this beast.
Give yourself a couple months to get familiar with the types of GMAT verbal questions. Do some practise questions and visit the verbal forum. When you know you know what they are doing at the verbal section, and narrow your score range toward the high end, then you could go take your second shot. The best thing about your situation, is that your verbal section is like an untouched field, there are so much room for improvement. I'm sure you will see a great jump in your score when you are ready.
English is my first language. And yes, I know the concepts of the verbal. I use these things:
Assumption questions: the answer is correct if when it isn't true, the argument isn't true
Strength, Weaken,= Breaking or strengthening a potencial assumption.
Infer- don't infer too much. Don't use any assumptions for the answer.
Reading- I have like 10 minutes for each passage. I read it over a hundred times. I have no freaking clue what I did wrong. it is impossible for me to justify getting a 20 when my lowest score was 20. Phuck that garbage