My last GMAT and improvement plan

Question

Hi,

I took my GMAT last month. Got 660 (Q 50, V 28). My GMATPrep 1(a month before actual exam) score was 690 (Q 48, V 36) and GMATPrep 2(15 days before actual exam) score was 670(Q 49 V 31). As seen in my scores I actually found Quant easier and questions in Verbal tougher than those in GMATPrep or any other random question that I tried. It might be that since I was having a bad day and was not even sure that I would be allowed to take the exam that I found the tough section (for me Verbal) even tougher which further degraded my verbal score.

Anyways I can't rely on that and go for the next attempt, I plan on taking it in november. I don't have much time since I am planning for R2 and some specialized courses. Though the time for preparation is less I would like to focus on the deficiencies in my preparation for verbal section. People suggested that preparing on my own was not a good idea. So I would like to get some professional help especially in verbal. I found options such as classroom sessions, online sessions, video lectures. Which is a good options for me considering my specific requirements.

Found manya(the princeton review) (for classroom) and crackverbal (for online mode).
How are these? Please suggest.

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

HI mss,

To start, a 660/Q50 is a strong score (it's just above the 80th percentile overall), so it could very well be enough to help you get into your first-choice Business School.

As far as your prior practice CATs are concerned, GMAC has publicly stated that a Test Taker's Official Score is within +-30 points of actual ability, so these scores are all 'in range' of one another (and your Official Score makes sense given your practice scores).

When you took your CATs:
1) Did you take the ENTIRE CAT (including the Essay and IR sections)?
2) Did you take them at home?
3) Did you take them at the same time of day as your Official GMAT?
4) Did you ever do ANYTHING during your CATs that you couldn't do on Test Day (pause the CAT, skip sections, take longer breaks, etc.)?

With a potential retake in November, you have plenty of time to make some the necessary improvements to how you handle the Verbal section, but you're likely going to have to learn (and practice) some new tactics.

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

mss · Answer

Thanks, actually my GMAT score is the only thing that I am relying on. The more, the better.

Yes i took the entire CAT at home and at the same time. Regarding the difference in the two settings I found that though i was stressed before the test, as soon as i started I was into that zone. So for me test center was not a problem at all except for the writing pad and marker which had to be closed everytime to keep the ink from drying up. If GMAC is listening please provide a simple pencil and paper.

Coming to the main thing I found actual GMAT questions more 'tricky', especially SC and CR questions. As for the RC , I found it tough with at least two lengthy and tough passages. I have been struggling to devise the strategy that works for me best. In GMATPrep1 I found easy questions, completed the section on time and scored 36, Now even after struggling with tough questions (in GMATPrep2 and actual GMAT) which means I am at a higher score level during the test, I take more time per question obviously which leads to more errors towards the end as i have to guess to complete the section and score less.

To solve this I want to go for a course that would target my problem areas and help me in achieving a higher score.

Again would appreciate any pointers to a particular course in verbal that would address my needs.

Thanks again.

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi mss,

With a V28, you likely lost points on Test Day in all 3 Verbal categories (SC, RC and CR), so whatever methods you self-taught were not strategic enough to help you adapt to what you faced on the Official GMAT. Most of those missing points were NOT on hard questions either, so it's likely that your overall approach to the Verbal section is incomplete (meaning that you've likely developed some 'bad habits' that we have to work to get you out of). Thankfully, all of this can be 'fixed' in a relatively short amount of time.

Do you have a specific Test Date in mind yet?
What Schools are you planning to apply to?

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

AjiteshArun · Answer

Your quant score went from 73% to 87% in one month, which is excellent. However, your verbal went from 80% to 50%. Is there any chance that you put more effort into your quant preparation than into your verbal preparation during that one month?

Some other things you might want to consider:

1. Unless you messed your timing up, you certainly did not see "tougher" verbal questions. The GMAT is adaptive, and the score you got on verbal indicates that the GMAT did not really raise the difficulty too much.
2. More importantly, I hope you can bring yourself to accept that the actual GMAT tests the same concepts that the questions in the GMATPrep or any other official material are based on.
3. Finally, remember that the GMAT indicates how well you did relative to other people (no absolute indicator of difficulty level).

All I'm saying here is that you should think about not getting into the whole "the actual GMAT is nothing like the GMATPrep" thing. I've seen people do that, and it is neither true, nor productive. Instead, focus on figuring out what is causing your performance to vary so much.

