My test Experience

Question

Today was my doomsday I knew that this test is not going to represent my full potential even though i took date as i was prolonging it from a long time just because of fear due to my busy job schedule i could not get prepared for GMAT fully anyway i took hardly 2 mock test and fell in a range of 530-550 today in GMAT I scored 600 (Q 48 82%ile

V 24 33%ile.. :cry:

) I am thinking of reappearing in GMAT as its clear I am on the track in quant please give me your feedback how can i improve Verbal section i don't have a clue how to improve accuracy within time limit all i know is that i ignored RC during this spell of my preparation actually while working in CR and SC I forgot to take care of RC Regards Warlock

Wishbone · Answer

Honestly, I would try RC99 from aristotle, it has excellent passages and explanation, MGMAT SC, aristotle prep SC, and Powerscore CR. Those would be the highest recommended books on this site.

Warlock007 · Answer

Thanks Wishbone i have downloaded aristotle stuff (both RC and SC books) rest 2 i have already worked out completely

thanks for your advice 
please help me with specific tips for re appearing

regards
warlock

Wishbone · Answer

Honestly I am in the same boat, I am retaking the GMAT, I have to start studying again tonight, I took 2 weeks off from my exam until now, so really we are at the same place

Warlock007 · Answer

great all the best then
what colleges are you targeting and what score you are aiming at

Wishbone · Answer

700+ now, I will only be applying to Fuqua and Kenan/Flagler (UNC)

AmrithS · Answer

Well done on the quant front man :beer

: I think you should retake... You can definitely improve on the verbal score and perhaps add a couple of points to your quant score! With a quant score of 48, you need a 40 in verbal to breech the 700 barrier. So set your target a little higher than 40. Set a target of 44. In order to get a 44, you must be equally proficient in all the three verbal question formats. You didn't really focus on RC while preparing for this attempt right? This time, work on all areas.

jko · Answer

I have a couple of "drills" I've been doing to work on verbal, to practice comprehension while reading the passages for RC and the arguments for CR. You may or may not find them useful.

Before I detail them, I'd just like to say from the get-go that: a) this is not a ground-breaking innovative approach and b) i'm not a GMAT expert, just a fellow test taker.

Anyways, for critical reasoning, take a set of problems. These can be problems you've already done!

For each problem, forget the actual question stem. Just focus on the argument. 
Read through the problem, identifying what each sentence (and each clause) are doing. IE what is the purpose. 
For each sentence, write out (a) the purpose, and (b) the sentence in your own phrasing.
After you've finished this, find the structure of the argument.

Try to accomplish this within 45 or 60 seconds. Once this is mapped out, it should only take you 15 or 30 seconds max to identify the correct answer choice if you have a good understanding of the argument.

I think you'll find that once you've become comfortable picking out how the argument is formed, it'll be significantly easier for you to point out the weaknesses (ie answer the questions)

For reading comprehension, you're basically going to want to do the same thing. Forget the questions, just practice getting a good understanding of the passage. With a good understanding of the passage, picking the right answer choice becomes much easier.

brandy96 · Answer

which of the three RC, SC, and CR is your weakest. I think you can gain most with SC. Did you tried MGMAT SC?

Warlock007 · Answer

Hey Entwistle you have been a great guide to me atleast....... precisely I nailed it in Quant 8-)

: and I got nailed in Verbal :cry:

will keep Quant in touch so that I achieve 50 well in the test initially I was going too fast I had some very easy questions and I thought I must have got last questions wrong and then at last i had 10 questions and 26 minutes i slowed down myself so that time dose not accumulate at the last answer as I wanted the test to end right in 75 minutes unfortunately in last 3 questions my timing shattered and i had to mark last 2 questions as a fluke ....

considering this the score could have been 49 or something may be i don't know actually anyway give me your feedback for keeping the momentum in verbal being in sales i need to travel 10 days out of 30 days so for me the real challenge is to keep the momentum and still take my core at a higher place need you real help in the strategy for this in quant i am thinking of solving daily mailer of gmatclub that would be sufficient Warlock......

Warlock007 · Answer

Hey wishbone
all the best to you
and keep posted about any source you find interesting for verbal or quant

Warlock.......
the War is oNNNNNNNNNNNNN

Wishbone · Answer

Thanks!!! The best drills for Verbal are repetition, and constant practice over problems that are more likely to appear than not

Wishbone · Answer

sorry, and by those more frequent questions I mean strengthen/weaken, draw the conclusion, and double bolds for CR,

Parallelism and subject verb agreement for SC

and main point, specific detail, and inference on RC

expressmart · Answer

thanks for you sharing

Warlock007 · Answer

Thanks Wishbone
I am following aristotle for RC
and for SC also i will be following various material
for CR i will take 1000 CR
i think that will suffice for 720+
I seriously feel that no of questions is not imp at all but understanding of attacking in the way author wants is important

correct me if i am wrong

jko · Answer

Also, for CR and RC, it's super helpful to know the types of wrong answers. It makes it significantly easier to dismiss an answer if you can recognize it as falling into one of the classic categories of wrong answers.

Warlock007 · Answer

Dear JKO
most of us can eliminate 3 out of 5 answers easily
its only 2 out of 5 which bugs us everytime

please elaborate your approach

jko · Answer

Right, knowing the types of wrong answers is ESPECIALLY helpful in eliminating answer choices which are less obviously wrong.

For example, "exaggerated" answers are one example of a type of wrong answer for "Must be true" CR questions.

Exaggerated answers tend to use stronger language than the stimulus indicates is true. If you're choosing between two similar answers, pay attention to the language each uses. If one is using terms such as 'any or always' and the stimulus is only indicating that this will be 'usually' or 'generally' true, then you can eliminate that answer choice.

It's worth reading up on, I'm not at all qualified to be teaching about it. Some books do an excellent job of explaining it.

AmrithS · Answer

Exactly

Recognizing wrong answer types and correct answer types for each category of CR questions is a skill that must be developed through practice. Unfortunately, there are no short cuts

However, you should check out the "Bang Bang" guide by Whiplash... She has done a wonderful job in summarizing the basic essence of it all! Use the document in conjunction with the Manhattan CR or the Power Score GMAT CR Bible...

Wishbone · Answer

Yes, honestly recognizing the strength of modifiers can actually help you in 2 areas, because in SC there are often modifiers that are incorrectly used, so knowing their strength and also what they are can really boost you simultaneously.

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