Low Verbal (24), But High Quant (49)

Question

I took my GMAT (4th Attempt) today and had the following splits :-
1. Quant - 49 
2. Verbal - 24
Overall Composite (610)

My score on the GMAT Mocks (these were the official mock) were as follows:-

1. GMAT Prep # 1 - 730 (Q50, V40) - The test had repeats in CR and the RC was familiar as I had used the prep material in my previous study
2. GMAT Prep # 2 - 760 (Q50, V41) - 6 out of the 9 CR questions were repeat - These repeats were from OG 10 which was used to practice most of my Verbal Questions
3. GMAT Prep # 3 - 680 (Q49, V34) - No Repeats
4. GMAT Prep # 4 - 700 (Q49, V35) - No Repeats
5. GMAT Prep # 5 - 650 (Q47, V32) - No Repeats

My biggest issue with the Verbal Section was my pacing. In all the prep exams (both with & without repeat questions) I was struggling to finish the test. Eventually in the last quarter of the section, I guessed on a lot of questions.

The same happened in the exam today. I felt after the 25th Question, I was rushing to solve the section. I have ordered my ESR for the attempt. Before, I even consider taking the exam again would like to understand whether another attempt is worth taking.

After my third attempt, I realized I was not able to apply my concepts clearly on harder questions in a timed environment. I would either spend inordinate amount of time solving them or I would end up guessing even after spending 2+ mins on the question.

Experts: Request your inputs.

EducationAisle · Answer

Hi Abheek, what were your scores in the other GMAT exams?

Also, which sub-section in Verbal is your nemesis?

Do post your ESR once you receive it.

Abheek · Answer

Hey,

I have ordered my ESR, so will share it once it is available. My GMAT Scores were as follows:-

GMAT Exam (1st Attempt) - 490 
GMAT Exam (2nd Attempt) - 620 (Q48, V26)
GMAT Exam (3rd Attempt) - 570 - cancelled score (Q48, V21)
GMAT Exam (4th Attempt) - 610

Thanks!

AjiteshArun · Answer

It's not easy to see your verbal score drop 10 points, but it's good to see that you're looking to bounce back. I would be slightly concerned about the fact that all your verbal scores on the actual GMAT are in the 20s though. Did you have to rush through the last few questions in all 4 attempts?

Abheek · Answer

Hi Ajitesh,

Yes. I have sincerely struggled with my ability to manage time on the Verbal Section. I am quite sure the low 20s score is indicative of the fact that i missed questions (in the last quarter) which were at 'my difficulty level'. I have ordered my ESR will share the same here to have a more thorough understanding. But this is my initial hypothesis:-

1. My Verbal Capability has not improved as much as I would have liked it to have - This will take longer, I feel
2. If I had to compare the two sections - In Quant I was at the 30th question with 8 minutes to spare - indicative of stronger reasoning ability

Overall, in verbal i was rushing to get to the end. I remember clearly I had 25 minutes left at the 20th question but ended spending 2.5 mins on two questions after with 20 minutes left at the 22nd question. I almost had to run to the finish line in the last quarter and I am sure I made a lot of mistakes on questions that were more attuned to my capability.

Regards

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi Abheek,

I'm sorry to hear that Test Day did not go as well as hoped. GMAC has publicly stated that the Official Score that you earn on Test Day is within +/- 30 points of actual ability. Your 3 most recent Official Scores show that you essentially performed the same each time (about 600 +/- a few points). You handle certain aspects of the GMAT consistently well, but you also make certain consistent mistakes. It's possible that you have gotten 'stuck' at this particular score level, you're going to have to make some fundamental changes to how you handle the Verbal section to score at a significantly higher level.

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) On what dates did you take each of your GMATs and how long did you study before each attempt?
2) What study materials have you used over the course of all of your studies? Which 'brands' of practice CATs did you use for each attempt?

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

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 (and what you should work on to score higher). Since you've purchased the ESR, I'll be happy to analyze it for you. If you would rather not post your ESR publicly, then you can feel free to PM or email it directly to me.

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

ScottTargetTestPrep · Answer

Hi Abheek,

First off, great work with quant! A Q49 is a great quant score! Regarding your verbal issues, you hit the nail on the head when you said, “After my third attempt, I realized I was not able to apply my concepts clearly on harder questions in a timed environment.” Since you scored a V23, it’s clear that you lack the verbal fundamentals you need for a high score, right? Thus, moving forward, you need to follow a structured and linear study plan that allows you to individually learn each verbal topic, starting with the foundations and progressing to more advanced concepts. 
 
For example, let’s say you begin studying Critical Reasoning. Your first goal is to fully master the individual topics: Strengthen the Argument, Weaken the Argument, Resolve the Paradox, etc. As you learn about each question type, do focused practice so that you can track your skill in answering each type. 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 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, 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. However, keep in mind that GMAT Reading Comprehension passages are not meant to be easy to read, so to better prepare yourself to tackle such passages, read magazines with similar content and style, such as the Economist, 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 answer were always the one 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 logical meanings. 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 be determined to see the differences and 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 skills improve, you will then want to practice with questions that test you on skills from multiple Sentence Correction topics.

Also, you may find it helpful to read this article about  How to Score a 700+ on the GMAT .

Good luck!

Abheek · Answer

Dear All,
I have received my ESR. The following observations come to light when analysing my ability level on different question types in Verbal:-
1. CR - Percentile - 13: 50% correct on Analyze/Critique; 25% correct on Construction/Plan
2. SC - Percentile - 34: 66% correct on Grammar; 33% correct on Meaning
3. RC - Percentile - 77: 83% correct on Inferred Question; 100% correct on According to the Passage Question type

Conclusion: A big concept gap in CR and SC.
I am sharing my ESR link as well. Would be helpful if you guys can take a further dig at it.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1kx5g9e ... p=drivesdk

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Low Verbal (24), But High Quant (49)

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