Hi everyone, First of all, thank you for creating this wonderful forum and I would like to talk a little bit about myself, I'm 25, Engineer and from India. Thank God, not an IT engineer! I have been preparing for this beast since April 2010 and have already taken GMAT once in July 2010 and I score 540!! I performed badly on Verbal section.Got only 17!! And I think I'm comfortable with Quant section, I got 48 on 1st attempt. Since Aug 2010, for few months, I couldn't digest my score and felt like I should give up my dream of getting into good B-school, but then at the back of mind I couldn't make myself comfortable. GMAT, GMAT, GMAT is there on my mind always. Then from Aug-Oct 2010, I got busy with job, which sucks, seniors at job are %^$#@ and I hardly could keep in touch with books! But I managed to go through MGMAT SC and PowerScore CR bible during this time. It's so frustrating to see dream going away from me, all that I can say is I'm really upset and always felt like crying at the end of the day. I can't give up this dream, which I have nourished since long time. So, here I'm to start to work on my dream once again. The big question is this would be my 2nd and last attempt. I will start preparing from today and will be taking this beast in January2011 end. (I have to remind myself time and again F*** this job and F*** these seniors! You have bigger dreams to follow.) I have no life these days, no party, nothing but all the time thinking and wondering over GMAT, is it within my reach? Can I get my dream school, what will I do if not GMAT, etc etc. I have following material with me, please help me figure out how should I go through each of these material? From where I should start, keeping in mind that I need most help on Verbal section? OG 10, 11 and 12 OG Quant and Verbal guide Veritas 15 guides Kaplan 800 Kaplan Verbal Workbook MGMAT SC and RC guide PowerScore CR bible ETS paper tests updated on 15/01/2011 ] Few more pdf books and notes downloaded from this site. I have access to following: Veritas Online course Grockit Here, I ask for any kind of help you guys can give me on Verbal section, mainly RC. I'm starting from today with the hope to get my life back. I will back soon with some updates on my progress. Will I Get My Life Back? Let's see...

I just took MGMAT CAT 2 and scored 670 (Q48, V33). 19 mistakes on Verbal section!! OMG!! But I still managed to get 33. Maybe I was lucky enough. MGMAT quant is un-necessary tough. Verbal is also tough, especially RC My scores till now are as follows: (Just for my record.) 08/01/11……..Manhattan CAT1 …….660 (Q50, V32) 16/01/11……..PowerPrep CAT1……..690 (Q46 and V38). Paper tests (Verbal section only) ……. 33, 35, and 37 20/01/11.........Veritas CAT1 ..........570 (Q42, V24) 21/01/11…….... 800Score (Verbal section only) …….37 24/01/11......... GMATPrep v2 CAT1........640 (Q47, V32) 25/01/11 ……. 800Score (Verbal section only) …….37 27/01/11…….. Manhattan CAT2 ……..670 (Q48, V33) So, the big date is 10th Feb.

Last day, I took another sectional test of 800Score CAT and attempted only Verbal section only. I scored 36 despite so much disturbance caused by marriage party near my place. I also did free gmatclub quant test and made 8 mistakes . I think it was much tougher than the other tests. What should be my approach from now onwards as my test is almost after 10 days. I'm losing confidence, don't know why but I'm. I'm worried about RC mainly. Please advise.. My scores till now are as follows: (Just for record.) 08/01/11……..Manhattan CAT1 …….660 (Q50, V32) 16/01/11……..PowerPrep CAT1……..690 (Q46 and V38). Paper tests (Verbal section only) ……. 33, 35, and 37 20/01/11.........Veritas CAT1 ..........570 (Q42, V24) 21/01/11…….... 800Score (Verbal section only) …….37 24/01/11......... GMATPrep v2 CAT1........640 (Q47, V32) 25/01/11 ……. 800Score (Verbal section only) …….37 27/01/11…….. Manhattan CAT2 ……..670 (Q48, V33) 28/01/11.......800Score (Verbal section only) …….36 28/01/11.......gmatclub free quant test ......... 29/37

Took another sectional test of 800Score CAT and attempted only Verbal section and I scored 32 this time.

Powerprep CAT2 = 620 (Q48, V27). This is not representative of ability as I was just checking what I can score if I attempt quant section perfectly and guess all RC questions on Verbal section!! So, I made total 16 mistakes on Verbal section, out of which 12 wrongs were from RC and 2 each from SC and CR. Not a good idea of guessing all questions of RC. Back to studies.. I will be focusing only on RC for rest of the days.

Since you mentioned that RC is a major weak area for you, I thought I"ll put in some things that helped me. RC was a mess for me. I used to get only 1-2 right out of the 20+ questions on test . When practising passages from OG,again, most of the questions I got wrong. Here's what I did: I stopped to take notes and only read through the passage go through the RC strategies once more as given in the OG or in OG Verbal book I read through the first 2-3 sentences of each paragraph to get an idea of what is going to follow in less than 30 seconds. This keeps me 'aware' of what to expect as I read. Then I read through the whole passage carefully and make a mental note of important things like this paragraph talks of a problem,this one talks of a solution etc. Then go on to answer questions and use your 'mental note' to find answer to 'specific' questions. For the general questions like 'main idea' or 'tome pf passage' etc, just use overall understanding of the passage(let's assume you got the passage right!!) Now,following this approach, I only get 1-2 question wrong . This approach helped me but may not you, so test it on 2-3 passages and see what worls for you. Good Luck

Thanks, I will check if it works for me.

I took GMATPrep v2 CAT1 (2nd time) and scored 680 (Q47,V36) All questions on Quant section were new and there were 4-5 repeats on Verbal section. I made 3 stupid mistakes on quant section, these mistakes I could have avoided if I would have read questions properly. But I think todays quant section was tough.

Wen only 4-5 days are left for the exam I do not why I am losing confidence and thinking of not to going to exam. Pls hlep me...

what is your weakest area at this point? With only several days to go you may just need practice and repetition

Thank you johnnyGMAT2k10. RC is my weakest area. I ruined on last CAT and made 9 mistakes on RC. I do not feel like studying anymore, do not know why, but I feel like it should be over as soon as possible. Is this feeling normal? I am thing of pre-scheduling the test and getting over this exam!

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