Just had the gmat scoring my lowest ever Verbal Score

How do you study og2019? Did you read every SC/CR answer explanation written inside the book thoroughly (NOT from the gmatclub forum) ? If yes, you should be able to master (not only to just know) what are tested and what are supposed to be the WRONG answers in gmat.

If so, I recommend you either to restudy og2019 book (not just online forum where explanations look logical but they are actually deceiving and distorted the right way of understanding!). I myself plan to study og2019 thoroughly twice. I did it once, without finishing RC.

One more, perhaps your RC is so poor like mine before. You need to get a good resource (prep book) on RC. Watch Veritas RC free YouTube resource as the beginning. As you move on, you can find what kind of RC strategy fits you best.

Hit +1 kudo if you like the explanation.

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Well, in the actual test yesterday, i felt like what was tested was not what i was used to recognise. Questions seemed to test different skills from that i am accustomed. Thats true for the SC. I believe that the RC and the CR were about the same as always( even though you are right, RC is not my best part). But somehow i used to score higher. I have read the 2019OG thoroughly enough i believe.

Have you looked at your ESR (Enhanced Score Report) from recent gmat score? You can check there what your percentile is for RC, CR, and SC, each of which is shown individually.

I used to assume that RC was my strength and SC was my weakness (perhaps because I couldn't predict what SC questions would be thrown to me). After buying ESR, I was shocked that the truth is another way round. But that's my case. But I believe the only objective measure to know what you need to focus is ESR.

If SC is indeed your weakest point 'objectively' and you have read entire verbal in og2019 religiously, perhaps gmatprep exam pack 1, 2, and 3 can enrich your verbal practice (to prepare you for look-new things). 2019 Verbal Review can also be good reliable source, but not best. Another way is to find and do the old 'forbidden' 1000SC questions, but some experts were against them for some reasons. The fact is many high gmat scorer (750+) use that.

Btw. Though I scored only 720, my RC was still the poorest among three (53 percentile). I am non native anyway.

Give +1 kudo if your like my honest insight

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Searching in google i found many Instructors' arguing for not purchasing the ESR. In short, they say that ESR cannot benefit me and can mislead me to incorrect conclusions over my general knowledge. No specific question will be shown, so i guess they might be right.

I also took the GMAT yesterday, was not happy with my score, and was interested in how soon I could retake the exam. Mba.com’s FAQs state that any additional attempt within 16 days is invalid, results are voided, and the fee is not recoverable:
https://www.mba.com/exams/gmat/after-th ... -gmat-exam

I recommend checking to make sure your next attempt will be counted before scheduling your next exam.

Best of luck!

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btw we can only take gmat maximum 5 times in 365 days and 8 times for lifetime. Prepare well and make every retake no regret

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Hi WhiteJack,

I'm sorry to hear that Test Day didn't go as well as planned. When these types of score drops occur, the two likely "causes" involve either something that was unrealistic during practice or something that was surprising (or not accounted for) on Test Day. Before we discuss any of those possible issues through, it would help if you could provide a bit more information on how you've been studying and your goals:

Studies:
1) Over the last 4 months, how many hours do you typically study each week?
2) You mentioned the CATs that you used, but what study materials have you used so far?
3) On what dates did you take EACH of your CATs 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?
6) What Schools are you planning to apply to?

You might also choose to purchase 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 purchase the ESR, then I'll be happy to analyze it for you.

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

Thank you EmpowerGmatRichC,
well i will try to give you as many details as possible.
1)I hadn't been studying continually these past four months. The pure time spent must be around 2 and a half months. I have to say though that i have studied a lot as i can typically spend 6 or more hours a day studying for the GMAT.
2)When i started my studies i used the 1000 SC. I did so after a simulation's clear indications that SC was(might still be) my weakest point. Then i used notes given to me by previous test takers who achieved great scores. I have studied the 2019OG and done some(not great parts though) of previous OGs. I have also studied 2 small books that are distributed by a local GMAT school.Thats all i remember.
3)I cannot provide you all that info because i took the tests in a GMAT center-school in Athens. I can only give you info of what i remember because the GMAT school doesn't save previous GMAT students scores(i found that out the hard way).
I started with two official tests. My first official test score was 580 but i really dont remember the exact scores on Verbal and on Quant. Then the second test i took was also an official. I remember i was feeling the same as the first about it so it was close my first one. Then i continued with kapplan and manhattan tests. In all kapplan tests i had never scored lower than 670(i believe on average i was getting q47-48,v36) and higher than 730 in which i remember the verbal was 40. (. In the manhattan tests i scored around 650. My highest manhattan was 670 and my lowest( the final again of the manhattan tests)was 590(remember q39 on this). My other 4 tests were only official tests. I scored 680(q49,v34), 720(q49,v39), 670(q47,v35) and 670(q48,v34). I knew that the school didnt save my tests anywhere so i took photos of my last 4 simulations as well as of my mistakes on these simulations. Thats the reason i have the specific scores.
Regarding my score goals:
Having passed the 700barrier a few times, i am very keen on achieving a score of that level or of an even higher level.
I want to apply before September.
The schools i will apply to vary according to my gmat score. I am thinking of RSM, Leuven and more european, BUT i desire more American studies. The bad thing is, american programs are really expensive for europeans,such as myself, making scholarship necessary. To get a scholarship in an american university i need at least 700.Am i wrong?
Kind regards,
Jack

I just bought the ESR. My critical was better than 70%, my RC was better than 41% and my SC score was better than 17%. I dont know what to do, i have studied a lot of SC. Please tell me where to study from in order to improve my SC.

Hi WhiteJack,

Since you have your ESR, then I'll be happy to review it for you (so you can feel free to PM it to me). That data becomes even more important if we cannot go back to review your prior practice CATs. Are you sure that the Center-School in Athens does not provide you with an option to review those CATs? I ask because all of those Exam are run through the various providers - meaning that that data should be online and accessible through each of their respective websites (and not stored - or deleted - from that Schools' computer system).

Once I've had a chance to analyze your ESR, we can then talk about how you might best proceed with your studies going forward.

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

Hi WhiteJack,

I’m sorry to hear how things went with your GMAT. Looking at your previous study routine, I see that you were following a plan that I call “practice first and figure the rest out later.” In other words, you were doing practice problems before understanding the concepts on which those problems are based, and thus you were trying to learn solely from reading solutions to problems. This method of study likely left you with many gaps in your knowledge, and those gaps were exposed on test day. That common situation would explain the decrease in your verbal score.

To truly improve your GMAT verbal skills, you should follow more of a linear and structured study plan that allows you to individually learn each GMAT verbal topic and then practice each topic until you’ve gained mastery. This process will take longer than just one week, so you may consider pushing your GMAT to a later date. Certainly, if you’d like more specific advice on how to improve your verbal skills, feel free to reach back out.