Mine didn't dry up after the quant section. I couldn't even find the cap after finishing quant

I know they tell everyone to put the cap back on, but most people don't do that. Just request them to give you two markers at the beginning of your section.

Try to check whether the you'd already seen or done those GMATPrep questions before.

Also, did you get your ESR?

I know they tell everyone to put the cap back on, but most people don't do that. Just request them to give you two markers at the beginning of your section. Try to check whether the you'd already seen or done those GMATPrep questions before. Also, did you get your ESR?

mss · Answer

I am yet to take an appointment. Plan to apply to SDM MIT. Have to find others in tech MBA space. 
if you provide GMAT coaching and have a link, can let me know.

mss · Answer

Hi,

Thanks for the reply. I studied verbal most of the time during the last month.

I didn't know about ESR, just googled it, will check it out, might be helpful. thanks for pointing it out.

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

HI mss,

As we've discussed, with a Q50/V28, the big opportunities for you to pick up points are in the Verbal section. Based on everything that you've described, and your timeline, I think that you would find the EMPOWERgmat Verbal Score Booster to be quite helpful. Most of our clients finish that Study Plan in under a month, so it would fit your schedule perfectly. We have a variety of free resources (at our website - www.empowergmat.com) that you can use to 'test out' the Course before you set up an account.

If you have any additional questions, then you can feel free to contact me directly.

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

GMATPILLBILL · Answer

Hey mss The SC section is the easiest verbal section to make improvements on. Once you understand how to think and approach this question type, there are only so many ways you can be tested. Here at GMAT Pill we developed the 10 core frameworks which detail the 10 ways to approach GMAT sentence corrections. Here is a sample video detailing one of the core frameworks: https://www.gmatpill.com/gmat-practice-t ... stion/2184 For CR, we recommend a visual framework approach to help you understand the complex short passages and how each item relates to each other. Here is a video describing the visual framework approach: https://www.gmatpill.com/criticalreasoni ... Estate.mp4 To improve RC - you really need visual guidance. Don't read articles about how to improve reading. You improve by actually doing or watching someone else do. That's why you might find these video walkthroughs helpful: https://www.gmatpill.com/practicequestio ... tions.html Best of luck on your studies!

mss · Answer

Hi,

I checked your site. I would like to focus on tactics and practise that I guess you would be providing through video lectures. But I couldn't understand how does your 1 month study plan, accommodate a month's verbal score booster. Please let me know how does the study plan fit in quant preparation (that I would be doing on my own) along verbal. I plan on taking GMAT in first week in november, that is around a month and a half from today.

Also your site mentions that the user will have access to lot of questions and modules. So apart from video lectures since you provide a study plan which here would be for a month, I am expecting the course provides the set of questions to solve.

Thanks

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi mss,

We provide a variety of different Study Plans depending on your specific needs. Since your focus would really be on just the Verbal 'side' of the GMAT, the Verbal Score Booster Study Plan would be the most appropriate for your needs (not the 1-month Study Plan). When you enroll in the Course, the Study Plan will guide you through the exact materials that you should use, but you do get access to ALL of the materials, so if you wanted to work on additional Modules (for example, for some extra Quant practice), then you could.

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

mss · Answer

Hi,

Was busy with admissions consultancy as am going ahead with applying in R1 to one college and doing the ground work for R2 in the meantime.

Meanwhile for GMAT retake, generated my ESR today, here is the result of the verbal part, have added mean time taken :

Your Verbal score of 28 is higher than 51% of GMAT Exam scores recorded in the past three years. The mean score for this section is 27.04.

Your performance on Critical Reasoning questions was equivalent to a score of  31 , which is better than 57% of GMAT Exam scores recorded in the past three years. The mean score for this sub-section is 27.61. Meantime taken  1.74

Your performance on Reading Comprehension questions was equivalent to a score of  20 , which is better than 26% of GMAT Exam scores recorded in the past three years. The mean score for this sub-section is 27.32. Meantime taken  2.5

Your performance on Sentence Correction questions was equivalent to a score of  39 , which is better than 85% of GMAT Exam scores recorded in the past three years. The mean score for this sub-section is 27.21. Meantime taken  1.31

You completed 41 of the 41 questions in the Verbal section.

Now as most of the prep courses focus on sentence correction as I guess its the most technical one and I faired well in that (compared to other two sections). Do you think the verbal booster plan can still have a major impact on my RC and CR scores.

Thanks

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